2018 Life Logs, Day 337: Calm Before the Storm
Date: Monday, December 3, 2018
Weather: Partly Cloudy and Windy; High 55, Low 32 degrees F
Location: At Home in The Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
I feel like today was the calm before the storm. Starting tomorrow, there are days on end of crazy activity, so I just spent today at home preparing for that. I did go to the gym, drove to Woods Hole to do a little Christmas shopping, and came home to get a Christmas package ready to send to Puerto Rico. But that was it for me. I do believe I am fighting off a cold, so it was a good day to just take it easy.
I do have one thing to report, however. I mentioned a few weeks ago that Windbird was having engine problems. While sitting on land in Puerto Rico, water from the rainy, rainy season got into the bilge, ‘drowning’ the engine. Sam and Dawn decided to put in a new engine, but in order to do this, they needed to sail Windbird from Puerto Rico to St. Thomas in the US Virgins. They made it there in a three-day, three cylinder sail from Fajardo, PR to Culebra, PR to Red Hook, St. Thomas USVI. Sam called yesterday to discuss engine removal. Mark and I went through this in 2005 when we lost our transmission on the third day of our circumnavigation. Not a great start! I documented our engine removal and replacement process with many photos and Sam and Dawn had studied those in preparation for their engine removal today. Thankfully, it went smoothly. Brings back many memories. Sam wrote this on Facebook: “St. Thomas Engine Swap Part 1 COMPLETE! 
Removal of old engine went way smoother than expected, took less than two hours thanks to our prep work and Kevin from Mi’kmaq Marine’s slick hoist trolley system. Tight fit out our cabin door
and through the companionway, new engine better not be any bigger!!! 
This 2005 Yanmar 4JH4E served faithfully for 8912.0 hours before being killed by drowning. It took Mark & Judy Handley around the world and us on two Bahamas tours & down to the Caribbean. Here’s hoping the next engine is as reliable. I’ll certainly be taking more precautions against flooding next hurricane season…”
