10-14 to 10-19 in San Diego

10-14-2011, Friday. : Got up nice and early with the airplanes. Yikes! We had lots of chores to do and Dick got on the phone with his “Engine Guy”, Marty. He is the one who did the addition of the big alternator to our engine and has worked on it previously with other projects. Dick ran the overheating symptoms by him, got some ideas what to check and validation that his own ideas were on track.

We took care of all the paperwork necessary to stay here for the next 10 days and started making a list of the things we need to accomplish while we are here. We found out that there are going to be about 50 “Ha-Ha” boats in this harbor, mostly on “B” dock (we are on “I” dock) and that there is going to be a pot luck dock party on Sunday, so we’ll have to prepare for that as well as an official pot lock party on Saturday. We are the only “Ha-Ha” boat on “I” dock because of our size. We are surrounded by big plastic motor yachts. The slip we are in and the boats around us make us look small.

We got the dingy in the water and took a ride over to Shelter Island. The fog is in now and it was quite cool. We took a look at some of the boats in the America’s Cup harbor there and made a visit to the San Diego Yacht Club. Can’t say enough nice things about them! They have the potential to be pretentious but ARE NOT! They are a most delightful group of people and have a beautiful club! They are open 7 days a week and have a full service restaurant and bar. We are planning to eat there for sure, at least once or twice. However, not tonight as I already have dinner planned at home. We need to use up the perishable foods in preparation for the food we need to take on for the “Ha-Ha” trip.

10-15-2011, Saturday: The day started out foggy, but cleared up into a beautiful day. Did some cleaning for our expected visitors, fixed some munchies and put together a dish for a pot luck. Doesn’t look like we will make the pot luck today, but will use it at tomorrow’s.

An old friend and colleague of Dick’s came to visit today, Mike and his wife Barbara who live near Redondo Beach arrived around noonish. We gave ‘em the nickel tour, did a little catching up and then went to the SDYC for lunch. EXCELLENT! We enjoyed the food and enjoyed the company as we all got to either know each other (in my case) or get caught up (in Dick’s case). What a delightful couple. Dick really appreciated them coming down to visit and I thoroughly enjoyed meeting them.

A couple of friends from our old hang out, Quinn’s, Suzy & Tim just arrived in the harbor today also, after sailing a boat down the coast to deliver it here for a skipper that is going to be in the “Ha-Ha”. No stops; 2 ½ days. Anyway, we were able to visit with them for a little while in the evening after they napped.

10-16-2011, Sunday: Another foggy morning. The sun did come out, but the day never really warmed up. My old friend Jeanne came and visited us today. She lives here in San Diego. I hadn't seen her in a while, so it was could catching up. Dick was pretty much in the engine compartment all day until about 2:00. He is trying to trouble-shoot the overheating problem. We are hoping it is a stuck thermostat. All other simpler possibilities have been ruled out, except for checking if the temperature gauge is wrong. If it isn’t the gauge or thermostat, it will most likely be a blown head gasket, which we REALLY don’t want it to be or worse, a cracked head or manifold.

Ginger & Paul Minoletti, friends from our yacht club, were down attending a conference here in San Diego, so once the 49er game was over, we all went to the SDYC for lunch. Had a lovely time visiting with them and with Jeanne.

We had the pot luck to attend on “B” dock which was fun. Got to meet a lot more folks going on the “Ha-Ha”.

10-17-2011, Monday: The fog was pretty thick early this morning, but by 8:00 it had cleared up and was sunny and beautiful. Dick was right back in the engine compartment at 6:30 this morning chasing our problem. He talked to the Ford Lehman people in Virginia and was given some excellent advice on possibilities. It appears our thermostat works properly, so now he’s got to put it back in. We rented a car so he could go get a digital infrared thermometer and radiator pressure tester. It could be that the temperature gauge is bad because the alarm did not go off when the temperature appeared to go up. We are still hoping we don’t have a cracked head or blown head gasket. It could also be the gasket at the back of the manifold; hence the pressure tester. Yikes! Let’s hope it is the gauge!!! That would be simple.

Did some provisioning for the upcoming trip and visited a local boat, “Lands End”, here in the marina, Skipper’s name is Mark, lovely boat! He acgtually lives in Mountain View and belongs to the Sausalito Yacht Club. He also has extensive world-wide sailing exsperience and was very interesting to talk with. He was very kind in giving us the name of a highly regarded local mechanic, should we need one.

10-18-2011, Tuesday: Yaaaaaaaaaaaaay! It was the gauge!!! The infrared temperature sensor shows no overheating and the pressure tester says we have no leaks in the system! Woo Hoo! Now we will just have to put in a new gauge. Actually there is a working gauge in the engine compartment that works just fine, so Dick will move it to the cockpit panel.

I went downtown to get the Mexican fishing licenses we MUST have in order to carry our fishing gear with us in Mexico. Everyone on the boat has to have one! Dick & I will get a year license and we’ll get three one-month licenses for our crew.

Well…… Dick decided to put a new gauge & sending unit in and keep the old one as a spare. Good Idea!

10-19-2011, Wednesday: Dick’s Sister arrived today and our friend Karen Litcher from the HMBYC also came by to visit with her colleague Deb, from New York. (Thanks to Gayle for letting Karen know we were here to be seen:--) We took everyone for a ride through the marina on Journey to take on fuel for the upcoming trip. We went to the SDYC again for lunch after that (Thank you Karen for lunch), dropped Karen & Deb off at the airport and hotel (respectively) and went to a pressure cooking seminar at Downwind Marine.