I just got word that our lifelines are ready to pick up, and the new mainsail from North will be ready on Friday. Woohoo!

Saturday we took the sail down in anticipation of the rig work. The halyard stuck halfway down, so I got to go up the mast to sort things out. It turned out that the rope to wire splice on the halyard was unravelling and catching on something inside the mast. One more thing to fix...

The engine work appeared to be complete yesterday when I went aboard. I'll start the engine today to make sure everything is running OK. If the rain clears out some I might get the dinghy cleaned with the help of my nephew, William.

Also on the agenda: the rig work will require some reengineering of the SSB antenna lead. Right now, there is only one insulator on the backstay, near the mast top, and the antenna attaches through the chainplate. This is a bad idea for a number of reasons, foremost of which is that someone could get quite a jolt if they touch the backstay at the wrong time. So, we are adding a second insulator and we'll move the antenna attachment to a point above the first insulator, off the deck.

We received some more bad news this week: one of our crew, Jim, won't be able to sail with us on the return from Bermuda. We're all disappointed to lose Jim as a crew member and we hope that he can make trip with us sometime in the future.

The rig work is promised for completion by June 6th, so we should still be able to have our shakedown sail on the 8th.

We got the word yesterday from our rigger that we need to replace all of the standing rigging on the boat. All the rigging is original, and Silence is turning 20 years old this year. The normal life for the standing rigging in this climate is 10-15 years, so we have been fortunate to have had no failures. The rigger showed me several stress fractures and some places where corrosion is weakening various components.

We've commisioned the replacement of the rigging, and we think we can get all the work done in the next few weeks. The preparation of the boat is going to come right down to the wire, so to speak...

On the bright side, yesterday was a beautiful day and I got to see the Blue Angels fly at the Naval Academy!

Saturday the rain threatened Annapolis all day, but we were fortunate that it never came down. We were able to complete the application of Poliglow and even repaint one of the two cove stripes. It didn't feel much like May at 48 degrees. We even turned on the heaters aboard to warm ourselves up towards the end of the day.

Today we tucked Silence back into her slip, looking very prim. Our to-do list is getting shorter and our attentions are turning towards provisioning. I can't wait to get underway!

It turns out that the hardest thing about sailing to Bermuda is getting a rigger out to your boat to perform an inspection. I had to fire our first rigger because after 2 months there was no report. The second rigger had us scheduled for last week, but couldn't make it over until this week. I've been promised a report for next week. I'm crossing my fingers that they deliver soon...

We should get our new lifelines back from Fawcett's today or tomorrow and the engine will get some more attention from the mechanic next week. It seems that the coolant resevoir gasket is leaking along with the thermostat gasket.

Here we will publish our departures and arrivals to keep everyone informed about how our trip is progressing. We might also include some stories about the adventure. Stay tuned...

This weekend we apply Poliglow. Gotta make it shiny! Cousin Joe is gonna help.