Looking forward while reflecting back.

What are you planning this new year? What are your stories from 2022? What is your sankalpa?

A new year is another chance for fresh beginnings if you are a person who enjoys that. I do. It’s one of my favorite things about working an academic calendar schedule for the past ten years and before that when I returned to school. Even way back when, as a homeschooling family, we marked the start of each new year and new school year with a variety of traditions. There are several opportunities to start anew: each season, of course, each school year, each calendar year and each semester. The academic year(and seasons-at least up north) also have a beginning, middle, and sometimes- thank goodness- an end.

Above: Sharing bubbly, music, dancing and smiles this New Year’s in sparkly St. Augustine.

I also love New Year’s rituals. You know when burn your regrets from the year before, reflect on highlights and set intentions or goals. As I’ve advanced in age, I moved to setting intentions. Specific year-long goals seem lofty and too ripe for failure. Today, at yoga class, my yoga teacher suggested setting a one- word intention. There is even a sanscript word for this: sankalpa. “San” means “to become one with” and “kalpa” means “time” and “subsconscious mind.” Sankalpa is about connecting with your heart’s deepest desires. What are yours?

I am mulling over a few words. “Openness” and “courage” floated through my asanas this morning.

For all these traditions, creativity seems best fostered if there is some alone time and some with special people-outside if possible. Finding some moments to add a little bubbly, music, dancing, and laughter make things even richer. Those four elements are harbingers of celebration for many occasions. Rituals that should be repeated. Often.

Here we are sharing some of our favorite rituals with our wedding guests on September 17. Bubbly and chocolate chip cookies! There was even dancing coerced by the happy couple.

Joe and I also like to sort through photos and events, trying to remember all the places the past year took us: physically, mentally, emotionally, spiritually. It is a joy to rediscover or recount the highs- or celebrate the lows that we slogged through and survived.

As I wrote in my last post, I am hoping to continue to consolidate our journey southward into this blog, as we pause for three weeks in Fort Pierce for repairs, water maker installation and preparations for the next leg. As this new year begins, I will continue to look back while catching the reflections of now and planning for the future. Where did your last year take you? Where are you headed? What is/are your intentions? What is your sankalpa?

Lest I leave you with the impression that we are all work here, I include this photo. My boat neighbor, Anne-Marie and I danced with this 94-year old gentleman(Jerry) at the Fort Pierce Farmers’ Market this morning. He also had a bag of greens. Proof that greens and dancing keep you young. :)

The last post left the reader at sundown at beautiful Mile Hammock Bay in North Carolina, with one surviving headset(marriage savers) and a bowed head. I also reflected that I should have reveled in the beauty and calm, not knowing what to lay ahead over the next few days.

What follows are the notes from my log the very next day:

Monday, November 14, 2022: It was a Monday! Beautiful but chilly sunrise. 35 degrees F windchill! Up at 6 am; off by 6:40. Steaming along and boom- hit bottom at marker 66B, unmarked shoal. Dredging, prayers and a little colorful language followed. Thirty minutes of Joe’s expertise and determination behind the wheel, rocking forward and back and a rising tide and we were off once again, wondering about the state of the keel. As we worked our way free, boats passed less than 50 feet from us in deep water, a handful of wide-eyed sailors shouted their supreme sympathies but were unable to offer meaningful help without also joining us in the muck. A note here: we do have SeaTow, a marine towing service that covers the United States. They and Boat US are the AAA of the coastal waters and ICW. You may have to wait hours but they will come and pull you free(but not for free! :)). That service ends outside the United States.

The rest of the day, we carefully threaded Adiona between the shoals. We passed two swing bridges that were not timed for sailboats, leaving us circling before the bridges with a pack of assorted water vessels.

Some drama dominated Channel 16 as a beat-up and unmarked power boat sped by all boaters for miles. People shouted at one another and the silent, sort of sinister boat operator over the airwaves as the captain blew by one vessel after another. One vhf handler labeled the boater as a “terrorist” and heckled the Coast Guard to some possible action. The boat flagrantly flouted the “rules of the road,” passing close to sail and motor boats at high speeds, creating huge wakes that were knocking vessels around, washing shorelines and piers and increasing the likelihood of a mistake. The speedster did not sport a boat name, vessel number or registration, all against rules, which also created confusion as people radioed reports and frustration to the Coast Guard.
We dropped the hook at Wrightsville Beach around 2:30 pm and settled ourselves after a little too much adventure in the last 24 hours. We decided to stay aboard on this windy evening and cozy up for a good night’s sleep.

Just before dusk as we enjoyed our sundowners in the cockpit, a 60-foot sailboat came barreling in, mainsail and jib flying, weaving between sailboats. At first glance we thought this was quite an amazing slalom through the anchorage. A split second later, we realized the boat was out of control and headed right for us. It knocked the sailboat anchored to our starboard side. More salty language could be heard from other boaters now on this Monday. A nearby sailor in a dinghy sped up to the offending sailboat and gently but firmly prodded this boat and its operators to a more isolated and appropriate anchorage given the situation. The captain had sailed into this small, crowded anchorage without an engine, due to mechanical failures. It is still baffling as to why he didn’t choose to drop the hook further away from the crowded anchorage.

Whew! Glad it ended without any apparent damage to boats or people.
The day set on a mackeral sky. What adventures will tomorrow bring?

A favorite mackerel sky snapped on our trip to Maine, June 23, 2021. (Heading southward on the Delaware Bay into a night that turned into a big blow).

Tuesday, November 15:

Last evening, I sent out warnings to boat friends who I knew would be following in our tracks, letting them know about marker 66B. My friend Lisa, who has already sailed both north and south on the ICW, asked if we knew about Bob’s Tracks. We did not. We googled to find out. We found Bob423 Tracks and the corresponding Facebook group, ICW Cruising Guide by Bob423. We downloaded Aquatech Maps, added Bob’s tracks and then the color-coded Army Corps of Engineers depth maps to boot. These charts, installed on Joe’s phone, showed us exactly where to go as we made our way from Wrightsville Beach to Southport, NC. Some of them curved outside the ICW navigational aids and markers but kept us afloat. We are now following a dotted line to Florida! Who knew? Community, on land or sea, holding collective wisdom won by hard-earned experience and investigation is just the best!
Textbook-perfect morning pulling up the anchor(ahem- no need for those marriage savers and broken they remain, although we found a workaround when there is cell reception) and we were off.

Above: Our set-up after we discovered Bob’s Tracks. The chart plotter shows the larger landmarks and gives us important information about location, wind speed and direction and so on. The small B&G allows us to highlight an important piece of data. In this case, it is definitely depth. The phone displays Aquamaps with Bob’s Tracks and the soundings(in color). The dotted line is blue. We kept the phone charged with an extension cord running below deck. All this fancy navigation equipment and we are now just using a PHONE??

Guess where a charging port was installed while I finished this post?(another Fort Pierce project)

Tonight we are tied alongside the pier at Southport Safe Harbor Marina. We’ve walked, planned our route, caught up on laundry, filled up on fuel and water. We had drinks with new friends, Shawn and Nicole, on their catamaran, S/V Aurora. We hope to see them again in the Bahamas.
Tomorrow- first overnight sail of the season. Charleston, here we come!

I get to leave you, dear reader, on a cliffhanger because we never made it to the pier and our restaurant reservations in Charleston. Instead, the next log entry is titled: “It was a Wild Ride!”. To be continued…

On the road, looking for warmer weather. Yup- my kids have let me know the cat-eye glasses are -um-a bit eccentric. I own it.