Stardate 08272011.0035

Well, it's finally over! All the preparations have come down to this last item, WAIT AND SEE. After getting off work this morning I made a bee line for the boat. Arriving around 0830 I saw more boaters than the previous day. Back to work! I took down the dodger and the framing and stored both below decks. Next I checked with the service manager of the marina about storing my dinghy. No problem he could take care of it if I got the dinghy over to him in an hour. I went back lowered the dinghy into the water a rowed over to the agreed upon dock and left. That accomplished one less item to worry about. Now for the jib. Should I take the jib down myself, never having done it before, or wait. Once again I thought about it for an hour and just as I was going to try to do it myself my neighbor showed up. He asked me if I could help him take his jib down. What a relief, I told him I would if he would help me with my jib stating that I had no idea how to. He said not a problem, we boaters are just one happy family, no really we are! He asked if I'd mind waiting until around 1PM since he wanted to take care of his dinghy first. Not a problem I told him, come knock on the boat when you are ready I'm going to get some sleep since I haven't had any for over 48 hours. At around the assigned hour we started on Midnight Breezes jib first. It took us about an hour and I must have burned 3000 calories in the process. And I'm not kidding! What a work out. If there be a time I was going to have a heart attack it would have been then! The sail alone weighed 120 pounds. But finish we did and moved on to his jib after a 10 minute break, a bottle of Gatorade, and two bottles of water to replace about two gallons of sweat. Both times we took the sails to the grassy area to fold them. When we were finished with his sail I just laid there for ten minutes trying to catch my breath. I knew I was out of shape, but wow was I ever! I was soaked to the bone. It was time for a nice cold shower and some well deserved sleep, but this time at home. I knew if I stayed on the boat I would never get the sleep I needed. So off to the shower, clean cloths, and another two gallons of Gatorade and water. As I was returning to the boat I noticed that the marina was filled with boaters. Nothing like waiting to the last minute! I locked up, centered the boat in the slip, stood around for another hour, when my neighbor finally came over and told me to go home there is nothing more we can do. I thanked him one more time, told him Mary and I owed him a dinner for his help and training, and left to get something to eat. It was 4:30pm I should be home by 6pm in time to get 3 more hours of sleep. Well, not all things go as planned. I was off about an hour due to traffic that was caused by evacuations from Kent Island, where the boat is birthed. Once I left, there would be no returning until after Irene is history. As I crossed the Bay Bridge I realized that my future was in the hands of King Neptune. Not a nice feeling! The saga continues...

Dave