OtherGoose: February 8 ... Launch day!! ... or not

February 8 Launch day... or not

We went for breakfast and left the dock around 9:0 am. The waterway was really busy today, partly because it was Sunday but mostly because it was over 20 C and sunny! It was so hot I actually put on a bathing suit and lay on the deck for awhile. The water is now 19C!! OK... not swimming warm but jump-in-and-get-out-quickly warm!

We passed through more mega mansion subdivisions and then some fishing camps and trailer parks. We passed one house that had a huge eagle’s nest at the top of the tower.

We came through one canal that was crowded with fishing boats, paddle boards, kayaks and canoes. It was hard enough trying to avoid them but the bridge tender told us to keep us our speed so she could open the bridge based on our approach time.

Dolphins aplenty today, fishing and playing, but as soon as the camera was lifted they disappeared. Rick spent the day messing around with the windlass and it still wouldn’t work so he as in a foul mood.

We passed under the bridge that takes trucks out to the launch site, and the train bridge that goes out there as well. The train bridge is open unless there is actually a train moving out to the site.

When we got to the anchorage, we couldn’t get the small CQR anchor to set. We tried three times but it wouldn’t hold in the grass and sand, so he took it off and put the Bruce on. It set immediately. It was our original anchor, the one we never had trouble with. It’s staying on!

We quickly gathered the cameras, sweaters, threw the motor on the dinghy and went over to C-Soul to get ready for the countdown. The highway along the Canaveral road was strung with car windshields glinting in the sun waiting for the launch. At 6:08 they all started to leave the road. Rats!!! Some O-ring screwed up so it was cancelled. Fire that guy!

February 9, Monday morning

OK we are going to give them another chance...we will stay until tonight.

In the meantime Rick FIXED the windlass. Thank you, HANS!!! He read your messages and went to work re-looking at the whole thing. He sandpapered what he could, found some contact cleaner... and it sounds stronger than it has since last year! You’re right, new brushes would be really good, but we aren’t close to a supplier or a salvage yard. And it IS 20 years old, so eventually we will need a new one, and we will look for a good deal while this one still works, instead of waiting until it breaks again!

So we are watching a heavy cloud layer move in. It is supposed to rain this afternoon and the mission has been scrubbed again, we are going to a dock in Coco Beach about 11 miles south of here. Damn, damn, damn!!!

So ttyl, and here are some pics of the almost launch...