Day 157 Blogging from the boat.

Yesterday, while in Sequim, we stopped in at the local Verizon store and talked to them about a device that plugs into your computer that allows you to connect straight to the Internet.  It basically dials up a Verizon phone number and connects you.  Since our plans have changed as to how long we will be here--now through next Spring, we went for it.  Now I no longer have to walk to the ice cream parlor nor take a bus to Safeway.  I can get on line from Zephyr!!!  With our delay, we don't figure we will be leaving the United States till sometime late next year and since they offered a one year contract, we had nothing to really loose.  This way, as we sail through the islands here and down the coast next year, we can get on line when ever we need to.  It's nice to be able to sit here in the comfort of our boat and do this blog.  It's blowing outside big time and there is lots of rain scheduled for most of today.

Yesterdays trip was just fine.  We covered up in our foul weather gear and caught the 11:45 bus.  Well, it was just sprinkling here but relatively clear in Sequim.  While only a really few miles away as the crow flies, it is in a totally different weather pattern.  They only get about 8 inches of rain a year.  Port Townsend gets a lot more.  It apparently has to do with a mountain range that is around here that blocks the rain from hitting them like it hits here.

We took a short bus ride in Sequim to get to Taco Time for lunch and then to Super Cuts for a hair cut.   Verizon is just about next door so we stopped there next for the gizmo I talked about above.  They got quite busy and since we were on a kind of a time crunch to make the bus back to Port Townsend, Tracy went to Petco-same shopping center--and got the kids their food.  Costco is right down the street so off to look for a new electric blanket.  While there, we also got a bag of chicken and a couple of their steaks.  We'd hit our max load level by now so it was off to the bus stand for a short ride back to the main terminal.  Our bus back to Port Townsend leaves at 3:53 so we can't be late.  Caught it on time with no problems and home we came.

Jack, the electrician, bolted down some things on Zephyr while we were gone.  He had stopped in just before we left and we went over the list of things that need to still be done.  Not long but still quite a few items.  We found out that he will be at this boat show I told you about yesterday till Thursday of next week and then gone again the following week.  Since he is the main electrician that has been working on Zephyr and one of the other electricians is out having his tonsils out, we doubt that any further work will get done for a while.

The riggers--Gordon and Nathan showed up for a short while yesterday--in the rain, and tightened up the back stay as planned.  They also looked at the gooseneck-where the boom connects to the mast.  The bolts that hold the two together need to have some work done as they weren't done quite right.  

We have a new neighbor to the South of us.  They pulled him yesterday.  He's even bigger than us.  It's strange to look out the port light and see a boat above us.  We're used to being one of the largest boat in the yard.  He's going into Winter storage to get a few chores done on his boat.  If you're not planning on sailing through the Winter, it's not a bad way to store your boat.  A lot cheaper than renting a slip--is you can find one.

The Beneteau to the North of us is having their bottom redone.  The rust from his keel bolts bled through the 5 layers of epoxy and 2 layers of bottom paint he had the yard put on.  He complained to the management that they hadn't fixed his problem and he wanted it redone.  What he seems to fail to grasp is that once water gets to your keel bolts (they hold your keel to the bottom of the boat) unless you have the keel removed and cleaned out--all the water drained and the rusted bolts replaced-- it is just going to keep coming back.  Eventually, the rust will win and your keel will fall off your boat, the boat will roll over and the boat will sink.  A boat doing a ocean crossing had that happen a short time ago with lose of life.  His only real choices are to either do it correctly(not cheap),  sell the boat as soon as it is done(possibly kill someone else),  or wait for the keel to drop off(possibly kill himself).  It's all part of the hard reality of owning a boat.  If you take care of it, it will take care of you.  If you don't, it may rise up and bite you on the ass!

Just came back from outside.  It's still blowing nicely.  Not cold, just windy.  No fog for a change but more rain is forecast.  As a matter of fact, it is forecast for the next five days.  Guess time will tell. 

The Sun is still waiting to come up.  The days just keep getting shorter and shorter.  Being this far North, I expect that by the time it is at its pinnacle, the day light hours will be quite short.  Boy what a change.  I thought Denver had a short daylight span in the Winter.  I'm not looking forward to the short days up here.

Have a great day everyone!