All Better! ! ! ! ! !

SHIP'S LOG:

"Utility Lou" showed up at the crack of dawn . . . .literally!At 07:00 there was a pounding on the hull and it was Lou and the old alternator and the brand spanking new regulator. He went to work and before you could read "War & Peace," everything was installed, tested and worked. And it only cost 1.2 Maine Units. For those of you who don't know or remember what a "Marine Unit" is, it is a designation for an amount of money that lets you spend more than you should while making it seem less. It is far easy to spend "1 Marine Unit" then it is to spend "$500!" So 1.2 Marine Units - you figure it out!

Today the weather turned crappy. It is cold and has been raining all day. It is supposed to rain until midnight and then stop. There are small craft warnings out on Chesapeake Bay, even a warning of possible "waterspouts!", so I decided to bite the financial bullet and stay at the marina one more night. Tomorrow, the rain should be gone and so will I. If the wind is "too much," I will simply move "down creek" to the spot I was Saturday, Sunday & Monday and head of when the weather is good.

I talked with Chuck Estell, the launch drive from TYC, who has made this trip numerous times. He will be my personal guide in addition to all of the books, websites and info from other sailors I have received. He already has given me a few ideas that will be helpful. However, I am still maybe a week away from Hampton Roads/Norfolk/Portsmouth/ Newport News and the beginning of the ICW at Hospital Point.The is no real rush to get there . . yet. Beginning on November 1, everybody with insurance is released to go south of the Chesapeake and the ICW will become a veritable waterborne "I-95." Since I have no intention of pushing to make 50 -70 miles a day, I would like to get some distance before the rush hits, but again it is a question of seeing what each particular day brings about.

If I think of it, I will take a picture of this boat that is being worked on here at Pleasure Cove Yacht Club ( great name but terribly inaccurate as is their ad in the cruising guide). The boat is called "Plenty of Pleasure" and is a powerboat, with four huge props, each of which goes for $16,000 a piece!

It is chilly down here in the rain and near time for supper. Enjoy the storm that is headed your way in Connecticut!