The site is up. I had a brief e-mail conversation with Tim yesterday and was informed that there was an ongoing problem with the ISP that he was trying to resolve. It looks like he has.

Firstly, my promised report on The Riverside Market, the place where you can order your diner by phone and arrive to have it packaged to go. Yesterday’s special was a rack of ribs or a 16 oz Delmonico steak so we ordered one of each and brought them back to Nelleke for dinner. They were far and away more than we could finish in one sitting so we are going to have leftover rib and steak tonight too. The prices were very reasonable, the portions more than adequate and they were very tasty as well and I am a big ribs fan. Can’t complain and we can recommend them to anyone else in these parts. The only thing for visiting yachies is that you have to know someone with a car to take advantage.

We were ¾ of the way through last night’s movie when we saw a light moving past our decklight. This was the boat that we had heard about that was trying to sail up the bay with no motor and a significant leak aboard. They had made it and Lew the Marina owner was there to get them into the slings of the travel lift. I lent a hand too, or two of them even, by holding the boat in place while Lew climbed up into the driving compartment and got things going. In the cold light of day the boat is clearly older but must have had its glory days at one time as it had all the go-fast toys: adjustable backstay, many, many winches, and deck blocks to lead the jib sheets aft so that the headsail could be trimmed almost to the mast. Now it appears that those days are behind her and we can only hope that this new fellow who has taken ownership will love her as she deserves. I think that the leak is around the keel bolts as is often with those quick boats that are rigged with a fin keel. It may be a simple matter or torquing them down more but ideally he should reseat the keel. We will see what he decides on Monday.

This morning Barb and I put the sails back on the masts. This was very cathartic as I now feel that we are again a sailboat, plus it got some of the clutter off the deck and we were able to put the spare sails in the sail lazarette on the foredeck. There is a faint glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel. We also took the laundry in to Gloucester, including the mattress cover off our bunk. Both it and the mattress foam itself were still wet and benefitted from a spray with anti-mildew compound and sitting beside the heaters. We may be sleeping on another bed in the boat while the final drying takes place. Note to self: make sure that all the connections are tightened before relaxing the next time wee launch.

Other than those things, today has been a bit of a wash, so far at least. It is becoming quite overcast and the forecast is calling for yet more rain tomorrow. I have to keep reminding myself that at least it isn’t snow.