A handful of events

First, a brief summary of last night. At 7, Rafael came to get me to have dinner with him and Eliane on Ti Moun. Eliane had prepared french baguettes and spaguettis bolognaise. I suspect that the bread initiative came from the fact that she knew since yesterday that I was going to have dinner with them on their boat. Very nice gesture indeed. I could only give them very few books in french and my DVDs in french would not play on their equipment since I had them zoned for the US. Anyway, very nice evening all the same.
Up at 5, anchor aweigh at 6, the day started beautiful with sunshine and a nice breeze from the east. As soon as I entered the Bay River, I was able to set up main sail and genoa, stop the engine and sail at 5 to 6 knots in peace and silence. Unfortunately, upon entering the Adams creek, with all the twists and turns, I had to drop the main and roll the genoa.
I was surprised to be called on the VHF in french by someone talking about my blog. It was a member of STW (Jean-Marie aboard Na Maka) and we could chat for a little while until the VHF stopped transmitting and I had to finish it on the handheld one.
This was the beginning of another load of problems with the electronics. The computer gave me the dreaded blue screen again, and after a first false start, it crashed again and refused to restart. I quickly set up the back up that I had prepared on the laptop Toshiba, with all accessories readily available in a ziploc bag, and the software pre- set up.
I got to Morehead City at 3 and as soon as the anchor was set in my favourite anchorage (opposite the infamous Sanitary restaurant), I called Bob to try and trouble shoot the problem. We almost got it right, except that I have now lost the sound. That will do for the time being until I get to Fort Lauderdale and get professional help. What worries me is the fact that those blue screens are probably caused by a defective power supply, and I don't fancy starting to mess with the wiring. It may be that the breaker, and the cables used for the computer, which is the circuit that was intended for the stereo system, are not adequate for the computer. If I have the guts, I will try and switch the computer to the power intended for the VHF and see if the problem occurs again.
Anyway, the Toshiba will be good enough tomorrow since I will be going to Wrightsville Beach the outside route. Straight shot from Morehead City to Masonboro inlet, not much problem with navigation.
I wish the weather gods will be with me for once so that from Wrightsville Beach I could shoot for Charleston direct. We shall see...