For the last two weeks, we've been docked in Charleston City Marina.
We've
managed to get nearly all of our issues resolved or projects
previously
delayed finished. We took a sea trial to check out our prior
instrument
misbehavior about a week ago. I'd met a young man who drove the
courtesy
van for the marina and invited him and his girlfriend along, and
Lydia
invited the childhood friend of some of her kids, and his roommate,
living
in Charleston and going to school here. After motoring out of the
marina
and the channel, and clearing the artificial reefs formed by the
jetties
near the harbor entrance, we started extremely slowly, on just the
spinnaker, and came home in a rollicking good breeze under full sail,
motoring the last bits into the marina.

Unfortunately, there was a severe current running to go with that
breeze,
and, putting it kindly, it was not one of my better dockings. Without
the
gory details and blow-by-blow, we missed the first attempt, the
current was
strong enough to blow us into a couple of things, and we bumped the
stern
platform. Minor damage resulted to the rub rail and the ladder, but
we
docked in the opposite direction from the way we were when we left.
That
put us stern-to the stern of another boat on which there is a German,
a
Captain hired to take his boat the same place we're going, and the dog
Macy
those of you on Lydia's log list will recall having read about. As it
developed, they were going to leave at the same time we did, though
not
necessarily sailing in tandem, but keeping in touch over the radio.

We've met so many wonderful people here in Charleston. People near us
on
the dock are, in some cases, those we know from internet contacts.
Others
come into, and go from our lives very quickly, but stay attached via
the
internet. Many are either going where we are, or have just come from
there,
so we're very encouraged about our upcoming travels, having heard
encouraging reports on previously nervous-making segments.

We've learned about geckoes from a couple who used to raise them,
among
other livestock, including that one may feed them the flies you
assassinate,
if you appropriately skewer them and offer them to the hungry
critter. Of
course, the objective in having geckoes aboard is that no insect
survive,
as, while cute (think Geico), they aren't particularly cuddly or
affectionate. We conquered the very few cockroaches, large
(euphemistically
called palmetto bugs) and small (German) that we found last year by
copious
distribution of the baits sold inexpensively in grocery and discount
stores.

However, that was at the same time we introduced a small gecko, so we
aren't
sure that he wasn't the occasion of many of the smaller ones' deaths.
In
any event, if you don't feed them - and this one disappeared into the
boat
immediately, so we have no idea of his provenance - they die. So, if
we were
to acquire a couple of them, or, as that couple accidentally acquired
a
gecko passenger in Florida did, killing and skewering flies and
offering
them up, we'd either have to find enough flies or other insects to
keep them
nourished, or feed them something else.

I mention this because where we are now (more later on how we
arrived),
there are enough flies to be a nuisance, but not a plague, and we'd
rather
have geckoes than exercise the flyswatter. However, back to the
German, the
Captain and Macy...

Macy, having had a solitary life for nearly all her 7 years, attached
herself to anyone who'd pay attention to her. First it was Lydia, as
you've
read, but as soon as Joe (Captain) arrived, she was torn between him
and
Lydia as to whom she'd either follow down the dock or stay next to.
So,
when Joe left, and we left, we expect she was bereft.

However, I digress. The other boat had enough problems and the owner
had
such a total lack of knowledge either of them, or how to fix them,
that the
Captain eventually walked off the job. As his home was near where we
were
going, he hitched a ride with us. With Joe along, we'd have another
hand to
stand watches and, better, he was an experienced Captain who, had we
engaged
him, would have cost us a thousand dollars or more for our trip. So,
good
company, and very useful to have if circumstances got dicey.

As it turned out, we had much in common. He'd been a music teacher
for 30
years, and was an active gigging trumpeter, playing with many notable
bands,
beginning when he was 16! Obviously a prodigy on the trumpet, he was
also a
very experienced Captain, and before we knew that he'd be coming with
us,
he'd gotten out the charts of the inside route we'd expected to take,
showing us all the little tricks of the trade. Our charts had not
included
the Intra-Coastal Waterway, the inside route, avoiding Cape Hatteras,
so
that was very helpful.

At the same time, we discovered that our chartplotter wasn't
compatible with
the chart chips we'd ordered from C-Map/Jeppesen. They were very
understanding, and - including the two we'd ordered back in January -
took
back the entirety of what we'd ordered at full value, replacing them
with
chips which didn't exceed the memory on our plotter. We checked them
out,
and aside from some anomalies of having incompatibility between two
chips
where their coverages overlap (have to take one out to let them read
the
area), all is well, and we're covered from Sandy Hook, a suburb of New
York,
all the way to the Dry Tortugas park, at the very end of the Florida
Keys.

We had finished all of our electrical checkouts after our repairs, and
I'd
managed to get the new internet equipment to the point I would feel it
ok to
put it up the mast. However, as always, time marched on, and I used
it up
in repairing the dings generated in docking in a very heavy current on
our
sea trials of the electrical work. So, the ladder and rub rail of the
swim
platform were repaired, and the dinghy re-slung (to allow a higher and
more
level mount) but the up-the-mast work, including getting the spreader
boots
(the things which help the sails not be torn in the rigging hardware)
attached, nor the sail slides lubricated, the hailer horn (the speaker
which
allows us to broadcast voice traffic, or, more importantly, make the
appropriate noises in fog or alarm conditions) attached, nor one of
other
the pieces of gear which departed in our storm damage back in
February, the
"Windex" - a pointer and boundaries which let us tell at a glance
where the
wind is coming from.

As those are non-critical items, and the weather window looks perfect,
we
made ready to go at first light. Meanwhile, the most significant
problems
on the other boat had involved lighting, absolutely necessary on the
ocean
and in shipping lanes. On the owner's entreaties, Joe had decided to
stick
it out with Jade, the other boat, taking it on the inside route where
lighting was of no great moment. So, he informed us as we were
starting the
engine that he'd stay. However, as we were also doing some stowing
and
other make-ready activity and didn't leave immediately, not 10 minutes
later
he was back asking if he could still come. Turns out there'd been
some more
discussion and the owner hadn't been willing to make the needed
adjustments
to not only go inside, but have Joe along.

So, a little after 8 on August 3rd, we shoved off. Stay tuned...

L8R

Skip

Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
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