This marina weekend got a late start. I was out driving the jet until late Friday evening making it Saturday morning before we could head to the lake. But first I had to plug a hole in the GSXR’s back tire. The bike felt funny on the last ride and sure enough the gage showed just 7 PSI holding up the rear. The rest had leaked out around a nail. Deb suggested that we ride straight to the bike shop and get new rubber but, seeing as this back tire had less than 1000 miles on it and skins for a sport bike are pricey, I decided that riding on a plug would be fine. (This would be the first of many times this weekend where Deb was batting 1000 and I was swinging at air.)
We headed to the boat and (you guessed it) about half way there and for the first time in many decades of plugging tires this one failed me miserably. Now, instead of having a tiny little hole partly filled by a nail, I had a great big hole where a plug used to be. The tire went really flat, the bike started to squirm and I ducked for the shoulder. The good news is I got it stopped before my nice fancy chromed-out rim got damaged. The bad news is that a GSXR sits up pretty straight on its kickstand at all times. With an airless rear tire she can (and did) flop onto her side like a spoiled child pitching a fit. I am embarrassed to admit that I threw a little fit of my own. After helping pick up the bike Deb rode off to find some Fix-a-Flat while I cooled off and put another plug in the tire. She came back with a jiffy little compressor rig and, instead of filling my tire with slime we just pumped it up and headed for the bike shop. (Her second home run of the day.) Two new tires later, (the front being worn to the wear bars) and we really were on our way to the boat.
As late as we were, we hurried to make it onto the lake, prepping Nomad in record time and hitting the starter button... but nothing happened. Somehow the battery(s) were dead, or so it seemed. Shore power had them charged in just a little while and off we went, slipping the lines and heading out into a very nice sail in a North wind. Deb wanted to drop the hook so we could eat and watch the sunset. I wasn’t in the mood to try something new but I let her talk me into it. We set the anchor just outside of our home marina. It was perfect, dinner was great and riding on the hook is a lot of fun. When it came time to head in, the batteries appeared to be dead yet again and I went into full grump mode, figuring we would have to call for another tow. From below Deb suggested that we try a different setting on the DC power switch first. (It has four; “OFF – 1 – ALL – 2.) Home runs number three and four, the engine fired right up. Then she did a really nice job of driving the boat up the rode making it easy me for me to get the anchor on board.
This morning the weather threatened thunderstorms so we didn’t head out until early afternoon. Though we have yet to figure out the battery / start thing it was a pretty good bet that we could get the engine started to get home. By the time we cleared the breakwater the wind had faded to modest. Deb suggested we fly the drifter and though I was kind of slow to agree, (you would think I would have learned by now) I switched head sails and off we went on another pretty nice little sail. We played with sail settings for a while then returned to the marina to button the boat up for 3 weeks or so. By this time next week we hope to be in Cape Cod. Little Nomad will be on her own while Deb and I visit family from Indy to the east coast and finally get to meet our new granddaughter.
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