We left the town dock in Waterford on Thursday, October 10, and had a nice, but chilly, ride to Riverview Marine in Catskill Creek. Freshwater sailors that we are, we became re-acquainted with the power of the tide! Leaving just after high tide in Troy,, doing 6.1 knots, by the end of the day we were down to 3.7 knots, as the tide had turned against us. We arrived at Riverview Marine in Catskill Creek at 6:00 PM, and were greeted by Leonard and Lynnea Rosner on their Sabre 36, Antares. They are from Burlington, and we had met them in 2010 in Chrleston, S.C. We have seen each other on Lake Champlain since and have kept in touch. Heading south again this year also, they had arrived in Waterford while we were there, and had quickly moved on, so by the time we got here to Riverview, they already had their mast up and sails on. Mike, owner of Riverview Marine, was also there with a friendly greeting. This is our seventh visit to Riverview, for either mast up or mast down service! Mike is great and the crew very helpful and professional. We always enjoy our time here.
Just a while before we arrived, Dick had noticed that the engine was sounding different. Hmmmmm. But it was late, we were tired, and time for dinner and sleep. The crew was ready to put up our mast the next morning, so we were on the dock, ready to go at 8:00 AM. Mast up, forestay and aftstay attached, shrouds on and tensioned. Getting hot, so the bimini went on next for some shade, then finally the jib was hoisted and furled. (It is a lot of work to put a sailboat back together!) Saturday, mainsail on, reefing lines run, lazyjacks in place, sailcover on (did I mention how much work it is to put a sailboat back together?), laundry done, new registration numbers on the dinghy, and finally! putting the boat back to order below. The sails had been in the quarterberth, but now that they are where they are supposed to be, the quarterberth now becomes "the garage."
We thought we would be ready to leave Sunday morning, but Dick thought he needed to check out that engine noise. He found a broken bolt in the Vetus flexible shaft coupling. :( Mike didn't have the right size, and he tried to find one locally, but being Sunday and Columbus Day weekend, he didn't have any luck. Since we were still here, we had an opportunity to SKYPE with Jane, Pete and Benjy in London. That is always a high point! Great to see their smiling faces! Monday morning, Karen went online, got the number for Vetus U.S. and found out that they didn't have the bolts in stock, would have to have them air freighted from Holland!!! But Bob at Vetus in Maryland suggested Fastenal. So we rented a car and went off to Fastenal in Kingston. A lovely drive down Route 9W, got the bolts (a few extra, just to be sure), a quick lunch, and back again. Then Dick went to install the bolts and discovered that they were too long! Argh!!!!!!!!! It turned out that Mike had the correct length after all. Ouch. Anyway, today is Tuesday, and Dick is struggling (and occasionally cursing) to get this put back together correctly. He is replacing all of the bolts in the flexible coupling while he is in there. Mike is lending him any tool he might need.
Meanwhile, Karen has been busy cleaning...the decks and hull have been washed, the waterline scrubbed (we grew lots of scum while the boat sat on a mooring for 6 weeks this summer while we were away), the dingy has been washed, inside and out (the remainder of the Whitehall mud excursion has been cleaned up!). Now on to doing some charting for our southerly route, since I inadvertently wiped out all our tracks on the chartplotter from our last trip south. Grrrr!
The downside is that we are stuck here and this would be beautiful traveling weather...warm, sunny, mild breeze. But the upside is that we are in a good place to have a problem. People at the marina are friendly and helpful, and Jonah is getting lots of walks and playtime! If this bolt was going to break, it could have happened in a much worse time and place. Hopefully this will be resolved soon and we will be on our way south!
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