Thursday, 1 September 2022 - Wow! A great day in the Keys. We had enough players for two courts of pickleball this morning, then, later, I took Island Time over to Marathon Boatyard for the yard manager and Curt from Keys Rigging to discuss some work I need done on the boat. The rigger left some of his tools on my boat so I took those to the marina so he could retrieve them, then, on the way back I stopped at my neighbor's boat and asked if he liked beer. He said "No" to that, but "Yes" to margaritas. I returned to my boat for margarita mix and tequila then rejoined him on his boat for a couple of drinks. We've been neighbors for at least a couple of years but never really had a conversation until today. Not only was that part of the day great but I made more money on one of my stocks than I've ever made in one day on all the stocks I owned on any given day, even though the market as a whole was down considerably. I look forward to a bright future with this stock, small now, but not for long.

Friday, 2 September - Thanks to an out of town visitor and a couple of regulars returning from out of town visits we had enough for two courts of pickleball today, a rarity lately. Carolyn and Dave Shearlock of the S/V Barefoot Gal, who have an outboard just like mine and having the same problem told me today that they had been up island and talked to an old two cycle outboard mechanic that was pretty sure he knew what the cure for our problem is. We'll know at the end of next week when the parts arrive and we get them installed. I sure hope he's right. Susie and I finished off the night at Dockside with Phil, Carol, and I spent the night at Susie's.

Saturday, 3 September - I had to return early from Susie's to attend the monthly nautical swap meet at the marina. I returned to the boat, picked up the items I have to sell, went to the marina and sat there for two hours without selling a thing. In fact, I was the only person there to buy or sell. Two others dropped by simply to BS. A total waste of my time and $22 in taxi fare to get from and back to Susie's for the rest of the day. We met Phil, Carol, and Mike and Bev of S/V Queequeg at Havana Jacks to visit and dance to music by Ty Thurman and his band, Bob Jeager and Bongo Bob De La Torre.

Sunday, 4 September - Susie and I cleaned some more of the mess that the seawall contractors had made then finished off the day at Dockside with Phil, Carol, and Karen and Ron Butler. Karen is another one of our pickleball players and it happened to be her seventieth birthday, too.

Monday, 5 September - Labor Day Holiday - After a brief, early morning rain shower, we barely dredged up four players for pickleball today. Afterwards, since it was Labor Day and Susie could take most of the day off, I returned to the boat to clean up, then headed to her house. We continued cleaning up some of the mess made by the seawall contractors by removing items on a shelf on her patio, rinsing the shelving, and returning the items. She also hung a rug on the back fencing, washed it and hung it out to dry. Later, we walked across the highway from Susie's to have dinner at the Island Fish Co.

Tuesday, 6 September - No pickleball today. We didn't have four players to fill the court. Luckily, we knew that was going to happen this morning so I didn't race back to the park in a taxi just to find no one there. At 1:30 I had my teeth cleaned and one small filling that had fallen out replaced. $563.00 - Amazing!

Wednesday, 7 September - We just had four for pickleball again this morning. I had hoped to hear from the rigger today with an estimate for the chain plates that are to be made, but did not. I also tried to contact the fellow that has moulds for the trailboards for CSYs but he did not return my call. I did some reading this evening and should finish "The Wing and Wing" by James Fenimore Cooper soon.

Thursday, 8 September - No pickleball today. Not enough players.

Friday, 9 September - Mike Wagner and Bev Fowers had a birthday for Bev at the dock beside their boat, Queequeg, in the afternoon. We couldn't go to Dockside because they've closed for two weeks for maintenance and to resurface their bar. We think they could have spent time and money better on some new, more comfortable chairs and an extra bar tender. Waiting to order or to pay your bill can take way too long and I don't think a resurfaced bar will increase their monetary intake, but Hey, it's not my bar.

Saturday, 10 September - Susie and I went to Havana Jacks to see Ty, Bob, and Bob and planning to meet Phil and Carol there, but they decided to pass. Susie and I were the only ones on the dance floor and the place was almost empty.

Sunday, 11 September - Susie and I slept in this morning then went across the street to Spark's Landing for breakfast. We stayed in and watched a movie on Netflix this evening then she took me to the marina so she can get up early in the morning to fly to Ohio.

Monday, 12 September - Susie left for Ohio early this morning. Here on the boat I finally broke down and ordered another carburetor for the Yamaha outboard motor. Nothing else has worked and another couple, Dave and Carolyn on S/V Barefoot Girl, have been having the same problem and a new carburetor fixed the problem for them. I can find absolutely nothing wrong with mine, but if replacing the carburetor will make my engine run right, I'll be super happy.

Tuesday, 13 September - Dockside is closed and Susie is on her way to Ohio so I stayed in and caught up on some reading this evening.

Wednesday, 14 September - We played pickleball as usual this morning then I started getting a few things on the boat cleaned up in anticipation of moving the boat to the boatyard sometime next week, hopefully. A storm in brewing south of us and I need to either get the boat out of the water soon or head to Little Shark River in the Everglades to protect the boat. If I can't get the boat out of the water by about Wednesday I need to leave.

Thursday 15, September - I got up with the intention of going to play pickleball this morning but at 8:30 I got a call from Rodney at Marathon Boatyard saying that they could get my boat out of the water for maintenance this afternoon at 2 pm or, if not, I'd have to wait until next Thursday. With a storm getting started down in the southern Caribbean I thought now is the time. If I wait I might need to run from the storm before I get out of the water. IF the storm gets serious, the boatyard has commitments to haul lots of boats out that have prepaid serious money to get out of the water right before a storm, too, so they might be too full or too busy to deal with me then and I'd be stuck with not enough time to sail away. I said today'l the day, let's go. I'll be there at 2 o'clock. I messaged the pickleball crew to let them know I couldn't make it today or, in fact for an indefinite time since I'll be staying at Susie's, then, on the Cruiser's Net, I announced that I need to be replaced as Friday Net Controller. I immediately got busy preparing to move the boat. Lots to do! I needed to take down the foredeck awning and bag it. That took about an hour or more, then I got another call...from the rigger that is going to replace the chainplates and also help me remove the foresail. I'd had trouble getting that sail up and thought it might be hard to drop. He wanted me to arrive at 1 o'clock.
                    Now I'm really in a rush and I still need to get the outboard motor off the dinghy and onto the bracket on the aft rail. As I raised the engine a small shackle pin slipped out and the motor dropped. Luckily, I had one hand on the hauling line and the other on the engine and the engine dropped into the dinghy instead of into the ocean. I replaced the retaining ring and got the engine onboard without further mishap, but it was a close call. There was still lots to do but I was out of time. I quickly rigged an aft dock line, a midship spring line, started the engine, dropped one mooring line to let the wind point me the direction I needed to fall away to in order to head out of the mooring field, then dropped the other mooring line and ran back to the wheel and headed out. On the way to the yard I rigged another long line to throw to shore so we could turn the boat to back me in, then arrived right on time.
                    I pulled in parallel to the quay and with a slight tailwind the rigger and two of his assistants helped me get all three sails off the mast and we bagged two of them. The mainsail needs to be laid out and folded better to go in its bag so they took it to the rigging shop rather than lay such a nice sail on a dirty asphalt lot. We got the boat backed into the slip, dropped lifting straps under it and aligned them as needed, then lifted it up and out so the bottom could be power washed. when that was done they moved it with their crane into a spot between two large lobster boats that are being prepped for the upcoming crab season, set her down on blocks and stabilized her with tall jackstands. Unfortunately, I noticed later that she's sitting a bit high at the bow and listing to the starboard side this time, but that's not crucial, just takes a bit of getting used to.
                    We finished that by about 3:30 and I worked until about 9:30 moving everything out of the cabinetry and into the aft cabin so the workers can access the inside of the hull. They'll still need to remove the slats that line the cabinets, a couple of shelves, and the stereo on one side. I'm told they'll start on that tomorrow along with cutting away about six feet of the rub rail on each side of the boat to access the 30 bolt heads that are buried inside. I caught a taxi to Susie's to stay at her house while the boat is being worked on and gave her a call in Ohio, but she was apparently sound asleep.

Saturday, 17 September - I got up early again this morning so I could walk the mile over to the Key Colony Beach pickleball courts to check out the courts and, hopefully, get some local knowledge about the pickleball community here. There were four players on one of the four courts and when they finished their game I found out that they were all visitors, had Googled "local places to play pickleball", and knew nothing about any other players. We all started to leave and they asked if I'd like a ride. I said, "Sure". and they delivered me right to Susie's door. I regretted not having either gotten their phone number or giveng them mine when we parted.
                    Phil, Carol, and I met at Havana Jack's for dinner with the intention of listening to Ty Thurman, Bob and Bob but they never showed up. It started raining while we were there and as we left Phil asked if I'd like to share their taxi with them. The rain is warm here and I had anticipated rain so I donned my rain jacket and walked the mile home getting only the legs on my shorts and my legs wet. The pitter patter of the raindrops on my jacket's hood was rather nice.

Sunday, 18 September - I have heard so much about how active the pickleball group is here in Key Colony that I really wanted to join them so I got an early start once again and headed to the park. No one was there so I explored the facility a bit and discovered that they had a box there with 100 pickle balls in it. Rather than waste another trip, I practiced my serve through 200 serves. As I was putting picking the balls up, two of the four players from yesterday showed up again and proceeded to play a singles game. Before they finished eight more showed up, but intended to play amongst themselves. They also were visitors to the area and knew nothing about the local players. I watched them play for a while, then started home as it started to rain. I could see I was going to get quite wet this time so I took cover at the golf center office. The rain slacked off a bit and I started out again but was intercepted by the couple that gave me a ride home yesterday and they brought me home again. I gave them my number this time and hope they'll call if they need another player to complete a foursome.
                    I met Phil, Carol, and a couple from the S/V Glory at Dockside, which reopened today after some minor remodeling. We were also joined by Cory, the fellow that was on the mooring ball next to me and lives on another CSY-44, then another sailor, Sarah, that is in the harbor, too. Phil brought the Yamaha carburetor to me that arrived at the marina and he picked up for me. Unfortunately, there is a 30 day return policy on it and I may not get to install it within that time frame to see if it cures the inability of the engine to plane the dinghy up.

Monday, 19 September - I arrived at the boatyard about 8:30 this morning and Chris Jasinski had been working on my boat before I got there. He spent most of the morning removing the cabinets and the lining of the back of the cabinets, which are two inch strips of teak, in order to allow access to the chainplates on the inside of the hull. About the time he finished inside the boat, the riggers arrived and one of them went up the mast to inspect the hardware there for corrosion and to try to figure out why my forestay halyard is so hard to haul up but easy to lower. While they were doing that, Chris had started opening up access to the three sets of five bolts each that are buried under the bronze outer strip and fiberglass of the rub rail. When he was almost done with that, Curt and Steve, the riggers started removing those bolts from the hull inside of the saloon. As they were about to finish that, I realized that we weren't hearing anything from the other side of the boat where we thought Chris was drilling the rub rail on the port side. He had called it a day and left, so the Curt and Steve couldn't do any more today, either. I lowered the anchors, two hundred feet of chain on my Sarca anchor, and fifty feet of chain and 250 feet of rode on my Delta plow anchor from the rollers 15 feet to the ground so that Curt can climb into the chain locker to access the nuts on the bolts that hold the bow chainplate on. I hope he can do it, it's a tiny space and he's no smaller than I am. Steve gave me a ride when we finished back to the City Marina so I could drop off my access card and pick up my folding bike to bring to Susie's.

Tuesday, 20 September - Chris Jasinski arrived early and drilled out the rub rail so the bolt heads for the chainplates on the port side of the boat could be accessed and I move the cabinet woodwork back out of the forepeak so the rigger can get to the nuts on the bolts on the stay stem plate. Unfortunately, I could remove the divider in the chain locker, but unfortunately I have buried all my tools under other items and have no access to them. That divider will have to be removed, and even then, the space to work in will be very cramped and hot. I told the rigger he'd need a small person to work in there.

Wednesday, 21 September - We had 5 for pickleball today. I went to the boatyard after pickleball and found that Chris had removed the water heater from the engine room on the boat. A new one has been ordered. I discussed what bolts, nuts, and lock washers are needed for the boat with the rigger and started trying to find the best place to order them from online. He had priced the bolts, actually 1/2"-13 TPI X 2 1/2" Stainless Steel Socket Head Screws that take a 5/16" Allen driver to install and remove them for $4.85 each, but thought I can find them cheaper elsewhere. The titanium plates that we are installing should never rust and never need to be replaced, but in case the boat ever gets damaged seriously, the Allen heads will be much easier to remove than the original slotted screws that were originally installed.

Thursday, 22 September - I intentionally didn't go to the boat today so the workers could do their work, plus, if I'm there and talk to them it costs me $220/man hr. to talk because they stop to talk to me, but they still on the clock. We had 6 for pickleball today, then I returned to Susie's to try again to find a good price on all the bolts that I need for the chainplates. I need to learn to talk to them when they are working on someone else's boat!

Friday, 23 September - We had six for pickleball today, I continued my price search online for the bolts/screws and got a quote from the only place that had all the items we need, but he quoted the wrong quantity, so I'll have to make contact with them again Monday. In the afternoon I started moving anything that a storm surge might damage if it entered her house to higher locations within the house.

Saturday, 24 September - I went to the boatyard to remove the dodger and do a few other things but they had already removed all my canvas for me. I still had lots to secure including gas and water cans, the kayaks, etc., and get a few things to take to Ohio. I finished around 3 o'clock and headed to Susie's house here to finish moving things on her patio inside and put interior items as high on cabinets, the counter, and to stack chairs. I tried to move everything to a higher spot than it was to begin with incase of flooding. I then closed all the hurricane shutters and went to bed around 11 o'clock.

Sunday, 25 September - I got up at 5:45 and boarded a shuttle to Miami airport and got on the plane at about 12:30 in the afternoon, then arrived in Akron, Ohio around 3 pm. Susie was waiting for me in her car as soon as I stepped out of the terminal and it was about about a 20 minute ride to her house up here in Cayahoga Falls. We made a quick trip to the Walmart Superstore then she showed me the downtown section of town including a walk down by the Cayahoga River which is very beautiful and has some small rapids that would be fun kayaking to surf on the waves. We had dinner at the Sheraton overlooking the river although it got too dark to see before we finished.

Monday, 26 September - I placed the order for the bolts this morning. Susie gave me the tour of her house and I noticed that her dehumidifier in the basement was leaking water so we took it apart and discovered that half of the evaporator was frozen inside about 2 inches of ice. That seems to have made water that should have been dripping into the bucket below to miss the bucket. We'll let it defrost overnight and reassemble it. This afternoon I realized that I forgot to remove the propellor blades from the wind generator on the boat. Extremely high winds could make it rotate too fast. The wind generator is turned off and I think I have a loop of small line around one blade to keep it from rotating, but I'm not sure. I tried to call the boatyard but no one answered. I suspect they've all left to attend to their own safety.

Tuesday, 27 September - The dehumidifier defrosted overnight so I reassembled it and plugged it back in after having cleaned the air filter on it. I suspect the reduced air flow through the filter caused it to freeze up. At least I hope that is the simple reason. I also took a broom and knocked down all the spider and cob webs in the basement and adjusted the drain of Susie's bathroom lavatory so it will drain better.

Wednesday, 28 September - I had a great day today as we occasionally observed the carnage that hurricane Ian is wreaking on parts of Florida. The storm appears to have left Marathon and Boot Key Harbor pretty well undamaged. Susie gave me a tour of three of the four testing and manufacturing facilities she and her family own, Akron Rubber Development Laboratory (ARDL) and Polymerics. They've recently acquired a 135,000 square foot building that they plan on moving the millions of dollars worth of equipment from the others into. After we toured the facilities we drove to her mother's home where Susie grew up and picked up her mother to take her to Susie's brother's ,Tim's, home for dinner. They both have beautiful homes, her Mom's, built in the early sixties, and her brother's newer home sitting on thirty five acres of land. I was amazed at how much "yard" her brother has. He says they have two five foot wide power mowers that he and his wife Angel drive and it takes them each two and a half hours to mow it together. Some of the land is leased out and a beautiful crop of six foot tall corn is growing on it. We had a great evening consuming a shrimp appetizer and homemade pasta and meatballs.

Thursday, 29 September - I'm having a good time here in Ohio with Susie so I think I'll stay another week. She'll get advise from her doctors next week and they'll decide whether she needs one week of radiation therapy or five and whether she needs chemotherapy also. I only brought a carry-on on my flight so I have very few clothes with me. We went to the store today and bought me one more T-Shirt and a pair of jeans. She has a nice big washer and dryer here so we could wash everyday if we wanted but the two extra pieces will keep us from having to. Great leftovers and a movie this evening.

Friday, 30 September - Susie and I stayed in today and I cleaned up her basement a bit and we washed clothes. Since she's not here in Ohio much the basement gets a lot of dust and cobwebs. Both of us spent quite a bit of time on our phones assuring friends that we are fine and viewing photos of the devastation on the west coast of Florida caused by Ian. From the information I gathered on the Boot Key Harbor Cruiser's page on Facebook and other sites it looks like the harbor, Marathon and most of the Keys faired pretty well. There was some damage to some of the restaurants and hotels that are on the outer edges of the island, but it could have been far worse. Key West had about a 4 foot storm surge and stronger winds than Marathon did. Unfortunately, one of my good friends, Steve Luta, lost his 46 foot Beneteau sailboat in Naples, which had a 12 foot storm surge. (Last minute addition: By "Lost" I thought it had been either irreparably damaged or sunken. However, it has been found high and dry in some mangroves. Not much damage is apparent, but it certainly won't be easy to extract.) Another friend's, Kevin Smith's, beautiful sailboat, Buck It List, was knocked off its jack stands on land in the Port Charlotte area. I'm sure that boat will be pretty scratched up, but still serviceable. It also sounds like the people that ran to Little Shark River in the Everglades did well, too. I haven't seen any photos of the boatyard Island Time is in, but I talked to the rigger yesterday and he seemed to think that they had no problems. My boat is sitting on blocks about 4 inches high about four feet above normal sea level and has a six and a half foot draft, so a 12 foot storm surge in Marathon would probably have floated my boat right off the jack stands if it had happened there. A lot of life is just luck, good or bad.