This past Tuesday we tried to leave Brunswick, Georgia, to head towards St.Augustine, Florida. We got so far as to back out of the dock, but not so far as to have all the mooring lines back on the boat before we aborted our attempt to leave. Just as we were trying to turn the boat out of our slip, the outdrive steering mechanism jammed up in one direction. Given that we need to be able to steer the outdrive when in tight spaces, we aborted and were pulled back into the dock by some fellow sailors who had come to help us cast off. We spent the rest of the day Tuesday and all day Wednesday fixing the problem, which also included a run to a few hardware stores.
The weather had not been good, so we had waited until Tuesday to leave. Now that we have missed that weather window, we are waiting again! One storm front seems to be chasing the next. It has been cool, rainy and windy, and some nights the temperature has been below freezing. We are ok at the dock with our heater running in the boat, but it's not fun to travel on the boat in these conditions. We are using the opportunity to purchase and install more parts that have been on our longer-term to-do list.