This morning we motored the short distance from Old Port Cove to Cracker Boy Boatyard. At 1200 we entered the tight slip and the riggers arrived. A crane raised our mast and the riggers carefully positioned it back in its place on our deck. Then they asked for our sails. Hmmmm. They had our sails since June stored in their sail loft in Ft. Lauderdale. The riggers said they didn’t know that but they could work tomorrow, Saturday, and since we had planned on going to Ft. Lauderdale tomorrow that would work for us. Mark called the scheduler and he said they hadn’t planned on putting the sails back on today because we could only stay in the slip for two hours and they wouldn’t have time to finish. Apparently someone forgot to tell the riggers about the sails and now they are going to pretend this was the plan all along.
Very obviously they forgot they had our sails. The workers had already told us they could come to where we will be in Ft. Lauderdale tomorrow and put the sails on. The scheduler did not like that plan and said we needed to be at a boatyard in Ft. Lauderdale Monday morning at 10 am. Our plan was to be halfway to Bimini by then if the weather window was still open. We know for sure it won’t be on Tuesday. We are used to plans being changed due to weather or if something breaks on the boat. When it is a person’s fault, like a rigger scheduler or an insurance representative, that’s hard to take. The two riggers who worked on the mast were excellent and did their job perfectly. Below are some photos of the process of stepping a mast.
With no other choice, we left Cracker Boy Boatyard and motored with our nice tall mast and no sails a short distance to the Lake Worth anchorage, which is apparently being dredged. We are now anchored at the edge of a mooring field. As soon as we dropped the anchor, it all came back to Sailor. Anchor down = dinghy down = Sailor gets to go ashore. We had a few other things to do first, but Sailor stuck to Mark like glue. Finally, he got his wish and happily jumped into the dinghy. A tired Captain and an excited boat dog motored off to Peanut Island.
It hasn’t been the best of days, but we can’t complain too much when this is our view.
