Limerick

A Limerick
For Becky and the Captain
By Becky Lathrop
not an English major nor a poet

From Tacoma to Frisco she set sail
Seven days with hardly a gale
Through the needs of the crew
Whether blankets or stew
Queen Becky was there without fail.

In the Pacific Cup they enter the race
Becky and five Dicks set the pace
They make Kaneohe Bay
Where their friends they say "hey"
All are happy to finish fourth place.

In a week Becky's back at her post
This time she knows she must give it her most
The fisherman says no
But Becky she goes
Out where she knows there's no coast.

Oh the days on the sea they are long
Even with stories and song
The minutes they try
To slowly tick by
Becky thinks maybe her trip is all wrong.

Some days on the ocean are fun
Calm winds and a back-warming sun
A swim in the ocean
Caused quite a commotion
But it's back to the rack when she's done

On four, off four, then six
Sleeping and sailing don't mix
On watch rain or shine
Becky won't whine
Even when the sails need a fix.

Two durados Becky caught on the hook
Then three tunas another day took
With whiskey were soused
Then Denny cleaned as he doused
The fish taste as good as they look.

Denny, thanks for fixing the boat must be said
The noises, the water, the head
For trimming the sails
So we all wouldn't wail
Taking us ultimately home to our bed.

Denny, you are our captain by day and by night
In sailing you clearly delight
While Miss Becky sails
Some enthusiasm pails
To the joy you get from the fright.

Yes, Becky's the host with the most
I'd follow her to any coast
But I'd rather a car
That didn't go too far
For I'll happily resign my Kokomo Post!

Day 19, Sunday Aug 24

I finally can get this computer to work. We plan on arrivng at Delin Docks at 1:00 pm. We are very fortunate and thankful to have such good friends and family that prayed for us as we did have a safe journey. Thanks for all your well wishes and comments. Glad to be home!!

Becky

Day 18, Sat Aug 23

We finally arrived in Neah Bay! There was a steet fair going on. Becky and Will suprized me with an early birthday treat. They bought smoked salmon, cheese burger and fries - exactly what I have been craving! Then they surprized me with my forvorite - ICE CREAM!!! Oh, so good! They gave me a card and present along with a very special limeric created by Becky L. Thank you so much Becky and Will for making me feel special and a birthday I won't forget!

Becky

Day 16, Thurs Aug 21

Finally the wind has died down to the mid teens. Much more comfortable. This afternoon the wind stopped so we are motoring hoping to get a little more wind as we don't have enough fuel to get to Neah Bay. As Captain Denny say's, "You know when we are there cause we will be out of fuel!" It looked like we were going to be back to the dock Saturday night, but now with no wind and motoring at 5-6 knots it is looking like Sunday afternoon.

Becky
Location: N 46.46.704 W 129.57.747
Heading: 30 degrees
Wind: none
Distance to Neah Bay: 234 miles
Sea Temp: 58.3

Day 15, Wed Aug 20

Very windy. 25+ knots of wind.

Aug 14, Tues Aug 19

We will be in Sun or Monday - all is good, computer problems, every one having fun and looking forward to getting to the dock. The last two days we have averaged 165 miles and we have good winds now. we have had good luck fishing and come up with some new boat games. we have lots of time to do projects as the hydro vane drives the boat all the time

Denny
location 44=19, 137-15
sea temp 59.7

Day 13, Mon Aug 18

Very windy. We are ready to be home!

Day 12, Sun Aug 17

We are having computer problems. It is very slow. The wind has turned and it is behind us now. Much more comfortable. We are all ready for home as I can smell the mist in the hair and feel we are getting closer. Denny thinks 6 days until we get to Neah Bay. OK, mark this location as a hot spot for tuna. We just pulled in three tuna!

Becky
Location: N 42.05.095 W 142.46.591
Heading 29 degrees mag
Sea Temp 62.6
Speed: 7-8 knots
Wind: 18-20

Day 11, Sat Aug 16

Day 11, Sat Aug 16. Things are looking up, 954 miles to go, under 1000. Becky and Will are drying out, My Becky has decided not to jump off the boat, and i am doing Captain things. It has been rough the last 2 days, we spent 30 hrs at plus 25 and 7 hrs at 35 to 44 kts of true wind. you could spit at the ground and it would leave the boat going up. today its 17 kts on the nose and tomorrow it should move behind us. how bad was it? Becky said two rosaries and spoke to every dead person she knew asking for help. Will and I have extra beer rations if the sun comes out. as we haven't been drinking. a plus, we haven't used any of our extra fuel.

Denny
location 40-49-280 144=22=129sea temp 64

New update

Got a call from Kokomo today around 12:30, they have made it to Commencement Bay, everybody doing fine. More info tomorrow!

Update......

Hi everyone it’s me Shawn.
According to Becky’s last email/blog from Friday, we think it’s safe to say that their computer did get wet and they are not able to write. So we assume as soon as they have reception on their cell phones they will give us a call. And then we will have a live update for everyone.

Day 10, Friday Aug 15

It started at 6 pm and went for 18 hours - a gale storm. We saw steady winds 35-40 knots. We tore to shreds the number 3 jib. We currently have the storm jib, which we should have had earlier but by then it was dark and very windy. It has finally slowed down 20-25 knots. We are all sore and tired. The computer got wet so I'm not sure it I can send updates.

Becky
N 40.09.995 W 146.09.023

Day 9, Thurs Aug 14

Still raining and windy with true 14 on our nose. Not a very comfortable ride. The storm hit us at 6 pm and it is now 2 am with winds true 25+ non-stop. It feels like a hurricane below. At least my heat rash is going away.

Becky

Location: N 39.13.984 W 148.20.312

Day 8, Wednesday Aug 13

Day 8 - YUK! Rain, Rain, Rain. You can feel we are getting closer to home. I just ended a 6 hour shift (12 pm - 6 pm) by myself, in the rain. Denny needed some sleep so I took it on (I know, I'm so nice). As I type this, Will and Becky are out in the cold and rain while Denny and I are having some rum with cheese and crackers in our warm cozy room. I just took a hot shower and got into my PJ's. Denny tells me we saw 20+ ft seas, 6-8' waves. This was pretty scary as I've never seen this before and it is just what I thought the ocean should look like. Once you are on top of the world, then you come down and it seems like forever before you come up again. We had a flying fish land in the cockpit. We turned on the light and saw this fish flapping all over. So we threw it overboard. Then we had a bird flying around the top of the mast near the wind instruments and all of a sudden it made a terrible sound and left. In the morning we had no point on the wind instrument, it must have stabbed the bird, oh well, something more to replace when we get home. The wind is on our nose again, two reefs in the main with the number 3 jib, speed is 7-8 knots, wind 13-14 knots. We are hoping to celebrate our half way party tomorrow night. And hoping for nicer weather.

Becky

Sea Temp: 71.4
Air Temp: 70
Location: N 38.30.591 W 151.37.363
Time: 7:30 pm (Hawaiian)

day sevenTuesday, August 12, 2008 6:46 PM

ITS MY TIME NOW, Its two am, the stars are out like you can only know if you have been here. the wind is blowing 16 to 20 kts, the seas are 3 ft and the boat is going 7.6 kts with a reefed main and a #3. the hydrovane self steering is driving and everyone else is a sleep. My shift will be over soon so I have pored a small glass of rum given to us by Don And Debbie McAdams, It was good at the dock but now it is even better. All the racer in me wants to check the sails but theirs a new me being created each day, the crewser, so new i cant spell it yet. and the cruiser is relaxed, I sleep at night knowing the boat is sailing at ease. and i laugh more in the day. I even talk to Becky as my mind has slowed down. problems come slower and are easier to fix. But theirs one i cant fix by myself. Pat, if you could find a way to get that case of wine i gave you out here, I would be grateful.
Denny

3 in the afternoon, Becky is making bread, Will and Becky are on watch and i just got done with a 2 hr nape. things have changed today. it is raining. I'm back after getting hit with a pound of flower. Becky assures me it was an accident but i;m not so sure. took some time to clean up.

sea temp 76.2
air 77
location n 36.53.435 w 154.20.107

Day 6 Monday August 11

Day 6 we are past the Pacific High, it took 30 hours of motoring with no wind, now the wind is NE at 15 true, speed 6-7 knots with waves on our port side not yet directly behind us so we are rocking sideways at times. I went to bed at 6 am and woke up at 8 am to a pound, pound, pound. I looked through my hatch window to see Denny taking a hammer to the electric winch, pounding as hard as he could, this did not look good, so I rolled over and went back to sleep. As it turns out, while hoisting up the mainsail there was a wrap that was not noticed and it just got worse until there was one big mess. Needless to say we will have to do some work on the starboard side electric winch when we get home. We are having fresh fish for dinner on a beautiful sunny day! Denny told us today we are one third of the way finished - homeward bound baby!

Becky

Sea Temp: 80.2
Air Temp: 83
Location: N 34.52.533 W 155.53.481
Time: 5:00 pm (Hawaiian)

Day 5, Sunday August 10

Day 5 - We are in the Pacific High. This means little to no wind with very calm seas if any, almost just like the Puget Sound on a beautiful sunny day. Last night we saw a ring around the moon a "moon bow". Then in the morning we saw a ring around the sun. So cool! Denny has been our hero lately - why? Because, he fixed our head after taking it all apart it now works again, then we didn't have water pressure and he found the leak and fixed it, he is Chef Denny and fixed us up some fabulous fish tacos that were so yummy! It appeared to be an uneventful day, then all of a sudden while motoring along nice and peacefully, the motor stopped. Not to worry, we have Captain Denny! He put on his snorkel gear and dove into the wild blue sea, swam under the boat with his knife in his mouth and cut away the fishing net to save us all!! Captain Denny HE'S OUR HERO! Then the "Becky's" decided the water looked inviting, so we hooked hands and jumped in together - oh my - it was so nice! We are going to have a very relaxing and enjoyable lasagna dinner. Thinking of all of our friends and family, missing you all!

Becky

PS - Soon to be published as a comic book - Captain Denny!

Location: N 33.04.874 W 157.17.238
Sea Temp: 86.4 degrees
Air Temp: Perfect
Time: 6:00 pm (Hawaiian)

Day 4, Saturday August 9

Day 4 - Denny lost another hat! NO, just kidding!

Are we having fun yet? YES! We caught a fish! It was a durado and it was so big is barley fit into Gregg's cooler. We celebrated Becky & Will's 28th Wedding Anniversary today. We had smoked salmon & crackers for an appetizer, yummy fresh durado, brocolie & a green salad for dinner along with a fine bottle of red wine. We are having chocolate orange pound cake with fresh peaches for dessert. We had a great celebration with Becky and Will and we are happy to be here with them. They are a great couple!

Becky

Location: N 31.13.722 W 158.12.155
Sea Temp 83.7
Air Temp 82
Time: 7:00 pm (Hawaiian)


Day 4, the winds have gone light and are head way is down to about 4.5 kts. The pacific high is north west of us and if the wind says light we will start the iron jenny tonight. Everyone is in good spirits and looking forward to the fish dinner we will have tonight. So far the boat systems seem to be working as they should and the hydrovane driving system we bought has done better than we thought it could. It is truly a set it and forget it item. Denny

Day 1, Thursday Aug 7

Day 1, Denny lost his Tilly hat! I know, "Oh, No!"

We left the dock at 8 am on Wednesday. Headed with the nose on our bow with the storm jib and one reefed main. Winds were a constant 20 true gusting up to 30 at night. Average speed is 8 knots. Our life saver is the hydro vane - absolutely love it! We turned her on and it works like a charm! It handles the rounding up nicely. The waves are on our starboard side so at least it isn't as bad a ride as I thought. Now don't get me wrong - WE ARE TIPPING! How much you ask? Enough that I have to push off the seat as to not fall off, enough that I'm sure the port bow is in the water at times but I don't know for sure cause I won't look, enough so every 30-40 minutes you get a huge wave drenching you. Enough of that - are we having fun yet? ok, not quite yet, but soon! Will is sick, the Becky's are tired and sore from the movement and Denny is fine and saw a whale. Oh, almost forgot our midnight crisis, the jib sheet broke.

Can't get this to go threw. Thurs. Got a fish n our line, but couldn't get it in. 6:00 pm just saw a 44' Cutter rig sailboat. Waved to him and spoke on the VHF radio. He is from Japan and is heading to Hawaii. Location now: N 25.51.276 W 158.53.828

Becky

Monday & Tuesday, August 4 & 5

We spent the whole day shopping in Waikiki and having lunch. Denny has decided that I should start a charm braclet and get a charm from each of the locations we travel. So I got my first charm of a pinapple with diamonds. It is so pretty! We left the marina fuel dock at 5:00 pm with a full tank (50 gallons) plus 40 gallons of diesel cans. Denny is wanting to be ready for the high (no wind). We put up our storm jib and reefed the main and had tacos for dinner. The wind died down so we stored the jib and motor sailed until the wind hit us around 2 am and we had quite the ride for a couple of hours. We arrived in Nawiliwili Marina on Kauai at 8 am. We all took a nap, cleaned up and had lunch. We are relaxing and getting ready to leave for home in the morning.

Becky

Sea Temp: 88.9 degrees
Air Temp: too hot

Sunday, August 3

We have had such a nice week here in Oahu! The people here are so friendly and helpful. A little bit of sunshine doesn't hurt either! Last Friday's awards night our team won an award for the best looking shirts! Will take it! We took 19 friends and family on our boat over to a sand bar. What a site that was! We pulled up to the sand and steped off. The back end of the boat was in 15 feet of water. Everyone is flying home today. Becky & Will Lathrop are helping us take the boat home. We left the dock around 11 am with one reef in the main and the storm jib going 7-8 knots in 17 knots of true wind. We are heading for Waikiki Yacht Club where we have a slip for the night. When we arrived in Waikiki we saw the Kellar family on shore waving us on and greeting us at the dock. Then came Roger, Pat & Tyler to say "hi". We are so lucky to have such good friends!