Thu 3 Jun 10

Sleeping through the night almost happened, except that the fabric wind scoop over the forward hatch came loose and was flapping madly in the light breeze. I got up to fix that and then slept soundly until just after dawn - a rarity to sleep so late.

This morning's tasks are to go up the mast to check and fix the anchor light, retape the spreader boots, and retrieve the spreader halyard that got away when the shackle broke the other day. It is 0740 now and the sun is already very hot, although the air temperature of 76F is pleasant.

It is now almost 1100 and we have accomplished quite a bit. While Diane did the housekeeping below, I polished some marks off the hull, cleaned the new dinghy which I got filthy wearing the wrong footwear inside, and sorted out how to affix the lifting harness for the new engine. Before the day wore on, I wanted to get up the mast, so I readied the gear, briefed Diane on the procedures, and up I went.

A now-departed sailor friend sold me a piece of gear that proved invaluable today - a 4:1 winch gearbox. It allowed Diane to get the extra mechanical advantage she needed to grind my considerable bulk up 44 feet off the deck. It took almost 30 minutes to do with me helping to pull myself up somewhat and frequent short breaks, including a few tasks along the way. I have photos to prove we did it!

I had two minor two important tasks. For the former, the spreader boots got retaped and the errant spreader halyard was retrieved. For the latter, I inspected all the rigging as I went up looking for any signs of impending trouble and found none. When I got to the top I discovered that the LED anchor light doesn't really seat securely in the socket. It seems to catch, but the right wiggling can set it loose, which is how I found it. I secured it as best I could, tested that it worked, and I hope it will last either three more years that way, or until I get a better perch aloft so I can see what I am doing to make a better fix.

[posted 3 Jun 10 1200]

There were numerous little tasks that kept cropping up throughout the day, but I made sure to relax in front of the fan with my book in between, not to mention drinking lots of water.

Before our excursion ashore for dinner, we showered (in bathing suits) on the swim platform and dressed in our cleanest casual. I had previously washed several of my "boat shirts" in the sink and the water that came out probably rivaled the color of the oil spill in the Gulf. Ask most wives and they will probably tell you their husbands are walking dirt factories; I know mine would.

The dinghy ride was almost a mile but that was good to continue the engine break-in period. We arrived at Burdine's and discovered that there is no inside air-conditioned dining room as we had hoped. In our few previous visits, it was always pleasant to dine al fresco; this time it was hot. We found a shaded area with a little breeze, however, and before long we were quite comfortable after all.

Dinner was quite good and before we were halfway through, Diane invited the interesting couple at the next table to join us. They were long done with dinner and sipping wine; we had traded a few witty comments and thought it would be nice if they sat with us. Their life stories were very interesting, but not worth repeating here. They just came all the way from Mexico to this place, and their next stop is Lake Worth halfway up the east coast of Florida, then on to Annapolis.

Just as we were getting ready to wrap it up because of sunset, there was a very brief but torrential rain. We had left some of our hatches open and were prepared for water aboard, but the rain shower missed our section of the area. It was an early night to bed for a good night's sleep that was, however, interrupted by thunderstorms and rain on two separate occasions. The normal drill is screen out, hatch closed, swelter, rain passes, hatch open, screen in. This time we left the screens out and had no bug problems at all.