June 12, 2014: making progress

I drank too much yesterday and felt it today. I think my safe limit of St John mixed drinks is two: they sure pour them strong! I can't think of anything else that would leave me feeling so beaten-up today: I hardly accomplished anything other than repairing the kayak shackle, replacing the lens on one of the hatches, fixing a winch, taking down a kerosene lantern I really don't need (I only use it for hitting my head), cleaning some of the incipient mold off ceiling surfaces, and whipping some lines for the Lazer fleet.

Yesterday, though, I climbed the mast three times (only about 20' up) to replace the four lower shrouds. I had ordered new lifeline cables and six stays from a place just off the Cape and they made them to order and had them here in five days! I'm really impressed with that and am delighted to have replaced all the rigging that had broken strands waiting to cut me or fail disastrously. And those new stainless steel assemblies are just plain pretty and look like SO much better workmanship than the old.


I've also recently done some refinishing, replaced the macerator pump and ancient tubing for my waste system (nasty work!), replaced some leaky port-lights (windows),

taken lots of great sails to new and interesting places,

 learned more about the abilities and limits of my boat, been startled by a big barracuda watching me from ten feet away, sledded my kayak down a cobble beach and into the water,

 sailed while I waited for sunrise,

 and foraged for winged oysters.

Very satisfying....

but still missing something.