I’m Either a Genius Or I’ve Had Too Much Gin; Probably Both

I am, right this very moment, sitting on the port setee in the cabin of my sailboat. My beautiful bride is asleep in the forward cabin. My 11 year old son is asleep in the aft cabin. I am busy making sure that we do not have any dangerous glass bottles left in the boat for our trip to Key West. One or two of the glass bottles are not quite empty, so I have to empty them. Manually.

I’m also rippin a few old CDs to the new IPod. I don’t think I can do a Gulf crossing without a little GnR – Lies. Inspiring music, if you’re into that kind of stuff.

And suddenly, like a static shock that you built up when you were a kid and you wore those fuzzy pajamas with the feet, it hits me: I sailing my friggin yacht to friggin Key West.

Who.

Is.

Your.

Daaaaaaaddddyyyy?

 

That is all.

T-2 Days Counting

It’s getting close. Projected departure is 6:00 am on Friday. The boat is prepped. I called St Pete Yacht Club today and set up a slip in case we have to divert to Tampa. Weather is shaping up ok. I’m supposed to get a detailed forecast from Commander’s tomorrow morning.

I ran a can of Diesel Purge through the motor today on Pete’s advice. The change was obvious and immediate. That stuff makes the motor absolutely sing. It never sounded so good. The white smoke is very much reduced. Still a little though. I may have a leaky injector, or maybe I’m losing compression on one or more cylinders, but repairs will have to wait. Pete also helped me beef up the alternator mount and check some issues with the alternator wiring.

There is a rumour that someone on the boat may be carrying a Spot; a GPS locator device that you can track via a web site. I’ll pass along the info here if the rumour turns out to be true.

I thought about injecting some humor into this post, but I just can’t seem to make it happen. When you’re about to sail from Houston to Key West, things get very serious.