I don’t know whether any of you guys believes in the Rule of Threes; I do and it is the only superstition I have ever had. Maggie bought a dinghy and outboard motor in 1991; we had, at the time, wanted to sail around the world. For a number of reasons, our trip had to be postponed. Neither the dinghy nor the outboard ever touched water. When we decided on the Manta catamaran, the dinghy was brought across the Pond in February. The outboard proved too difficult to transport and, in any case, it would not have been allowed into the US, because it was a two stoke engine. So, the outboard was sold. A replacement outboard was bought in Florida. 1/3.
The dinghy was inflated and checked by Manta; the rubber seals had deteriorated to such an extent that even the carrying handles fell off! We had to buy a new dinghy. 2/3.
My Single Side Band radio was bought in 1991. I couldn’t use it at home, because the Board of Directors refused to allow me to erect a suitable aerial. Having had it installed in BEESMEJ, it proved impossible to use Airmail. I employed the services of a SSB specialist, who improved the grounding of the radio; it didn’t improve the performance of the radio, though. He took it back to his workshop. I visited him, this afternoon, where he demonstrated the impracticability of my radio. I have bought a new Marine SSB radio, which needs to be installed……so, at the moment, you will not be able to access me via the winlink email address. 3/3!
This evening, we were able to make up our beds in BEESMEJ. The mattresses were built in the UK; the same company made our fitted sheets, over sheets, pillows and duvets. Tomorrow, most of our gear will be transferred from our hotel to the yacht. I hope to check out of our hotel on Sunday! Then, we will need to await a re-scheduled appointment for our five day commissioning period. We have, therefore, taken one giant step forward to living on board BEESMEJ.
posted Saturday July xxxx