April 18, 2011
We are starting to smell the sea. Having been on land now for almost three weeks it is time to go. Listening to island music replaces listening to Texas C&W music and that starts the wheels (flat as they may be) turning toward the return to sea. The boat troll has had time to spread mold around and skunkyfy the two cups of water in the bilge. The waterline most likely will have the green fuzz consistent with the water in Fort Pierce. By now the troll has become an air controller and has directed pelicans bombs on target atop the bimini and the dodger. Why Knot will have a layer of dirt and perhaps some streaks down her side. She is not happy being that way and eagerly awaits the crew to fix that.
We left Why Knot in deep sleep with all but the battery charger turned off. While away, one starts to think about all the things that can go wrong with a mothballed boat. Leaky hatch, failed fitting, burglary, critters, lightening are just a few of the things that one imagines. As we pull into the parking lot, the first thing is to see if the mast is still vertical. Imagine the feeling of seeing the mast at an angle or shorter than the last view while leaving. It is always exciting to “bring her back to life”. The fun begins with the hatch key and the first look below hoping to see no water atop the sole and no signs of rodentia. That first look is like touching the starter and from there is takes about an hour to get things up to speed. In a couple of hours the fridge is cool and we are making ice. We will run the engine and generator as we will start to stow stuff. Hopefully, we will not need the aft cabin as a garage this time. Then again, the spinnaker that has not flown will be of use someday hence it goes back to the Florida coast but only because we will have a MSU (mobile storage unit).
Less than ten days from today, we will be boat people again. We are starting to think about not having the convenience of a house. OK, so we start to save quarters for laundry and we think about having only 150 gallons of fresh water at our disposal. The cockpit becomes the patio and the whole thing will be moving constantly. EEEEEEEhhhhaaaaa!