Roger here; alone. This morning I drove Lene to the Newport News Amtrak station and, surrounded by friendly boaters, I nevertheless already miss her. But she will be arriving in Tortola by air with our cats on November 11, before me.
The past few days have been busy but fun. Monday we took a brief rest from our chores and visited the history museum here, where we learned that the street we drive on each day after leaving the marina, Kekoughtan Street, is a Britified version of the name of the Indian tribe that was displaced from this Hampton area. They would have spelled their name, if they knew how to spell in English letters, "Kikatan". They were one of many tribes on "The Peninsula", the land including Jamestown, Yorktown, and Williamsburg, so rich in American history, bordered by the James and the York Rivers. The chief of all of these tribes was Pocahontas' father. The town of Hampton was burned in the Revolutionary war, the War of 1812 and (by the southerners to prevent the north from using it) in the Civil War. Is was built by tobacco, rebuilt by crabbing and later by the US military, with a longstanding tourism industry as well.
The photo is of our friends, Stan and Carol Hoegerman in their new condo in Williamsburg. One of Carol's magnificent quilts is the backdrop. Interestingly, the name of the pattern of the quilt is: Storm at Sea. The picture was taken by Dave who accompanied us. Tonight the rally held an Hors D'oeuvres contest. I felt a bit awkward merely eating instead of providing manchego y membrillo, which is a nautically themed (looking like a yacht club pennant), tasty (salt and sweet combined), low carb (no bread base) entry, but I was too busy continuing to prepare the boat to shop for ingredients and make up the dish. And somebody has to eat the stuff, right? Dinner was superfluous after a substantial lunch and so many snacks. The most imaginative entry, in my opinion, was spam, cut into the shape of the top view of sailboats, and soaked in brandy.
The weather-induced layover has become a blessing in disguise, allowing for the completion of many chores that would not have gotten done otherwise. All of the recommendations of the surveyor and of the rally officials have been accomplished. Also: the nuts that hold the solar panels to their racks have been replaced with lock nuts; a short non-stretch line ties the tack (lower front corner) of the big forward sail closely to its stay to improve shape, two more five gallon jerry cans of diesel fuel have been purchased, filled, carted to the boat and lashed to a board affixed to the port stanchions, in addition to the original two such cans, giving us 20 gallons of fuel on deck, in addition to the 75 gallons in the boat's inside tanks -- hopefully enough fuel to motor half way to Tortola. (all this high weight also balances the boat, eliminating its list to starboard. Also, the missing sheaves for the small jib's sheeting live have finally arrived and we will be placing the 56 plastic ball bearings in it (using hair dressing which can be washed away after it is put together to hold them in place during assembly). I am trying to use crazy glue to repair a knob used to secure one side opening port. And we have placed the four new stainless steel "frames" against the outside of the boat's four fixed ports (windows). These had been fabricated by Erwin Eibert, who will be arriving on Thursday, and serve not only a decorative purpose, but also, when the silicon adhesive is placed between them and the side of the boat tomorrow, serving the useful purpose of stopping, once and for all, the leaking of rainwater and sea spray into the boat through cracks in the seams between the windows and the boat. This was definitely a two person job: one to hold the frames in place while the other looked from inside and yelled micromanagement of the adjustment of the frames against the windows to select the best location before they were taped on, drilled and screwed.
Also, the tightening of the shrouds pulled the sides of the boat a very bit closer together, preventing the lifting up of certain cabin sole (floor) boards that would need to be picked up to search for the source of big leaks if any such occurred. This would have to be done in a hurry and getting a screw driver to unscrew a latch is not fast enough. I removed accumulated rust from and sharpened our wood chisel and Dave used it to move the latches so that access is restored. We also took apart the front of the galley stove and Dave used penetrating oil to unfreeze the frozen knob and I cleaned food from places between metal that food has no right to enter. There are several other such chores, done or waiting to be done, that we would not have done until Tortola, if at all, but for the enforced delay.
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