Looking for the "charm"

Another departure day has come and gone without any departure taking place. Weather was the deciding factor this time. Which is an improvement over being delayed by a cardiac arrest, broken bones, and anchor winch failure. Though it was a perfect morning for getting under way the threat of storms, some serious, developing in the afternoon right when we would be dropping a hook in an anchorage we didn't know suggested that waiting was the best option. But it wasn't the easy option, at least for me. We watched the radar all day and, sure enough, long about the time we would have been looking to drop a hook some pretty big storms rolled over the place where we would have been. Some pretty impressive storms rolled by us at the dock as well. One floated by just south of us. I was glad we weren't under that one as it looked like an ugly, ugly ride. From where I was sitting it looked like a classic downburst was giving someone a good pounding.

Being stuck for the day gave me a chance to reseal a seam around the anchor winch and to replace the badly worn anchor roller that, for some reason, I hadn't noticed before. Alas, a visit to all three boat parts places within walking distance left us roller-less. After much searching, calling, and checking by the boat's parts master it was clear the only option was to lube up the old one and put it back on. Ugly as it is, there is no reason to think it will not serve until we get to Oak harbor. A custom built replacement will be finished by then and shipped to us. So a fix in in the works.

So tomorrow is another day. They say three times is a charm. Maybe, in our case, it will be the fourth try that sees us on our way.