Jimmy and I are now in the mode of frequently watching the weather forecasts. The plan is to leave our slip of the past year one day between Friday 12/30 and Monday 1/2. Since this is our first short handed overnighter, we wish to have calm seas for the crossing.
So in the mean time, we chip away at our checklists. Some small challenges include navigation lights and broken water pipes at the marina.
I had tap our nav lights a few weeks ago to get them to come on. Well, after some more finicky days the bow nav lights have decided to retire. For a short term solution we have strapped on a portable nav light to the bow spirit.
We had planned to fill the water tanks this weekend, however the cold weather seems to have other plans for us. After a few days of hard freeze, several lines have broken at the yacht club. Our large tank is topped up, so I think we should have 100 gallons to last us until we get to St. Pete. As an alternate, we can make water during the passage if needed, although it is a 5 to 6 hour task since the equipment is currently pickled.
On a lighter note, we now have our Garmin InReach and it works! If I have time before we leave, I'll make a blog post about this new safety toy.
Looks like it was a great day for the first voyage!