AND SO IT GOES!!!!

SHIP'S LOG:

I really do hate getting a cold. To avoid this very thing is one of the reasons that I wanted to head south. "Ah, but the best laid plans of mice and men oft go astray"....just ask George.

I made the mistake of going to the boat on Friday. I had made the last "major"purchase (the inflatable dinghy) and wanted to drop it off at the boat rather than leave it in my car. Good idea but bad timing. It was cold and snowy and I had not completely gotten over the cold and I have paid for it over the next few following days. From the quick inspection it appears that everything is done (hopefully) but I won't know for sure until I talk with the electrician. But there really, really can't be that much left undone, can there be?

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

Anchoring! How exactly is one person to set an anchor on a 39ft sailboat? And how is one person to retrieve said anchor? In calm air? In a bit of a blow? For some reason, I have been thinking about anchoring a lot the last few days. Surely it is an important topic, but I have worked out how I will be doing it. Having done the vast majority of my sailing solo, I have had to work out such problems several different time on the various boats I have owned. While size and weight are significant factors and have to be a major consideration, the steps to that dance have already been choreographed. The most important thing is planning, knowing what you will do and how you will do it ahead of time. The second most important thing is patience, as are the 3rd, 4th & 5th.

I have been following the weather more closely the last 10 days. The weather is going to be the hang up I fear. Getting to the Chesapeake will be key I feel. Up here in the great Northeast, the weather has become freezing and very unstable and makes getting away rather hard. I would really like 4 days of stable weather. That should get me to the Chesapeake even with the diminishing sunlight. Once there, the only real problem will be Ablemarle which, because it is open and shallow, is susceptible to winds and storms and can be nasty. Still in all, better Ablemarle Sound than Fishers Island Sound.

I will be heading down to the Shipyard tomorrow and I'll find out where the boat and I stand. And after that, well it depends on what i hear.

I WAS AFRAID OF THIS - PART II

SHIP'S LOG:

Well, I was afraid of this! The weather has become freezing cold (what a surprise in December!) and the work is not quite done, so I am still here and will be here at least through the middle of next week! I have had to "winterize" the boat, not a big deal and easily reversible, but it is what it signifies - Winter is here big time!

I have been unable to get down to the boat for the last few days as the "cold & flu Season" has claimed me as a victim. I presume that the work has pretty much been completed but I assume that it is all not done. In one sense, I would rather that it not be completed as it would be a painful thing to be ready to go and yet be unable to go because of the weather. If I am feeling up to speed I will head down tomorrow and check out just where we are.

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

The days have become more winter than late Fall and I am beginning to wonder whether or not I will be able to actually get away. The heating on the boat is enough to take the raw edge of the chill off making it not uncomfortable inside, but on deck, in this current weather, will be just a little raw. If I can get a break in the weather for 4 days to a week, I can get to where the weather will not matter as much but it might be a bit much to hope for. This does not make me happy, but it also gets me thinking about the why. What is God trying to get me to think about, to deal with, to grow into this time? I haven't quite got that figured out just yet but now it looks as though I will have the time to figure it out.

I WAS AFRAID OF THIS!!!!

SHIP'S LOG:

No change in the boat since the last post. Hopefully today the electrician will be finishing his work and it will all be done by the end of business Wednesday.

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

I was afraid that this was going to happen, both the weather and my health have gone into the crapper! Since Friday the weather has been in the low 30's and there has been snow and freezing rain on and off. It really hasn't been conducive to hauling stuff down to the boat and finding places to stow it. For those of you who have not walked down a cock in the winter, nothing ices up quite like it. You get that constant coating from the wind-whipped-water, so even if the yard did ice removal, their efforts would be thwarted before they were finished. And as difficult as it can be going down a main dock, the finger docks (those along side the boat) are even more fun, being narrower and often floating ( they move with the movement of the water). Trudging down such a structure with an armful of stuff and expecting to get it all safely on the boat( and yourself as well) is to be foolishly optimistic in the extreme. Adding insult to injury, I have come down with the first cold of the season. Nothing serious, just one of those 24-to-48 hour-fever-&-chills-two-exits-no-waiting type that is guaranteed to just make you feel miserable. What is frustrating is that this was the very thing I was trying to avoid by heading south. I had hoped that I has seen my last snow (fat chance), my last ice (except in a glass full of rum) and had my last cold/flu season. Had everything gone the way I had planned, I would have seen my first "Green Flash" by now, but we all know about "having a plan." Hopefully, both the boat and I will be up to speed by mid-week and, with a break from Mother Nature, heading south this coming weekend.

HOUSTON, WE HAVE POWER!!!!

SHIP'S LOG:

With the batteries in, the time has come to check out the systems. The good news is that as far as it can be told, everything powered by electricity works!!!!! The less-than-good news is that getting them to work was a bit of an electrical nightmare. The English have a rather strange concept of "an orderly electrical arrangement." It seems as though those who wired the boat originally were penalized if they made simple connections.There are at least three(3), count 'em THREE different grounds on the boat. You need a ground for electricity to flow but on ABISHAG , you have to decipher which ground is tied to which circuit! And none of them is particularly easy to get to in the first place. And it is not just a matter of following the wire as it dips and darts and snakes its way under, around and through every bulkhead, deck and overhead. Several more terminal blocks ( all corroded) were discovered. More switches that didn't quite work all the time were revealed. More wire that went no where and which was ultimately connected to air was uncovered. ( there is a special place in the hereafter for people who do wiring like this!) Of course this would have been a lot harder and much more difficult if all that excess and unnecessary wiring had not already been removed. To show you how bad it was, in a mass of cables running next to the engine, the electrician found five (5) feet of copper tubing that was connected to nothing at either end! Perhaps it was some kind of fuel return line or whatever, but it had been so wrapped by the wiring, that we didn't even know it existed. It is doubtful that the last owner knew and who knows how far back it goes.

I have a semi-firm date for the completion of the work. The yard should, SHOULD be finished by Wednesday next! That means all the DC electrics will be up and running; that the shore power hookup will be up to code; the bypass for the hole in the transmission will be in place, the temp gauge and tach will be functioning; and the wind speed indicator will indicate wind direction and speed ( the genoa can be bent on again). What all this means is that I ain't leaving this weekend! It is just as well as there are still a few things left to be done ..... like a shake-down sail or two. All things being equal, and with a break from Mother Nature and the Weatherman, a week from Saturday should be the day. That's a definite maybe. We shall see what happens, always remembering George Armstrong Custer.

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

It is amazing how many small things have suddenly reared their little heads now that things are seemingly coming to a head. There are an amazing number of last minute things that have shown up at the last minute. Things that I have put off because "there is plenty of time" have suddenly become very insistent about being settled immediately if not sooner. I am certain that I will get them all done and still forget a bunch until after I leave. Heck, it is a rare day that I do not go somewhere and forget half of the things I wanted to do. People who have been sailing with me always found it a bit funny when I did what I called "paranoia check" - juice off, seacocks closed, fuel shut off, etc - just before leaving the boat. And if I got interupted during the process, I would have to start from the beginning. If I didn't follow the routine, I just knew that I would forget somehting important and pay for it the next time I went for a sail. Remember the saying that goes:"Just because you are paranoid doesn't mean that they aren't out to get you!" I have found enough items wrong when I did the check to justify doing the check. So I know that I will forget to do something before I leave and will forget to take something ( perhaps a number of thing) when I depart. Well, they don't call it "jury riggin" for nothing.

ANOTHER DAY, ANOTHER JOB DONE

SHIP'S LOG:

It got upwards of 58 today(Tuesday). Slowly things are getting back into shipshape. Picked up the outboard from the shop. For sitting in the great wide open for over a year on the stern rail on the boat, it was in surprisingly good shape according to the mechanic at the Mystic River Boathouse. It looks as though it was never flushed after its last use and the salt deposits were everywhere. But now it runs fine and will provide good service til I get back up this way.

ABISHAG is 99% legal. The carved official documentation number has been affixed and the only thing that keeps her from being absolutely 100% legal is the home port is missing. It is too cold for the vinyl to stick so it will have to await the warmer climes to get put on.

The aft head has a leak in the seat seal. It will empty the bowl but doesn't have enough suction to refill it. I am not sure if the seals have to be replace or if the seat merely needs to be realigned. Of course, the seat adjusters are metal and corroded in place and located behind the bowl and are a pain to get at, but it is one of those tasks that needs doing. I won't be able to test the forward head until the electrics are up and running as it has an electric pump system. Hopefully that will be today(Wednesday)!

Yes, the batteries are in, as is the batteries switch. when I say in, I mean at WEST Marine and I will be picking them up this morning. Then we shall see what we shall see.

Also spent some time storing items on the boat, tools and repair items specifically. Unfortunately, they seem to take up a lot more space than I thought. It is definitely going to be a sorting out process that will take time and have to be redone several time until I finally get a system that works.

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

Even if everything goes perfectly with the electrics, I probably won't be getting away this weekend. It is possible but not probable. While I can't ever get the entire list done, there are still a number of small things that still have to be done and I can't, I won't go until the boat is ready. It is less frustsrating now than it was a couple of months ago. I have come to understand that time spent now to get the boat ready and right means there will be less time spent fixing problems later. Again, I am not looking for perfect, but ready.

IT'S GETTING BETTER ALL THE TIME!!!

SHIP'S LOG:

Having had a great Thanksgiving, I could think of nothing better than to do more work on ABISHAG as I await the arrival of the new batteries. Hopefully, these will be here Wednesday next and then, again hopefully, I will be off.

Good Friend Ken came by to help with installing the wiring for the speakers for the radio. In that he knows what he is doing and I do not, he threw me out while he did the work. Like I said, he is a good friend! With nothing much to do other than act as cheerleader, I decided that I would rig the signal halyards on the port and starboard spreaders of the mainmast. This would entail my using the self-propelled "Top-Climber." This little device is composed of a couple of rope clutches, a boatswain's seat, and stirrups. By running a line to the head of the mast and down through the clutches and using a "standing-up-&-sitting-down-slide-the-clutches" procedure, one is propelled up the line to the desired height for whatever purpose one had in mind. Since I have a fear of heights and this whole procedure has something of bungee-jumping about, I have been reluctant to do this particular repair. Ken was very good about laying on the guilt trip and since it was clear, sort of warm and absolutely still, I really had no reason to offer for not going up the stick.

It is not a difficult task, at least in wasn't on the video, but it took awhile to develop a rhythm and get moving up the line. The biggest problem, aside from the paralysing fear that increased with every foot up I went, was that unlike the video I kept swinging from side to side. While this turned out to be very helpful in completing the task once I got to the spreaders, it was getting to the height of the spreaders that proved painful. I would get up a couple of feet and then for some reason swing away from the mast and then slowly swing back. If I wasn't quick, I would whack a body part, usually my knees, once my head, against the mast. It was not painful except in a figurative way but it would always knock me off my climbing rhythm, making the ascent longer than it needed to be.

Eventually I got up to the spreaders, about 25ft off the deck and I paused to look about. It was actually a great view and despite my fear of heights and the climbing harness, I really felt secure and could actually do the work. This was a good thing too for I had to let go of the mast with both hands and stretch out to reach the clip where the blocks for the signal halyards were to be affixed. When I pulled out the first block, I discovered that I had rigged it wrong. (Nasty word!)

I had run the line, not through the block, but through the clip that was to attach the block to the spreader. I had woven both ends of the line into a eye-splice and attached shackles. Naturally, I couldn't simple re-run the line correctly, instead I had to undo one splice, remove the line, re-run it correctly, then re-attach the shackle, and finally affix the block to the spreader. I had to do all this laying out in the climbing harness 25ft off the deck. I have a new a profound respect for those in the sailing community who do this all the time, especially this who do stuff like this 110 feet in the air in a squall!

The procedure went off without a hitch save one. Half way through it, I let slip the block More Nasty Words) and it fell to the deck, missing the water I am not sure how. I had forgotten one of the most basic rules of sailing, gravity works! Kenny popped out to check on me just as I let the block drop. He slipped it on the halyard and I got it back without having to descend and reascend.

With the port halyard done, I swung over to starboard, laid out and pulled out the second halyard only to find (Lots of Nasty Word) that I had rigged this one wrong, just like the first. Correcting the problem was no big deal and in a lot less time than I thought it would take, it was done. Then came the fun part, getting down. Actually, it should be easier, a lot easier in that you have gravity working for you. My concern was that gravity would take over and not just assist the descent. It is funny how such a simple procedure of standing-up-&-sitting-down while moving the rope clutches would seem so difficult to coordinate. Once I got a rhythm going it went pretty well . . . . well almost. When I got to the level where I thought I could stand on the deck, I tried to get out of the harness and got hung-up. It was the first time I ever messed up and nobody saw it. It was something akin to the Dance of the Seven Sails but a lot less painful. However, aside from that, everything went well.

Kenny was just finishing up the wiring and it was time to split. I await Wednesday and the arrival of the batteries and battery switch. Once they are in, I will know if the windlass, propane solenoid and refrigeration work. If they don't, corrective measures will have to be taken before departure. I can do without the refrigeration as I have never had it before and have always sail without it. No big problem. The propane solenoid is necessary if I want to cook anything and I have no desire to raise anchor and chain back on the boat by hand, so the windlass must work too. All should be revealed by Thursday.

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

Hanging some 25ft off the deck in the climbing harness, I realized that I would have to be willing to do this again. Though the next time I do it, I may not be tied to a dock and it may not be sunny, warm and still. I wasn't scared though I thought I would be. In reflecting on "why not," I came to the conclusion it was because I trusted the equipment, rigged it in the right way, and used it in the way it should be used. But, in truth, it was because I trusted myself. I knew what I was doing and I knew I could do it, and this came from this past summer of learning. I have gown in my sense of self confidence and self-trust. In fact, going up the mast, I kept waiting for the fear to really hit. Heck, swing on that line was enough to give anyone a certain twinge of shall we say concern, and I had that, but not the real fear, fear of falling, that I had expected. Both before the work at the spreaders started and after it was done, I took some time just to hang there and enjoy the view, no rush to get down and "safely" on deck. I really found it surprising and enjoyable. One of the things this whole trip is about developing confidence in myself and dealing with my fears. It may not seem like a big step but it was.

SOME GOOD NEWS!!!

SHIP'S LOG:

I woke up this morning and it was snowing!!!! This did not make me happy. I had to chip ice off my car. This did not make me happy. And it was COLD and this definitely did not make me happy! But there is good news too. Going through a cruising guide that covers from the Chesapeake to Florida, I have found that the route through the Dismal Swamp is NOT the only route South on the ICW. In point of fact it is not even the route used by most cruisers. The other, more popular, and still open route, is the Ablemarle and Chesapeake Canal. There is little chance of this canal being shut down for lack of water as it would take the Chesapeake Bay and Ablemarle Sound drying up for that to happen. That in turn would take the Atlantic Ocean drying up and the chances of that happening are slim and none, and slim has just left town! So the way South is open if I can get there.

Speaking of that, the new batteries and switch will be here by Wednesday and with any luck, and more than a little cooperation of the yard, everything NECESSARY, necessary to make the trip, will be done!!!!!! Basically it means, as soon as I can load up I can depart! Leave! Shove off! Head South!!!

I spent the day figuring out the storage, or at least trying to figure out the storage. There are lots of places to store stuff but not much of it is standard in size. I will begin Friday really trucking stuff down and finding places for it all. Of course it will also mean creating a book to record where all the stuff goes. It will take more than a little time to be comfortable with where stuff is and remembering what I have and where it is. The book will be essential.

I did find out today that the gas generator will run for about 5 hours at top load before running out of fuel. I also found out that the electric space heater will take the edge off the cold but doesn't really do much more than that. Unfortunately, there is no arrangement for a combustion heater in the cabin. Then again, I didn't really think that I would be in need of one.I may have to look into one of those oil filled portable radiators. Perhaps it will throw more heat. Of Course, once the batteries are in, that electrical load should be doable. True it will me that I'll have to shut down the plasma TV but, what the heck....and no, there is no plasma TV.

I succeeded in whacking my head twice getting out of the companionway. You would have thought that the first time would have reminded me of the lessons learned on the trip up from Annapolis, but NOOOOOOOOOOOO!

I still have a list of small items to purchase but I pretty much have everything I need, or shall I say, can afford. But hey, it's only money.

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

By the end of next week I could be on my way. It is exciting to think that such will be the case. The course to the Chesapeake is all laid out and it requires only the going. I am trying to imagine what it will feel like to finally set out. Even going cross-country on a motorcycle doesn't compare. I can't wait!