My Dad came home on Wednesday. He seemed to be doing well so we decided to make a trip to the boat. Summer is a busy time when you enjoy sailing as much as we do. Passing storms require that we remove all sails and canvas for safety and after they pass, we reverse the process so we can enjoy waterborne activities again. Tropical storm Hanna passed with minimal damage. Nick reported gusts up to 40 knots but no high water event. In fact, the water was unusually low just after the storm due to the wind direction. Our area is not affected by the lunar tide but wind speed and direction can cause significant water level changes.

Friday September 12, 2008
We left home at the usual time and made good time on the trip. We saw evidence of Hurricane Ike on our way. Ike was forecast to strike the Texas coast early on Saturday morning. Fear that gas production and distribution caused prices to skyrocket all over the country and the Carolinas was no exception. We saw prices ranging from $3.59 to $4.59 I suspect the higher prices could be considered price gouging. Luckily, our little Toyota gets excellent gas mileage. Our trip was uneventful. When we arrived the weather was pleasant and we slept with the hatch open and no air conditioning.

Saturday September 13, 2008
We slept well and were in no hurry to get up early. Breakfast was cereal and coffee because we had a lot to do. The cabin was wall-to-wall sails and canvas. We started by getting the mainsail back on the boom and immediately proceeded to replace the headsail on the furler. The task was much easier with Judy helping. I moved on to installing the bimini canvas before it was time for lunch. Over a simple sandwich and chips lunch we discussed the plan for the rest of the day. It was getting hot and we decided that we either needed to go sailing or deploy the air conditioner and stay at the dock. It was such a beautiful day, we decided to go for a sail.

We had a bit of trouble getting the diesel to start. I'm not sure what was wrong but after I bled the fuel line at the injector it finally cranked. Last time we went out, our fuel was very low. We did this once before and had trouble cranking the engine. It could be that an almost empty tank could introduce enough air in the line to make it hard to crank. On the other hand, maybe I simply didn't run the glow plugs long enough. In any case the engine cranked and ran just fine. Conditions on the river were nearly perfect. The wind was about 10 knots with only a small amount of wave action. I judge wind conditions by the number of "whitecaps" in your field of vision. When you can see a dozen or so, the conditions are perfect for our boat. There were certainly more than a dozen whitecaps in view but the wind was not strong enough to consider reefing the main or jib. It was a fine, exciting sail and we stayed out for a couple of hours.

When we arrived back at the dock, Bill, Susan and Art helped us land. Bill and Susan were putting sails back on "Bonafide" and doing a bit of repair work on the jib halyard. Susan and I went fishing and caught dozens of tiny fish. We were hoping for a fish dinner but it was not to be. We deployed the air conditioner for the first time this summer. I like hot weather and it was plenty hot. After Bill and Susan left we rested in the A/C for a while and got showers before dinner. We actually waited a little too long to start dinner. There were lots of friendly bugs when I went out to light the grill the grill. After my blood donation, we enjoyed grilled lemon pepper chicken with vegetables for dinner. By the time we finished dinner and got squared away, it was past our dark-thirty bedtime. It took the little air conditioner a long time to get caught up, but after dark the cabin cooled nicely. We enjoyed a comfortable cool night's sleep.

Sunday September 14, 2008
We were in no hurry to leave but we had some work to do. By the time we finished coffee and cereal it was getting hot outside. The forecast was for 94 degrees with heat indexes over 100. We wanted to be headed for higher ground before the temps got that high. The cabin was still very comfortable so we did all the "inside" work first. Finally we ventured outside to get the boat ready for our absence. The final task was to pump the waste tank. I wanted to do this last, just before taking a shower and leaving. I connected the hose and started pumping. Nothing happened. I thought something was wrong with the pump but I tried pumping water from a bucket and it worked fine. I finally discovered, when I attempted to remove the inspection plate from the waste tank, that the tank was completely full. This is not a good thing and it was certainly a miscalculation on my part. Opening the inspection plate must have broken some sort of vacuum seal because the pump started working. I am really glad to get the head working because we are planning to have guests aboard soon and a working head will be essential.

On a more pleasant note, Nick and Jeanette stopped by for a visit. We found out that we are to get new neighbors. Garrett finally sold "Sassy" two slips over and the slip has been rented but the boat and it's people have not arrived. Also, another boat left, headed for Florida where her people's jobs have moved. Something exciting is always happening around the docks at Ensign Harbor.

We left at about noon. We had a stop to make. Regular readers will remember that we drove our GMC Jimmy last fall when we went to New Bern. We were having trouble starting the car and went over to the Wal-Mart in New Bern to get a replacement battery. That was less than a year ago and the battery died again just before we left for this trip. I suspect a dead cell. Exchanging the battery was fairly painless. I hope it solves the problem. We had lunch at Arby's and headed for home. It was a very nice, relaxing weekend for both of us.