Day 166, Year 8: Panic Time
Date: Thursday, April 18, 2013
Weather: Winds SE 10-15; Temp in the Mid 70’s F
Location: Lightkeepers Marina in Coquina Harbor, Little River, SC
It always happens. When a passage is approaching, there is always a day when panic sets in, and today was that day. Mark went with Lee to look at boats today and when they returned, Mark turned the aft cabin upside down to examine our steering cables that are under the bed. Mark thinks they need to be replaced before the trip to Cape Cod, and if that is going to happen, we have to hustle. The company that made the cables that are there now is no longer in business. Another company bought them out and the cables we have been discontinued. So just trying to figure out what to buy and from where is a challenge. Not to mention the fact that the project would have to be done in less than two weeks. So that’s Mark’s panic. My panic, as usual, is about provisioning for the trip, but this time the job is even more challenging than usual. I have made a decision to fly to Massachusetts to help our daughter Heather while Jed is out of the country from May 1 to May 9. I made reservations tonight to fly to Boston on Wednesday, May 1. That means I will not be onboard Windbird for the passage north to feed the crew. Lee Kaufman has graciously agreed to go with Mark, and Lynda Kaufman might go as well. But Mark is used to me doing all of the cooking during passages, so this will be a new twist. I bought things yesterday to cook a lot of meals that can be frozen, but now the issue is time to do the cooking. It will all get done, but tonight the task looks daunting. But then, everything always looks worse at night. Tomorrow is new day, and I’m sure things will look brighter.
We are supposed to be going to a Sail and Power Squadron outing this weekend and Lee and Lynda have invited us to go to Annapolis with them next week to look at boats. If we do both things, the number of days to prepare dwindles. So time is precious. The weather for this weekend is not looking all that great, so we might have to scrap the weekend boat trip to give me more cooking time. And depending on what Mark decides to do about the steering cables, we might have to scrap the Annapolis trip as well. I guess we’ll just see how tomorrow goes and make one decision at a time.
