Boat projects

A week from right now, we should be most of the way to St. Augustine, Florida, our first planned stop after having set sail from Savannah on Saturday, May 11. In the meantime, Nan and I have been chipping away at our endless list of boat projects and making numerous trips to West Marine, Home Depot and Walmart.

Nan is back in Wisconsin for a long weekend celebrating her mother's ninetieth birthday and seeing her family one last time before our departure. She is due back tomorrow evening for the final project push before our crew members start arriving on Wednesday, when Mike and Jim fly in, and then Friday, when Jack joins us.

My progress on exterior projects has been hampered by lousy weather. It has been raining off and on since Thursday, and the winds have been gusting to thirty knots. There are whitecaps on Delegal Creek, and breaking waves are visible out toward Ossabaw Sound. The high tides have been record breaking, flooding huge expanses of the Romerly Marsh. Whispering Jesse has been rolling in her slip and straining at her dock lines, making balance in the cabin a challenge. We are hoping for much calmer conditions after the current low-pressure system moves out. We can handle light winds, but rough seas to start would be no fun at all.

Before the weather turned ugly, we employed the services of Sailor's Nautical Services, as recommended by Joel, who slips his cat ketch at the adjacent pier. Walt Suter spliced our anchor rode to its chain after we cut out a badly rusted shackle, and then he returned to tune our mast with some precise adjustments to the shroud turnbuckles. If only everyone in the marine services business were as reliable and professional as Walt!