At 8:30 I got a telephone call from the inspection shop apologizing that they had sent me the wrong batteries and would I please refuse the order. I took this message up to the marina office, explaining that the shipment would be two large boxes. I don’t know if they have yet arrived and if so if they have been refused. I do know that the replacement deck light from Amazon was refused. So now I have no plans and no idea when I will get my batteries.
Instead I walked three miles to a supermarket. I needed berries, trail mix, grapefruit juice, tequila, and the exercise. I also bought paper towels, yoghurt for lunch and a turkey salad for dinner.
I have been thinking of selling GANNET. There, I knew that would get your attention. To put your fevered mind at ease, I am not going to, but I was slightly tempted.
I have long admired a class of boats known as Aphrodite 101s, which are in many ways a longer Moore 24, and I happened upon one for sale on the East Coast with an asking price of $15.000.
I do not know what it will cost to have GANNET towed from San Diego to South Carolina, but I expect I could sell the little boat here and buy the Aphrodite with that amount plus what is saved by not having the tow. But then I realized why would I want to do that? I have put a lot of time and money into having GANNET the way I want her. She is a great boat. She suits me. And I don’t want to start over again converting a day/short course racer into an ocean voyager. So I won’t.
However, I am giving consideration to the possibility that the next time I return to San Diego it will be to send the little boat east. I have always liked being in San Diego, but it is a city. As I write these words an airplane just having taken off from Lindbergh Field is flying over, and I no longer want to be urban. Plus of course there are few places to sail to in California where I can anchor in solitude. Perhaps none. There is reason to hope that the long delayed condo renovation may soon be underway. GANNET’s future is anchoring with alligators.