{"id":2851,"date":"2017-10-02T12:10:57","date_gmt":"2017-10-02T16:10:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/helplink.com\/CLAFC\/?p=2851"},"modified":"2017-10-02T12:14:02","modified_gmt":"2017-10-02T16:14:02","slug":"a-fond-farewell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/helplink.com\/CLAFC\/?p=2851","title":{"rendered":"A fond farewell"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"_IGP5808<\/a>\"IMGA0018\"<\/a>End of season is always a hard time. It\u2019s physically hard just getting the boat stripped down and ready for winter. It\u2019s functionally hard as we try and keep our living space livable. But it\u2019s the emotional side that weighs the heaviest.<\/p>\n

Pachina Mia<\/em> has\u00a0housed us these past six months. She has kept us warm, (mostly) dry and safe throughout the long journey. She has taken us through some of the most stunning places in the world and has allowed us to live freely and simply.\u00a0She\u2019s a part of us, and we will miss her dearly these coming wintery months.\u00a0But we know we\u2019ll be back next Spring to carry on. In the meantime there\u2019s is much to do…<\/p>\n

\"_IGP5800\"<\/a>The tasks of getting the boat ready for winter are many and hard. And some are a wee bit scary, such as climbing to the top of our mast to remove our anemometer and lazyjacks. Ann won the fight this year, so she got to go up \u2014 to the general applause of the gathered boating audience.<\/p>\n

\"IMGA0026\"<\/a>Later that day, with a rising tide, \u2018the boys\u2019 moved the tractor and large hydraulic trailer down the ramp and we slid Pachina Mia<\/em> up onto the pads.\u00a0She came out with little effort, but then the challenges began as \u2018the boys\u2019 led by John and Keith and Ray and many, many others figured out how to get her settled on the ground. With a bit of head scratching, a few failed experiments, and lots of practical engineering, the task was eventually accomplished.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"IMGA0031\"<\/a>\u00a0\"IMGA0042\"<\/a> \"IMGA0046\"<\/a> \"IMGA0053\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMGA0087\"<\/a>Over the next few days we got her all winterized, cleaned up, tied down, and covered. We\u2019ve been continually warned about the ferocious winds and huge amounts of snow Corner Brook gets (average of 16 feet), so we spent extra time making sure the tarp is as snug as possible. Our spot is pretty protected from most wind, and thanks to our many new friends, we have plenty of eyes watching out for Pachina Mia<\/em>, so I\u2019m sure she\u2019ll be OK \u2026 I hope…<\/p>\n

But as the wise old saying goes, all work and no play makes Mike a pouty, grumpy boy. Luckily the friends we\u2019ve made ensured there was no risk of that. Paula and Byron and their daughter Andrea feel like friends\u00a0we\u2019ve known for years. Byron and Paula\u00a0are fellow boaters living the same watery dream. They have already helped us in so many ways. And just to add one more to the list, they had us over for a grand Newfoundland supper of traditional island fare.\u00a0A few days later we all went out for supper at one of the swanky Corner Brook restaurants, and the manager\u00a0almost had to kick us out. The stories and the laughter just kept rolling long past dessert and well into the night.<\/p>\n

If all that wasn\u2019t enough, the whole yacht club got together to throw us this amazing going-away party, complete with food and booze and a live traditional band:<\/p>\n

\"IMGA0084\"<\/a><\/p>\n

OK \u2026 maybe it wasn\u2019t for us ;-). Keith, one of our other new friends who has been so great to us, was celebrating his 50th wedding anniversary at the yacht club. He invited us to come, so we did. And what a joyous evening. We sang and danced (and drank) until the day turned into the next.<\/p>\n

\"IMGA0066\"<\/a>\u00a0\"IMGA0068\"<\/a> \"IMGA0086\"<\/a> \"IMGA0062\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The following morning Gord and Leona has us all over to their boat for brunch. Such amazing people, and such great food! But geeze, it can be hard to get any work done at all \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

\"IMGA0091\"<\/a>But work we did, and now Pachina Mia<\/em> is all tucked away. We tied the last tie, disconnected the batteries, and headed off to Port aux\u00a0Basques<\/em> to catch the ferry \u201cto Canada\u201d as they say around here. We\u2019ll spend the first night in Sydney, NS, then head over to Ottawa via Quebec City.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"IMGA0103\"<\/a>\u00a0\"IMGA0110\"<\/a> \"IMGA0107\"<\/a>\u00a0\"IMGA0101\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s sad to leave this place, and to say goodbye to our boating lifestyle, but knowing we\u2019ll be back, and that we have friends like Brian (another wonderful new friend who would give you the shirt off his back \u2026 literally!) makes it all OK. For now, new adventures beckon. Adventure, and some catching up on sleep \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n

\"IMGA0111\"<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

End of season is always a hard time. It\u2019s physically hard just getting the boat stripped down and ready for winter. It\u2019s functionally hard as we try and keep our living space livable. But it\u2019s the emotional side that weighs the heaviest. Pachina Mia has\u00a0housed us these past six months. She has kept us warm, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/helplink.com\/CLAFC\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/helplink.com\/CLAFC\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/helplink.com\/CLAFC\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helplink.com\/CLAFC\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helplink.com\/CLAFC\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2851"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/helplink.com\/CLAFC\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2864,"href":"https:\/\/helplink.com\/CLAFC\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2851\/revisions\/2864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/helplink.com\/CLAFC\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helplink.com\/CLAFC\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/helplink.com\/CLAFC\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}