I have so much to tell you since the last posting:

First off – the launch. The wind and tide were both high on Tuesday so we didn’t go in until Wednesday, and then it was the usual sense of anticipation, the breathless ride to the water’s edge in the sling and the ahhh of seeing Madcap lowered into the water where she belongs.

The first glitch appeared shortly after. We knew we had a slow leak last spring and we found it during the inspection of the thru hulls - the holes in the bottom of the boat – the ones that are supposed to be there. Water was seeping in around the muffler. Ingemar came down to check it out and determined that it was so corroded it would be only a matter of time before it needed to be replaced, even if we did patch it up. Next glitch –it was a custom made muffler, sized to fit the space when the boat was built, and it was hard – very hard – to find a fiberglass one that would fit. (The alternative was to wait 2 weeks for another custom made one.) After much measuring and pencil chewing, the Tiger Point guys found one in Fort Lauderdale. It came on Monday - without the elbow that they needed to adapt it to Madcap’s space (next glitch). Another day, another delivery and the elbow was here. Walt wiggled down into the cockpit locker to the hole aft of the engine and Dave sprawled out over the engine from the foot of the companionway steps, and together they got everything hooked up. We got the yard guys to do the installation, because Jim is very competent at doing some things and not well suited to other things, and he is wise enough to know the difference!

Glitch #3 was Jim’s ear. It got red, sore and began to swell so he went off to the clinic where the doctor determined that he had a cyst – probably starting with an insect bite – that had become infected and was given topical cream, antibiotic pills and an order to apply hot compresses 3 times a day. Several days and several hundred dollars later, he is feeling much better. The swelling has gone down, the redness disappeared and his glasses no longer hurt his ear. Now he just grumbles about having to continue to take the medicine.

The weather threw the next glitch (in this series) at us – although in the end it overlapped with the muffler issue so it didn’t really matter. Sue and Terry had been planning to come down from South Carolina to spend a couple of days sailing with us. But between wind and muffler issues – we were tied to the dock the whole time. At least seasickness wasn’t an issue! More about their visit in the next posting.