Oct 23, 2012 Tuesday, Cabrillo Isle Marina, San Diego

Today was not a good day.  It started with Alan making a phone call to find out where our new folding dingy is.  The person he needs to talk to is not there and not returning his calls.  He has decided that we will not take the sabot with us after all.  It is very hard to see over it when it is tied to the deck and he is also afraid that it will get completely destroyed crashing up onto rocky beaches and coral reefs.  We want it to teach one more generation how to sail.  So several weeks ago he ordered a folding boat.  It was supposed to be delivered to our house by the 17th or if they could not get it to us in time, we were to pick up a demo from the Long Beach Boat Show on that weekend.  Somehow neither of those things happened.  This is not a company that is good at customer service.  So here we are, days from leaving, and no dingy.  Not only that, but now we have to figure out how to get it from LA, where it will eventually be delivered, to San Diego.  Neither Chris nor Audrey are available to bring it down.  We could rent a truck and go home get it.  We could cancel the order but it is already on the truck and on it’s way.   After much discussion and phone calls to the dingy company, the marina office, Chris and Downwind Marine, we have a new plan.  The truck will will be redirected to deliver it to Downwind Marine by Friday.  We will take a taxi over there in the afternoon, carrying the motor, collect the boat, carry it several blocks to the dock, put it together and motor back across the bay to Rhapsody.  Assuming all goes well, we will leave Etude in a dingy dock here and Chris will come down sometime after we are gone to collect her and take her back home to her place on the roof of the garage.  So sad.  Hopefully someone will take her out for a sail once or twice while we are gone.

So that was difficult issue #1.  Difficult issue #2 was the sails.  This started out well.  They were delivered about noon  They had been found to be in great condition even though they are 30 years old, just a few minor repairs and the new reef points.  (For you non-sailors,  reef points are a line of holes across the sail that allow you to make it smaller.  If there is too much wind, you let the sail part way down and tie ropes through the holes and onto the boom to hold it tight.  Now you have a much smaller sail.  Sort of the opposite of a hem on a little girl’s dress.  Remember those?)   But I digress.  We slipped the hanks into the mast track and hoisted away.  Up it went, so smoothly on the freshly lubed track. Now to get it all laced back onto the boom.  When we took the sails off we had taken pictures of every step so we would be able to put them back on again. Alan went below to find his photos and reappeared looking glum.  All of his photos were gone.  Sometime during the last week he had re-synced his phone and had lost all his photos.  ARRAGG   I sort of remembered how the ropes that I took off had been fastened but I had not paid any attention to what Alan did.  Meanwhile, the wind had come up and the loose sails were flapping all over the place as we struggled to figure it out.  We finally got them tied on any old how, lowered them down and tied them up for the night.  We will try again first thing in the morning when there is no wind.

Now time to head across the bay in the dingy.  There is another seminar tonight and Alan needs to get there early enough to do some more shopping.  And time for difficult issue #3.   The dingy motor had been charging all day but it was only at 60%.  There had just not been enough sun.  Yesterday, when we had gone over it had taken about 20% each way, so we should be OK, but we were going to have to go slow.  The shopping went well, although he still did not find a running light for the dingy.  At the end of the seminar we headed back across the bay, slowly, in the dark, with no lights.  Luckily it was calm and there were no other boats out.  Back home, a quick cup of tea and bed.  Tomorrow has got to be better.