January is flying by

I’m wanting to go over to the Bahamas next month and feeling a tad overwhelmed.  (i need a crew to sail over) Most recently I’ve been ‘trying’ to get motivated.  I am daily loading my software back onto the laptop and trying to get it back to normal.  Some of the software is harder to load than I have brain power to use.  (where is my ten year old FotoSlate page format template?)  But I’m not giving up.  Yet.

Back during Hurricane Season I found my wind gauge propeller laying on the deck.  It had apparently unscrewed itself and fallen down from the mast top to just rub my nose in it.  So Wednesday I had a Rigger out to help climb the mast and re-install a new prop.  (make sure it’s on right and use Lock-tight so it cant unscrew itself again)  I just went into the cockpit right now to test the monitor since the wind is howling today and it’s working, showing the direction and wind speed.  While he was up there I had him fill any / all small holes to prevent rain from sliding down inside the mast.  Yippee, one thing done.

Another thing I did recently was help Don to launch and ‘get’ his new ZAR dingy.  It’s French, 12’, aluminum and expensive.  (yes, I’m jealous, but not $5,000 worth of envy.  It weighs about half of mine and costs twice as much.)  Don was across from me on the dock during hurricane season.  Since it’s brand new, it does not have his Coast Guard numbers and he wanted to tow it back to his boat to ‘avoid the appearance of improper boat handling.’ So I took my dingy and tied his up to drag it back to his boat.

That’s about it.  Lots of paperwork still coming in.  New Insurance and old Insurance emails and bills.  I need to get all the boat crap stowed.  Back when we had a hurricane headed our way I got a local storage unit and drug everything off the boats deck into storage.  Then at the end of December I emptied the storage but I’ve not found spots to store it all.  (maybe some needs to be thrown overboard?) 

I have been careful to be sure and include plenty of PIE in my diet.  Pirates need Pie!  Also I am thrilled to report the leg is totally healed and I forgot to mention it till now.

Gotta run and attempt to tackle my boat chore de-jure.  I’ll wait and tell you what I did instead of spoiling it by telling you early what I failed miserably at.

I hope you are living large wherever you are moored.       

-Pirate Skip

ps.  I just got a text message from Mack and Vicki inviting me to the Super Friday Happy Hour and Grill-a-thon tonight.  (the Christmas miracle that keeps on giving!)  *they are on  motor vessel, Confetti, a Kady Krogen.  Confetti is leaving Tuesday to cross the Okeechobee to the west coast for a month and then returning for 'more boat chores.'  

pss.  The ship Lilly.  She is a handmade wooden boat built in 1973 near Boston to carry firewood (during the "oil crises") and now a day sailor for tourists.  some days 5 ppl.  some days 35.  She is on the mooring ball beside me.  (note: she appears in some of my sunset shots as i view West)

"Lilly was actually a working cargo boat--a piece of northeast cargo history. She was purposed built to haul cargo commercially under sail power in the United States. Originally known as the "Lily of Tisbury" she transported lumber, vehicles, and even other boats between Martha's Vineyard, Boston, and Maine."