Well, this is Susan and it looks like I’m doing this installation because it’s ALL MY FAULT, don’t ya know.
We
had a great weekend on the boat. Old family friends of mine- Bill and
Caroline Cheezum were in Kemah in their RV at the end of a 2 month trip
through the South. The weather had not been cooperating for them up
until now so it was good to finally see some sun. And they were finally
able to ride their motorcycles!!
Allen and Kay and their whole crew were in Galveston for the kid’s spring break so we took the boat out to Galveston Bay on Friday.
I got all confused about the sails (duh!) and messed up the main. It
has roller furling which means that instead of hoisting the entire sail
up and down the mast each time we furl it, our mainsail wraps up on
itself inside the mast. Different lines (ropes) wrap and unwrap it and I
managed to get the order wrong so it was messed up inside the mast.
Dang! We were hopeful that if we could ever get it all the way out of
the mast that it would fix the problem, but that turned out not to be
the case.
Nonetheless,
Marcus (Allen and Kay’s son) was kind enough to climb into the bosun’s
chair and get hoisted up the mast. He’s a strong, strapping, young hoss
and was able to pull it free with just his bare hands. What a stud.
At least we were able to sail a bit, although there wasn’t much wind to
speak of. Cameron, Maysun, and Trent seemed to have fun in spirit of
everything and going up the mast seemed to be the highlight of Marcus’
day!!
We took the Cheezums back out on Saturday
which was a MUCH better day weather-wise, but had the same problem with
the mainsail (yes, we have a rigger coming out to look at it this week)
but the sunshine was wonderful and we remembered to take lunch this
time!
Sunday
morning was devoted to replacing the GPS antenna. Brian has gotten it
mounted and working last weekend, but we still needed to run the new
power cord back down through the arch, over the river and through the
woods, and back up under the helm where it hooks into the communications
center. The Cheezums were very helpful with this and we were able to
get it all re-wired with a minimum of tears. And it actually works!
Hallelujah.
Obligatory
trips to West Marine, the Boat Re-sale shop, Jackie’s Brickhouse for
catfish and burgers, and to Skippers for breakfast made for a busy and
enjoyable weekend. It is so great to be able to share the boat with
family and friends.
The
next 2 weekends will be devoted to moving Brian out of his apartment
and onto the boat so we won’t be doing much sailing :( but are getting
closer to our dream of casting off the lines and heading OUT!! I had a
28 year old patient die of breast cancer this week so our decision to
enjoy life while we can seems even more urgent somehow.
Here are some pictures. Thanks to Carolyn who was an excellent documenter.
Take care,
Susan
No comments:
Post a Comment