No Pictures Today

I took a bit of a spill yesterday, coming back from the hardware store. (Dowel rod for a flag staff, spare nuts for the Westerbeke water pump, and a ring for some keys - they couldn't find a nut to match the life lines that I wanted. I later figured out why. It is left handed thread!). The wind was howling, and the concrete sea wall was to the lee, with steps formed into it. Had a heck of a time tieing up the dink. I should have gone into town, sheltered from 3 sides and walked to the store, but I stayed and the dink was being bounced into the seawall by the wind and waves. To exit the dink, I finally had to step out onto a landing, formed with the steps, into a foot of water, soaking my shoes and jeans. (It is cool enough in the wind to have to wear long pants.) When I returned, I pitched my bag into the dink, and started down the steps, and on the 2nd, slipped and bang, bang, bang, was on my butt bouncing down 3, and ending up in the landing, in a foot of sloshing seawater. Thank you non skid soles on my Topsiders! I was soaked from above the waist down. Then, the 15 Yamaha would not stay running. I assumed it was sediment in the fuel, but it was way too bouncy to try to take the cover off and empty and clear the filter, so I ended up goosing it, and putting it in gear, almost hanging myself on some lines, but came straight back to AF. Cold, hurting, and wet.
I peeled off the wet things, dried myself, and put something dry on, and stayed put. Rough night with the pain in my hip waking me each time I turned over. Winds have been a bit high. About 20 knots steady with gusts to 28, and AF is bouncing about a bit , and sailing in the wind.

Today, I ached. And then I started to clean up, and put things away, for departure. Also, after looking all over the boat for the DeWalt drill, fashioned a new flagstaff, and tied my small US flag to in, and now, am properly rigged for international sailing.

To demonstrate my courage, I took in the emergency tiller, and will stow it properly tomorrow. All of the tools used in the tiller trouble, and the genset trouble have been put away, leaving a plumber's torch to melt the end of the sheet (rope) for the jib, when I cut it in half to eliminate the bad chafe. Thanks, Mike, for doing it this way.

I worked on the outboard a bit, tied and bouncing against AF's beam, and thought I really had it improved. Adjusted the timing just a bit, and turned down the idle, and, of course, cleaned the filter. I let her run for 20 minutes and she was perfect. Put in gear and nosed up to AF's beam and revved it, and all was good, and let it idle in neutral and it never popped one time. So, tonight when I took off for the Dinghy Club for drinks and dinner and a load of laundry, it stalled as I throttled down to enter the marina area, and continued to stall, each time I started it. What am I going to do with this outboard?

Turns out, a fellow, recommended a few weeks ago, I had a beer with the other day, is THE mechanic in this town, and hopefully, I will get it over to him in the morning. He is across the bay, in the opposite direction from town - towards the airport.

Bermuda Yacht Service is having a Christmas party for cruisers and employees, tomorrow after 4, and I would love to attend. Need reliable transportation back to AF, though.

They successfully recovered the sailboat that had lost her master. And the un-published story is, that when the ship came to remove the man's body, they lost the metal litter and his body, into the sea. Dropped it all right into the ocean. The family in Australia is heart broken, but I hope that mine would not be. My dad taught us that, after death, the body is just meat, and the soul is gone, to heaven hopefully. It was probably a philosophy acquired during his years in apprenticeship as a mortician. But, now, without a body, the boat is a crime scene, and the recovery crew were not supposed to go below, or touch anything, which made the recovery more difficult. The boat had taken a wave at some point, as well as having dead batteries, and with water 6 inches above the sole, was a bit of trouble getting to Bermuda.

Nice hamburger and fries and Stella's at the dink club. Chase would not allow my credit card to take the $70 drinks and dinner charge ( I bought a round, after someone bought me one) , and there was no way to call from there. This will continue to be a problem for me in the future, but, at this point, I don't know how to solve it. **Update: 5 Skype calls failed in mid-call to Chase, but was able to find out that my card has been "compromised", meaning some law enforcement agency has reported it to them, "from local police to the CIA". In the hand of some criminal element. Now what do I do? Was going to buy fuel and water, if necessary, tomorrow or the next day, using it. Damn thieves are better at this stuff than the police are, I think. Will try Skype tomorrow from a better wifi location. Damn!
Abdul and Roger are great. I inquired as to whom was driving the MG - Midget outside, and it is Abdul's. Wow. Very nice guys, and I met a fellow who has made his money doing construction - celebrity homes here on the island - Bloomberg, for one - took 3 years to build - and told some great stories. Also, he ran the generators and compressors when they made the movie The Deep here, so knew Bisset, Shaw, Nolte, Wallach, and the director, and had each as guests in his home. Nolte must have stayed for weeks, they way he talked. Had some personal tales about each, but refused to pass them along, but for hints. Best part about this guy, is that at his shop, at the end of each work day, his cronies come, with six packs in hand, and they sit and shoot the breeze, and tell lies til time to go home. Sounds like my kind of place, and I wish I had met him 2 weeks ago. The latest topic is Tiger's troubles, by the way.

So, wind is howling again - supposed to be worse than yesterday - and should tame a bit tomorrow. This is the weather that has hurt central US and caused high wind reports in the south.
Wonderful place and people here. It is time to go, but I will miss more than a few I have met, in this 3+ weeks. Plan now is fueling tomorrow, if the wind dies, and departing Saturday, but, if you know me, that is hardly written in stone.