Hello all!

I've been put on notice that the fine folks at rec.boats.cruising have been
concerned about the whereabouts of Flying Pig and crew. Well, not to worry.
All of us are doing just fine. We've been hanging out at an anchorage close
to Volleyball beach in George Town. We haven't done any sailing nor have be
gone anywhere for about three months. We are busy working on Flying Pig as
usual fixing one thing after another that breaks unexpectedly. We are likely
to be here for a long, long time as spare parts all have to be imported with
a hefty import duty. Plus, the mail is not the most reliable thing around
here either and I think some of the stuff gets re-directed to some needy
local for his own boat.

Lydia is doing fine and is in Hog Heaven. She spends her days putzing around
with a handful of other cruising wives and they gossip and cook and shop and
work on their tans. Some of them even manage to stay somewhat sober while
doing so but not my Lydia. She's awfully fond of her rum, ya know. And rum
is one thing that's cheap around here. I don't mind her staying sloshed,
though, because then it's pretty easy to convince her how great a lover I
am.

Speaking of cheap, WOW! Don't even think about buying diesel here. It's
anything BUT cheap! Try seven dollars a gallon. I think I'm going to have to
learn how to sail into and out of the harbor as it costs too much to motor
like I used to do all the time in the States. Speaking of that, we were
sailing out of Elizabeth Harbor the other day for an afternoon sail and, as
usual, Lydia went on the wrong side of a channel post and there we were
again, hard aground. We did listen to Wilbur Hubbard this time though and
departed on slack low water so we only had to wait about a half hour for the
incoming tide to lift us off. I always thought Wilbur was something of an
ass but now that I've started taking his advice I have to admit that sailing
goes a lot smoother. Sometimes we can go for an afternoon sail and not have
but five or six things go wrong instead of the usual dozen or so.

Like the other day. We went sailing and I forgot that I had taken down the
forestay to repair the roller furling. When I yanked the mainsail up and the
wind filled it, down came the mainmast. So we had to tie it alongside and
use the motor. But it wouldn't start. I traced the problem to a corroded
ground connection which I fixed but it still wouldn't start. So I then
traced it to a bad battery. So I switched it out for one of the house
batteries and it started. But then it quit again. I traced this to a clogged
fuel filter which I changed out and it ran long enough to get us back to our
anchorage in the cove by Volleyball beach. But we had to stop twice to
unwind mast halyards from the propeller.

Well, anyway, friends, fear not. Flying Pig and crew are pursuing our dream.
We never really were cruising sailors so we don't mind admitting we'll
probably be in George Town for years. We might even buy a house as we
finally realized we will always be lubbers at heart.


L8R


Skip


Morgan 461 #2
SV Flying Pig KI4MPC
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