Such a beautiful day on the Bay! We are still firmly tied to the dock, albeit a good place to watch boats actually going out of the harbor to do whatever boats do when not so tied. We got some really good news yesterday when a call came from Hansen Marine in Marblehead, Ma to tell us the refurbished injection fuel pump is ready to ship. The web search for that part has taken three weeks and as far as we can tell, we are soon to receive the last loose one on the planet.

So, the list is not shortened for having checked off the fuel pump. In fact, there is a new, parallel list to the routine cruise/maintenance list. The new list is the one covering the shipment of WK back home on a truck. Not only does the mast have to come off, it has to be stripped to the basic extrusion sans spreaders, wire, lights, radar, etc. Those things have to be packed for travel. Equally important is all the gear below that must be packed as if it was being shipped via moving van cross country. When WK came from the factory, she was bare below. That is definitely not the case now. All that stuff that I took to the store room for ultimate shipment back home in the mobile storage unit will now come back aboard. Fuel, holding and water tanks must be empty. The quality of the move depends to the greatest degree on the prep that takes place on this end by the yard. We have the utmost confidence in Zahniser's to do that well. We will most likely not be present for the loading. That, we are told, is risky but we must get home for greater reasons.

There is yet another first for us and for Why Knot. She will ship to the Houston area and remain there for an undetermined time period while she is recommissioned and while we wait for a slip back in Port A somewhere. We have spent no time in Houston aboard WK so that will be a new experience. While Clear Lake is definitely a happening place with every boat related service and business one can imagine, it is congested and access to limited bay sailing is through a single channel about 30 yards wide. Imagine a few hundred boats using that channel daily. We might just see the highest concentration of boats since the Miami area. I am sure it wont take long to get ready for the relative quiet of the sleepy little fishing village with a drinking problem.

This is a photo of a margarits machinne from Port A days several years ago. It is made of a water can, sink disposal and some pipe. As I recall it worked really well at least through the third margarita