Tuckered Out

Shelburne Bay, VT, N44 25 W 73 15
(08/27/05) We spent last night at Deep Bay near Ponte Au Roche, NY. The cruising guide said that is was the best, most scenic
anchorage on the lake, and that there was a free pump out station. Wrong wrong wrong. The bay has been taken over by a state
park. They installed moorings everywhere so that there is little room left to anchor. They charge $12 for the mooring. The pump
out fee went from $0 to $7, that's more than the commercial marinas charge. Libby went looking for the office to pay our mooring
fee and it took her nearly 2 hours to get back. She had a double dose of walking today.

Anyhow, it was interesting to see all the other boats come in, moor and go about their evening activities. Unfortunately, once
again very few of the neighbors spoke English. It's a shame. I bet the Quebecers would be fun and interesting people to know, but
the language is a barrier. The percentage of French-speaking Quebecers who also speak English much be smaller here than in Europe.
Probably smaller than in France.

Anyhow, I couldn't help but notice that the majority of the Quebec wives on these boats were young, lithe, blonde (natural blonde of
course), and partial to itsy bitsy bikinis, even in cool weather. Even Libby would point out new arrivals if I failed to notice. I
guess the guidebook was partially correct. It was scenic.

Today, Saturday, we sailed South again against a 20-25 knot wind from the South. We had a chance to meet Mary Ann and John Undrill
if we could make it to Essex in time, or a chance to meet up with Jennifer if we could make it to Burlington in time. Alas, we were
too late for both. It was 1730 before we got to Shelburne Bay, and we were both exhausted. It is physically demanding to beat
upwind in those conditions. We did it for 10 hours covering about 40 nautical miles made good (probably 60 miles linear). Libby
conked out around 1830 and she'll sleep till morning.

A side benefit to the strenuous day was that we out-sailed several bigger and faster boats. I had the most fun with one particular
boat. It was a racing boat, and had some kind of low friction silvery coating on the hull. He came up behind us out of nowhere and
was gaining speed on us fast while on the same tack. As we approached Valcour Island, he tried to pass me on the leeward side.
That's when I had the fun. As he pulled abreast, I changed my course 2 degrees to leeward. That gave me another 0.75 knots speed
which matched his speed. It also set me on a course to just clear the cliffs at the south end of Valcour by less than 100 meters.
The guy in the silver boat had the choice of trying to point higher than me, thus loosing speed, or to run his boat onto the rocks
of the island. Hee hee. He chose to come about and abandon the impromptu contest. Probably with a few choice cuss words in
French.

Tarwathie loves the heavy weather, and our skill at handling her improves all the time. Libby is getting to be a better helmsman
than me. Her secret is concentration. When I steer for long hours I daydream and forget to steer the optimum angle.