Strip Tease

Fort Lauderdale 005
Originally uploaded by brisegalets

Papy Jovial is naked. After an uneventful crossing from Lucaya to Fort Lauderdale, spending the night anchored on the east side of North Bimini, and being boarded by the US Coast Guards 2 hours beforer arriving, I am now tied up in Cooley's Landing up the New River. I had left Lucaya on Sunday at 7, anchored in Bimini at 6 in the afternoon, left at 6:30 next morning and got to the bridge of the 17th street at 3 in the afternoon.
Going up the river, Henri and Cliff were waiting for me underneath the bridge of the 3rd avenue, to help me sail up the river. If you have the tide and the wind behind you, and if the bridges are a little slow in opening, it could be a little dicy. But everything went well and I got to Cooley's Landing around 4:30.
It is time to take care of some of the wear and tear that Papy Jovial suffered during those last 34,000 miles. First priority obviously goes to the sails, which were taken off yesterday and sent to the loft of North Sails in Fort Lauderdale. The main seems OK but the genoa definitely needs some TLC. Many of the seams have gone, and when the halyard broke twice, sending the genoa underneath the boat, it rubbed some of the black antifouling paint on it.
I also had my share of problems with the head, particularly the forward one, which was not treated with white vinegar often enough. I took it apart and found heavy calcium deposit. A good cleanup and it is now operating normally again.
I also have to take care of a minor leak on the bowl of the racor diesel/water separator, and I have to replace the axis assembly on the Edson pedestal, one of which had broken in March 2009 in the Bahamas and the other in Luanda in Angola lately.
Number of lines have to be replaced, others just rinsed in fresh water.
And of course, a general cleanup to make the boat look civilized again. The new coats of varnish will have to wait until I return to Grand Bahamas for the month of March.
And then, as I work my way through that list, I will probably find another gazillions things which require my attention.
But this time, I do feel that I am back and that I can return, temporarily, to a more "normal" lifestyle.