The Deed is Done

  We hate to say it but Freedom is on the hard. This was like having a tooth pulled. It was back in October of 2010 that we moved aboard and while that starting point seems quite distant, it tends to lend insight into what we have been about for the last eight months.
 As far as the act of  having the tooth pulled goes we have come to the conclusion that setting aside one day to remove items, and finish cleaning up is totally insufficient. It's not as bad as moving from one apartment to another excluding furnishings, it's worse. The reason being we are the landlords and we know what we need to have when we return. It's not like we can give up a month's rent in security when we walk away (not that anyone would want to do that these days). So when we go down this path again we'll make sure we have at least two days set aside to unload. Note this does not include washing her down, changing oils and all of the other mechanical preparations for storage. Adding all of that up will extend the time required significantly. But as they say it is what it is, and Freedom is taking a well deserved break.
 We put 158 hours on the engines this year and all things considered it went extremely well. Freedom covered roughly 1200 nautical miles over all sorts of water. That translates to an average of about 7.6 nm per hour. Not bad for a 25 year old boat with ancient Detroit 6-71TI technology driving her. Most of it was shallow but we had the deep big water also. You know it's big water when you see the U.S. Navy heading out into the Atlantic and points East. You also know it's big water when the swells come at you and there are no harbours to duck into. We got to know this feeling well on our way to Royal Island from Little Harbour in the Abacos.  This was probably the most risky passage we had given its distance from the States but the risk was mitigated by the notion we traveled with others we knew. At least most of the way. Well, ok, it was only over the most remote sections. Anyway, it all went well and fortunately it went well for those folks also.
 But it's all good. We had a great time traveling. As long as one studies the available forecast data and looks out for changes the chances are quite good that a pleasant passage will result.
 This year we ran into many familiar faces in the Abacos and rekindled several friendships. We spent hours on beaches without another soul around and found many unique shells to add to our collection. We also finally reached the Exumas on the third attempt. It seemed that Freedom was not ready the first two years and she groaned a bit this time but whenever we called on her to deliver she did so without hesitation and most importantly she did so with ease. In spite of some rough water between Fleeming Channel and Nassau, water spouts of West End, and shallow water around the Florida Keys, Freedom kept plodding along smoothly.
 Along with Freedom being such a good sport this year, the weather turned out to be exceptional. We found that out of the last three years, this year was best. Many folks that have Wintered over proclaimed this year the best out of the last five! We'll take it!
 But now it's time to turn our attention up North again. And with that, we'll probably slow down the rate of updates until we get back to Freedom. So with that we'll see y'all later.