Yeeeeeeeeee-haaaaaaw!

I finally got herself to post something again even if it was only to the comments section of each daily post. I really like it when she adds her points of view just so that we can all get a different outlook at whatever we have been blathering on about.

More, Barb! More!

I am saying this as she gets the posts to appear directly on her facebook so perhaps we can pressure her into writing more. Especially as with her knee now she is spending a lot of time on the couch under the cooling patch working on the computer. She could easily spend fifteen minutes and post her own blog, couldn’t she? Come one, come all! Let’s get her typing. If for no other reason that to make the site more interesting than simply me droning on and on.

We are still waiting to find out exactly the numbers that will be arriving upon us this weekend for Easter Dinner on Sunday. Barb has bought a nice ham and hopefully we will be able to show off our new nearly completed kitchen or at the very least our kitchen counters. At last count there were going to be eight of us for sure with the possibility of 2 or 4 more. We are just awaiting their RSVPs. We have invited our friends Pat and Lisa from Noonan Knight to come down for the weekend. They are one of the couples that we are waiting to see if he can get the time off.

Have I mentioned yet that my visit to Nelleke on Saturday has left me in a much more favourable frame of mind. It appears that she survived the winter very well and sometime during the last week of this month we will be heading down there to do the launch preparation and we will try to schedule a launch in early May. With any luck we should be in the water on a Thursday and be on the way back either Friday or Saturday. The weather will be the determinator as usual.

One thing that I would like to try to get done before we set off is to install the pulley take off on the prop shaft that I will be experimenting with to see if I can get some power from the freewheeling shaft while we are underway under sail. I have heard pros and cons for doing this but I want to see for myself. I am going to have a 9 inch primary turning a 2.5 inch secondary on the alternator. I already have two alternators, the one on the engine and our spare, so I figure that I may as well see if I can get some energy from the spare. If the primary conks out I can always still get at the spare quite easily. Even if I can only get 5A or so out of it under sail, that combined with the solar and wind power sources should enable me to spend more time sailing and less motor sailing on offshore legs when we are using the autohelm. The local diesel shop is sourcing the pulleys for me. Hurrah!