We're paying $240 for the haulout and return plus $20 a day. We'd much rather be spending the money in Bermuda or England, not to mention the time.
Roy called a meeting at nine o'clock this morning to discuss the situation. He estimated it would take at least four or five days to repair the boat. Then we'll sail to Charleston, as we intended in the first place, and haul out again to see if any more seams have opened up. Based on the condition of the boat at that time, we'll decide what to do next. The trip to England is out. There is only a slight chance we'll go to Bermuda. Hurricane season is fast approaching.
We left in much too much haste. We weren't ready. We hadn't had a sea trial. We changed our plans too abruptly. None of this excuses my actions (or lack of them), but it helps explain them.
The boatyard has a courtesy pickup truck available for customers to use for two hours. Al borrowed it this morning. He and Lloyd drove to Morehead City. Al dropped Lloyd off after agreeing to pick him up in an hour at a certain place. Around one, Al returned to the boat alone. He said he'd been an hour late going back to get Lloyd, and when he got there, Lloyd wasn't there. He thought maybe Lloyd had hitch-hiked back. Both Roy and I insisted that Al immediately return to find Lloyd, unless someone else was waiting to use the truck. I checked in the office, and they said we could use it. I went with Al to help him find Lloyd and to get a few things that Roy wanted. When we got to Beaufort, Al asked me which store I wanted to go to first. I told him our first priority was to find Lloyd. Then he asked me where I wanted him to start looking. I said to go to the place where they'd agreed to meet. Sure enough, there was Lloyd patiently waiting. Al hadn't even walked around the corner of the building to look for him! True, Lloyd had left a few times for brief periods, so perhaps he hadn't been there when Al arrived, but Al could have waited for ten or fifteen minutes. Fortunately, Lloyd wasn't angry or even surprised.
Of the three things Roy wanted, I was able to get the mechanical finger and the plumber's tape right off, but we went to a dozen stores without finding the waterproof bag, so we returned to the boat. By then, it was after five, so the office was closed. Al left a note on the truck's windshield and took the key to the boat.
After supper, I phoned my daughters Barbra, Kathy, and Diane. Barbra is feeling some better but still has brief memory lapses. She's working but doesn't like the job. However, she'll soon have medical insurance, so then she'll be able to go to a private doctor. The company Kathy works for is on the verge of bankruptcy, so she'll soon be out of work. When that happens, she'll probably move to Visalia, where Brian's other grandmother lives. She can rent an entire house down there for $550 a month. Diane has lost her job and will probably soon be moving to Portland to start the mail-order furniture business she wants to get into.
Al changed the oil in the generator, messed up the choke, and left the generator sitting on the ground, in the dark, for several hours. Al also used the pressure cooker to cook black-eyed peas and messed up the valve, burned the peas, and then set the hot pot down on the formica. Roy was seething.
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