[BlueJacket Sailing] Sue and our (hopefully) delayed cruising season

[Geoff Schultz]

Ahoy from the crew of the BlueJacket!

As some of you may have noticed, we haven't departed for our planned 
cruise to Newfoundland.  The reason and the bad news is that Sue has 
cervical cancer.  The good news is that it appears that it was caught 
at a very early stage and that she should have a complete recovery 
and should be cured.  As most of you read this on Tuesday morning, 
Sue will be entering the Lahey Clinic in Burlington, MA to undergo a 
radical hysterectomy.  She has a wonderful doctor and she's young and 
healthy, so she should come through the operation with flying colors.

We found out about this a couple of months ago and since then she's 
undergone a battery of tests and is quite tired of being poked and 
prodded.  She's had an amazing attitude and has been quite the 
trouper.  She's looking forward to having the surgery completed and 
getting on with life.    The surgery will take place on Tuesday from 
about 9 AM to 1 PM, so please have her in your thoughts and prayers.

We thought that we were going to skip cruising this year, but after 
looking at our schedule and her recovery period, it looks like we'll 
be able to make the cruise after all.  Assuming that all goes well, I 
plan to move the boat from Deltaville, VA to the Hudson River in NY 
in about a month.  Once the boat gets there, Sue will have recovered 
for 6 weeks and should be released to travel.   She'll join the boat 
in NY and we'll work our way up the Hudson River and Erie Canal, 
which should be nice and calm for Sue.  Then we'll continue on our 
way to the St. Lawrence River and on to Newfoundland.

Right now I have someone tentatively scheduled to help me move 
BlueJacket from VA to the Hudson River, but that's not firm.  So, if 
there's anyone who would like to help me move the boat, starting at 
the end of June and probably getting to the Hudson around July 7th, 
please let me know.  Right now the plan is to head up the Chesapeake, 
head down the Delaware Bay  and then up the coast to NY in 
day-hops.  The alternative is to head down the Chesapeake to the 
Atlantic and then head up the coast to NY.  In reality, the distance 
is almost the same, so I'd rather take my time and get to explore the 
Chesapeake and Delaware bays.  I'll get you to and from the boat and 
make sure that we eat well.  So, if you're interested, let me know!

Sue & I just got back from a week of working on BlueJacket.  We had 
lots of projects that we needed to complete and to check up on, so we 
headed down for 5 days.  Well, the work didn't go as fast a 
projected, so we stuck around for another 2 days to get things 
wrapped up.  I installed a new watermaker control panel, a new VHF 
antenna for an AIS transceiver, :ED anchor light, a new WiFi 
transceiver and completed a bunch of small projects.  We're had new 
cockpit cushions fabricated, which turned out great.  We're also 
having the dodger Strataglass panels re-fabricated and spent quite a 
bit of time consulting on the design.  BlueJacket is in great shape 
and ready to explore new places.

Tomorrow will start very early, so I had better wrap this up.  Please 
keep Sue in your thoughts and payers and I'll let you know how things turn out.


-- Geoff & Sue