Leaving the anchorage this morning I passed a sailboat (pictured above) which reminded me that I am not the only one with problems, and that in fact, my problems are relatively minor.
Today was a good sailing day, not because the autopilot worked flawlessly; it didn’t, but because the winds were relatively steady, from the right direction, and it was warm. Even the occasional showers were pleasantly warm. I took the opportunity for a little nude sailing, being careful to avoid anything approaching a sunburn, and made it as far as Palm Beach. Alana is anchored about 400 yards off Rush Limbaugh’s rather nice house. It’s not the best anchorage, there being a significant southerly swell, but it will be worth it if he invites me in for coffee and bagels tomorrow morning. I’ll introduce him to Marmite and he can fill me in on The Bamster’s latest efforts to destroy America.
As I alluded to above, the autopilot still is not right. It works most of the time, but still has the annoying habit of tripping off the line as soon as one starts to relax, confident that it is finally fixed. All I can guess is that there may be air trapped in the hydraulics. I’m cycling the rudder back and forth here at anchor in the hope of working any bubbles through the system, but so far, little seems to have changed. At least there are plenty of anchorages between here and Key West, so I don’t have to worry about trying to sail through the nights; I’ll just sail by day and anchor by night until I get to Pensacola. It will be a hassle, there’s no denying that, but it is certainly doable.
The plan was to enjoy a tasty salad upon dropping the hook, but as today’s trip took longer than expected (they all do), I have opted for some warmed up leftover fried chicken. I’ll eat my greens tomorrow.
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