The Start
I don't exactly know how to start my first entry. I debated keeping a private hand written journal but I felt as though I could express more detail if I wrote electronically. While it has already been a full summer of boating on the Great Lakes we will pick up on October 1. But first a quick recap of the summer 2010:
After an amazing life experience in the Caribbean islands last winter on a thirty four foot sailboat I came back to the states with less than a couple hundred dollars to my name. After some job searching I landed myself on an 87' private motor yacht in Chicago. What an awesome opportunity! I delivered the boat from Grand Haven, MI on May 19, 2010 to Chicago. After a six week trip up the Wisconsin coast of Lake Michigan, in to the North Channel of Canada and back down the west coast of Michigan to Chicago the summer was already flying by. With fall breathing down my neck I knew that the owner of the boat had no intentions of going south for the winter and that I would be out of a job and back to where I started last spring. The son of my owner also has a 74' Hatteras and asked if I would like to be his captain for the winter and run his boat south. After much thought I decided to take the job. Now I write to you only five days before our departure for Sarasota, FL.
What a hectic few weeks it has been! Until recently I was keeping track of two boats, as Bonita the 87' Cheoy Lee was not out of the water yet and Sound Waves the 74' Hatteras was in prep mode for the trip down the rivers to Mobile Bay, Alabama. I finally just got back from taking Bonita back to Grand Haven and getting her set for winter storage. I can focus on one boat again! Just our luck we have been having problems with Sound Waves. The hydraulic pump for bow thrusters on the starboard engine went out. Thank God we have two pumps and can still run off of the port side pump. It will be at least a month to get parts made and get the pumped fixed but it should not delay us in our trip down the river. Wade, our Yacht Services guy (www.slateryacht.com), is coming tomorrow to help disengage the bad pump and override all alarms. Brady, who is the captain on Mr. Chips, a 70' Neptunus came down last night and we messed around with the systems for awhile and got the alarms to turn off. Brady is also running the river with us. Being that I have yet to run the rivers it will be a huge help to have him with us.
I finally got my crew squared away for the river trip. Dan Duffy, who is Sound Waves boat hand in the summer and Bruce Brooks who was the Captain of Bad Influence II all summer here in Chicago. I look forward to my final weekend in Chicago but as the day gets closer can not help but wonder what's going to happen next?! With a still less than short pre-departure list it is time to get back to work. As this blog post comes to you a little scrambled it was a lot of catching up and I promise structure in the future!
Sound Waves Out
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