I was putzing around on a couple of small projects on the boat when a friend from across the dock showed up and mentioned what a nice breeze we were missing.

Within 10min we were free of the dock and heading down the ship channel.

I ran the diesel harder than I ever have before to clear the traffic in the channel and she seemed to just eat it up.

When we were past Morgans point we raised the sails and shut down the engine.

The wind was blowing from the south at about 10-12knots.

With the big genoa and the full main we were fairly storming along at over 5.5 knots.

Turtle is SOOOOO much more comfortable to sail than the Starwind(my last boat) was. The Starwind was a great boat but this one just outshines her. The heeling was very comfortable and we approached the rail but not to closely.

My friend George is a very experienced sailor and is the first experienced sailor I have sailed with in years. It is very nice to have someone onboard who knows what you are talking about and is not afraid to do what needs to be done.


The third person on board, a friend of George, seemed to be quite comfortable even when we got the boat heeled over and charging right along.

This is the first REAL sailing I've done with Turtle since putting her in the water Oct 1st. While I've sailed her a couple of times single handed and last weekend with my daughter this was the first time it wasn't like work.

The extra set of experienced hands makes a world of difference.

George has to really watch the tides to sail his boat out of our marina because he draws about 5.5ft and as I only draw 3.3ft it's not so critical. I think he'll be crew more often.

The sunset was fabulous as we were coming back in. I missed the channel entrance in the dusk but we didn't run aground even then.

The only downside to the whole trip was a PAN PAN called as we were approaching our turn. It would appear someone jumped of the Fred Hartman bridge. Thats a drop of 170ft I think. We didn't hear much on th radio but the police boats and a USCG seemed to have the place pretty well covered. I figured we would just be in the way so we headed in to the dock and dinner.


All in all a really first rate few hours of sailing.

I decided not to sleep on the boat tonight but as its only a 30min drive each way I will be back for more tomorrow.

martin

Dream Sail

I dreamt last night of killer whales,
of killers whales in the moonlight.
On the deck of my boat I did float
among killer whales in the moonlight.

The black and white passed in the night
coursing through the liquid moonbeams
and the fins and the sails of both man and whales
cast back the silvery star sheen.

The smell of the whales, the white of the sails,
the damp salt taste of the night air
the sounds of the sea, and of them and me
and the breeze tingling through my neck hair.

The dream was so real that I can still feel
the wind, see the boat, taste the salt spray
of that moonlit sail with the killer whales
by the light of this mundane workday.

M. Tidswell 11/06

After all the complaining I did about how hard it was to remove the water tank you'ld think I'd done a major feat of manual labour.

Well I lost most of the feeling in my left hand and just about couldn't work. The doctor(at great expense I might add) told me I have carpel tunnel syndrome.

Gee no shit, he told me that 2 years ago.

I didn't pay much attention then and now its worse. I'll live, but he's going to get back to me on what I can do about it.

So anyway, enough whining.

When we last looked I had a nice open space under the sole where the water tank used to reside.

It's still there since it appears there is nobody on the planet that makes custom sized water bladders. At least no one would admit to it anyway.

I ended up buying a standard sized Plastimo tank which just didn't want to go in where the old tank came out of. I put it in a locker under the vee berth. This has unfortunately upset the fore/aft trim some so I'll have to figure out how to make it right. For the time being however I have a functioning water system and thats a good thing. It's actually bigger than the old one by a bit more than half. 26.5 gal as opposed to 16 gal.

Water, however is heavy stuff and with the tank full it puts the bow down by about 3in. Luckily, I weigh just about the same as the full water tank so all I have to do is stay in the cockpit and the trim is perfect. This also gives me a perfect excuse not to restart my diet.

Ok so it's not a great plan. I'm working on it.

The diesel leak is another story.

After running the motor for a few hours last weekend I discovered there was about a 1/2 cup of fuel in the bilge blanket under the motor. I was fearing a cracked injector pump, and hoping for a simple cracked fuel line or a loose fitting. I tightened up all the fittings that would turn and when pressure was applied I heard a slight hiss and another drop of fuel dripped out.

Bummer.

I just knew it was going to be bad. I started by pricing all the parts in the general area of the leak and at $260 and a bunch of learning to fit and time it, I was hoping it wasn't the injector pump.

Of course the local marine place didn't have all the parts I needed. I mean why would you stock the o-rings used on the majority of the Yanmar engines used in sailboats. Luckily I found the local injector rebuilder had 197 of the little devils in stock. $1.10 each. I bought 3 . I also bought a new fuel pipe just in case.

When I removed the fuel pipe fitting and looked at the o-ring in there, it was mashed and nearly broken. I replaced the o-ring and after bleeding the line the engine started right up. It idled right away. It didn't falter and stumble and try to die on me. I could shift from forward to reverse without the engine stalling. To say I was pleased would be such an understatement. I'm still grinning about it.

$1.10 just may be the cheapest marine repair in the entire history of boats.

Of course the new found fuel pressure will probably be to much for the injector pump and it will die the next time I really need it.

Don't think you can hide Mr. Murphy, I can smell the diesel on your breath..............martin