UPDATE: What a Summer and Fall - Time to go Cruising!

New Varnish and Cetol

Ok, sorry for our delinquency in blogging this summer and fall. It’s been filled with lots of land based travel we call our “Driving Miss Ginny Summer Tour”, fishing, shrimping, sweating and lots of boat maintenance.

Nice Redfish - One of the Best Tasting Fish in the Sea.

Sea Trout. Filet, marinate in olive oil, add spices and grill. Yummy.

On the Beach in Jacksonville Beach with Chris, Zak. Skye and Jake.

Nikki and Chris 

Watching Zak's baseball game.

We spent most of July and August visiting friends and family in North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and Delaware. Our “Driving Miss Ginny Tour” is always a blast after living on the boat for 10 months. 

Joe and Deidra 

Trip to the Zoo with Brian, Deidra and Chris

Visiting with our family is very special after being away cruising on “Wind Dust” and we thoroughly enjoy terrorizing all our kids and grand-kids (really a more proper term, is our grand teenagers). 

Ginny with Annalee and Holden 

We are very blessed to have healthy, happy and wonderful children and grandchildren.

Captain Matt at the Helm

Tara, Annalee and Holden

Little Miss

Bob, Barbara, JP, Brenda and Fred

Bob, Brenda and JP

Ginny, Jack, Bill and April

Ginny, Bill, Zoey, Papa Doug and April

Dinner at the Sweet House in Rehoboth Beach

One of the big projects on the list for “Wind Dust” this summer was a complete redo of her exterior brightwork. The brightwork on a vessel is commonly known as the exterior wooden surfaces of the yacht. Most modern day designs call for no exterior wood as it is a cause for constant maintenance which most people deplore or can’t afford. If you don’t have the time or desire to spend mucho dinero for it’s maintenance then a wood free vessel would be in order for you. I can attest it’s a huge job if you have a lot of teak like we do on “Wind Dust”.  

Bow of Wind Dust

Our project consisted of scraping the old varnish and Cetol off and exposing bare wood. Light sanding, followed by 6 coats of Epifane Marine Varnish on the handrails, pilothouse cabin doors and pilothouse cabin top accent rails. Light sanding between each coat and a 24 hour between coats wait time creates a long drawnout process. For our toe rail and bowsprit planks we applied 2 coats of Natural Teak Cetol covered by two coats of High Gloss Clear Cetol. I must say it was a lot of work but it was rewarding to watch “Wind Dust” come to life.

It wasn't all work though. We had plenty of fun on Dock 6. Most afternoons around 5 pm we gathered at the dock porch to tell stories, lies and participate in the advancement of our ADD (Adult Drinking Disorder). Most Saturday evenings, couples took turns cooking a meal for the other Dock 6 cruisers. We also had participation from a few couples on Dock 5. Memorial Day, July 4^th and Labor Day the marina sponsored cookouts and we had great fun with the Halloween Party. 

Capt. Jesse's New Spiked Hair - Who's the Mystery Girl?

Ellie and Dr. Donor (Jim) - (I'm still Laughing)

The Dock Six Wenches - Oops I meant Witches.

Tuesday evenings the group hit Cilantro’s ( a local Mexican Cantina and Restaurant) for $2.99 Margarita’s, chips and salsa, good entrees and lots of laughs teasing each other and our weekly waiter “Tiger”.    

The Dock Six Gang - with mucho Margaritas 

November 10^th brought on the annual Brunswick Rockin’ Stewbilee which has a road race, pooch parade, classic car show, great live entertainment and the Brunswick Stew cooking contest. I’m always impressed by the live music (usually classic rock with awesome guitar players) and the entire event held at Mary Ross Park on the East River. Lots of fun. If you haven’t attended this event plan on attending next year.   

Music at the Brunswick Rockin' Stewbilee

Waiting for Santa - at the Pooch Parade

The Stickers say it all.

Classic Car Show was Great

The Wharfratz 

Yo quiero -  Lobster !

Another project included stripping the old cracked paint and hypalon off our AB Inflatable dinghy, applying new rubber over the bare spots and repainting the tubes. Man what a difference that made. While she’s not new (2001 model) she looks new from 10 feet away. A little labor, $150 in materials and she should be good for another few years. Much better than spending $5000 to replace it.

New Paint on "Dusty" the dink

Other projects included cleaning and sealing the stainless steel, oil changes for both the genset and main Ford Lehman diesel, rebuild of the aft head pump, new flax and grease in the stuffing box, new bimini and connector for the aft quarter deck and new pleather cushions for the pilothouse.

New Cushions in Pilot House

Our target date to head south was November 8^th, however our standard pre-departure inspection revealed a small leak in the Lehman freshwater circulation pump. We currently have a new pump ordered and hope to be underway by November 15^th.