Newsletter April 2006

" Butt putty saved the day!"

The famous Pipe Dream Newsletter is back, you’re probably thinking this is your lucky day. The zany crew of Pipe Dream is winding down for their last month in the Bahamas. We haven’t just been sitting on our duffs all this time while in Georgetown -“we was busy.” I’m sitting here typing on the computer trying to build up calluses on my two fingers while watching Jutta mending our bimini shade and sewing a new wind scoop for one of our hatches. The weather is finally beautiful most of the time. Everyone had been talking about the awful weather in the United States this winter. Keep in mind, all that weather moving across the USA usually flows down through Florida and out across the Bahamas. The weather pattern this cruising season has been three or four days of nice weather followed by getting hammered by one cold front after another. This has put a little crimp in our travels but anything is better than working.
The first week of April we made our break and the Pipe Dream crew and Bob and Viv from sailing vessel Varuna buddy boated to Long Island. The people of Long island are the friendliest we have ever encountered in the Bahamas. Jutta and I had signed up for “Captain Bobby’s Budget Tours” given by Bob from Varuna and the price was right (free) and we didn’t even have to buy him a beer! Bob and Viv showed us the finer points of sticking out your thumb every time a car passed. We hitch-hiked all over the island for five days and rode in the back of more pickups than I can count. Our first stop was the settlement of Simms, then we hitched a ride north to Cape Santa Maria Resort, where Keith Richards from the Stones stayed several years ago. What a beautiful resort! We walked around and then went into the beach bar for a cool one. We all ordered a “Kalik” beer, the beer of the Bahamas, and when we got the bill they charged us $5.50 a beer. “Holy Christmas” they must have thought the Vanderbilts were in town. Adios, we are out of here. As luck would have it, there was a little bar on the highway and they had $2.50 Kaliks for the budget minded cruisers. That evening we ate at the Blue Chip Restaurant and had one of the finest dinners we have had in the Bahaman.
The next morning we sailed off to the settlement of Salt Pond. From there we hitched hiked to Dean’s Landing and snorkeled the deepest Blue Hole in the World, over 600 feet deep. After the dive we had to go to Mac’s Conch Bar for food and refreshments. In the afternoon Bob’s Budget Tours took us to explore some underground caves. We just barely had time to clean up for Happy Hour at the local hangout. The following day we caught a ride to Clarence Town and attended a kids’ sailing regatta. A storm was closing in on us and we had to bid Bob and Viv adieu (for those of you in Phoenix that’s French for bye-bye). Jutta’s son Brandon was due to arrive in Georgetown in a few days and we had to get back and beat the weather.
Brandon arrived on Pipe Dream and had five full days in Paradise. The night he arrived he got the Bahama Baptism. It was blowing 30 knots in the anchorage and we put his luggage in garbage bags, gave him a foulie jacket and had him put on a bathing suit on the dock and then headed for Pipe Dream in the dinghy. All were wet but we made it. The next day we found some shelter from the wind and waves in another anchorage. It was time we got off the boat to explore. We took Brandon to the “Chat and Chill”, the local beach bar and cruiser hangout. Brandon was hungry and got a fish sandwich and Jutta and I just had a Kalik. Big mistake! Brandon spent the next 24 hours hugging the porcelain god. We fixed him up with some butt putty we keep in our medical bag. “Welcome to the Bahamas Man.” Brandon had a wonderful three days left on Pipe Dream. Sometimes it’s fun to see a lawyer suffer!
Our days in Georgetown are drawing to a close. The last event before sailing out of the Exuma chain was the Family Island Regatta which is a four day racing event of the original style Bahamian sailing boats. Large island freighters were bringing the colorfully painted boats from every island. With a sign “Need Crew?” taped to my chest I volunteered to be “rail meat” on some of the boats. The race boats come in three different sizes: “C” class, the smallest, thru “A” class, the largest. The “A”class boats are about 20 feet long and have a 60 foot mast and a boom which is about 30 feet long. These boats have the largest sail I have ever seen. A weighted keel is built in but with such a large sail the only way to keep them upright is with a “pry”. The “pry” is a 3 x 10 inch plank about 12 feet long of which the “A” boats have two. They slide them out the side of the boat and five large men sit suspended over the water on each plank, that’s 10 bodies hanging over the water sometimes flying 10 to 12 feet above the water. The A-class boats have a 13 to 17 man crew, depending on the wind speed that day. This is why they call my position “rail meat”, we hang out over the water to keep the boat from tipping over and at maximum speed. Four days of racing and four days of straight partying just about wore us out. Sliding up and down on those planks took its toll on my sensitive behind. Thank God we had some diaper rash ointment in our medical kit! But, you know what they say about when the going gets tough?
Jutta and I have the month of May to travel north covering some new parts of the Bahamas. It seems our insurance company has a problem with us being down here during “Hurricane Season”. I thought a hurricane was a drink I had in New Orleans. By June first we must have the boat above the Florida/Georgia boarder. We have big plans for this summer, you will hear about them soon. Keep those big checks coming and remember not all the poor people live in the ghettos. Some have sailing yachts!

From the Decks of Pipe Dream

Ferdy and Jutta