October 2004

Hello everyone,

Today the ghosts and goblins are out and about and so are we. Yes, we are on our way south once again.

It has been a busy month, with Heather’s hand surgery on the 9th. This time it was her right hand that had the carpal tunnel release surgery done. She has recovered quite quickly and should be able to polish the hull by the time we reach Florida.

Before the surgery, we did a radio installation in Bayfield and caught up with sailing friends in that area.

Afterwards, we spent most of a week in Woodstock with Murray’s family on the farm.

Then, of course, it was the round of doctor’s appointments to get our annual tune-ups. In between, we got to spend time with other friends.

The last week was spent with Jeremy and Cynthia and our grandson Matthew. We had a wonderful time in Dunrobin with them.

Now, it is time to re-join our floating home. Our new dinghy should be awaiting us – an AB rib at 10.5 ft long. A rib is a Rigid Inflatable Boat and has a fiberglass hull with inflatable tube sides. It should fly, especially with the Honda 15 hp 4-stroke that we got last year.

The new mainsail will arrive just after we do and should give us much improved sailing ability to weather ( towards the wind, for the landlubbers ).

The major jobs awaiting us are few. The leaking water tank from the spring turned out to be a loose lid. The gap in the joint between the keel and the wing is our biggest job. With some care and a great crane operator, we will clean out the joint, be lifted a few inches and re-blocked in that position. Hopefully, the wing has dropped down slightly during this process. We will scrape out the joint more and allow it to dry over the weekend. Then, caulk with 3M 5200 and be lowered back down onto the wing early Monday morning, having spent the weekend in the slings. Nothing to it, right? We will let you know.

Then, some polishing of the hull ( with Heather’s two good hands now to help ) and new bottom paint and we will be ready to launch. Perhaps midweek ie 10 days from now.

After that, just clean everywhere, and start filling up the nooks and crannies with food for the winter.

So, we have our jobs all lined up for the next few weeks. But, the sun should be warm and we will start getting our winter tans. Sorry, don’t mean to rub it in! But….

Take care of each other and stay healthy up here in the north country. Love and hugs to all,

Heather & Murray