The Best Laid Plans

"The Best Laid Plans of Mice and Men often go Awry"  

John Steinback

If there is one lesson we have learned from all our reading from forums, articles, books and blogs, it's never plan to be somewhere on a specific date.  This is a downright no-no for sailors and will most certainly get you in a whole heap of trouble.  Sailors must go when the weather is good, when the wind is blowing from the right direction, for how ever many consecutive days necessary.  This is referred to as a "weather window".  Planning is a good thing for all intensive purposes, but they can not dictate your schedule.  You might be stuck in one particular spot for a week or two, just waiting for your window of opportunity.  We must be patient and go with the flow.  How does that saying go? Expect the unexpected.

With that said, we have come up with a PLAN!  Shhhh, say it softly, so it's not heard far and wide.  But I just can't help myself.  Craig is definitely a 'fly by the seat of his pants' kind of guy.  His ADD type personality (I say that in the most kind, loving way) allows him not to care about details until they are absolutely necessary.  I, on the other hand, want to know the 'plan', as far in advance as possible.  It makes me feel better to have a plan, a purpose, a goal shall we say.  I don't fly by the seat of my pants very well (ask Craig).

Well.....here it is....the PLAN for all it's worth - for our east coast jaunt anyway.  We haven't planned past Florida.  You can rest assured that I am working on it.   I feel the need to put a disclaimer here though.  Even though I am a planner at heart, I do realize it will take time to travel from one location to the next.  These are guidelines people, work with me.

June 9 - Craig and Maggie drive to St. Augustine Florida.  

June 11 - Kate, Olivia and I fly to Florida.  

June 12-16 -  Provision, unpack and stow all our personal belongings, food and beverages.  Prepare meals that can be heated up quickly by any member of the crew in case the cook (that's me) is sea sick or hallucinating from the scopolamine patch! 

June 17-26 - Point the bow north to Rhode Island and head out into the Gulf Stream.  Dan, our captain, will be with us for this 5-6 day trip of 24/7 sailing.  This date, of course, is dependent on our weather window.  Remember?  So we have a big cushion of time to get us north just in case the weather does not cooperate.  Once we make it to Rhode Island, we'll drop off Dan (he says he can swim...) and head to Boston on our own.
June 26-July 1 - But first we want to watch the America's Cup in Newport Rhode Island.  

July 2 -Anchor in Boston Harbor, meet up with some Seattle friends, tour some historical sites and revel in the fact that we made it (hopefully unscathed) and our trip has begun!

July 4th - Enjoy the Boston Pops Concert and fireworks on the Charles River (known as one of the top places to see fireworks in the US)

July 5th - Sail up the coast of Maine.  This is still a questionable event for us at this point.  And, where our "plan" could take a major detour.  You see, there are a bazillion (no exaggeration here) lobster pots in the waters off the coast of Maine.  Lobster pots and boat props don't mix well.  And since we have 2 that are 21 feet apart, this makes us really nervous.  If we do make it to Maine, we will stop by and spend a few days with our boat broker Pete and his family (who will be vacationing on land).
July 13 - 25 - Back to Boston, Cape Cod, Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard
July 26 - Craig is scheduled to take his recertification test in Warwick Rhode Island.  Anesthesiologists have to take this test (essentially another board exam) every 10 years.  A necessary evil!
July 27 - August 17 - Back to Cape Cod, Nantucket, Martha's Vineyard - yeah baby!
August 18 - 25 - New York
August 26 - 30 - Philadelphia
August 31 - September 30 - Chesapeake Bay and Washington DC
October 1 - November 1 - North & South Carolina, Georgia
November 2 - 15 - Florida - Head to the Bahamas with a good weather window!

Phew......how does that sound?