A Tale of Two Chemists: Simrad turns up Trumps

Simrad turns up Trumps … Friday 24 June

The early part of this week was really foggy and we struggled through this entire period with no radar. On Monday we delayed the start of our lunch trip for an hour and then set out motoring in pretty dense fog to Totnam Cove, about two miles away. We dropped the anchor and after a pleasant lunch the fog finally lifted and our guest were rewarded with a nice sail in the afternoon. Tuesday morning was essentially the same, except we departed on time. With two further trips in the afternoon we didn’t have the flexibility to delay, but again the fog mostly cleared and we had a good sail. The afternoon was special because our good friend Sheila came up from Massachusetts to visit. She joined us for both the afternoon sail and the sunset cruise. The afternoon was a lively sail with a good breeze from the SW and we were able to round the southern entrance of Cape Small harbor before encountering fog. However, in the evening the fog banks were visible to the south and for the first time, we headed north up the New Meadows river for our “sunset” cruise, in the hope of avoiding being totally socked in. We usually don’t take this route because it’s where the “Ruth” trips go and we want to avoid duplication. Also it’s heavily potted and often straight into the wind to return southwards. On this trip we sailed a little, but the wind soon died so we had an atmospheric motor-sail in the mist! Once we had put Cotinga back on her mooring, Gloria and I joined Sheila for dinner in the resorts Ledges Pub, which we really enjoyed.

Wednesday morning dawned with much excitement. The wind had shifted to the NW and the weather could not have been more beautiful. We enjoyed coffee on shore with Sheila and then I took out a trip on the Ruth. Gloria and Sheila explored the area around the resort making the most of the fabulous weather, then we all ate sandwiched on the dock. Another Ruth trip in the afternoon was followed by the arrival of Gloria’s brother Rod and his wife Sue. They had come to Maine to complete the sale of the parent’s house and stopped by to visit. I was particularly excited because they had brought with them a large present, namely our repaired radar. At the end of the last blog I mentioned that we were tracking the return of our radar from Simrad. On Tuesday morning I was horrified to realize that the parcel was being delivered to our home address rather than up to Sebasco Harbor and that it was too late to re-route it. I was planning to drive home and pick it up on Tuesday night, returning the following morning, when we heard that Rod and Sue were coming up. They stopped by our house in Sudbury and picked up the parcel from outside the garage doors and brought it up with them, saving me 6 hours of driving. Thanks Rod and Sue! Anyway we had a lovely time sitting on the boat, chatting and catching up. We lit the gas grill and cooked chicken and steak tips, which we ate with pasta, roasted garlic and basil tomato sauce, and salad. Rod and Sue departed all too soon and headed back to Rhode Island, whilst Gloria and I started to re-install the radar. My irritation that Simrad had failed to read my cover letter and sent the unit to our home address soon moderated and then disappeared altogether as I realized that what they had sent us was not the repaired equipment but a brand new radar unit, and that they had done this free of charge under warranty. Given that we installed the original system just over 3 years ago. Thanks Simrad! It only took us about 30 minutes to drop the radar pole and bolt on the new dome. Everything now seems to work perfectly.

Thursday was also a busy day with a Ruth trip in the morning, a 4-hour sailing trip in the afternoon and an additional sunset sail in the evening. All went well and in the afternoon we actually sailed out of Casco Bay and over to Seguin Island. We have just a week to go until I take off for my niece / god-daughter wedding in Italy. When we made our plans originally we envisaged that Gloria would continue to run the “Sail Cotinga” business with Rod’s help whilst I was away. Gloria has now decided that she too will take a break and head home for a few days of well deserved R&R.