We have now lived aboard Strider for exactly one month. Since we left Bristol on Friday, 5 December, we have done three ocean trips and a voyage down part of the ICW, in total around 700 Nm. In a way, the past month has been a shake-down cruise for us. We have gotten to know Strider and her quirks, and we now need some time to do some repairs and prepare for our journey further south to Florida and the Bahamas. Among the things that need attention are our anchor windlass and our dinghy outboard. We are also considering replacing our feathering prop with a fixed one, since we have discovered that our near accident in Norfolk (when we thought that Strider was refusing to engage in reverse gear) was the result of the prop failing to "unfeather" to the reverse position while the boat is going forward too fast. Since the Norfolk incident, this has happened a few times while docking the 15 ton vessel with Ferdi discovering at the critical moment: Yikes!!!, no brakes!!