Day 10, Year 1: A Slight Change in Course
Date: Thursday, October 27, 2005
Weather:
Location: Town Dock, Lewes, Delaware

I think I ended yesterday’s log stating that flexibility is the name of the game when out here cruising. And that it is. It seems as soon as we make one decision, something else happens that causes us to alter that decision practically before acting on it. Both Mark and I are currently headed to Hampton to take the offshore medical course. As of this morning, I was to be going alone. But we decided to leave the boat in Lewes in the care of David Laux. David will install the v-drive while we are gone and Carl Stein will check on Windbird throughout the weekend. We had planned that Mark would find crew and sail the boat around to the Chesapeake while I went to Hampton, but since it is going to be at least another week or so before a new engine arrives, we decided that it was more important for both of us to have the medical training. On Monday, the two of us will begin the sail to the Chesapeake, so this solves the problem of finding crew.

I am writing this log as we are driving to Hampton, Virginia, in my brother’s van. My brother, Dickie, and his wife, Conda, drove from West Virginia to their son’s home near Annapolis, and then headed on over to Lewes to deliver the van today. I didn’t know until last night that my brother was planning to do this and it is just one more example of the incredible gestures of kindness that we have experienced in the past week. Dickie was twelve when I was born, and as my older brother, he has always taken care of me. Thank you, Dickel and Conda. I love you!

Here’s the latest ‘technical’ news for today. We actually got a couple of bits of good news. An East Coast representative for Mack-Boring was able to confirm that as of last week, there were six transmissions of the type we need in the Ft. Lauderdale plant. There is still no way to confirm this as communication lines to Ft. Lauderdale are still not up and running, but the hope is now that by Monday or Tuesday the transmission will be located and can be shipped to New Jersey. Once there, the transmission will be attached to the new engine and then early the following week the whole thing will be shipped to us in Oxford, Maryland. If this all works, we should be ready to begin the installation of the new engine no later than the end of week after next. By the way, patience is the other essential needed for cruising. I have no problem being flexible, but this patience thing is a whole new skill for me. The other piece of good news today was that the bearings arrived for the repair of the current v-drive. We stopped by Dave’s house on the way south this evening and got to see the beautiful new bearings. Yes, I do now think bearings are beautiful. While there, Dave gave us a lesson in how to use a small ball peen hammer to shape gaskets from sheets of gasket material. Dave takes every opportunity to teach us new tricks of the trade and we truly appreciate that. While at his home we got to see pictures of many of the beautiful boats he has built in the shop attached to his house. We were most impressed.

I need to make a correction to an the Day Eight log. Dick and Claire Wiklund owned the 43 foot Mason, not 44 foot Morgan, and Dick confirmed by e-mail that it was the sailboat from the movie Romancing the Stone. We are now crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge-Tunnel and soon be in Hampton. I’ll give you an update on the offshore medical course tomorrow.

051027 Day 10 Boston to Norfolk, USA–The Martins Visit Lewes, DE