Day 62 Arrival of the Admiral

Boat cleaning and Birthday celebration
Molly was due to arrive this evening so we worked to make sure Southern Star was shipshape. Cleaning the white upholstery in the main cabin made the most noticeable difference.
Today was also Andy’s birthday so we took a time out to celebrate at the marina restaurant. The shrimp caesar salad was certainly delicious and a welcome treat since we had not been buying perishable lettuce but the $20 charge was only justified by the occasion.
During our cleaning, we unloaded the boat onto the dock and made a formidable pile. As people walked by on their way to and from other boats, they would stop and chat so it made a nice, although temporary diversion. One interesting person we met was the captain of a 70 foot custom Italian sloop that was at the end of the pier. She told us about the last boat she captained which had set a speed record crossing the Atlantic. The Leopard of London is a 90 foot sloop with a 140+ foot mast and a tungsten loaded keel that recorded a maximum speed of 31 knots during the last 11 day Atlantic crossing. When you consider that Southern Star usually has a maximum speed of about 6 knots and can occasionally muster 8 or 9 in the middle of a 30+ knot squall, the speed of Leopard seems amazing. Our 25 day crossing from PV to the Marquises would have taken less than a third of the time if we had been aboard Leopard.
Later in the day we took a brief time out to see what a custom built Italian yacht looks like inside. I would have to say that it looked like the several million dollars that it probably cost. Gorgeous!
In the evening, Mark went to the airport to meet Molly and we were left to watch over Southern Star.