The first piece of news I received was that Dave couldn’t get the engine to start. That immediately signalled my work for the morning: to sit + hand Dave tools. I am not complaining, since he certainly had the hard part. Being stuck with your head in that engine is no joke – it’s hot, hard + sweaty. Nonetheless, acting as fitter’s mate to Dave is no joke either. Val was wise – she trotted off to Lawrence’s boat to do a couple of pieces of woodwork over there – minor repair jobs – + while she was at it got a bit carried away, going into the whole spring-cleaning bit, inside + out. She was back on board the Crusader for the major excitement (maybe) of the day. Ed Lesesne was trying to manoeuvre the Sleeping Tiger, a big trimaran, onto a new berth. To do so, he had to squeeze past the Crusader, +, of course, managed to ram us, right smack on the wind vane. Ho hum. Dave was not pleased. Anyway, Dave managed to get the solenoid off, fixed, + back on again, when piece of excitement 2 came along, Buddy telling me I had a phone call from Jack Hughes. “Well, are you coming?” he asked, to which I replied no, because $10 per day each was too much. “So what can you afford?” About half, I suggested. “Alright,” he said, after a moment. So then we arranged when we were coming out (after I’d confirmed with Val.) Apparently, Dave had been a real shit when I was on the phone. Everyone there had been sticking the knife in on J + A, + Dave had been indulging in a piece of self-glorification, saying how well he’d treated us… + all while Val was standing there. When I returned with the news, everyone warned us to be careful.
A relatively peaceful afternoon – Monika was annoyed with us, because she’d all but arranged for us to see the captain of a freighter that night. However, she improved around 5 when Dave broke open the champagne (he can be nice when he wants) + then we followed up with more drinks. We also went on a grand tour, to say goodbye to various of our yachtie friends – + receive drinks from quite a few. Doug, Buddy, Ed Kirby, + in the bar Jean, Clay, Ed Lesesne, + Fred the Dentist (Fred + Debbie were away.) Returned to Crusader late, very drunk, for a meal.
And so, suddenly, another possibility has resurged, been offered, and accepted, and despite the angst that this has caused, we are on our way again! Or if not quite yet, then imminently. I think my annoyance at Dave springs from something which is not explicit in the diary, that he was suggesting, in front of Val, that we had been ungrateful. Despite the inevitable annoyances, this was not the case. Still, it was understandable that he should feel overlooked, and clearly he was able to overcome his feelings sufficiently to give us a proper send-off, champagne and all.
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