#31 Underway!

Back on the water again!! After four weeks and much enforced patience, we are back underway. The schedule is tweaked a bit but since we really don’t have much of a schedule, or much of a choice, we will adjust. We did miss the AGLCA rendezvous in Orange Beach, but we will try to make the May rendezvous in Norfolk instead. Turns out the prop shaft was bent a lousy 14 thousandths of an inch, about the thickness of three sheets of paper. Amazing that such a small amount of variance can bring an entire enterprise to a sudden halt. I guess it’s a bit like a shuttle launch; how many of those were delayed due to one small solenoid sticking somewhere? Or a person’s health, where one little thing like a tiny kidney stone just a few mm in size can bring plans to a screeching halt. It amazes me that all this mechanical complexity in our world manages to hold together as long as it does, and how we take it for granted that it will. So, fingers crossed that our particular style of complexity holds together for a good long while and we can get to Florida and beyond!

I have to comment about the marina, SafeHarbor Aqua Yachts. The mechanics knew what they were doing, but management sure does not. We were delayed a good two weeks more than necessary thanks to the lack of competence of the service manager, a guy who can’t seem to even run a printer. He didn’t stay in touch, he told me several things that turned out to be wildly incorrect, the final bill was twice what he quoted us, he didn’t pay attention, he double charged us for the credit card fee, and by simply not communicating about our prop shaft, he cost us two and a half weeks. I’ll save my venting for the letters I’m going to write, but I would not go back there if my boat was sinking. And on fire. Ah well.

We watched a Hallmark-style (it was on Netflix) movie the other day, one of those entertaining but predictable movies Hallmark puts out where there is always a snowy town park with a gazebo, a book store, cafe or a flower shop that needs saved, beautiful scenery, and an old flame, just returned home who falls for the girl, (again) he knew in high school. The one we watched was “Champagne Problems” and at one point one of the characters in the movie says that the problems they were dealing with were “champagne problems”, meaning they were, in the grand scheme of things, trivial. Cheryl and I both have friends and family struggling with real problems, ones that can’t be resolved in an hour and forty-five minutes or by a few days in a shop, and we very much appreciate that this issue, a broken boat, is indeed a champagne problem. (Doesn’t mean I wasn’t frustrated as hell at times!)

As I write this we are in a gorgeous anchorage somewhere in Mississippi. We just ran the TenTom Waterway and the next few days we’ll be running south on the TomBigbee River towards Mobile.

The boat seems to be running smoothly and I had a local guy check out the batteries, all good there. (There is a good battery/electrical/generator guy in the area, let me know if you need a name and number.)

This business of sundown at five o’clock is going to slow us down, with short daylight hours we can’t run long days like we did bringing the boat home. Ah well, at least we are on the move. The whole thing was frustrating for both of us, but Cheryl managed to find enough Christmas Spirit to decorate the boat with festive lights today. We are looking good!

Acknowledge and Appreciate what was

Treasure what IS

Be open to what will be. M. Palley

Tricia says:

December 10, 2025 at 11:15 pm

Let’s hope for no additional or unforeseen complications on your Great Loop adventure. Yet, if they cross your path let them be ‘Champagne’ issues. Best of all will be a Champagne Cork ‘Pop’ in celebration of Great Loop Sailing completion without mishap/complication as you pull into your home slip next year! Here’s to an accumulation of many wonderful memories as you explore beautiful scenery sailing through the seasons!