SO IT BEGINS

We've successfully weathered many hurricanes with our other boats and two with Cara Mia, Earl in Manteo, NC, at a dock, and Irene in Mobjack, VA, out of the water. So, this marks our third time to do hurricane prep with Cara Mia, which seems easier this time. Perhaps we've learned a few things.

If we were staying on the boat, we wouldn't bother to do these things unless a storm was actually on its way. Hurricanes are slow moving creatures, thoughtfully leaving plenty of time to react. However, since we'll be off the boat and far away for a month, we can't take a chance. And speaking of chances, we feel they are small. We will be gone early in the season, and, one of the reasons we are in this spot in Georgia is that hurricanes rarely come here. (Let's hope we're not quoting this later.)

The jib seems so huge when it's off -- or when it's up in a stiff wind!

I'm keeping a running list of the things we're doing to prepare and will post it here later for open discussion.

The sultry heat of a Georgia summer sent me crawling through hatches to get the air conditioning back into action for the first time since last summer.

I take out the ducts when we're not using it to take advantage of all that space they consume, so in addition to pulling everything out to do the work, now we have to find places to put the things that no longer have a home. Why do boat chores always create additional chores?

I was able to do all the work myself until it came to burping the water pump. Air comes in the intake and creates an airlock, which requires us to remove the hose, turn on the pump and then replace the hose. Sound easy? Ugh.

The pump is buried deep in a hatch under cushions, the foldout board for making the settee into a bed, and the huge chart drawer. Then you have to lean way down in there and use brute force with arms extended to separate the hose from the flange, which is made to prevent removing the hose. This process took Chip about an hour and eventually required taking the flange off. We plan to replace the hose and put in a Y-valve to burp the system before decommissioning the AC this fall. At least next year it will be easier.

Then we cleaned the nasty water filter, and I can attest that cold air is a great payoff for hot hours of labor.

Now, back to work.