Departure

It’s thundering and raining hard outside, and I’m sitting at the back of the boat finalizing departure plans.

There’s almost 8 feet of headroom here. It’s going to be sheer luxury this winter compared to last. My bed is 30 feet away.

I got the generator swap done by using a small forklift from the travel lift well. Drove Mazurka over, lifted the generator out, then drove Escapade in and plopped it in the cockpit. I’ll install later. Managed to handle Escapade with some grace. Exiting the slip I had a bit of a cross breeze and an ugly obstacle close to leeward, so I was fully focused we playing with the thrusters and trying to back out, only to realize I still had an outer bow line attached. Duh. A reminder to follow the basic check lists, especially on your first outing!

I had lots of visitors today. Mallory drove up and helped me pick up groceries and a spare fuel filter. Scott came back with celebratory pizza. And old friends Mike and Jane stopped by to see Escapade. Mike is on vacation this week, and was immediately receptive to going for a long boat ride. Perfect timing! So we’re heading out tomorrow late morning for a straight shot to Port Severn. I’m really happy to have him aboard.

The weather is a bit unsettled right now, but it looks like we can catch a window. We’ll see. We agreed that we might put in anywhere en route if we have system or weather challenges. Have shore side support available. I’d say the odds of making it are good and the odds of dying are very low. Off we go.

Stuff is somewhat strewn about, and I still need to install electronics. Will do tonight. I’m far less concerned about being well rested now that Mike’s aboard. He’s a capable companion, and I’ll feel confident sleeping en route.

I haven’t done an accurate plot, but it took me about 23 hours from Christian Island to Grand Bend coming here, and I’m thinking we’ll make slightly better time in Escapade. Whatever. It’s ok if we stop before that, and we’ll arrive in daylight even at 32 hours.

There. Float plan filed. Wish us luck!