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Whenever I see the word "troubles", it almost always makes me think of that iconic Star Trek episode The Trouble with Tribbles . "Aye, they're into the machinery alright," is the line I'm thinking of that Scotty utters while carrying an armload of the furry, purring Tribbles. Whatever is in the CAYUGA machinery, it is certainly trouble. So let me tell you the story of this week and where we are with Mission Impossible: Water - Episode 1. This past Monday, I arrived to the yard, we chatted about the plan for the day and headed out. CAYUGA looks amazing. Her white boot stripe is perfectly white, whatever that cleaner they used, it went from yellowed and stained of the Bay's waters to looking freshly painted. Such a minor thing when compared the transmissions and engines but hey, that's what people see as she motors by them. A sharp looking girl, with everything as it should be. I was so excited. It was the first day away from the dock. Not only did her boot stripe look fabulous, but her transom, with the black finished around the chrome exhaust ports, just popped brilliantly. Her undergear was glowing from the Propspeed which looks gold-ish and if you ever have felt it after it's applied, it's rubbery! The paint "flexes" so nothing sticks. I had it on my sailboat's prop and decided it was more than worth it given the importance of props on a motor boat... Monday was in the 50s with a light breeze, so it wasn't a glorious outing that we were about to commence upon with regards to the weather but it's March in Maryland. And that means, memes galore and one weather forecast that sums it all up (from 2023 but still applies), seriously, you have to check out that site - that guy is intense, especially when it comes to snow (yes, I love snow). Sidebar: we paid a few extra dollars on our boat insurance to put the boat in prior to April 1 because March in MD. Look, if I don't laugh about this insanity... Anyway, we were off to go fill the gas tank, and since the preference is ethanol free, the only station around with that is a Royal Farms out on the main highway, Route 404. We're going for a ride, on pavement, first. It was interesting to drive behind the boat on the highway, with the driver never going above 45-50 mph. Fine with me. Since boating is not unfamiliar to folks in that area, it was kinda no big deal. Pulling into the station was a little bit surreal though, I have never personally watched a large boat pull up to a gas pump, on land. But this is what it looked like: After the fill stopped at some allowed amount, I went into the store and asked a very helpful woman behind the counter to put a hold on a few many more dollars so we could get this done without that limit again. Well, we never needed the amount I'd requested so that was a pleasant surprise. Which got us all thinking about how much had actually been put in back in early December during the engine break-in. Apparently, more than we thought. Oh, I know, you think we're goofs for not knowing these things but these old gas gauges aren't perfect and I don't know at what level the pickup is, so we don't really know how much gas is in that darn tank unless it's totally full. Before we left, a fellow walked up to the driver and engaged in conversation and asked about the boat. I knew the guy! How random! Brad knows him well, but I've met him before and he recognized me too. Of all the places to run into someone you know, with a beautiful classic boat, on a trailer, at a highway gas station. I think the best part was when the driver said, "the owner's right over there". Back on the highway, we're headed to the boat landing to launch for the first time in 2024. A smooth slide into the water amidst a bevy of folks fishing off the edges of the town landing, as well as a few Town officials monitoring whatever it was they were monitoring... and it was time to start the engines. But a little before that, one of the Town officials strolled over to say hi to the Denton folks and they pointed me out (again) and the fellow came over and said he thought I had a very fine boat. CAYUGA says thank you again! So now, it's go time. The engine guru was aboard as was the electrical guy, who is a diesel engine guy but he knows all the other important wiring aspects besides the engines. Good to have so some knowledge aboard. And so I turn to engine guy as he looks at me, and we, as I think it happened, were thinking, who is starting this baby up? I defer to him to make sure it starts the way he wants it to and he turns the ignitions. Both engines, one by one, fire up and find their idle after the usual warm up. This is a BIG deal. But taking it in stride because it's as it should be, after a few minutes, with me now in the captain's seat, I turn and ask if we're ready to go. I get the nod and so it's time for me to remember how to drive a boat. Believe me when I say, it's been TWO LONG + years of no touch or feel of CAYUGA and I was really starting to dial into her right when the season ended back in 2021..... oh geez that was soo long ago! I was so incredibly nervous all day. The morning work meeting was a breeze compared to sitting there thinking about how I didn't want to get it wrong the first moment off the dock. All way over from Annapolis I was freaking out in the car, my right foot felt like it was going numb so I kept fidgeting to make sure my body wasn't going paralyzed. Back surgery in 2009 led to some weird stuff I deal with so it was a combo of nerves, sitting, anxiety, etc. and anyway I arrived just fine. I've sort of come to enjoy my weekly ventures to Denton, although I am looking much more forward to my, hopefully, daily ventures to CAYUGA at the dock where I can relax on her, fuss about something to clean or fix, take her out for spin, maybe dinner at the club by water, or raft ups with friends, anchoring.... dreaming. Are you still with me? Pulling out of the launch ramp, there are, as I mentioned a bunch of folks fishing. I don't know how they thought this would go but I can only avoid so many fishing lines if you'd seen it. Luckily, we snagged no lines and everyone was cool. Pretty much I felt like I got the girl pass, maybe that's horrible to say, but really, how many girls drive boats like this? I can't imagine they've seen that often. I want to recall current flowing upriver with wind coming downriver. The current can be pretty significant, more than half a knot, so maneuvering at slow speeds is always fun. In the end, I tried to stay calm and just went with the flow so to speak and up, past the oyster bed shallows to starboard, in the middle of the channel we went. I was cautioned that by engine guy that he didn't know the waters super well, but I recall when CAYUGA was first delivered to Denton, taking a quick ride with the Denton folks, and them mentioning about the water depth and hazards - I remembered. Let's not run aground first time off the dock. We go slowly, the idle is not the same as I remember, the gears are finding themselves, the engines are sounding OK. And now we are headed down the river, a few fusses here and there but under the bridge and with the caution to mind the few residential docks on the east side of the river not to go fast as we pass, we push forward at 6 knots. As you can see, it was clouding up a bit, but it was the most beautiful day I will remember for a long time since it was THE day. You can see the gauges here, with the RPMs at about 1100 each, however, the engines are not in harmony if they are reading exactly the same, and they aren't if you notice - the starboard gauge is slightly higher and that's about where you hear the engines sync. It's all how you hear it. It's not handled electronically; it's something you just have to know. I grew up with that. It's such a cool feeling to hear it and feel it and know it. Maybe a lost art, and I have to wonder how many girl boaters are out there like me who are doing this? I wish I had a screen shot of my Garmin chart plotter, which thankfully when it turned on for the first time since... the track up the river was still in memory and that was awesome - just stay on that or around it so we won't find the bottom. Maybe this OpenCPN screenshot helps. Right above the "clr 24.9" (bridge clearance for any boat going under at mean lower low tide) is a tiny blue indent in the dark brown of the Town of Denton, and that's the boat landing. The Upper Choptank River Buoy 2 is where we went and turned around before heading south. It's narrow looking, but at low tide it's really narrow when you see where all the marshes and oysters bars and such appear. Our adventures this day took us as far south as Daybeacons 78 and 77 with the depth 9 indicator being the approximate ground zero for our fate. I can share that the waters in the river run deep at the outside of the curves and you can find well over 10' of depth and if you stray into dark blue (not shown on this screeshot) you better turn. Once past the residential docks with no boats in sight, it was time to ramp it up! The moment had arrived to open it up and go for the ride we'd all been waiting for. I took the throttles and began pushing forward, past 1200 RPMs, 1500, 1800, 2000, 21---- nope! The port engine stops. When an engine is off but the ignition is on, there is a LOUD bell. So the bell goes off and above it I call out to the enginer guy - and throttle back on starboard immediately and into neutral. Now we are floating about in a river, with a current, a narrow channel, a stronger breeze, and one engine not working. I love yachting. But it was really good while it lasted. Episode 2 coming soon.

Well, let's not get ahead of ourselves. Yes, I'm awkwardly brilliant perhaps once a year. So right now I'm a bit concerned about how the rest of 2024 is going to play out. Have I used up my incandescent light bulb moment or am I operating on LED and have a long life of ideas ahead of me this year? Recently, as in the end of 2023 and into the very beginning of 2024, CAYUGA needed a solution. Of course, this is a classic I love yachting story about to play out. As you may recall, the engines and transmissions were fully restored. As a part of the overall process, the old engine mounts (solid, but a bit rusty and corroded) were replaced, the old mount holes were glassed in, and the stringers * (in case that word is not quite familiar) were ready for new mounts. Here are a few pictures of where we started. When the tardy transmissions finally made their illustrious appearances last fall, the belles of the ball at that point, with much fanfare, everything was looking up. Here are some pictures of where we ended up. One small problem. . . The new mounts, and you knew this was coming, were slightly larger in height. Maybe because they're better, larger, sturdier, improved materials, whatever? But damn it, now one of the deck hatches doesn't close flush with the deck over the starboard transmission. Port is fine. OMG, whatever the fix is, it's got to be the same on both sides. AND it can't look like there was ever a fix. Not just one issue, but compounding ones. Huh? Why? Because. She's a member of the Antique Classic Boat Society and if she wants to get any chances of any awards, she better look like her line drawings. She'll never win 100% original classic and/or restoration, the first owner changed her original engines from the not-nearly-powerful enough Chrysler M 360s (250hp) to the GM Marine Power S 454s (350hp) we have now. The line drawings are pretty clear on what happened. The original is in black and the new GMs are in purple. This is helpful too as you can see the shaft alignment in degrees, the alley where the shaft goes through the hull, as well as the cabin sole location (deck), and how close the purple comes to the underside of the sole. The guys at the yard were betwixt and between and I was called to the boat yard toward the end of the year after the successful first dip for the engine break-in . It was a somber atmosphere, with many seemingly upbeat ideas being tossed out, all mostly thought through, but none were appealing and all meant a bunch of funky things I just didn't really get. I listened intently, VERY intently. I was standing there on the boat, inside the storage shed, at the edge with the door up, a cool day, but not bone-chilling. There were three of us. The engine guy, of course, the lead yard guy, and I think the son of the owner. Ideas were flowing like a keg of beer at a frat party. I look at everyone with a little bit of trepidation, after all these are professional boat builders, but after about 15-20 minutes of this conversation, I'm like, huh, why are we doing this? There's GOT to be a better way than teak deck grates, a second ladder, bump ups or outs, and other ideas but I don't remember exactly. All of this is to fix the fact that the alignment of the starboard engine on the NEW mounts has caused the starboard transmission to be slightly higher than the underside of the deck hatch, like about 5/8", which is kind of a lot but not a lot. Funny enough, the deck hatches were slightly revised with the installation of the larger GMs - there is a small cut-out on the bottom of the hatches just in the place where the transmissions would have bumped up against the hatch. In the picture, you can see the small rectangle of additional wood added to the top for strength/deck integrity where the cut-out exists underneath. So, now we're revising it a second time. The alignment problem itself was that the starboard shaft did not travel straight through the alley. It was running a little north in the alley and that was a tolerance no one was OK with. And here's the light bulb moment. It occurred to me, why just not raise the deck so the hatch fits right? A few minutes before I mustered the courage to speak up, the owner of the yard poked his head over the gunnels and was checking in on the brain trust. He just listened. So I finally asked, as there was a pause in the brainstorming, "Hey guys, what if we did this...". To my great surprise and delight, he chimed in as if lightning had hit and paraphrasing, said, "Yes, that was the fix, and here's how to do it!" The crew had a collective look of, "Hey, that might just work". And so on March 1, the deadline for "in the water", I went to see the progress. I've been to visit every week since the mid/end of January, usually on Fridays which are days when work is out a little bit earlier, and it's been a magical transition of boat work over the past two months. One more thing. An opportunity had presented itself. There was an ugly "fix" for a cut into the engine box when the prior owner took out the transmissions for service separately from the engines. Brad and I always thought it looked horrible. Truly jinkety janked . I'll let the pictures explain it, because trying to do so to Brad who knew it was something to be fixed, wasn't quite sure what I was saying until there was something on paper. Perhaps the marine industry would be interested in hiring me as a boat designer and/or problem solver. What a new job that would be! The first picture is the crappy-looking old situation. The second picture is the drawing of my idea. The rest is history. I'm thankful that my ideas were made into a reality - between utterly talented interpreters of my horrible drawings, and some nice wood and fiberglass work, my thoughts turned out beautifully. I also got some props (haha) from the Denton folks that my ideas worked really well. I want you to know that the gravity of this the realization that I did something I never knew I could do, so it was a remarkable moment for me (and my boat). I felt proud, which is something I am wary of, but can't help but feel. My closing thought is to share that I don't see a lot of women running boats out there on the water, and what happened over the course of the past few months gave me even more confidence about playing on the water, fixing my boat, and conquering an I love yachting moment. CAYUGA is ready to go!

Randomly, Arthur E. Martin's publication "Recreation or Amusement" popped into my mind this morning. It is one of the most brilliant and encapsulating explanations ever written to illustrate the difference between, you guessed it, recreation and amusement. As a brief background, I first met the late Arthur Martin at the Annapolis Sailboat Show around 1976. He and his wife, Marjory, were displaying their rowing shells at the show. Arthur was the quiet, quintessential Yankee. Marjory was the salesperson and outgoing member of their team of two. The long and short of the story is that I convinced my father to buy one of their Alden Ocean Shells—a boat I enjoyed rowing for years on the Magothy River. With the purchase of the boat came a pamphlet titled “Recreation and Amusement". I remember thinking about how well Arthur Martin made his case for the benefits of recreation. And what the detriments of overindulging in pure amusement are. To this day, even with the seemingly greater emphasis on amusing ourselves and the vast “improvements” in technology to aid in that, there is still nothing more extraordinary than pure and simple recreation. When time permits, give "Recreation and Amusement" a read. I hope it inspires you to seek recreational opportunities on the water. To aid in this, I've scanned my copy. For more about Arthur Martin and his philosophies on boats and life, I suggest reading his book Life in the Slow Lane . Arthur Martin, too, enjoyed motoring on his Energy 48, a scaled-up version of his Appledore rowing shell; powered by a 30-hp (22.5-kW) Westerbeke diesel, it burns 3 quarts (2.8 l) an hour at 10 knots. As a final note, how this popped into my head, at church, was looking at all the elaborate new technology for audio/visual presentations, etc. (my church was renting space, it opened its own sanctuary last month). And as someone who strives to follow Arthur Martin's philosophy, I can't help but think about how boating has lost its recreational aspects, i.e. this illustration ( link to article ): Our I love yachting journey with CAYUGA has been anything but amusing, and while it's not rowing an Alden for pure recreation and philosophical reflection, she is at the same time something that stirs our hearts when you see her, and our imaginations when we think of her simplicity. Aboard CAYUGA, life is never dull.

I pinch myself every time I look at a 2021 picture of CAYUGA somewhere having fun with friends. Yesterday was hoped to be the day the boat was put back in the water after just over two years. Two years. Nope, that's not right . Two years? Two years! If you know the scene, go with it... As I started this last night, I was listening to The Stranglers' song - Too Precious - on vinyl, because I got old stuff, yeah. If you don't know the artist, you might want to, I found them in the early 80s during that wonderful time of new wave, punk, and international music influx that informed my listening habits for life. The word sublime comes to mind to describe the sound I hear in this song. Anyway, that's what CAYUGA is. She is precious. Over the course of the still ongoing non-yachting couple of years, besides distracting myself with plants and whatever else, I've been puttering away at organizing and deleting duplicate/bad/etc photos and videos in my online storage... so I can have more photos and videos in online storage! Long live the cloud. Pretty sure most will be of CAYUGA or my gardens when it's all said and done. Anyway, here's the memory lane of photos I ran across last night. I hope soon there will be *new and improved* memories! I finished up this post with another great group, Men At Work: Down by the Sea . Let me share this; I love a song for the sound, often the words or meaning is not an issue or focus for me, just the sound, so anyway, enjoy it like you do. Lastly, I have much to be thankful for in general, and in spite of the past couple of years of ongoing I love yachting setbacks. Good night and stay tuned for the Thanksgiving week trials.

You know how every 90 days, or some other IT timeframe, it's destined to be the moment when you need to log on but can't reset your password? Well, that's not the issue but it is the point because when the time came earlier this year, and as I've been making passwords related to CAYUGA as I can usually remember them, I set the latest password no differently. And the password is... "Inthewater2023??". Pretty sure I need to change my password now... but hilarious right? As if that was ever going to happen as the days and months passed by, but if you need a little password inspiration, this is interesting , or just get yourself some help: Lastpass . Well, there's a light at the end of this I love yachting spectacle. I'm ever hopeful once again. If you followed along in the CAYUGA series then you know the transmission did finally arrive a couple of weeks ago. There's even better news! So the transmission arrived on Friday, 10/20, and by Monday 10/30, the whole engine and transmission had been put back together, waiting only for forklifts to arrive and do the heavy lifting, find its port mate already in process and soon to be next, finally, and of course, last but not least and what we've all been waiting for, installed safe and sound . We're really making some progress! Still to be done: exhaust hoses, cooling hoses, electrical wiring, and of course after all this time, cleaning out the old fuel and checking all fuel lines in preparation for fresh fuel for trials. The batteries have continued to be checked and charged and are doing well. And we've been told as of this past Friday, "all seems to be going back together smoothly at this point". Cross your fingers, folks, we might just be back in the water in 2023.

Denton never got a message with the tracking information. They did however get a transmission delivery. The text on Friday, October 20, at 12:04 PM was, "It's here!" I yelled and jumped and Brad looked at me like I was crazy but he definitely heard me. Now the race is on to get it put back together and in the water at least for trials before winter. The fact that we're going to get it in the water at all this year almost brings me to tears. The text had just this one picture: Arrived!

We're nearly at the end of the letters to be used for this entertaining (?) series of I love yachting events and emotions. It's been entertaining for me to write if nothing else, a distraction perhaps? Coming up with a simple way to express each letter has been rather fun and easier than anticipated, and the GIFs to express the situation have been hilarious to search for too. The U blog had Brad in stitches. Inviting you into the minds of Holly and Brad we figured would be one way to share our latest state of affairs - oh you're surprised we have minds!? Ha ha, rightfully so, it's certainly debatable that we might have any brains since this is totally not how you enjoy being on the water. But other than that, you should be wondering by now, what's with all the blog entries? Yet, you might recall from the first of this series, there was a text that just faded out. I didn't quite finish and left you with, " Can you believe it?? ". I suggest you go read that first , but if you've stayed with me, this is good. The rest of that text was, "...shipping the gear out this afternoon or tomorrow morning. Will send me the tracking number when it goes. I expect we will see it early next week." G etting close.

You may be wondering what's up with the letters. Have you figured it out yet? This one should be giving it away. We delivered the boat to Denton on November 7, 2021. Seems like only yesterday that happened, it was such a perfectly glorious day (see the vlog ). Don't worry about the math, it's easily close to two years. It's a long haul. Truly. Hauling the damn transmission first to someone in Virginia who never worked on it and hauling it back. Then hauling it to South Carolina where as many of you may know, it got fixed (hooray!), came back, but then had an issue and went back (boo!) only to be there ever since. As you would imagine, the mental state around here at home has been nothing short of pins and needles, but including... Insanity. Frustration. Anger. Futileness. Resignment. Fugit. Basically, we've been super mega monster boundlessly and daringly infuriated. Yes, a dare. Daring ourselves to make it through this. It's a way to look at it, deal with it, and not kill each other or get divorced over a damn boat. Whatever it takes. But mostly we've just been U pset.

FADE IN. INT. HOME OFFICE. Following yesterday's scene - it is the next day, communications are attempted, questions abound, and seems like the same old story. HOLLY and BRAD. HOLLY I don't know why I do it. BRAD I don't know what to tell you. HOLLY You know I love that old grandfather clock. You were the perfect husband getting someone to come out to fix it. Surprising me with a clock guy who shows up as promised and tells me what he's going to do to get it working again. A month later, after he comes and puts it all back together, the friggin' thing stops 4 hours later. He told me not to "panic" if it stopped. But seriously, WTF? He was here again and did whatever, and it ran flawlessly, beautifully, for just over 24 hours. He asked me to text him a picture of the face of the clock and the position of the weights. BRAD What is he going to do? HOLLY He said he'd "bench-test" it in his shop. OMG. Where have I heard that before... BRAD I heard the chimes but I still can't hear the other one. HOLLY I can't help you. I told you to put the ship's clock next to your ear! BRAD I'll refrain from negativity. Hill grilled me on that this past weekend. HOLLY Glad you heard him at least, I will appreciate your restraint. Anyway, while you were out, we talked on the phone and he walked me through some tests. Then conversationally he says he'd performed his task, I'd paid him fair and square, but his obligation was to get it working. #($%! I can't wait to see how long this takes... Brad is sitting at his desk, staring at his laptop, typing, listening, but not saying anything. Holly is standing at her desk, looking at Brad, wondering what to think about anything... The clock chimes in the foyer. HOLLY Next time it stops, which I'm sure it will, he's coming back to take the whole thing, all of it, not just the insides, to his shop. This bitterly reminds me of another situation... Does every restoration attempt have to be so damned hard? FADE OUT. A re you kidding me?

FADE IN: EXT. A REGULAR WORKDAY Traveling on a highway, heading to work in the morning, and making a phone call to the boat yard. HOLLY Hi there, have you heard anything about the infamous transmission? I know Brad visited you last Thursday and mentioned Jones Marine had made some progress. DENTON FOLKS Hey! No, I have not heard anything from them. But yes, Brad did say he'd talked to them. I will contact them today, actually, I'll call as soon as we finish talking HOLLY Excellent, I hope, and we all know how much I've hoped this summer... and now fall... I did hear someone was working on the engine hatch hinges though. DENTON FOLKS Yes, and we're all ready to go as soon as the transmissions arrive, we all want to get the boat in the water! HOLLY Sounds good, text me if you hear any good news from the gear guy. DENTON FOLKS Will do. A few hours pass at the office and a text is received. DENTON FOLKS Spoke with the gear guy and he said he expects to be... FADE OUT. C an you believe it???

...and counting. This post, a bit of therapy and catharsis, attempts to think through the past four hundred and sixty-one days since commencing CAYUGA's refit. The process began the day CAYUGA was docked in Denton, November 8, 2021. Lest I despair too much, I do admit that first summer was pretty wonderful, it still carries me, but I seriously hope the days are few and numbered for wrapping up this work. The delivery to the folks who will be doing the work, way up the Choptank River (check out the blog on that here ), to Denton, was "magical" as Holly would put it. So we began the refit work which was to include taking out the engines and the transmissions for service. Note that I say "service". In the meantime, I have to share that a few things have gone swimmingly well. Namely, the varnish work, of which my previously varnish-averse wife, is exceedingly thrilled about, and the trim tabs. The Zipwakes , we are anticipating will be the game changer for going "slow" but at a nice speed, not full out like the original owner, Blair Brown, designed so he could get from one point to another in record time. Story for another day. Check those for DONE! Holly thinks those trim tabs are sexy, I don't understand her definitions... but I like it. Back to the rest, to accomplish the services, Holly and I began engaging in commerce with many marine industry businesses. In hindsight, to say that we now find ourselves behind schedule and over budget is an understatement. Holly, ever the pragmatist, says she is happy just knowing CAYUGA exists in her life. I hear her, but see the sadness in her eyes that she didn't get the boat in the water for summer '22. That and I know she was utterly spent by summer's end with friends asking her when the boat was going in the water. I, on the other hand, well, those who know me know exactly how I feel, and for those of you who do not, I'm exasperated, irritated, and can barely utter our eponymous website name, neither in sarcasm nor jest. Were we naive and overly optimistic? Should we have known better what we were getting into and planned accordingly? How could we have planned or known? Holly paid for our boat slip for 2022, but it went unused. The annual Antique & Classic Boat Festival held in St. Michael's every June went unattended. CAYUGA stayed in storage, gathering dust and collecting stories. Antique & Classic Boat Festival at St. Michaels (photo clipped from https://shorebread.com) I'd say this is going to be brief, but it probably won't be (making a parallel statement?). Anyway, over the past fifteen months of "Project CAYUGA", I'll try to distill the good, the bad, and the ugly. First, we still do not have an end date. You would be in hysterics if I were to try to tell you how many end dates we had planned, or were near meeting, or were given, or promised, or conjured out of thin air just to feel better on any given day. All of the above by all parties. Probably mostly by me. But after a near meltdown, which prompted this post, I asked my dear power-boating wife to take the helm. Holly is not only pushing for in-the-water but is visualizing the calendar in everyone's head for sea trails come April. Some of the challenges and tribulations are self-inflicted. Side note: we realize we are entirely reliant upon the marine industry and will not say boo about, but we do need to live up to our I love yachting standard - the things go right version. So, in a perfectly ILY fashion, we sourced our Annapolis-based engine mechanic to handle our engine services. Well, we needed more than just some service once things were apart. OF COURSE! I will say, if nothing else, I've learned quite a lot about marine gas engines, transmissions, and v-drives. Backing up a bit, the Denton folks had enlisted the services of one of their subs to remove the mechanical workings and secure them for transport to Annapolis. On December 11, 2021, (428 days ago) our good friend, neighbor, racing/boating guru, and frequent commenter on posts, Geremy, helped by providing his truck to haul the engines across the Bay to begin the evaluation of the thirty-year-old Marine Power big block 454s. After determining with our Annapolis mechanic's expert input that the prudent course of action was to get the longblocks rebuilt, I searched for a shop capable and willing to do the work. For a recommendation, I called the local marine power dealer, Coby Marine , in Pasadena. Without hesitation, I was referred to Marty Brown Racing in Centerville, MD. With the Eastern Shore close to both of our hearts, we were feeling pretty good. MBR is an excellent family-run machine shop specializing in high-performance engines for cars and boats, racing, and everyday use. The business was started in Glen Burnie by Marty Brown, Sr., then moved to the Eastern Shore, where Marty Brown, Jr. now handles the day-to-day running of the business. The picture is of Holly and Marty Jr., January 27, 2022. Marty enthusiastically agreed to overhaul the engines. Over in Annapolis, on February 26, 2022, our mechanic loaded them on a trailer and transported them back across the Bay. The longblocks were off on their own and now we had the transmissions / v-drive gears to get serviced. While the 454s make the power (the Marine Power slogan being " The Force Behind The Fun "), it takes gears to convert the power to make those propellers go around, fast. Yet again, in another perfect ILY situation, CAYUGA is equipped with no longer made (a company out of business long ago...) Paragon gears. The one-time Taunton, MA-based company is now just a memory, but there are a few shops that remain still servicing the old but trusty units. Parts? Of course, those are also no longer produced either thus adding to the list of "why are we doing this??!!". Remember that self-inflicted statement part... New York Times article about the Paragon factory. November 9, 1981 I got a recommendation for a shop in VA that serviced Paragons. So, with another borrowed pickup truck, I went to Denton to pick up the Paragons and on April 11, 2022, drove them to VA. It felt like real progress with the engines underway and someone to service the Paragons. Back at Marty Brown Racing, the engines were done. The picture is a happy Holly with Marty Jr. and some seriously silver (a sailing buddy of ours had a slightly different reaction, "Silver as #&%@ was his exclamation) like new engines on July 12, 2022. Marty Brown, Sr. delivered the longblocks back to the Annapolis shop on July 18, 2022. Unfortunately, no work was ever performed on the Paragons in VA. After a few phone exchanges, I was in a position where I had no choice but to go and retrieve our transmissions. So on July 25, yet another pickup truck was borrowed, and off I went to bring our Paragons back to Annapolis. Time for you to pour a beverage of your liking, if you haven't already, and tuck in. Yes... ILY once more. Let me explain. Holly's parents were longtime active members of the Antique & Classic Boat Society (ACBS) , Chesapeake Chapter. Shortly after taking over stewardship of CAYUGA, I signed us up for membership. We had (still have) grand plans for entering her in the annual show in St. Michael's for competition. ACBS is all about keeping a boat in a "matching" condition to the original, but not a requirement. The engines, once completed, and without us paying attention, got painted silver as #%)&*. The original Marine Power color is more of a silver-gray. All of the brackets, heat exchangers, pulleys, etc. are that color. Therefore, we needed to prep and repaint the engines in order for our Annapolis guy to put it all back together and dress it up. I contacted an old acquaintance who has been painting boats for decades. He agreed to do the work of paint removal and priming in preparation for reassemblage and then dress-up. In late August a deposit was paid for what seemed like a reasonably straightforward re-paint job to get done in Annapolis. Well, September passed, then October and November, and through December, with January coming and going all without the painting getting done. Going back to the transmissions, they had become a reason for not completing the engine painting - the theory being that they could not be reassembled until the transmissions were complete and returned. Therefore, the transmission work ostensibly became the tail wagging the dog. After returning from VA, I began the task of searching for another shop to perform the work on the Paragons. Eventually, I got an indirect referral through ACBS for another one-person operation (who else is out there but these folks and thankfully they are but they are hard to find) just west of Charleston, SC. I rang up Chris Jones Marine and arranged to deliver the units. I suppose you could say it's all a journey... and with Geremy's truck "Buttercup", (yes, it has a name) I headed south to Sommerville, SC on August 17 (179 days ago) and drove back the next day. SC is not exactly convenient, but I wanted to meet the person who would be doing the work and ensure we had an understanding of what he was going to do and how long it would take. It was a tough couple of days traveling I-95 but it seemed this time it was worth it. The Paragons are ready for the trek south on August 17, 2022. Chris Jones, our hoped-for Paragon guru, at his shop later that day, August 17, 2022. Holly spoke with Chris about a week ago and relayed that he was nearing completion of the second unit and would be shipping in the next week directly to the Denton folks as discussed. Does anyone remember the old show Sing Along with Mitch Miller and following the bouncing ball? (there really was no bouncing ball but that's what folks tend to remember) My parents watched it. I realize that this story might be like that show, but hopefully, you are still with me. The most recent ball bounce occurred last Monday, February 6. Holly and I met with the painter to discuss the status of things. Based on the progress, or lack thereof, the decision was made to full-stop the (non) painting effort and get everything back to Denton. And back across the Bay The Force Behind The Fun - in pieces - shall go. Since the Denton folks have a full paint shop, they can handle the remaining parts to be cleaned of old paint and corrosion and then begin the work to reassemble it all into CAYUGA. For anyone who read the last post and wondered if this latest chapter of ILY has gotten me drinking again, the answer is no. Further, I have remained on that plan for now 85 days with the support of Holly and our friends. Living through this refit, whether the responsibility rests with us or others, has tested my determination to stay calm and to persevere without liquid resolve. As part of my therapy, going back to the very beginning of this post, please feel free to comment with opinions, thoughts, suggestions, or just remind me that ILY.

Ecclesiastes 3:1, For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. On September 4th, Labor Day 1972, I got intoxicated for the first time at the Ulmstead picnic at the community beach. At the picnic were unsupervised kegs of beer. Hey, what could go wrong mixing teenagers with unguarded kegs. Unnoticed by the adults, most of us teenagers liberally helped ourselves on that end-of-summer holiday day. That same day, Olympic Legend, Mark Spitz , won his record seventh gold medal. His accomplishment was much more commendable than mine. I staggered home from the picnic in an inebriated state, crawled up the stairs, burst into my parent's bedroom, and bellowed, "Mark Sppitttzzzz won his sevvveenthh gold meddle!" Like they didn't already know. Dad – usually the firm military disciplinarian – was surprisingly unfazed. He ordered me to go outside and "walk it off." I was hammered. And the next day, I experienced another first - a massive hangover that included a blistering headache and necessitating visits to "drive the porcelain bus." But my parents did not say a word, and my future drinking went undeterred by the ill effects of that infamous Labor Day revelry. That party commenced a fifty-year season of alcohol-infused merriment. Fortunately, and luckily, without ever incurring disastrous occurrences or repercussions. Back to the present to share some motives for my time to stop drinking course correction. In short, it is primarily health-related. I can no longer continue drinking as I have, feel good, and maintain the desired mental acuity and physical health. Those days are in the past. Therefore, I must confront reality and give up the drink. The chances of imbibing in moderation – having that one glass of wine with dinner – won't happen. Moderation is just not in my DNA. Dear Ole Grandpa Cole supposedly said of drinking, "I like it so much, I don't do it at all." I will heed the wisdom of my forefathers. I am already making adjustments with Holly's help. While I loved my Dark & Stormys, Holly has already come up with a "mocktail" replacement for me via "shrubs" she discovered through her much-adored jam purveyor, Blake Hill Preserves . And I thank Peter Howard for steering me to Athletic Brewing , a good non-alcoholic beer substitute. It will be challenging for me to stay committed to sobriety. I will need encouragement and support from friends to stay on the course. And I thank you all in advance. But, not to worry, there will still be plenty of cocktails and barley sandwiches aboard CAYUGA for friends to enjoy. Yah never know though, you might just get served a mocktail and love it.