May 31. Just two weeks to go.

Written by Jack van Ommen on May 31st, 2019
 https://come https://cometosea.us/?p=5741 tosea.us/?p=5741

An invitation for my friends to attend the send-off. This generous gesture comes from the new operators, of Eyre Baldwin’s marine yard in Cape Charles, Nicole Jacques and JB Turner. This will also be an opportunity for the new principals to introduce themselves to the community here in Cape Charles since their March 1st take-over.
“Fleetwood” will be moored at the foot of the ramp at the west end of the Cape Charles Yacht Center. June 14 is “Flag Day” and she will be decked out accordingly. Father Michael Breslin and Deacon Don Donovan plan to attend to perform the blessing. I expect that there will be live music and singing from my musician friends. And on this subject, please, no trinkets to bring me, just songs to sing me… (as in “Truly, truly fair”). I am sailing dry and except for a card or a garter belt there is little room on my 30 foot boat. You can do me and yourself a favor purchasing “SoloMan” and/or “The Mastmakers’ Daughters”. I will have these available for signing.
It will be a bitter sweet farewell. Another “Wrecks to Riches” experience. Not unlike the previous wreck in 2013 and similar serious mishaps that turned out to be rich blessings. Like, for instant, replacing the boat engine in 2010. In the worst place I could have chosen, a small village on the Romanian Danube, far from any civilization or repair facilities, an unknown language, etc. It took nearly a year of hard work. Yet, it turned out to be one of the most satisfying experiences. My first impression of Caper Charles, once the wreck was towed in, was that I needed to close the hole in the hull quick as possible and take it to Portsmouth on the mainland for the repairs. But I quickly became wise to the best kept secret of this dead-end railroad ghost town. I will miss the magnificent sunsets, the Carolina Wrens, Mocking birds singing in the early morning when I was on the hard in the meadow. The smell of the Loblolly Pines, the Honey Suckle, the tidal sloughs. But especially the friendships I made here. Seldom have I been anywhere for a longer period where I felt so welcome and where so many share my faith and aspirations. I will miss the community at the Saint Charles R.C. church here and singing with the Episcopalians in the Hungars Church choir. I will miss the many great artistic and musical programs at the Lemon Tree Gallery with the appropriate slogan: “Small Town, Big Art”.
I will be back to visit. My youngest daughter and her family live in Chesapeake, Va.
My Plans: Weather permitting and Inshalla, I shall leave Cape Charles on Saturday June 15th morning. Heading north on the Atlantic with stops along the way to St. John’s, New Foundland as my departure for the crossing to Ireland. I’d like to sail up to Edinburgh where my oldest granddaughter and her Scottish husband live. Her mother, my oldest daughter Lisa, will be visiting there in July. From there I’d take the canal through Scotland to the North Sea and cross over to the Netherlands. There are two main events there on September 8 is the 75th commemoration of the evacuation of the SS concentration camp Vught. Our mother was one of the 600 women prisoners in that transport, ahead of the imminent approach of the allied forces. You can read more about it at:  https://cometosea.us/?p=5741          The other date is October 4, when the YC “de Schinkel” has its centennial celebration. This is the club where I learned to sail from my uncle in the early fifties and where I was a guest and later a member when “Fleetwood” was in Holland between 2009 and 2013. October is pushing the threshold to sail to the Canary Islands through the Atlantic for a December/January return crossing of the Atlantic. I may move the boat to Portugal earlier and fly back to Amsterdam. Or take the inland route through France and into the Mediterranean, like I did in October 2013. My longer term plans still include a sail to Carthagena, Colombia for a bus ride, with frequent stops, along the South American Pacific coast to southern Chile and Bolivia. None of my plans are etched in stone. I may end up making a left turn up the St. Lawrence.
You can follow me: See details in the right upper corner of this blog. The Garmin In Search updates my location every 10 minutes. I will from time to time send a short post to Facebook from the In Search.
I have uploaded all my slide shows and videos about the circumnavigation on You Tube and categorized them in separate playlists, please, take a look at: https://www.youtube.com/view_all_playlists?o=U&ar=2  Since I posted in 2016 to You tube I have had close to 25,000 views. If you subscribe to my you tube videos, you will receive notifications of any new uploads. So far, I have not found any need to monetize these with advertisements. I am sure that I could have walked away from the wreck and purchased a good used polyester sailboat for the money I have spent on the repairs. But I still have some savings and love this unique boat. And the new supplement of friends are a free gift.
Until now, I started videos in 2016, it has been a hodge-podge. I will continue sorting the rest soon. Quite a few taken here in cape Charles. I have removed the slide shows/videos I had on this web site. They had to be uploaded in order to see them and that takes time and memory. I will update the links in the books that have a number of them to show the new You Tube links. The Word and PDF files will remain linked to this web site.
For those who can’t make it to the June 14 party, I say, farewell. Keep me in your prayers. I am just as curious and excited to find out where the next post will be posted.




 

2 Comments so far ↓

  1. Wish you well and I sincerely hope to
    meet you when you are back in NL.

    Best regards,

    Hans van Ommen

  2. Jack ward says:

    Jack…you are often in my thoughts and will continue to be in them as you continue your wonderful life adventure!
    Fair winds and following seas!
    Jack ward