Friday, October 30, 2015

YOGA on a BOAT

      When we were newlyweds I gave Danny a card whose cover read-

            I  want to make love to you in the worst way…

     The inside read-
                                 in a boat standing up!
    
     So you ask, “What does ‘YOGA on a BOAT’ have to do with lovemaking?” Well, quite a bit, actually.  I won’t get into the specific details- suffice to say that our love relationship is ever evolving- and that IT and YOGA on a boat require extreme strength and BALANCE.
DSCN3966






     Boats sail best when they are balanced, however, when Exit Strategy is at anchor things get shifted around some and it becomes slightly unbalanced. To complicate matters, we haul the dinghy out of the water daily to the starboard side when not in use which adds to the imbalance. So for the most part, at anchor our boat is NOT balanced. If you put a tube of chapstick down on an uncluttered shelf or table, it will roll to and fro, until it drives me crazy enough to get up and shove it somewhere secure. The Captain is oblivious to these little noises, of course.

    



     I have not formally studied yoga, but I have come to realize that it is all about balance. Physically balancing your weight supported by your body,  balancing your breathing as you inhale and exhale deeply, and balancing your activity with inactivity to keep personal stressors at bay.  


DSCN3973


  




 Did you know that balance is one of the essential markers of longevity? Think about it- how many times have you heard about an elderly person losing their balance, falling down, and never recovering from their injuries.  Research suggests that if you are able to sit down on the floor from a standing position without putting your hands or knees on the floor and then rise up to stand again without using your hands or shifting onto your knees, you are in great shape.  Yoga practice can do that for an individual. I can comfortably lower myself to the floor, but am unable to rise up again…yet.  This remains a goal.  ( http://www.prevention.com/fitness/fitness-tips/stand-sit-test-predicts-longevity  )









     On some islands, there are free yoga classes available on shore two to three times a week and I often enjoy participating in them. At other times, cruiser friends have organized informal yoga sessions ashore at sunset. In my opinion, the ideal place to practice yoga on our boat is on the foredeck where there is plenty of space and just a slight incline.  However, I rarely exercise there because privacy is often at a premium in anchorages.  So I have found the next best place to do yoga is in our cabin.  There I have plenty of room to position my yoga mat along the midline of the boat, so I am able to balance… and stretch… and breathe… and hold. (Good skills to have at any age, if you catch my drift.)

DSCN3977

Monday, October 26, 2015

Would You Be Surprised ?

Bahamas Courtesy Flag (Google Image)

Would you be surprised if you learned that we have never been to the Bahamas?

It’s true.  Captain Dan and I- #AllAmerican/Caribbean/MexicanBeachBums- have never, EVER vacationed there pretty much by choice.  During our working-life vacations it seemed like everyone (and their mother) was going there and we chose to not follow the crowd. Then when we began cruising five years ago, the Bahamas were high on my list, so our daughter gifted us with a Waterway Guide for the Bahamas 2010 and a Bahamian courtesy flag. However, the island group was still not on the Captain’s radar for the same reason he’s held for over three decades AND the fact that draft of our vessel is 6’10” deep, making a sailing trip to the Bahamas a challenge. (Reportedly, most sailors eventually go aground in the shallow Bahamian waters repeatedly, or they lie.)

A year ago, I began intensely studying and highlighting our outdated guide, sometimes having to peel the bottom third of the pages apart due to unexplained water damage.  I systematically noted the Bahamian passages and anchorages where I felt we could safely maneuver Exit Strategy without hitting a reef or going aground. The description of most anchorages report the depth at mean low tide and indeed there were some areas in the southern Bahamas that would suit ES.

While visiting in the Midwest this summer, I began telling friends and family that we might cruise the Bahamas this year. I bought the last copy available of the Waterway Guide for the Bahamas 2015 and dutifully completed my study.  When Captain Dan arrived, I began lobbying for our float plan to include the Bahamas.  By the time I returned to ES in mid-September, the Captain finally seemed resigned to cruise the Southern Bahamas in 2016.

Hurricane Joaquin early October 2015 (Google Image)

And then came JOAQUIN, cutting a path right through many of the Southern Bahamas that we aimed to cruise.  After reading the news of the extensive damage, I felt dejected and scrapped our plan to cruise there for the coming season. It was time to consider other route options.  It took me two weeks to sketch out other possibilities and I finally completed four alternate plans just this morning.

Captain Dan took a few moments to review the choices and selected the plan that took us to the BAHAMAS (!!!!), saying it was the only one that made sense for this year. His comment totally reassured me, so I instantly ‘flip-flopped’ and agreed, feeling relieved that it was settled at last.  But then Dan started saying how it’ll be cold up there during March-June because he knows I prefer warmer water.  My emotions almost caused me to ‘flip-flop’ again, but Google revealed that the air temp should be between 80-90 degrees while the water will be between 77-81 degrees. So I imagine I can suffer through those temps to find out, after all, if it really IS better in the Bahamas.

(Google Image)

EXCLUSIVE SNEAK PREVIEW of our 2016 Float Plan:
2015 November: Island hop Northward along Eastern Caribbean Chain
2015 December:  St. Croix, USVI
2016 January: Southern and Western Coast of Puerto Rico
2016 February: Samana, Dominican Republic
2016 Late February- June: Southern Bahamas
2016 July-November: Bonaire
 

Sunday, October 4, 2015

A New Set of WHEELS for sv Exit Strategy

DSCN3944
My Sailrite sewing machine has been working overtime lately and the result has been a new set of wheel COVERS for Exit Strategy, our floating home. We have only lived on the boat for nearly five years, but it saw three seasons in charter service before that.  So, the wheel covers had been looking pretty shabby for a while.  The captain priced some replacement cover kits and the least expensive set ran $150 USD.  Bavaria 46 Cruisers like ours have two wheels, so the cost would be $300 plus tax, plus possible duty, plus fees for an agent to accept it in Grenada… plus, plus, PLUS!  
 
The Captain suggested we buy the leather back in the states during our visit and attempt to do it ourselves.  After all, how hard could it be? The Captain has a good sense of design when it comes to constructing things and his First Mate knows how to follow his directions well. So I put my faith in him.
                                                                                                                                                                            DSCN3934We traveled about a half hour north of our daughter’s house to a small shop where we had purchased leather a few years ago. I was so relieved to have decided to accompany my Captain to get the leather because the shop was going out of business and had only a few pieces of leather large enough for our needs.  The Captain was eyeing two pelts: a blood red one and a mustard yellow one.  I rummaged to the bottom of the short stack and found a beautiful buff-colored piece priced $68.  SOLD!
 
Our daughter is a quilter and, using her cutting board and circular knife, we were able to measure and carefully cut the pelt into strips to the Captain’s exact specifications. He packed the cut leather in his bag to take back to Exit Strategy when he returned to Grenada.
                                                                                                               
 DSCN3937A few weeks later, I joined him in Grenada and sewed the strips together end to end.  Next, I ran top stitching along the length of both sides. Then the last ends were seamed and, finally, the covers were stretched around each wheel. It took a few hours to hand stitch them onto the wheels, but we would have had to do that even if we bought the ready made kits.  I was amazed that they fit perfectly, but then again, that is how my Captain operates. 
 
 
 
 
DSCN3941
 
Since we finished the wheel covers, I’ve been working on a dozen other sewing projects and am down to having only six more to finish.  Wish me luck!
 
DSCN3947