Shake and Break

[skipgundlach]

Well...

No, we didn't die, nor drop off the face of the earth.

It's getting a bit crazy around here.

For the last 26 months, we've been on (when we're not ashore playing
grandparent or supportive eldercaring) a shake-and-break-down cruise. It
was supposed to be just a shakedown cruise following our 20 months in the
boatyard, but...

Literally every time we moved the boat, either as we were about to set out,
or just after we'd dropped the hook (or a$ i$ the ca$e currently, picked up
a ball in Vero Beach), something (u$ually expen$ive) broke - something which
required resolution before we could leave again.

Just the last 16 months, since we arrived in Vero Beach on Christmas Day
2013, we've done more than 40 significant projects aboard (see 2013-2014
shakedown - not all of them are up, yet!) - and that's just in the time
we've been HERE, as opposed to our landside excursions, including moving
Lydia's mother, twice, first into, and then, across the street, in her
retirement home...

We (crossing our fingers, toes and eyes) believe we have it all in hand,
after the last, which was our HF radio (it was a tuner, and then it was a
power problem).

Today we pick up our overnight-in-the-walk-in frozen provisions, having done
the fresh yesterday, and the non-perishables earlier, and make the boat
ready to sail. First will be to go to the dock and refill our gasoline
(Honda 2000 genset) and diesel jugs while we top off the water tanks, and
ending with putting the dinghy in the davits and the motor on the mount on
the rail.

Tomorrow, honoring the superstition that one never leaves on a Friday, we
(merely) stage to Ft. Pierce for the first of what we hope will be three
day-sail legs, Lake Worth, Ft. Lauderdale, and Miami. Currently the weather
looks ideal; what looked like the right direction but LOTS of wind has
moderated a bit to what should be our wheelhouse - high teens to low 20s,
abaft.

If nothing breaks, or if what stops working isn't serious and/or outside of
the spares and supplies aboard, we'll cross to the Bahamas at our first
opportunity. We have a stateside commitment in the first week of October,
so it will be a relatively brief trip.

But, having been 4 years, almost to the day, since we did any real cruising,
and the fact that we're also just that much older, we're taking it in small
chunks, with intense focus to make sure we aren't overlooking something
critical.

We set out to go cruising over 8 years ago. The second half of that has
been consumed with either improving or repairing the myriad systems on the
boat. All the while, we're getting older. It's been much on our mind...

Facebook is intensely bit-hungry and demanding of bandwidth. As such it's
likely we won't be around Facebook much, though we'll have access to our
emails and winlink mail. We also will have at least SOME means of
telephony, including Viber, an app for smart phones, which allows
international calling but uses the same local number we've always had.

Any time we move the boat, our SPOT satellite tracking system will be
engaged. You can follow us, if you're so inclined, by browsing to (no
leading www) tinyurl.com/FlyingPigSpotwalla. That will store all of our
travels; you can see past ones by adjusting the date parameters on the left
of the screen.

Listen for us, Flying Pig, with Chris Parker Weather, available on the web
as well as on SSB radio, likely the Abaco cruiser's VHF net (which is
broadcast in slight-delay real-time every day at 8:30 AM, over the internet,
and on which I'm likely to be control from time to time), and the various
SSB and Ham nets, particularly 14.300, the Maritime Mobile Service Net,
where I'm KI4MPC.

If we can figure out where No-Name Harbor is, we might even get up with
Wally Moran while we wait for the window...

L8R, y'all

Skip

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
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The years thunder by. The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in
dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed -
Sterling Hayden