It's Been a Crapload of Time

Well, you can see that, I suppose. The sailing season has started and frankly, between work and actually sailing, fooling around on the boat, messing about with other peoples boats, and social events both at the yacht club and with the usual group of suspects, I've been just to darned tired to write.

In the winter, you can dream of boating. But when it's here - you have to go at it with a vengence. As Robert Heinlein said, "Anything worth doing is worth doing to excess."

Let me start with today and work backwards. There was no sailing today but I came up with a spectacular way to cook salmon and almost anything else like chicken and pork (not beef, though, unless it's veal).

First, you'll need a frying pan with a cover. Next, you'll need about 1/2 pound of whatever meat you're going to eat (see above). You'll need a nectarine or peach - good sized one, about 2 heaping teaspoons of chopped garlic, one teaspoon of capers, something spicy - like cayenne pepper or I use Mrs. Dash Extra Spicy, and a tablespoon to 2 tablespoons of either cream cheese or sour cream. You'll need 1/2 cup or so of water, too.

I have a non-stick pan so I use that.

First, I sliced the nectarine up in crescents and popped it in the pan on low heat. Then I threw the salmon in, skin side down (this was a filet). On top of all that I put the garlic and capers. Then I covered it for about two minutes. Then I turned the salmon over and removed the skin because I don't happen to like it. Also, I added the water and recovered the pan.

After a bit (and you'll have to check it) the salmon is steamed through and through (check the meat if you're not using salmon). Then when it was cooked nicely, I took it out and mooshed the stuff in the pan about and added the cream cheese and mixed it all up.

Then, of course, I poured all that goody stuff on the salmon. It was so good, I had to send an email out to a friend, and now, here you are, recipients of the same wisdom. You won't be sorry!

Now, Laura needed to get her boat to Barrington, RI in preparation for the Newport-Bermuda race. Cassiopeia finally passed her righting moment test, and now needed just some more stuff to pass her safety test. Her rigger put all new lifelines on. Before we left, we had to install a new bilge pump that could be operated inside the boat with it all closed up. Because of the time limit, we decided to tie it into the current secondary bilge pump line. Also, there wasn't a lot of places to put it.

We ended up putting it in the midship settee. Here's me working on the plumbing. You can see the pump handle cover on the side of the settee base.

For the trip, however, we called together the Nincompoop Crew - Laura, captain nincompoop, Herb, Chris, and I. The trip totally sucked - we were supposed to leave Friday evening around 9 pm to catch the tide, but the engine wouldn't start. It did at midnight, though. Too late. So we all slept until 5 am and left then.

The day sucked. It rained all day pretty much, and the wind was 12 to 15 on the nose. We decided to stop at Saybrook, CT. And then we partied into the night at the Dock and Dine right on the pier. Woohoo! They had Yukon Jack. 'Nuff said.

The next day, we again left at the crack of dawn. Oops, fuel gauge says, "You're almost out of fuel!". We popped into the fuel dock at Fisher's Island. What a beautiful place! There's no services, only a little town, but as a quiet anchorage, it's well protected and spectacular. I'm telling you this so you'll stay away. There's nothing for you there. Move along now.

The trip from Fisher's Island to Barrington was uneventful, if long. We got there just in time to get the train back to Stamford CT to pick up the car and go home. What a long day - it took me all Monday to recover.....

In the meantime, Inertia was having a terrible problem. In order to start the engine, I had to smack the instrument panel. And the smacking was getting harder and harder. So I thought I'd have at it. It turns out the 'marininzed' engine really isn't other than the raw water pump on the PTO shaft and heat exchanger instead of a radiator.

I've spoken about this before - if you have a Universal diesel engine you have a Kubota engine. There's a company, Engine Power Source that carries parts for Kubota engines. Now, you have to be careful because Universal, now Westerbeke, removes the Kubota part numbers and engraves their own.

It's a really irritating process but I can see why - the injectors, for instance, cost $45 from Engine Power Source, but $185 from Westerbeke. Are they the same. They are. Marinization is external to the power block. It doesn't include injectors, injector pump, starter, alternator, glow plugs, or any of the other stuff. Even the fresh water pump is stock. Westerbeke doesn't even change the color. The copper color is the Kubota trademark color. Even Beta Marine repaints the engine red. It's still a Kubota, but it's red.

You know, Herb has one in his boat. I wonder if it has the Kubota part numbers on the block... Hmmmm. I have to check that out.

Anyway the Engine Power Source people are extremely helpful. They'll even help you identify the engine. Give them a call.

But I digress. All the engine panel wiring is just straight copper, no tinning, nothing. Well, all the ground crimp fittings were falling apart. So I had to recrimp every single one of them. Took me a couple of hours, but hey! presto! the engine starts.


On Memorial Day weekend, the usual group of suspects got to party - Herb and Gina, Bob and Carol, Bobbie and Warren, and Laura with Galley Girl (Cathy). Big party, lots of fun, but the water was too cold to swim.

We sailed from Port Jefferson, NY to Oyster Bay, NY and I got to set the new spinnaker! Woohoo! It was the best! I took off like a shot! Massive fun, well, after I got the whole thing untangled and set properly.....

I hope, someday, to have pictures.

For sure I'll see you on the water!