Month: April 2007

We have been at the marina for one week today. In that time, we adjusted every support arm of the bimini, made a pattern, cut the fabric (some parts twice!), sewed, fitted, cut apart and re-sewed. There are leather patches on stress points, a total of 8 zippers and many yards of seam binding. We lost two days with high winds making it impossible to spread fabric out, without becoming a kite. It is done and it fits! I have taken some photos and will pass them along to Jeremy to post on the website.

Hello all,

The part for the transmission arrived on Sat at 10:30 and we picked it up shortly after 11. Murray installed the damper plate, re-installed the transmission, and finished in just 2 hours. Then, we hauled the dinghy motor and dinghy again and by 3 pm we were underway. The breakdown only cost us 30 hours! Amazing.

We froze our way, into a north wind of course, northward through St Augustine, into the St John’s River and on to the marina. We arrived here on the Monday after Easter and found a secure spot on the dock.

Remember that up-beat, positive message sent earlier? That was before we identified the strange, rattling noise coming from our engine room. It was the transmission. We got through two bridges in Daytona before we were forced to sail off to the side of the ICW and anchor. Luckily, I was able to connect to someone’s wireless and made a dozen calls on Skype. The part has been ordered, paid for and will arrive here at a nearby marina tomorrow, Sat.

Hello all,

As our brief message stated, we safely crossed the Gulf Stream yet again. Now for the rest of the story.