Where did the Summer go?

Well - my sweet Captain has inspired me to post on our blog once again.  I've been back at the Warwick location of RLC Events since mid-April and have been pretty much sprinting ever since.  This past summer is the busiest in RLC Events history and I feel so grateful to be busy on such cool events with so many amazing clients.  I added two more clients to my roster this summer and along with my existing ones, I was hopping.  I traveled a tremendous amount - Tacoma, WA; Dallas, TX; Tucson, AZ; Los Angeles, CA; White Plains, NY; Orlando, FL; New Orleans, LA; Asheville, NC; Dulles, VA; and quite a few local programs as well.  I worked on some really cool projects and continue to meet some great people along the way.  I am really blessed.  Paul has also helped me so much this summer, which has been awesome - I am truly grateful to have his unwavering support.

Between it all, we did have some great fun with wonderful friends and managed to get out on Master Plan quite a bit.  Here are some photos of the highlights:

June 4, 2011 - one of the most beautiful weddings I've ever been to!  Our dear friends Nicole and Mark were married at the Fairmont in Washington DC.  In addition to being our dear friend, Nicole is also my client with the National Association of Free Clinics - she and I have been working together for almost 4 years!  It was an absolutely beautiful wedding - and a blast as well!  All of our friends from all of the one-day clinics were there - a treat to work with but even more fun to play with!  Really an amazing and wonderful group of people!!  So much joy that day!!  Sigh.

Me and the beautiful bride!  What a glorious event!

Then on Father's Day - our dear friend Amy treated us to a day at Fenway from the Hill Holliday luxury Suite - and the Bruins paraded around Fenway before the game with the Stanley Cup - What a THRILL! 

World Champion Boston Bruins throw out the first pitch to the entire Red Sox team - you can see the Cup on the pitchers' mound - what a moment to be a part of!

Amy and me - dear friends!  Lucky me!

Well - I am once again challenged as to how to turn this photo so - lean to the right please!  This is Paul on the swim platform of Edgartown Harbor on 4th of July weekend - we spent the entire week there.  It was AMAZING.

We hosted the entire Squeglia clan - including Aunt Sheila! - on Master Plan on July 2nd.  Left to right - Peter III, Peter Jr., Mae, Brynnie, and Erin

Silliness on the cockpit!  Where's Peter III?  L to R - Rose, Brynnie, Will, Mae, Patricia, Peter, and Aunt Sheila!

We also celebrated Patricia's big 7-5 - festive hat and all!

July 3rd - we welcomed John and Nancy with their niece and boyfriend - a great day!!

Welcome dear friends Catharine and Kevin - they stayed with us one night - very very fun!

4th of July Fireworks in Edgartown Harbor - here is our friend Jiva grabbing a few photos of the breathtaking sunset!

Sigh . . .  Last year, the 4th of July sunset was amazing too.

Sweet Amy and Paul on the front steps of Edgartown's newest and most fabulous hot spot - Black Sheep and Trio!  Our dear friend Mark opened his business in May - a gourmet cheese and "pantry luxuries" shop during the day which turns into a wonderful wine and cheese and dessert restaurant in the evenings.  FABULOUS!

Amy and Bob joined us on a trek to Point Judith in July - remind us not to have them take charge of the captain duties - clearly they're very silly!  :-)

I love this shot bu once again can't figure out how to turn it (arg) - Amy, Bob, Steph and Ben on board - a spectacular summer day!  Lean to the right please!

My dear friend Barb Brabec - from my summers in the Grand Tetons (Wyoming) - we were roommates in 1986 (we were in kindergarten - ha!) - Barb, her husband Geoff, daughter Hayley (16) and son James (13) joined us for a great day on Narragansett Bay!  They're based in Los Angeles, but spent the summer in Boston - Geoff is an Assistant Director for movies and is in Boston until January filming!  Barb and the kids are now back in California.

Well, you survived all the photos!  It was a crazy, fun-filled summer and it's hard to believe that we'll be heading south within the next two months.  I have 5 more programs before early November, so I'll be plugging away.  Paul will probably try to bring the boat as far as Norfolk in early October - then the first weekend of November, we'll head south via car - reconnect with the boat - and then continue our journey south.  Our goal is to be in Stuart on December 1st.  Once we start getting closer, I promise to start blogging more frequently with updates!

Until the next time - thanks so much for following along and thanks for being cherished friends!

Today's Quote:

It is essential to our well-being, and to our lives, that we play and enjoy life. Every single day, do something that makes your heart sing.                   -Marcia Wieder

Sorry I did not finish last post

OK, I have heard from a lot of you that I did not finish the last post.  So here we go

Well I know we have been remiss in keeping you all up to date.  So when we last updated the blog Jen and I had decided to leave the boat in Baltimore for a while so we could fly out to Seattle to take care of work commitments.  So when we returned Jen still had lots of commitments and I recruited Captain Bob from Truform to come with me to get Master Plan back to East Greenwich.  On Wednesday, May 3, we rented a car in Providence and drove down to Baltimore via New Jersey.  The Jersey turnpike lived up to its reputation as a Traffic PIA.  A 6 hour drive turned into 9 hours.  Not a lot of fun.  We spent Thursday getting the boat ready to roll.  This included making a run to the fuel dock to feed the bitch.  This was not a lot of fun my nerves or wallet as it was blowing a good 25 knots in the harbor.  After checking the weather Friday looked good for departure up the Chesapeake the the C&D (Chesapeake and Delaware) Canal.

On Friday Morning Bob and I spent a very nice day on the water traveling from Baltimore MD to Cape May NJ.   Spending time on a boat with Captain Bob is always an enjoyable and educational time.

 

Baltimore is just North of Annapolis on this map, Cape may is in the Bottom right corner in this map, southern tip of New Jersey

 

We made the 110 mile trip to Cape May with Fair Winds and a following sea for most of the Day.  It did get a little bumpy on the bottom half of the Delaware Bay.  This was a good thing as the Delaware has a bad reputation for being a dangerous piece of water.  We settle into a slip at Utch's Marina before sunset via the fuel dock.  I had not filled the tanks all the way in Baltimore as the price of fuel in NJ tends to be lower.  I was happy as the price turned out to be about 40 cents less a gallon in NJ vs Baltimore.  After we settled in we walked across the street for a nice Prime Rib Dinner at Lucky Bones Restaurant.

At this point the weather was looking really good for the next couple of days.  When it comes to the New Jersey Coast, if you get a good weather window, you take it.  It is not that the weather on the NJ coast is particularly bad all of the time.  The issue there is that you are exposed to the north Atlantic ocean with very limited places to go and hide if the weather turns bad.  It is about 120 miles of beach with just a few viable inlets that I could squeeze Master Plan into.

So with a good weather forecast we headed out Saturday Morning.  We dropped the lines around 6:45 AM and were on our way.  On days that the weather is settled the Jersey Coast is kind of Boring.  It is a long straight passage that takes you out a few miles off the beach.    After looking at the Casinos in Atlantic City there is not much to look at.

 

Captain Bob work his magic with the ladies

We Settled into a nice anchorage behind the break water in Atlantic Highlands NJ.  This is just around the corner of Sandy Hook, the entrance to New York Harbor.  It was great to have the Jersey coast behind us.  After we made sure the anchor was good and stuck we enjoyed a nice dinner of steak and peas grilled on the back of Master Plan.  After Dinner we checked the weather one more time an all looked good for the following day.

On Sunday we weighed the anchor by 7:15 am.  We were in for a beautiful ride through New York Harbor.

The Yacht EOS gliding under the the Varazano Narrows Bridge

Getting tired will finish tomorrow

We encountered won of the biggest privately held pleasure sailing yachts in the world going under the Varazano Narrows Bridge.  The name of the yacht is EOS.  It is owned by Barry Diller, movie guy, and is 305 feet long.  The picture above does not do it justice.   You can read about it here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eos_%28yacht%29

Lower Tip of Manhattan

 

 

Staten Island Ferry building in Manhattan

So with the current with us and a early start we were on our way.  The forecast was excellent for the day, but getting ugly tomorrow.    With this in mind I decided to burn copious amounts of diesel and  turn master plan into a bit of a speed boat.  That means doing 16 knots ( 1 knot equals 1.15 MPH) about twice our normal speed.  This burns about 6 times the amount of diesel.  This was a concern as we continued up long island sound.  I has topped off the tanks in Cape may previously and at this rate we it was questionable weather we could make it back to RI without stopping for fuel.  The problem was that this would eat up lots of time that I did not have.  After doing lot of calculations we continued on.  As we rounded Point Judith RI we were tossed around in rough seas dangerously low on fuel.  At that point it was after 6 pm on a Sunday night in April.  Finding an open fuel dock was going to be tough to find.  When we arrived at our home dock in East Greenwich we had less than 20 gallons on board.  In a boat that holds 550 gallons, that is very low.  Jen was waiting on the dock for us, it was 8 PM and we were finally home.  Captain Bob, myself and Jen went to our favorite restaurant, Frank and John's Pizza.  We ordered the Clams Zupa as usual.  It sure was good to be home.