Sail Feeder Fixed

On Friday the 23rd we received a wonderful phone call that the feeder had arrived from France. However as we needed to get home this week we had North Sail from Charleston come to the marina at Port Royal on Saturday morning.

It was cloudy, and sprinkling rain, but they arrived, put the feeder on, checked that the sail worked, checked both the jib and stay sail in the front of the boat as the furling systems are also made by the same company...ProFurl. All is well and the control on the main feeder works perfectly now. It was amazing watching them replace it on the mast.

Unfortunately the weather continued to not be wonderful on Saturday. We wandered and found the Port Royal Soft Shell Crab Festival which was lots of fun with yummy food and great stuff to look at.

Sunday was windy and rainy so we just packed up, closed up the boat, and came home. Will be back before long after we get Mother off to Quebec for a visit with my brother and his family.

This time we really will get to sail on Wind Spirit!

Waiting...

This has been a quiet few days as we wait for the ash cloud to dissipate in France and the feeder part for the main sail to be sent. We are also waiting for a new stove-top coffee percolator.

We have had great fun socializing in the evening with fellow boaters... some trawler folks and some sailors. Last night we had dinner with an interesting and fun couple from Halifax on Nelleke, who are headed north, but are waiting for some repairs to be done too. They are sailing a 1980 Moody 42 that has 3 cabins and 2 heads. It is an interesting and a very seaworthy boat. Dinner was just delicious, and we had a great time getting to know them, and learning how they live aboard.

Friday and Saturday evening all the Marina folks meet up at the top of the dock and BBQ and share a dish. No-see-ums were a bit rough both nights but we did have fun.
Have been to West Marine almost every day and Publix about every other day.

Bill pumped us out and filled the water tank Saturday so we are functional again However, we learned today that we need to filter the chlorine out of the water when we put it in as it reacts with the aluminum water tank. Always something new! Bill has been changing water filters today. There are 5! A friend from another Island Packet, The Gideon, came over and coached him through the first couple, and Bill has just finished the rest. People are so generous sharing their time and knowledge and we are so grateful for the help! You cannot imagine some of the positions Bill has to get into to work on stuff! He says he has muscles where he never knew he had any!

We went exploring in the car yesterday and found Ft Fremont and the beach at Lands End south of Penn Center, which we sailed by on the way through the Port Royal Sound. There are tons of tomato farms out on that part of the islands so now we know why there is a tomato processing plant on Hwy 21. Also, we found the Migrant workers camp which made us think of Lori, the Emory student staying with us at the house as her thesis is about migrant farm workers in south GA.

All is well as we wait here at the dock for the ash cloud to dissipate. We are planning to be home for a while at the end of the month.

The French Connection...

Well, we are still dealing with a main sail that will not stay in the track when we pull it up the mast. Bill is still working on getting the feeder working, that puts the sail into the track and holds it. We want it to tighten down to hold the sail as it goes up.

We did talk further to Mack Sails in Stuart FL again after the sail did come out of the track going up and went back in coming down. "That doesn't happen with this system" ...yes it does! However we don't want to go down there right now so needed another option.

We have had great communication with North Sails in Charleston who have located an old style feeder part like ours. The new redesigned one, of course, is not compatible with our 10 year old system. North Sails has located the one that will fit from the manufacturer. It is ordered! So we are now waiting for it to come in... you guessed it from France.

Well, we think we might just motor up the ICW to Charleston this weekend or early next week so we will be closer for North Sails to repair it when the part comes in. This trip May involve another rental car to come back to get our car here so we can go home around the end of the month.

Another beautiful day! Bill did laundry this AM while I looked at charts and books and Salty Southeast Web page figuring out the way up the ditch to Charleston. We have an old salt Capt. Bill visiting right now and Bill is just having a great old time talking sailing and trading stories as y'all can imagine.

Will keep you posted.

Docked

We have been back in Beaufort,South Carolina on Wind Spirit since last Tuesday afternoon. We met friends,the Pages, from Sutton Quebec here as they were on their way home from Florida. They were our first overnight guests and seemed to be comfortable even though they have not been on a boat like this before. They were on our Catalina 25 years ago. On Tuesday evening we went out for seafood to the 11th Street Dockside at Port Royal which was fun and good. We watched the sun go down over Battery Creek.


Wednesday was warm and sunny at the dock, we decided to go sailing. When we motored out to the Port Royal Sound we needed warm jackets as it was cool and pretty windy. As we put up the sail it was off the track on the mast and was flying free on the halyard. Down it came on the boom furling. We motored back to Beaufort, anchored for lunch just off the park, and Pages had a nap. We decided we had rolled down the main too far the last time we had had it up, and pulled it out of the feeder. We came back to the dock for drinks and dinner on the boat at sunset.

After the Pages left on Thursday morning Bill was able to get the sail back into the feeder and we were able to get the sail up and down at the dock with no problem. Friday we decided to go out and try it again in the sound. The winds were blowing at 15 to 20 knots. When we put the main up it seemed to come out of the track but when pulled back down was fine. It took a couple of tries and we had it up part way or reefed. We put some jib out after a bit. The winds got stronger and the water in the sound was very choppy. After I fed the fish we pulled down the sails and headed in. Not a prolonged or wonderful experience and we still were not happy with the performance of the main sail.

Saturday we puttered and decided we would contact the ProFurl people who make the rigging and installed it for some advice. We sent them pictures today and had a great conversation. Think we may have figured out what happened on Friday.

But it is not all work and no play as we drove out to Hunting Island State Park Sunday afternoon and went down to the beach which was very windy. The water felt warm, but not too many folks in swimming. The light house is beautiful. We had climbed it with the kids years ago and did not venture up again. We stopped for lunch at the Johnson Creek Tavern. The food was good when we got it, but the service marginal. Enjoyed watching the osprey feeding their young and also some of the Masters.


On the way back, we stopped at my favorite gallery, The Red Piano at Frogmore. Am still looking at a bird painting by W.J. Wiley. Saw the paintings 2 years ago when we were here boat-hunting and still like them. They don't fit on a boat however!
We drove out and looked at the marina at Dataw Island which is lovely, but just a bit out of the way right now. Might be somewhere to stay later when we are not running around so much. There was a lot of current there too. The community is just beautiful with azaleas in bloom all over. We headed back to the Port Royal Marina and the boat, but stopped at the Back Porch Bar at the marina for a beer and to watch more of the finals of the Masters. We don't have TV on board which is an adjustment for some of us.

The live oak trees all over this area are the most amazing green this week. Think most of the leaves froze this winter so new ones have come out and are the most luscious color. Will try to paint it but doubt I can match it! I have yet to open my paints since we have been on the boat, but am getting closer. Saw the sunrise this morning...yes I did see it... and it was lovely and bright reflecting across the Beaufort River.



Well other than mainsail issues and having visitors life has been pretty quiet on Wind Spirit and that is fine with me as we adjust to living aboard.

Christine just called, and Mother is on her way to Tucson for a visit with a cousin for a week.

All is well with us. Please keep in touch.