You Just Never Know, You Know!

SHIP'S LOG:

I took the opportunity to go racing on Sunday in the TYC Chowder Series. I went with Jim Avery and Mike Peterson on Jim's NONSUCH. It is a "modern catboat," with one sail and as such, it really needs no crew beyond the helmsman. But Jim is 81 and talkative and likes the company and we actually won our class though that was on handicap and adjusted time. Still, a win is a win is a win.

At the lunch that followed, word came that the railroad bridge over the Connecticut River at Old Saybrook "broke." Word was that it "sheared a pin" and couldn't be raised. No w normally it wouldn't be of much or any concern to me but it is now. Next weekend, Columbus Day Weekend, myself and several others were planning to go up the Connecticut River, overnight in Hamburg Cove on Saturday night, and then continue on up to various marinas north of said bridge for our winter hauls.  If the bridge remains "broken" next weekend, that plan is scrapped and I am concerned that such will be the case.  I have no idea which "pin sheared," but whichever one it might have been, it prevents the bridge from being raised and allowing transit by  boats over 20 feet in height which is certainly includes every boat that was planning to make the trip. And as things like this happen, you just know that there is no spare "pin" in the AMTRAK parts locker! So if it's a week's delay, it could be two or even a month. And since I have already signed the contract with Yankee and put down a down payment, it is not a question of find another spot "south of the bridge somewhere." For now, it is simply a matter of await the word.