Happy Nautical New Year! with a little golf, football, lobster, and mast climbing



Our sunny, breezy New Year's Eve began with a round of golf at Palm Cove in Palm City.  Our playing partners were Duncan and Jeannie Ingraham from Newport, RI, also Catalina owners, and long time fans of Navy football since Duncan's midshipman days at the Academy. 

The course is difficult on a good day, with hard ground on which balls tend to bounce out of bounds or into a red stake water hazard to the right or left; oh, and they even bounced on the cart paths over the bushes into the street.  So the good news is that I hit some 180 yard drives, but the bad news is that they took very unlucky, penalizing bounces, assisted by 15-25 mph winds which moved putts, pitches, and drives every which way, and cost the four of us about 25 balls!  Nature ruled that day!  My clubs fell off of our cart and my practically new Callaway driver was all scratched and cracked.  And our cart ran out of gas.  We saw no alligators, however.



The Pro Shop gave us a raincheck for another round to keep us happy, so the return trip will be on Monday.  And the forecast is for 5 mph winds which will mean we have no excuses for missing the fairways. 

Twenty of us shared two tables at Wahoo's for a festive dinner New Year's Eve; Glen and I enjoyed lobster dinners, shrimp stuffed with crab for appetizers, and wine. Wahoo's started really rocking with its usual very loud live music about 9:30, which is about the time that we took our horns and hats and headed for The Main Event, the Ingraham's C-470 for Drambuie and other treats.  The boat is roomy and gorgeous easily seating 10 guests. (Don't tell Sevilla; she'll be jealous.)

We watched the New Year's programs from NYC, including ABC's perennial Dick Clark from our favorite teenage dance program more than half century ago.  Can that be so? 

Shortly after midnight, our neighbors on Marshall Ct., with a happy New Year's Eve party buzz on, gave us a call, lying through their teeth about how nice the weather was in Annapolis.....  Lots of teasing, and genuine good wishes for a happy new year from each of them.  I tried not to gloat too much about playing golf in shorts and shirtsleeves.  But we all miss each other.

The excitement for the weekend was the New Year's Day ascent of the mast by Johnny, a new boat owner who is working on his recent purchase--a 1978 sailing vessel in need of updating and some TLC.  I took some photos of his climb.  You can see our whole dock "neighborhood": 

The whole "neighborhood" watches and waits

Johnny, the climber

                      Tyler and his Dad                                          Tyler's Mom and Eldon...





Glen watching intently



Ron watches from Sea Venture



  

As you can see, Johnny's effort met with success.  He untangled his halyard and pulled down the piece of hardware that had been stuck up top.  Some of the onlookers partook of the New Year's Bloody Mary's prepared by Sevilla.

We haven't discussed Resolutions.  However, we have a lot to do to prepare for David and Kate's visit Friday and our departure on Jan. 11.  Just resolving to be ready and anticipate what may come may be resolution enough.  Sure helps to keep the peace.

Happy 2011 to all.  I hope our new decade is an improvement on this last one.  

Glen and Maureen