Some clarifications

I have some clarifications of some information given in previous blogs. The first question we had was "what is the ARC". Well ARC stands for Atlantic Ralley for Cruisers. It is really not a race although it is said that whenever two sailboats are going in the same direction it usually turns into a race. They left the Canary Islands on route to Rodney Bay Nov 24. The fastest boats arriving in about 12 days and the family cruisers in about 18-21 days. There were 242 boats with over 1200 people including 34 children, under the age of 16, travelling 2700 miles across the Atlantic. Thirty six nations were represented. The marina is buzzing with people and vendors and music and an award ceremony will be held tomorrow. We are anchored behind and off from the finish line and it is fun to sit back and watch the boats arrive sometimes missing the line and having to tack around and come on again. The winds have been very light the past few days and often they are motoring across the finish line. 

Secondly we are not sailing anywhere for the time being. We are having the standing rigging replaced which are the wires that hold the mast upright on the deck of the boat. Ours being made of stainless steel rod as apposed to multi stranded wire has to be made in the US and sent by ship to us. It was supposed to be a five week process.  We have the mast down and laying on the hard (the ground) in the boat yard. Our sails are in the bags and all our new lines are still in the bags. We have a wire and a couple insulators (loaned to us from Dennis the weather friend ) to make our Single Side Band radio work somewhat well. We have a temperamental light Brian has tied off the wind generator pole to provide an anchor light so we can be seen at night in the anchorage. We have still not heard anything from the people in Florida about a date our rigging will be ready to ship. Our supplier here said they would contact before the weekend but I guess they didn't say what weekend. As we have often said there certainly are worse spots to be stuck in! 

I have been making some Christmas treats to deliver around on Christmas morning. Super simple! Just as we were leaving the apt in Oct I spied the Christmas lights we had for the balcony in the apartment. I squeezed them into the suitcase without Brian seeing and pulled them out as a surprise last night.  I think the picture of the lights is too dark but it will give you an idea. We have been sitting up the fore deck the past few nights and watching the meteor showers. There has been really light winds so it is lovely to sit under the stars.