I hereby name you…

October 23, 2023October 23, 2023 / FloatsOurBoat / 8 Comments

It can take a lot of money and effort to rename a boat. You need to re-register her with the Coast Guard under the new name, reprogram the AIS and VFH, buy and install new name decals. It’s enough to make me swear I’ll never rename a boat again! But, having a floating home with a name that feels right to us and feels like part of the family? Priceless!

Legend has it that when you do decide to rename a seafaring vessel, you need to hold a formal ceremony to protect the vessel and her crew from bad luck. You must make offerings to Poseidon and beg for his favor and protection. We held this ceremony and celebrated with several dozen of our friends and fellow sailors at Brunswick Landing Marina! We even had friends Shawn and Chantal from SV Camino drive down from Savannah to join us for the celebration!

In preparation, we stocked up on red wine, bubbly, beer, and snacks. We cleaned from bow to stern both above decks and below so we’d be free to offer tours. And we dug out our stash of courtesy flags and strung them up on a halyard to make her look colorful and festive. We removed all traces of the original name from our boat (on documents, decorative items, safety equipment and books) and prepared a metal ingot with the original name. With our friends gathered on the dock, beverages for toasting in hand, Capt. Mike and I walked forward to the bow and began the purging ceremony of the original name….

“Oh Poseidon, mighty and great ruler of the seas and oceans, to whom all ships and we who venture upon your vast domain are required to pay homage, I implore you in your graciousness to expunge for all time from your records and recollection the name “Hallelujah” which has ceased to be an entity in your kingdom. As proof thereof, we submit this ingot bearing her name, to be corrupted through your powers and forever be purged from the sea.”

I flung the metal tag over the bow into the water, then recited,

“In grateful acknowledgement of your munificence and dispensation, we offer these libations to your majesty and your court.”

I poured at least half a glass of champagne into the water, from east to west, then took a sip myself. This concluded the Purging Ceremony.

Now for the naming ceremony itself….

“Oh Poseidon, mighty and great ruler of the seas and oceans, to whom all ships and we who venture upon your vast domain are required to pay homage, I implore you in your graciousness to take unto your records and recollection this worthy vessel hereafter and for all time known as “Happy” guarding her with your mighty arm and trident and ensuring her of safe and rapid passage throughout her journeys within your realm. In appreciation of your munificence, dispensation, and in honor of your greatness, we offer these libations to your majesty and your court.”

I poured another glass of champagne into the water, this time from west to east.

Next, I attempted to appease the four wind gods, Boreas, Zephyrus, Eurus, Notus.

“Oh mighty rulers of the winds, through whose power our frail vessels traverse the wild and faceless deep, we implore you to grant this worthy vessel “Happy” the benefits and pleasures of your bounty, ensuring us of your gentle ministration according to our needs.”

Facing north, I tossed some champagne from my flute to the north as I said:

“Great Boreas, exalted ruler of the North Wind, grant us permission to use your mighty powers in the pursuit of our lawful endeavors, ever sparing us the overwhelming scourge of your frigid breath.”

Facing West, I repeated the champagne pour and toss while saying:

“Great Zephyrus, exalted ruler of the West Wind, grant us permission to use your mighty powers in the pursuit of our lawful endeavors, ever sparing us the overwhelming scourge of your wild breath.”

Facing East, I repeated the champagne pour and toss while saying:

“Great Eurus, exalted ruler of the East Wind, grant us permission to use your mighty powers in the pursuit of our lawful endeavors, ever sparing us the overwhelming scourge of your mighty breath.”

Facing South, I poured the champagne and tossed it one last time while reciting:

“Great Notus, exalted ruler of the South Wind, grant us permission to use your mighty powers in the pursuit of our lawful endeavors, ever sparing us the overwhelming scourge of your scalding breath”

Our marina friends gave three cheers to the newly christened “Happy” as Mike and I donned t-shirts with the name Happy on them, and tore off the brown paper to reveal Happy’s new name on the transom and the boom.

Everything after that was a bit of a celebratory blur 😀 We gave tours of our beautiful floating home, accepted good wishes from friends and neighbors, and eventually brought bottles of bubbly and snacks up to the yacht club to continue the celebrations into happy hour. It felt great not only to celebrate the new name, but also the accomplishment of all the hard work and many boat projects we’ve completed since we moved aboard in March. Happy is almost ready to untie the lines and start sailing! If you see us in an anchorage, come say hi – we just might have a bottle of bubbly left over to share 😉

Fun Times at Brunswick Landing Marina

October 15, 2023October 15, 2023 / FloatsOurBoat / 4 Comments

Have I mentioned how much we love staying at Brunswick Landing Marina in Georgia? Free laundry, frequent happy hours, friendly staff – what’s not to like? This Saturday we took a day off from neverending boat projects and really had a blast participating in the first annual Cruisers’ Challenge – an Amazing Race style scavenger hunt on land and water around the marina.

Capt. Mike and I joined our dock neighbors Ann and Frank as team Happy Dreamers 😁 We donned our matching team bandanas and hopped into our dinghy at 10am to tackle our first challenge. We’ve been in one place for so long, it felt strange to be getting splashed in the dinghy once again! We drove to the gps coordinates of our first clue and got really excited when we saw a huge airboat tied up to the dock at our destination. Yep! It was waiting for us! We hopped in, and zoomed off into the bay, traveling much faster (and much louder) than we had in our dinghy! The airboat captain dropped us off at a nearby island where we were given our challenge – each team member had to chip a golf ball into a target. We crushed it! Two minutes and 30 seconds and we were done and back in the boat.

Other teams were lining up on the dock waiting their turn for the airboat as we scanned a QR code for our next clue. Back in the dinghy and back to the marina! Challenge #2 required us to throw a life ring around a floating buoy, again all 4 of us had to successfully ring it, and we were timed as we tried. This is not easy!

And so our scavenger hunt continued. Each time we completed a challenge successfully, we’d get a colorful wristband to prove we’d finished that station. Then we’d scan a QR code to get the coordinates of our next stop, and off we’d go! Or challenges included:

Using a dock line like a lasso to tie a cleat hitch from a distance
Building wine cork sailboats and racing them across a “pond”
Making state fair style lemonade
Learning to cast a fly fishing rod
Singing a round of Row Your Boat
Solving puzzles and riddles
And even throwing an axe at zombies!

We didn’t win the race, but we sure had a great time! And the fun just kept on going! The marina held a customer appreciation oyster roast yesterday evening with three massive coolers full of oysters, a potluck of side dishes, and free wine and beer. I don’t think I’ve ever shucked an oyster before, so it was fun to learn! Mike says he doesn’t like oysters, but he sure ate a lot of them 🤣 Were very grateful to Brunswick Landing Marina for hosting such a fantastic event.

Parade Day at Carnival

March 6, 2023March 6, 2023 / FloatsOurBoat / Leave a comment

When we first started thinking about going to Carnival in Trinidad, I seriously considered joining one of the big masquerade bands. Even contemplated squeezing my middle-aged white bum into one of those sequinced and feathery bikini costumes. But then I did a little bit of research and learned that it costs around $1,000 usd to join a band. More if you want feathers. Yikes! So instead, we joined a few friends and bought tickets at a restaurant on “The Avenue” where we could watch the parades from comfort and it was perfect!

As opposed to the “Dutty Mas” of J’ouvert, Tuesday’s parades are “Pretty Mas or Bikini Mas” Folks choose a band to join and choose the simple “Backline” costume or more elaborate “Frontline” costume. It’s called “Playing Mas” (short for masquerade) In addition to the standard costume, many women buy colorful sneakers or boots, and wear elaborate sparkly makeup. Add a backpack of feathers and maybe a headpiece and it makes for a colorful joyous spectacle.

If you’re gonna play mas in Trinidad, you’d better have some stamina! Bands “chip” and “wine” their way through downtown Port of Spain all day long, dancing and bouncing to soca. The parades are fueled by local rum and local delicacies such as doubles and shark and bakes. I’m not sure how they manage to keep up the energy in the hot tropical sun!

Some bands avoid bikini mas, and instead wear elaborate costumes that tell a story or depict some of the history of Carnival. The larger, grander costumes are feats of engineering and take the entire year to design and create. It’s really pretty amazing to be there in person to see them “on da road”.

By the afternoon, some partyers get tired of their heavy costumes and leave them behind. Our gain! We had a lot of fun trying on the castoffs!

There’s a competition for the Road March – the most popular and most frequently played soca song in the parades. Our favorite “Come Home to Me” came in third place. We were robbed!

Do yole wanna race?

January 30, 2023January 30, 2023 / FloatsOurBoat / 2 Comments

On our final Sunday in Martinique, we tagged along with Popeye and Lisa on SV Tumoltuous Uproar to watch the traditional Martinique Yole boats race in a regatta. We didn’t really know what to expect but Ooh la la! It turned out to be an exciting day.

One of the best teams – look at that coordination!

What is a yole? Well basically, they are traditional wooden sail boats, originally used by fisherman and to transport goods around the island. Each 10.5 meter yole boat is hand carved out of solid wood, without a keel or any ballast. So they are light and fast, but extremely “tippy.” The masts are made of bamboo, and instead of a rudder, a long wooden oar is used to steer the boat and to help paddle it through each turn or tack. The sails are rectangular and un-battened and extremely hard to manage. To balance the boat, a team of strong, burly, coordinated men hike way out from the boat onto sets of wooden poles, using their body weight and hopefully perfect timing to keep the boat from tipping over. Did I say “hopefully”? Several times during the race, we saw a boat heel over a tad too far, scoop up a whole bunch of seawater, and slowly sink. A race boat then had to tow them back to shore in the “tow of shame” with the boat sinking lower and lower, arriving back to the beach before it completely sank. There are actually members of the racing team whose sole job is to bail out water with plastic bottles and buckets during the race. If you can’t quite picture that strangle jumble of boat parts in action, have no fear ‘cause I took tons of pictures!

Capt. Mike getting ready to help launch team McDonald’s

One man’s trash is another man’s bailing bucket

The best part of the race is the start. Each boat gets dragged down the beach to the water’s edge and turned onto its side. On land, the two masts are maneuvered into place and the team rigs the two sails by tying a whole bunch on knots while the boat is still on its side. Once all the hiking out poles are slotted into place, three or four of the heaviest guys stand up on the high side, lean their weight onto the poles, and slowly (then all of a sudden, very quickly!) they tip the boat upright, with other team mates running in at the last minute to push it into the water. It’s a blast to watch! When it goes smoothly, it’s a work of art. When it doesn’t, watch your head ‘cause it’s all going to fall back to the ground again.

To start the race, crews wait for the final horn blast and then shove and push these heavy boats full of heavy guys into deep enough water for them to float and start sailing. With at least a dozen boats all starting from that same stretch of beach there’s always a lot of bumping, knocking, crashing, and shouting until they get far enough apart to settle down a bit. Mike and Popeye helped launch the McDonalds boat. Luckily, this maneuver went fairly smoothly and we did not have to experience the local health clinic.

The next best part of the race is watching the boats round a big floating race marker. We took the dingy out to watch the lead boats make the turn from up close. They come in HOT with the team captain shouting out commands. As the turn starts, everyone hikes way, way out on the poles trying to keep their legs out of the water. Not to stay dry (this is definitely not a dry sport) but to avoid slowing the boat down due to drag. The sail guy on the bow basically bear hugs the mast and the spar to force the sail to tack from one side to the other. The boat slows way down and three guys on the stern start rowing with all their might to complete the turn. If all goes well, the sails quickly grab the wind and the boat surges forward on the next leg of the race – with very little bailing required. If it doesn’t go well, the boat loses all speed, scoops up a bunch of water and starts that slow sinking process. It’s very exciting!

We all picked a team to root for and joined the rest of the crowd in cheering on our favorites. I understand just enough French to understand the announcer calling out the team in first position, followed by the second team, followed by the third. At one point, he announced that a team was “trés malade,” I asked, “Did he just say that boat is very sick?” I got my answer a few minutes later when the race boat towed in a bright red yole nearly submerged with its team members sitting in sea water up to their waists. Very sick, indeed!

Welcome to the Jungle – a visit to the Treehouse Bush Bar

January 7, 2023January 7, 2023 / FloatsOurBoat / 4 Comments

When Capt. Mike and I heard rumors of a secret rum shack built in the forest high above Admiralty Bay and only accessible by foot path, we knew we had to find it!

On our first visit to the Treehouse Bush Bar we joined a tour and took a bus up the steep concrete road to the trail and then walked about a half a mile to the bar. Well that wasn’t so hard! So for our next visit, we called ahead to make sure the owner Ken would be available and we organized a big group of cruisers to walk there from the main dinghy dock in Port Elizabeth, Bequia.

What a fun afternoon! I’m glad I wore running shoes, not flip flops, because island roads climb straight up! With warm weather all year round, they clearly don’t build roads to accommodate snow and ice! It took our motley crew about a half hour to trek through town and up, up, up, huffing and puffing all the way. After a break to catch our breath and gather the stragglers we turned off road and onto a lovely, shaded path. As long as you keep right at every fork in the path you can’t get lost – left turns lead to local homes and small subsistence farms.

After crossing a small bamboo bridge and following cobblestones for the final 100 meters, we got our first glimpse of the Bush Bar. It’s so cool! Ken has spent at least three years, clearing the land, carrying building supplies in on his back, and building a small wooden and bamboo building all by hand and all by himself. Small trees grow through the boards on the porch, providing a bit of shade. The view from that porch is stunning – it really does feel like you are looking down on the yachts in the Bay from a tree house up in the clouds.

Ken has a solar panel rigged up to a set of golf cart batteries that power a small cooler of beers and a speaker for music. If you’re not a beer drinker, there’s a big thermos jug of rum punch. What else do you need? A few tree stumps provide somewhat rickety chairs, and there’s a table or two for playing dominoes. Ken really deserves to be proud of the little oasis he has built here!