Rick: They say every great adventure begins with a good story, so here we go...
We have been feverishly installing new equipment and electronics, packing and preparing the boat, cooking and freezing dinners for the first voyage to Saint Augustine Florida and managed to fit in our presentation at Indian Harbor YC about the trip. What we didn't share is that when getting to Indian Harbor for the presentation and open house on the boat, motoring into 30 knots of breeze on-the-nose... the engine overheated!!
So... while we were smiling and sharing our dreams and itinerary, pictures of exotic islands we plan to visit and such, we had barely made it to the presentation. We had limped in with the a high engine temperature holding steady at only three knots into the breeze!
Subsequent investigation by the mechanic revealed a leak in the heat exchanger and salt water was now flooding into the antifreeze water in the engine.... YIKES!
A mad rush to locate replacement parts, have them air freighted in and installed forced us to miss our last ditch departure date by two days... we were stuck in Norwalk. With airline flights booked out of Florida to Australia to visit Candy's mom for her 90th birthday, (shhh - a surprise), there just wasn't enough time to get there. The next departure date will be when we return in December, praying for a weather window. If that fails, we're here till Spring and will need to get to Panama before hurricane season arrives. Also we were falling into the cruisers trap of allowing a schedule to dictate when you depart, rather than being ready and waiting for a weather window.
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