After some gasket gunk to exhaust elbow, we started up the engine, took up the dock lines and headed out of the pass. Nothing broke, almost no weird noises, not an impressive amount power, but a beautiful day. After half an hour of motoring, we have no speedo, the auto pilot seems to work, the wind instruments sort of. We hoisted the main and the 95% and pushed her for all she was work in 10kts of wind in on the flat bay. It was great to put the muscle into the winch, lean into the wind, find the right heal angle and feel the power. I would have brought up the 135% but the mechanic and his assistant were along for the ride on a tight schedule. Later in the day under piles of junk being moved from one side of the boat to the other, and food, and water and tools and rusty anchor chain... we found we couldn’t light the stove and traced the problem to a ground wire the mechanic had left hanging - man we have got to get out of here while we are still in one piece. For the past 3 weeks I have had to listen and find ways to fix a steady stream of problems. Tomorrow morning we take on 400 liters of fuel, some fishing gear, do the formalities at customs and 12:00 is the right time to leave no? xxx p
