One of the pieces of equipment that we upgraded for this trip was our windlass, that's the electric winch that raises and lowers the anchor. The original one that came with the boat was really undersized and gave us numerous problems over the years. When the motor burnt in the Bahamas in 2016 I said we wouldn't come back without a new one. After much research and recommendations from people we decided to buy a Maxwell windlass, they have great reputation and are well made.
I installed it over the summer and it has worked like a charm, it is fast and a lot more powerful than our old one. Actually, I was surprised at the speed, you sure have to be careful there aren't any fingers or toes in the way. We had our first glitch the other day, when I stepped on the foot switch to put out a bit more chain it took off and wouldn't stop. By the time I got below to turn off the breaker it had spit out 80' of chain plus 40' of rope, needless to say I was a little perturbed. Fourtunately, after some testing it turned out the foot switch was stuck, 10 minutes later a replacement was installed and all was good again.

The weather lately has been a series of quick moving fronts making it challenging to get a 2 or 3 day weather window. We had planned on staying in Solomon's Island for a couple of days; however, if we didn't move Friday there was a chance we would be there until Monday. We had planned to meet a cousin in Reedville on Sunday so decided to sail here yesterday. Great decision, we had a great sail, a close reach for 25 Miles in 10-15 knots and sunshine. Reedville offers some great anchorages right in town in various creeks, you just have to pick the best spot that is not downwind of the fish plant. It's not hard to tell when there's been a windshift. We are hunkered down for this evening as it is forecasted to blow hard again overnight, then we'll visit with Judy tomorrow before moving on.

Today's picture was taken from our anchorage, couldn't get to see the whole house but it is one of the many beautiful homes surrounding the harbour.