The Voyage South: The Boat is Great and We're About Ready

Here he is, me, himself, relaxing in the cockpit of the Alberg 30, Seawind. We're out on the end of Long Island, NY getting the boat and ourselves (my brother, John and I) ready for the sail from there to home--the Chesapeake Bay. Preparing for a voyage is all about details and we've been working at getting the truck offloaded and the stuff carried to the boat and onloaded and--worst job of all--stowed away in some reasonably neat and logical fashion (Now where the hell did I put the flashlight batteries? And the first aid kit? How about the tool box? It's crazy. I just had the damned thing in my hand).

But look here below and you'll see we're making progress. The dock is still loaded with gear, but the dodger and bimini are on, as are the sails. I finished schlepping the gear from the truck and John did a magnificent job wiring in the big, new GPS. At the moment I write this, he's standing here trying to sort out how you actually operate it. We'll keep the paper charts handy.

Plan now is to finish stowing/provisioning tomorrow, sea trials Wednesday, return rental truck Thursday, and get out of here in the afternoon (we can't leave on Friday--superstition prevents that. Not my superstition--my wife, Terry's and the superstition of thousands of old salts before her--the belief that it's bad luck to set off on a voyage on that particular day. I favor setting sail when the boat and crew are ready and the weather forecast supports at least a couple of days fair breezes. This Verizon wireless connection is slow but it seems to work. Watch this space.