Sailing Last Mango

When I retired from the firehouse the guys on Black shift knew me better than I knew myself. They thoughtfully bought me a "Tailgator". For those of you that don't know a Tailgator is a gas powered blender. It has a 25cc weed whacker motor attached to a blender pitcher. When I was at the firehouse I would make a smoothie almost everyday after my workout or bike ride into work. This evening I planned a less healthy alternative.  Margaritas. I have to admit I was sceptical, but it's great. I think I will be using this quite a bit. The unit starts easily and takes very little time to blend ice, Tequila and Margarita mix. The Gate's, Bob, Miller, Dennis, Hannah, Karen and I had a great evening of conversation and Margaritas. I can't wait until the August 10th party. Miller said he thinks it will be a great chick magnet. If nothing else it will startup a conversation.

Last Thursday I went fishing with a couple of boat neighbors Pearl, Dennis and their friend Dave. Fishing been very slow since the July 3rd seiche. The fish have been scattered all about the area. It was a slow morning only one small Lake Trout in the boat but the weather and conversation was wonderful. About 11 AM Dave brought in a 8 pound Coho Salmon and shortly thereafter I brought in a 15 1/2 pound Chinook Salmon. It took me about 20 minutes to get it in the boat. I have to say I think it's the largest fish I ever caught in fresh water. I know it sounds like a fish story, but the fish was much larger in person. The picture makes things look 5 pounds smaller. Dennis took the fish for smoking. We're looking forward to its return. Pearl and I shortly before the cleaning process.

Well today was motor mount day. Yanmar (the manufacturer of the motor) states that motor mounts should be replaced ever 5 years. I don’t believe the mounts on Last Mango have been replaced at all. They certainly haven’t been replaced since we owned her. I took several measurements to help insure alignment after replacement. My thought is that I would disconnect all bolts, hoses and anything holding the motor down. I would then physically pickup the motor and Karen would remove one mount. I would then pickup the motor again and Karen would slide the new mount into place. After all how heavy could a 3 cylinder diesel be? Well needless to say it’s fairly heavy. However, everything went very well and we now have the new ones installed. We’ll let them relax and settle for a few days and have a mechanic come and check our shaft alignment. Even Karen thought it went well.  Seldom do mechanical repairs go well on a boat. This was the exception. Trust me there's not much access to ...

The morning started like any other. We woke up, but this morning we rolled over and wished each other a Happy Anniversary. After 27 years Karen decided to take me out to breakfast. We hopped on our bikes and pedaled to the Miraz Pancake House in Kenosha. We've been meaning to go here for years but never made it. We're known to be big spenders but this deal is hard to beat. 2 eggs, american fries, bacon, sausage, pancakes or toast for $2.99 Hard to believe. Guys at the firehouse know I would be all over this.

Time seems to pass very quickly on Last Mango. It's hard to believe that we'll be leaving for ports unknown in a little over a month. Karen's been busy working on completing the dodger and I've been busy fishing in the early morning (Thank god the fog seems to be disappearing) and with boat projects. The windlass is installed, AIS is up and working and the instruments are connected and functioning. The teak is clean and boat decks are mostly waxed. I still need to finish sanding some teak and complete the varnishing. Some rainy day I also need to install the new motor mounts. Beautiful clear morning and the fog rolls in. Starts to clear up and I tried to capture a rainbow in the fog. The 4th of July came and went while we celebrated the birth of our Nation. At the marina it means fun, food and loads of guests. We had a great time and ate alls types of food, so much in fact that we didn't eat our dinner. We did however have deep fried O...

Last evening strong storms came through Southport Marina and at approximately 3 AM strong winds caused a seiche in the harbor. The water surge was enough to move one of the docks off its mooring. The dock was then able to bend and twist causing damage to smaller boats and jet skis. It appeared that nothing too awful happened to the larger boats. The marina believes they will have the docks back in place by the 4th of July. Let's hope. Last Mango came through unscathed. In fact Karen, Hannah and I slept through the night oblivious to any rise in water level. We did hear the wind and rain all night. Several small boats crushed under dock walkway. Jet ski docks overturned with jet skis still attached under water Someone didn't secure their head sail well and it's shredded from the strong winds.