Arisen

Starting the day off right, with an upright boat:


And here she comes, in all her sodden glory:



She's alive, she's alive!!!

Phoenix-"it's not time to rise yet"

Working to get the boat upright to begin pumping out water:



Hey, that's sort of right!



Aw, Crap


The team ashore, collecting more compressed air and lift bags:


And that's the end of today's story. Tomorrow is a new day, and Phoenix WILL rise again.

Sailing Vessel Phoenix-A Brief History

Phoenix IS the replacement boat for Safari, who (and yes boats are people thank you very much) died in a wicked nor'easter in the fall of 2008.

Phoenix is a work in progress, as can be seen here in this photo, taken last year after her unscheduled trip to the beach:
So far we have enjoyed two fantastic Fourth of Julys and one Classic Yacht Regatta aboard her, racing last year as a sloop, because her mizzen mast was still down for repairs. All of us were looking forward to this year's race, now that she has both masts up:

Unfortunately, while the sailing term 'hull down' does apply here, this is not how the phrase was meant to be used. Nor is this how any boat should ever look.

The eternally optimistic owner, who, along with his crew, will work to refloat Phoenix on tomorrow's low tide, is already planning a strategy to repair whatever happened to sink her, and thinks he'll get the motor de-salted and running in time for the next Classic Regatta, scheduled to be held in three weeks.

Given what I've seen him and his crew accomplish on the other boat disasters, I wouldn't be surprised if that all came together.

And then after that, he'll give up his current job to start a new company: Phoenix Salvage Operations.

Our hearts are with you my friend, and our willing helpful hands, carrying sponges, buckets and blow dryers, are standing by to assist with the drying out process, once Phoenix rises again.

Doom and Gloom

I love listening to all these people who grow their own food and stockpile heaps of necessities in order to be prepared when (insert favorite conspiracy theory here.)

‘I’ll be ready,’ they say. I ask, ‘what if someone comes to take it?’ ‘I have guns’, they say. Really? That’s great. Let’s look at this for a moment. You’re assuming that random strangers are going to be beating down your door in order to steal your stuff.

Hmmmm. No, random strangers don’t know where you live. Who does? Your parents. Siblings. Siblings’ children and spouses. Cousins, Aunts, Uncles, second cousins ten times removed, because haven’t you been faithfully attending family reunions all these years, where you bragged about how prepared you were?

Friends you’ve known from the second grade, and all of their families. Each and every one is someone you care about, on your doorstep, desperate, begging for help. Hundreds of them. What are you going to do? Pick and chose? Shoot them all and fend for yourself?

I ask you, are you really prepared?*








*because it's my blog and I can be a screaming bitch if I feel like it, ok? Which has nothing to with precancerous growth, week long power outages, and a house afire, I swear.