We’ve got just 10 days until our scheduled departure date of Tuesday, October 9! We fluctuate between being excited, anxious, stressed-out, and just feeling like it is time to finally get out there!
Todd decided to get the refrigeration fixed, which means we’ll use more power, so he also ordered two new solar panels. The fridge is running great and yesterday we dropped off the panels at Metal Magic in Alameda, to get the mounting brackets set up.
Today, I’m going to park myself in a cafe to get some work done, while Todd and his sailing buddy Rick take the boat out and try to get the Cape Horn wind vane working. (The Cape Horn will steer the boat based on the direction of the wind.) Todd and I tried it a couple weeks ago and it worked okay to windward, but completely failed downwind. Rick has sailed thousands of miles with his Cape Horn, so we’re hopeful he can assess our problem and find a solution!
So our ten day to-do list looks something like this: Fix wind vane, install solar panels, figure out health insurance, do a big shop at Trader Joe’s (already shopped Rainbow twice!), figure out how to carry the dinghy and outboard, fix the shower faucet, finish stocking the medical kit and abandon ship bag, get typhoid vaccine, take the car to mom’s and change the oil… you get the idea!
It steered great downwind for 21 days from Mexico to Hawaii twelve years ago!