Playing The Waiting Game

Friday November 30, 2012

At least this time we get to wait out the doom and gloom in warm weather.

(Photo taken during Hurricane Sandy)

When we woke up the morning the sun was shining and as I looked out at the storybook  landscape on the waterfront it was easy to pretend that we had come in under our own power last night and would spend a wonderful day sightseeing before pushing off again in the morning.  Reality is rarely the same as daydreams though and we were forced to face the fact that our stay would now be all about Serendipity, checking her damage, and seeing what needs to be done to get her moving again.  Getting on the phone first thing in the morning we began calling boat yards as soon as they opened.  Both Justin from Tow Boat US and the guy working the office at the Municipal Marina suggested one marine center and we called in before their morning coffee was even brewed.  A very helpful woman answered the phone and as I gave a rundown on the situation she sympathized with me but let me know their first opening would be Monday night or Tuesday morning.  Wanting to get hauled out that day if possible I let her know we’d need to check our options and get back in touch with her.  Calls went out to two more marinas where one couldn’t get us in until Monday and the other one that could get us in today would only be able to give us an hour in the sling.

Between the calls out to marinas Matt had taken a call in from the surveyor we wanted to hire who explained he would need 2-3 hours to thoroughly check everything.  Playing phone tag with all three marinas I’d constantly call back to see if they had their own surveyors, could we do our own work, and most importantly, rates.  After scribbling so much information onto a page of my notebook that I could barely remember which information matched which location we settled on going with the marine center we had called first.  Although we’d be bringing in our own surveyor they would perform a haul, wash, block, and launch all for under $300.  Plus we could do our own work there which might save us big bucks from having to hire out.  We have insurance if necessary, but if we don’t have to mess with a claim we’re not going to.  Now all that’s left to do is wait until Monday when Tow Boat Us will bring us over there (with our new membership we may as well take advantage of the free tows).

So here we sit in one of the most beautiful towns you could imagine, and we hear on the radio it is world famous for their Nights of Lights.  From what we saw coming in last night we have to figure that’s true.  Another thing this town has to offer is the Sailor’s Exchange which is a marine consignment store and the main reason I was able to talk Matt into a visit here.  Now I’m starting to wish this town hadn’t been so enticing to make us want to visit, but that’s neither here nor there.  Heading out on foot we walked past historic churches, hotels and museums until we crossed a small river and into the business district.  Finding the sailor’s exchange I let Matt wander around and shop to his heart’s content while I rested in a cushy chair near all the books and magazines.

Flipping through the articles of far off places and angelic beaches I hoped these images would reinforce my wanderlust and why we’re out here doing this.  It still must be too soon because all I could see were chances for damage and destruction at every corner.  Maybe no decisions should be made for 48-72 hours.  It was particularly horrifying when I came across an article on how important it is to have a rested crew because bad decisions can be made when one’s mind is clouded by lack of sleep or rest.  It continued to tell a story of how a crew of four was so intent to get into a harbor after multiple days out at sea that instead of waiting for morning for a clear passage into the harbor they went in at night and misread an airport tower for a navigational light, crashing their boat into the sharp rocks that lined the shore.  One person was washed off to their death and although the others made it off the boat was a wreck.  My heart began racing again as I thought That could have been me!!.  Then I thought about it some more and came to the conclusion That wasn’t me!.  In fact, after what we just went through I’m sure we’ve decreased our odds of future accidents because if there’s ever a question that we would have  previously answered Well maybe….  the answer will now definitely be no.  (most likely it will be no)  It also had me thinking that things could have been so much worse and I should be very fortunate for what we still have.

The only thing we left Sailor’s Exchange with that day were zincs, and fittings to convert our grill to run from our propane tanks.  Don’t want to spend too much money until we find out what the damage is.  And after being a little more rested we’ve had time to inspect the interior of Serendipity more thoroughly to find that some tabbing has come undone as well as other dings and dents to the teak.  While looking at the area under the settee near the bilge we did find that a few packages of our spaghetti that had been sitting in plastic bags from the store had hit hard enough to pop open and spew raw strands of pasta through the whole area.  Now it’s impossible to ignore that fact that she really did take a beating.

It could have been worse, right?