Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Little Jumps...

Sunday:

We left Longboat Pass (Jewfish Key) and motored to Marina Jack  in Sarasota where Brad first decided that his throat was sore enough that he needed to get to a clinic.  Looks like strep – although he wasn’t that sick… he tore apart the autohelm, determined to get it working.  The autohelm won.  It still isn’t working.  The doctor sent Brad to Publix for free antibiotics.

At the dock...
Marina Jack
Monday:

From Sarasota we travelled along the Intercoastal Waterway (ICW) to Venice and tied up at a free dock called Higel Park.  That’s better than the $96 for one night at Marina Jack.  We are torn, though.  The electrical at the dock provides delicious air conditioning.  You can sleep at night… unlike last night.
Tuesday:

We are headed to Pelican Bay in Charlotte Harbor to jump off the boat and swim.  First time!

Swimming off the boat
Swimming off the boat

Washdown
Washdown

We travelled through 5 bridges enroute, some opening on a schedule and others that we had to radio for an opening.   Later in the day, Brad completely dismantled the autohelm.  Late into the evening we heard him muttering as he tore the boat apart again. When he leaves we'll have to get all the King's horses and all the kings men to put Autohelm together again.

Autopilot technician
Autopilot technician

Wednesday:

Up early for a long day.  Pam got this photo...

In a couple of hours the rest of us got up
In a couple of hours the rest of us got up

Glen has been calling Brad, "MacGruber!"  We have the autohelm that came with the boat and the broken one that Paul and Mary gave us for spare parts - all bits and pieces in the cockpit.  But joy... he got it working.  Unbelievable.  We are impressed!  All those years at UBC paid off.  He actually seems to know how it works... something about an "H" bridge of power transistors and getting rid of some corrosion.  So all day today we've had our new crewmember, "Otto," steering the boat.  Look at the lunch Pam made while Otto steered.

Lunch
Lunch

Dolphins everywhere!

Flipper!
Flipper!

2 comments:

  1. Great adventures! Awesome! Way to go brad for the h-bridge debugging!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Lunch looks delicious mom! Looking forward to Brad's dolphin video!

    ReplyDelete

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