Ready for the Count Down

I certainly hope you all had a wonderful Holiday with family and friends. I was fortunate enough to have vacation days left that needed to be taken or lost, so I took off this week to spend with Zachary here in NC. We have been having a very good time and I look forward to the rest of our time here.

The plan now is to head down to Florida on Monday, Jan 2 to get Zachary back for school on the 3rd. I am going to stay a while as the engine work is complete and Skylark is now ready for sea trials. Yes, you heard me right, the Atomic 4, gas tank and wiring work has been completed, and we are good to go. Talk about the best Christmas present ever. I will post pictures of the new engine along with pics and footage from the sea trials. I am very excited to say the least.

Since we are approaching the new year, one of the resolutions I made was to sail more and worry about boat projects less. My on going list of "to-dos" is huge and unrealistic. I cut the list down to only a few essentials for this year and plan to enjoy rather than to be constantly working. I will pull Skylark out of the water and try to do everything in one shot, most likely in early to mid March. A bottom job is really needed anyway, so it made sense to complete everything while she is out of the water. I am thinking it will take about a week to finish the new list, a time-frame much more workable. Everything will be ready for the wonderful Spring sailing. If you are interested, the list now consists of:

• Bottom job, zinc replacement
• Fresh water tank replacement or cleaning
• Tiller pilot install
• Solar panel install
• Adding 2 new batteries to house bank

Not too bad, right? Once that is done, I will be ready for some serious time on the water. I can't wait.

So with that, I hope you all have your to-do lists ready for the new year. Keep them short and sweet and get out on the water, there is always next year to work hard...or is that the year after. :)