More Launch

No problem getting up at the crack of dawn when you've already been in
bed for hours. The sun is coming up at six am and the day is clear,
but not cool. Far from it. The temperature is already over 80 degrees.
We're feeling the heat, not moving all that quickly already. We
initiate our regular routine of coffee and the morning radio weather
shows. The regular suspects were a bit hard to hear this morning. No
copy at all on Eric in Trinidad who usually does a good job giving
upcoming weather in this part of the Caribbean and very light copy on
Chris Parker; the guru of weather forecast for the cruising sailor. I
did pick up Bill from Voyager C doing net control for the Coconut
Telegraph Net. Nice to hear a familiar voice.

After not thinking about the generator, it's time to investigate the
problem. Westerbeke generators are simple machines that come with
excellent instruction manuals. After mulling over the possibilities,
we decide to pop off the top of the cooling reservoir and see if that
makes the pink coolant drain into the system. No easy task because
everything in the back lazerette must be emptied out to gain access to
the machine. Then I go in first to see if I can get the cap off, but
no luck. It's stuck and takes a Roy size grip to get it to let go.
Once the cap is off we pour more of the liquid into the hose. Yup,
that's it. Must have been an air bubble from sitting there not doing
anything for four months. It always amazes me that you can leave
things in perfect working order and a few months later…all these
mysterious problem crop up. Strange.

We realize that we didn't finish with the main sail yesterday. So down
it comes again so that we can rig up the Dutchman system. Don't ask.
All I'll say is that the Dutchman wasn't all that smart and it seems
like he likes a really complicated system to do a very simple job. It
takes over an hour to sort out the Dutchman. Now it's noon and time
for another swim.

There's still lots of time to make it around Point Salinas and into
the anchorage outside of St. Georges. We want to leave tomorrow for
Carriacou. We head out of Hog Island anchorage into a brisk wind
coming from behind. We roll out the jib sail and head directly West
enjoying a smooth reach that lasts us all the way around the point and
into the bay at St. Georges. Beautiful. Now we are sailing at last.