An update of Pinktoe's website is past due, and it's not as though we don't have adventures to report to anyone who is interested. Those of you who get our annual Christmas letter may recall that we planned to have a quiet Christmas by ourselves here on St. Croix, but that was not to be and that is why this update is delayed.
Just before Christmas my brother, Roger, called to say that our dad, whose health had been failing for a long time, was now in critical condition, with perhaps only hours left to live. Jean and I were able to get a flight to Minneapolis the very next day, and Dad's strength rebounded for a bit. We were able to enjoy Christmas, New Year's and Jean's birthday with Dad and our families, but it became obvious that he would need to enter a residential hospice and he passed away on January 6. In keeping with his wishes, there were no ceremonies.
This is the first time I've been able to get past that point in recalling the year's events. We were actually very fortunate to spend those two weeks with Dad, and it was probably the prettiest white Christmas we've had in years (or ever will again). We had left enough warm clothes with Alec, but Jean hated wearing shoes with closed toes again.
Because of that unscheduled and unfunded “vacation” we were unable to join Rob and Roger and their friends as they cruised the BVIs later in January, but we had plenty of sailing adventures in store anyway.
Alec and Paul Quast flew down in February to join the crew of Ambivalence for our third St. Croix International Regatta. We again chose to race in a spinnaker class and had the opportunity to introduce our novice crew to the maneuver known as "broaching." Three times in a row! Our photo even made the local newspaper, and we were the boat that looked the most in control.
We were all grateful for the newly installed dual lifelines! The second day we decided to use the main and jib only and had a slower but much more enjoyable time. We finished the regatta 6th out of 11 despite being handicapped as the slowest boat in the fleet.
You'll recall that we had moved Ambivalence to a mooring at Teague Bay when we joined the St. Croix Yacht Club. I'm still nervous about leaving my boat floating out there in the bay, but the water is much cleaner than at Salt River, sailing within the reef is almost always pleasant, and it's only about an hour's sail out to Buck Island. That's been our destination for many pleasant afternoon outings with friends and their visiting families.
Alec returned for Easter weekend and our biggest sailing adventure yet. It was a five day weekend for me, and he proposed that we sail to Vieques, where he and Marcy had vacationed last year. It's a 60 mile passage but usually it's all down wind. A bigger concern was the warnings about 16 foot seas expected that weekend. Those of you who are interested can read the whole log, but suffice it to say that we finished our voyage wet but safe and Jean gets a lot of credit for being a good sport.
Ambivalence's thirty year old trailer had succumbed to age and exposure to salt water when we'd tried to pull her out for bottom cleaning before the regatta, and Jim finally decided that the prudent course of action was to invest in a new aluminum trailer. It's very nice and I spent a several pleasant weekends underneath the boat sanding, doing fiberglass repairs and bottom painting.
While I was enjoying myself in that manner, Jean was making plans for cleaner pursuits. She continues to be an avid beader, and she's sold her work at two craft fairs so far this year. She expanded her repertoire when she joined Sharon Quast for a week-long jewelry making workshop in Milwaukee. From there she flew to Columbus and spent a week with Liam, Elizabeth and Michael. She was there to celebrate Liam's sixth birthday and had fun doing "grandma" things.
Jean continues to rack up the frequent flyer miles, returning to Minneapolis earlier this month for her 45th high school class reunion. She had a great time even though there were some old people there. She wasn't the only one retired but the only one retired to someplace as cool as St. Croix