Slowly, but surely getting ready to sail!

Each day finds us just a bit further along the path to actually sailing! The second half of this week we pulled out and replaced the bad house batteries, created a first aid kit, organized the head, finished storing the off-season linens and clothing, gave Bill a much needed haircut, put the new carburetor on the dinghy motor and marked/measured the boom gallows so we can take it in tomorrow to be welded.
We also found a Rope shop with all kinds of fun and functional stuff, all we bought this time was bungee cording to make port light curtains but next time we'll be buying replacement lines for a few sails. Just down the road from the rope shop was a small flea market... imagine our surprise at finding a 30' long 5/8" double braid dock line for $5.... he came down to $4 for us! At the same market we got about $40 of candy for $15, all in all a GREAT shopping trip! Whew... I'm exhausted just from listing it all!

To relax from all the hard labor, we took Iron Jack out on Saturday for a 3 hour tour (hum the Gilligan's Island theme song here) that really lasted just 3 hours! I got my first lesson at steering the boat with a sail up. The wind was mild enough that Bill thought I could handle it if we only put up the roller furling Genoa... and no, I did NOT run her aground!! Didn't stray too far but I did take her under the bridge while under sail. Yippee!! Yes, I know this sounds kindergartenish to the salts among you but just try to remember back to your early days on the water.