Spent six hours yesterday working on the packing gland. I final drip rate is 1 every three seconds without the shaft spinning.

This is a vast improvement over the stream that was keeping the bilge pump very busy. Planning on spinning the prop today, re-checking and pressing forward to continue to tighten it down.

(for those unaware, Grayling has a v-drive. the issue is not anyone's ability to tighten a nut, rather, the ability to simply reach it!)

Cheers,
Chris

Oh my, it has been six months since my last entry. We HAVE been busy. Today is a day of reckoning, it's smackdown time. Chris vs the packing gland.

this will be one small step for sailing kind, one giant leap to get Grayling seaworthy once again.

Yep, we actually DO go sailing sometimes!

Yesterday we joined our neighbor as crew and sailed about 3-4 miles offshore. The wind was blowing 20-25kts and we had 10ft swells stacked with 6ft waves. It felt like we were sailing in the "Perfect Storm" -- up one, then drop down the other side. Celeste sat down below reading while Jan and I got soaked with buckets of ocean spray over the bow.

I learned a couple of things --

I'm glad we weren't on Grayling -- our fuel tanks would not have been nice when it was time to go home.

We're very rusty and need to get stuff done on Grayling so we can get salty again!

For some odd reason this morning as I sat in the cockpit reading the Sunday Miami Herald I was oddly inspired to write. Or perhaps inspired to write oddly - you be the judge.

Other than a few hurricane blurbs I've been naughty when it comes to updating the world on the adventures of Grayling and crew. So here's the best I can do this morning;

We arrived here in February and kinda liked the place. The weather was good, there was a jovial atmosphere and other sailors to chum with. We decided to stay a while and perhaps make this our base for forays farther south; from the Keys to the Caribbean. I (Chris) was still working remote at my job, a job that we'd determined was definitely needed.

Since our departure was unknown we forked out some money for a used jeep. There are no stores within walking distance of these isles -- unless you take half a day off work.

Celeste joined the Fort Lauderdale Aquatics swim team.

On a whim I (Chris) decided to update my resume to see if there were any takers in tech-thin, high-unemployed South Florida.... and lo! There was! It only took two weeks to seal the deal for a place where healthcare software products outnumber healthcare software product managers by 2:1.

It was about this time that Nicohle's gall bladder began exhibiting seditious behavior. It was summarily removed and banished.

Before we knew it it way May and Chris' parents were out for a visit. The 50 mile round trip commute at a new job meant that Nicohle, Celeste and family got to hang together mostly, but some highlights included;

-Sitting next to a really loud band during dinner at Sangrias on Ft Lauderdale Beach.
-Sitting in traffic on highway 1 with Key Largo just in sight
-Watching Celeste practice swimming
-A few dips in the ocean

May until the current date allowed us to continue to settle in. We've experienced a great deal of culture shock in ways most people cannot fathom when they think of SoFla. (It's easy to adjust to the large migrant population here in the 'safest city in latin america', but the Northeasterners really freak us out).


Days are spent working, shuttling the urchin (who started school in August) and doing chores. We've spent weekends working on Grayling and have had a couple of exploration trips;

-Miami Seaquarium (featuring a killer whale-- yep a killer whale in Miami)
-Universal Orlando (unlike Disney they have beer! and Celeste is a roller coaster junkie)
-Breakfast at Versaille on Calle Ocho in little Havana

All in all, we've met interesting folks, from cheap toothless prostitutes to megayacht captains. From rough-riding Czechs to kind-hearted novelists. We have great problems.

Yesterday we stood in line at the Broward public library for 2-1/2 hours to vote. It's great to be part of an election in a place where the integrity of the voting system is unknown on historic proportions (Broward is home to the hanging chad).

The Miami Herald reported this morning that October was the first calendar month since 1966 where there were no homicides in Miami. (That's a thirty ONE day month too!).

Despite all that is bad in the world it seems like there is hope, as long as we set the bar low enough!