Newsletter March 2006

"She’s not a rock star but her head got bigger!"

We’re baaaaaaaaaaack, anchored in Georgetown Harbor in the Exuma Island chain. It has been a great month for the zany crew of Pipe Dream. In last months newsletter the Pipe Dream crew was on the way to Georgetown. After island hopping for five days, and playing with friends, we finally reached Georgetown on March 3. We sailed into this secluded, protected bay thinking we were the only boat in paradise. The anticipation was building as we entered the anchorage. Out in front of us we could just make out masts of a few other sailboats, almost 400 of them. The 2006 Georgetown Cruisers’ Regatta had begun which meant 10 days of Pipe Dream Party Time. This year we participated in a many more events than in the previous year. To begin with, we crewed once again on the racing boat “Millennium Falcon”, owned by our good friends Bob and Bev from Toronto, hoping for at least 3rd place like last year. We were ready, we had practiced, and we could taste the bottle of rum for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place finishers. Well, we finished last. All was not lost, of all the 28 boats in the race we had the best after race party!
Next, Jutta and I entered the team kayak race. Last year we took a third place against 20 kayaks all manned by teenagers. This year Jutta and I had been exercising for the race and we came in fourth place looser!! Those damn teenagers, where was the senior division? After that we entered the scavenger hunt with two other couples. Each couple needed to have their own dinghy because the list of items we needed were spread over the entire Georgetown Bay with only 90 minutes for the hunt. Hurray, we took a second place out of twenty teams. It was about time. Another memorable success for the crew of Pipe Dream. All in all we had a terrific time
. One of the highlights to this year’s travels to the Bahamas was the Bahamian Music and Heritage Festival held the week after the cruising regatta. This three day festival brought musicians from all over the islands, many of them recording stars. The Bahamas Tourist Bureau asked the cruisers if they would like to present a band playing music at the festival. The group was made up of John, keyboard and bass, Colin, lead guitar and bass, Bob, guitar, and Ashley, lead singer, and Jutta, believe it or not, percussion and back up singer. The group was called “White Folks on Boats.” They were the only white entertainers. “White Folks on Boats” opened for the headliner on Saturday night and brought the house down. The crowd of about two thousand were going wild. As you can probably guess it was hard to live with Jutta for a few days. It isn’t easy being a big star!!!! A couple days of boat jobs brought her back down to earth. It’s easy to be humble when you’re polishing stainless steel.
So far, the crew of Pipe Dream has made one trip out of Georgetown to visit Cat Island and Conception Island. Our trip was cut short due to bad weather. Our hopes are to visit many other islands before returning to the USA in June. We hope the weather Gods will be favorable.
As for “El Capitan”, that’s me, Ferdy. I also had several milestones during the month of March. To begin with we had a very large anniversary party on Pipe Dream to celebrate the 20th anniversary of my 39th birthday. If fact this will be the last birthday I will welcome. If any of you have been remiss in purchasing my present don’t feel bad I will just take the money!!!!!! The second milestone for me is I am now taking Yogurt, some of you call it Yoga, but what do you know? Every morning I roll out of bed at 6:00 Am and are at my yoga class by 7:30. I haven’t bought any crystals yet but I am thinking about levitation, then I won’t need a dinghy.
Keep those cards and e-mail coming we love to hear from you. It makes us feel good that you have enough time from your busy wourlk, no, worlk, no, sorry I can’t remember how to spell it, schedule. Remember to keep the money coming, keep in mind, a dollar a day keeps Ferdy away.

From the Decks of Pipe Dream

Ferdy and Jutta