First, let me apologize for any delays there have been in posting. I have been disciplining myself to write every day but lately there have been some problems with the site. I'm sure, if it is a problem with sailblogs, Tim the webmaster is busy working on it but in the meantime I have to watch for those brief openings that I can get on to post. Please be patient.

Comes to that, I was thinking this morning (Please. No expressions of shock and amazement that I actually do think) how much we have come to take for granted the state of the technology that we live in and how irritated we get when it doesn't go according to expectations. For instance, our personal computers - it wasn't all that long ago, if you have grey hair, that the personal computer was a desktop device (no iPods back then) and we all happily shoved a sequence of floppy disks into the drives when prompted to do so by the single thread operating system. We marvelled at the technology and speed of the processor. Nowadays, we get annoyed if our laptop takes a few more seconds to process the fourth or fifth job that we have just given it to process simultaneously with the others that it is already running, to say nothing of all the background jobs that it is running as well. Do a ctl-alt-del sometime and just look at all of the programs that are running on your motherboard. I'll bet you have to scroll down to see them all. It really is incredible.

In the meantime, one of our unplanned little jobs, but it really should have been, is updating the two books that Barb and I have written. We finally got around to getting our draft copies and it really is amazing how many more goofs that you can spot when you are looking at the hard copy than you can with the electronic versions. We are both taking a turn to push through the copies and make our corrections and then we are going to repost them. After which we have to get about a half dozen author's copies to send out to family and some of the folks that helped us produce the book.

This morning Lew, the marina boss, called a meeting for himself, myself, and the mechanics that are working on the engine to lay out a plan of action for the new motor for the next couple of days. Basically we are waiting on parts at this point. They are having to remake the transmission coupling to get it to match the transmission. I have taken on a few jobs for myself to cut down on the labour hours. Simply things like running wires. We are doing some different things on the new engine so she will start with a 12V starter but the alternator will put our 24V for charging. Also the engine will start with a simple push button and we will have a start button at the inside helm as well.

Barb and I got the boom back on the main mast and re-rigged the lazy jacks and the vang pullies and while Barb set to work sorting out more stuff in the cabins I made up our spinnaker sheets and tried to get the block and tackle system made up for the outboard gallows. I was thwarted by not having the correct line but Barb found me two block that will do the job so it's a simple matter of buying the right rope.

Lew came by at 14h30 to let me know that there is going to be a little excitement tonight. There is a fellow sailing down the Chesapeake in a new to him Catalina 30 that is taking on water. His bilge pump is handling it on a 50% duty cycle and he has no engine to recharge his batteries. At the time he called the marina he was 20 miles out so he may be arriving around six o'clock. It will be interesting to see how he tacks into the travel-lift!

Tonight we are going to try this place in a small community nearby called White Stone. There is a business called the River Market that does take out diner on demand. You call them up to find out what he is cooking tonight and ask him to prepare the number of meals that you want to be ready at a certain time. Then you drive over to pick it up, bring them back to the boat and chow down. We have never done it but apparently loads of other people staying at the marina do and are really happy with the results. If we can get on the website tomorrow we will let you know how it went for us.