ALL MOST READY TO GO! ! ! ! ! !

      I spent today getting ABISHAG ready for the cruise to Newport for the Jazz Festival and the Folk Festival beginning this coming weekend. It is a good thing that this is happening, for all the work I did today was stuff that should have been done back in the Spring, indeed before I brought ABISHAG to TYC for the season. 

     The "stuff" was more clean-up and putting things in their place than really doing some work, but it is all things that need to be done. It freed up lots of space for the trip and living on ABISHAG for about 10 days. I haven't done that in quite awhile and to really enjoy the cruise, it is important to get ABISHAG in cruising form and me as well.

     Three 40 gallon trash bags full of trash were filled as I got rid of items that had been hanging around . . . . empty paint and varnish cans ( not quite sure what I was saving them for); wood strips from the take down of the overhead ( which I convinced my self I might need when the new overhead goes up); a bottle of coffee, a box of Splenda & a bottle of non-dairy coffee creamer each of which had morphed in to solid bricks that defied description, old items from the medicine cabinets that I never realized I still had. Most of the items were still left-over from the ICW trip . . .  . .in 2010/11!

     You have to understand that all sailors, except for serious racers, are pack-rats. Everyone of them has a locker somewhere on their craft that is basically the nautical equivalent of a "what-not" draw.  It is filled with items left-over from projects that we done on the boat, kept on the off chance that it will be the solution to a future problem or repair. whenever the time arrives that the "great clean-out" takes place, either just before or just after an items designated for trashing provides just what is needed for a repair. and when that happens, the whole idea of cleaning out the locker get put on the back-burner less another item will shortly be needed. The only way to do is just to do it. If you haven't worn it, used it or eaten it in two years, out it goes.

     There was a bit of an electrical problem that seemed to be initially serious but turned out to be no more than a loose connection on one of the batteries. When you have to bring all of your power with you when you travel, even a small problem has to be taken care of immediately because small problems can become big and dangerous very fast. That is why you are smart of have a backup to the backup for every system and its backup.