Day 236, Year 7: Boat Projects
Date: Sunday, July 1, 2012
Weather: Hot and Sunny, 80’s in Woods Hole; Late Day Thunder Storm
Location: Eel Pond, Woods Hole, Massachusetts
During the summer, whatever the temperature is in Woods Hole, it is usually
a good 10 degrees warmer in East Falmouth. So today while we were enjoying
a balmy 82 degrees with a nice breeze, Heather and Jed were roasting in the
90’s with no breeze at all. Mark wasn’t a ball of energy, but he did feel
good enough to work on a few of the boat projects we have waiting in the
queue. We put up our staysail and now just have to wait for a totally calm
day to put up the headsail. Then we can go sailing!!! Later in the day,
Mark climbed up on the aft arch to install the blades in the wind generator.
We took them out in December when we covered the boat and stored them behind
the books on the port shelf in the v-berth. The installation only took
minutes, but the search for all the parts was an all-day affair. Since the
blades were behind the books on the port side of the v-berth, I started
there in the search for the piece the blades attach to. I took all the
books off the shelf but the attachment piece was not there. While I had all
the books off the shelf, I figured I should go ahead clean the wall, shelf,
and ceiling before returning the books. My next thought is that the piece
could be behind the books on a shelf in the aft cabin. Again I removed all
the books, but found no piece. But I took advantage of the empty shelf to
do a little more cleaning. My next thought was that they might be in a
cabinet in the v-berth where we store winter sweaters and various pieces of
electronic equipment. Bingo. The attachment piece and cap were there, so
finally we could get the wind generator going. Earlier in the day when we
were just beginning to think about doing this job, Alan and Helaine
Kanegsberg called to tell us that to turn on the computer and go to
volvooceanrace.com to watch some live footage of a port race. The Volvo
Ocean Race was once called the Whitbread Round the World Race. The name has
changed but it is still the premier off-shore round the world race. Mark
and I both watched while eating lunch. It was an exciting race, but then I
had to tear myself away and keep looking for those missing parts. Alan
laughed when I said that I couldn’t find the parts. He reminded me that the
boat is only 42 feet long. But somehow we manage to constantly misplace
things and spend hours looking through every storage area in those 42 feet.
I went into town late in the afternoon to get gas for our new Honda
generator. Jed had loaned us one gallon jerry can but it had some old fuel
in it. I went to three different gas stations, but none could process the
old fuel. I went to Walmart to try and buy a one gallon can, but they were
out of all sizes. West Marine was already closed for the day, so my trip
was in vain. We’ll just have to get that generator going on another day.
And then when I got home we had to deal with another problem. We have had
bumps in the night from a power boat on an adjacent mooring twice now and
each time we have gotten a little gash in our hull from the huge prop
blades. We talked to the marina manager yesterday and he promised to come
out do something about the problem. But then today our “bump” was a butt to
butt meeting with a sailboat on another adjacent mooring. This happened
just after a huge afternoon rain storm when there was a period with
absolutely no wind to keep all of us facing the same direction. We had no
problems like this last year and we have to do something tomorrow to assure
that this doesn’t continue. We will be away all of next weekend and I don’t
want to spend the whole weekend worrying about Windbird getting beat up.
Next Saturday is Mark’s 70th birthday. We are postponing the celebration
until after his chemotherapy sessions have ended, but we are traveling to
Portland, Maine for the 50th wedding anniversary of our friends, Alan and
Helaine Kanegsberg. We are also hoping to visit with my sister-in-law Sue
and her husband Brad who summer in Kennebunkport, Maine, and then stop in
Portsmouth, New Hampshire on our way home on Sunday to have dinner with our
trio of friends there. It is an ambitious itinerary for Mark, but he’s
hoping he’ll feel up to it. As long as he has time to nap between
activities, he seems to be fine. When we get home on Monday, he will have
his 11th chemo session. Then there will be only one to go. That is cause
for real celebration.
