So I’m sitting in the lounge of the Royal Irish Yacht Club just outside of Dublin as the rain continues to fall, with a pint at my side. It is Bloom’s week here so a pint and a keyboard are just the ticket. Nancy and I arrived here by quite an interesting route that I’m sure you are dying to hear about.

When we last met we were eager to get back to the boat so we boarded an Amtrak sleeper to New York where we spent a couple lovely days wandering around near the South Street Seaport and went to a couple of haunts from my Mystic Whaler days including Fraunce’s Tavern, the oldest in the city.

We enjoyed ourselves so thoroughly that we are already booked for a return voyage in the fall. Surprisingly our spacious queen-sized room with a balcony and all the food and drinks cost barely more than a business-class seat with tepid food on an airliner. If you have the time to spare you are foolish to fly. I even spent a cloudy afternoon with the entire aft deck to myself soaking in the spa while Nancy took tea in the tea room. We even went to the gym to workout most days. After breakfast in bed of course.

After seven relaxing days aboard ship we boarded a bus to Heathrow Airport for a quick flight to Cork back in Ireland and Bob’s your uncle, right? Wrong! Apparently we were never legally in the country last year because we arrived by a non-standard route. So after much wrangling with the immigration officer, I asked what we can do to correct the error and he said, “oh, I’ll just put you in the system now.” So, a bit of a tedious series of bus rides, all very fine in their way, we arrived back at Casey’s Inn in old Baltimore. We were welcomed back with music and a pint and set to work putting ole ZEPHYR back in commission.

Oh dear, what a winter in Ireland can do to a boat! Of course we knew the topsides would be a mess from sitting in the yard for six months, but when we opened up: ARGHH! The amount of mildew on every surface was quite disheartening to say the least. Oh well, the sun was shining and the weather was beautiful so we closed it up and went to town where we were greeted by many friends from last year. The next day we girded our loins and went to do battle. Several days later ZEPHYR was as good as new and we headed down the Ilen River with the last sun we have seen.

Then the troubles began! Upon energizing the fridge and freezer: No cold! Upon turning on the heater: No heat! No worries, a quick call to SMS in Seattle confirmed that oh crap! We’d have to send the heater in for repair. Instead, we had them send us a new unit for the same cost and Joe at SMS was quick to act and we had heat and hot water inside of a week. Then Stephen came with his implements of destruction for refrigeration, and after much head scratching and shrugging of shoulders found that the 1/8” return lines for both units had chafed through and released all the coolant. A quick brazing job with 1/4” sleeves, vacuum and charge and we have ice and milk! All the while we were enjoying the hospitality of lovely Baltimore. And Nancy became the queen of pantry meals.

Oh, I didn’t mention that the last entry in the log book before we left last fall was, “the heater still doesn’t work.” How did I not remember that bit of crucial information? Anyway, after the wooden boat show we headed east toward the Irish Sea. We had a lovely stop in Kinsale for a couple of days then hopped around the coast in 6 hour increments to work with the tides, which can be up to 6 knots with or against you. A minor setback with fuel-feed issues which I resolved by genius (read; luck) and here we are in lovely Dun Laoghaire (Dun leery for you non Gaels out there). We’ll hang around for a few days and participate in some Bloom’s Day activities. If you aren’t familiar with Bloom’s Day it is June 16, that’s the day that James Joyce’s character in Ulysses wandered around Dublin (see Book Nook).

So, stay tuned and keep in touch. It’s been great to meet so many new folks along the way. It continues to be a great world and beautiful journey.

So, people often ask us who does what on the boat. Well, many chores, like shopping and cleaning we do together. Laundry also is a joint effort; Nancy runs the machine, I do the folding. Nancy generally does the cooking, but only because she enjoys it. Personally, I think chopping things with a sharp knife is therapeutic for her. I do the dishes. We both raise and trim sails and adjust our course as we are apt to do while on watch. But when it comes to the more technical aspects of voyaging there is a definite division of labor. Nancy is what they call in the old Royal Navy the Sailing Master (mistress): She does all of our weather monitoring and our route planning which is far too technical for me. What I usually hear is, “wind bad, stay. Or, wind good, go”. I, on the other hand, am responsible for keeping everything working so we get to our destination in one piece (or at least all the pieces are in one place). It also is fairly complicated and Nancy usually hears, “boat broke, sell. Or, boat fixed, keep.” I hope that clears things up for you.