Hey Tom,

Two things that would be really nice to have for that trip singlehanded this time of year... some heat, and a functioning autopilot...

Before Monhegan Island was out of sight, both had bitten the dust... LMAO!

I was looking forward to a nice night, sitting in the companionway drinking hot chocolate while warmed from the heat below, letting the AP do the driving...

Generator crapped out first... I waited until I cleared the field of lobster pots south of Monhegan (damn, some of those guys work pretty far out, in DEEP water) before climbing into the lazarette to investigate... boat was a 44 Brewer design, the generator hidden completely under the cockpit sole, on a canoe-stern boat...

Took me about 10 minutes to wiggle myself in there... I'm about 6'5" - if I were 6' 5 1/4", no freakin' way it could have been done... (grin)

Investigation was inconclusive, OK - I can live without a generator and heat, after all... As I'm getting ready to close the lazarette hatch, I notice that the hose for the cockpit shower is very lightly abrading the rudder post, so I move to correct...

BAD move... it got hung up on the ridiculously exposed rudder position sensor (why don't people build some sort of protective CAGE for those damn things, in a space where heavy gear is so likely to shift?), and pops it right off...

VOILA! An instant round-up, the autopilot's hydraulic pump overloads, and a fuse inside a black box somewhere fries itself...

the autopilot's black box is probably the ONLY thing that's more un-reachable to me than the generator's impeller... No freakin' way I'm gonna get to that thing, offshore, in a seaway... So, I enjoyed instead a pleasant night of hand steering this beast across the Gulf of Maine in late November, in a pretty big following sea...

To add insult to injury, I arrive at the canal entrance the next morning at PRECISELY the worst time possible... Probably averaged about 2.3 kn over the bottom thru the canal... FMTT...

Arrived Newport just before dark, spent a nice evening with former CWBB webmaster Jeff Roy and his daughter Jenna... old timers around here may remember the night she was born, during Hurricane Floyd, a momentous CWBB event... Jeff is one of the greatest guys I've ever met thru this deal, he sends his regards to all... after watching his Tivo-ed qualifying for the US Grand Prix, it was back to the boat to see if I could replace that freakin' fuse...

Finally met with success after much grunting and swearing... It was well worth it, the following overnight in a pretty sporty northeast breeze from Newport to Cape May would have been a real bitch without the AP...

This is being posted from the Dogwatch Cafe at Dodson's boatyard in Stonigton, CT... Wonderful place, they make a pretty good Manhattan (can't you tell?)

I'm out of here at first light, the forecast snowstorm tomorrow and tomorrow night on LIS sounds like fun... but I'm on a Nauticat with inside pilothouse steering and Espar heat, life is good (grin)

Great talking to you as always last week, Tom...really sorry we couldn't get together this time - next time, for sure... give my best to Mary Ann...

best regards,

Jon