A three hour tour...

Oh dear god. She runs. She floats. She is a boat!

Today Gary and I, well, Gary got the boat running. She ran out of the harbor poked her nose into the San Francisco Bay and went back in. But let me start from the start.

After going over to Hayward/Oakland yesterday to pick up a set of seats for my car, I decided to come home over the bay bridge and swing by the boat. It was early Saturday evening, and I wanted to check out the batteries because we suspect they were the reason the motor wasn't starting. In all honesty, I wanted to go to the boat so I could make sure that I hadn't been dreaming the whole thing.

She was still there, and our padlock was still on the door. Hooray!! It was also pretty sweet to have a free parking place right in the middle of fisherman's wharf, so I had to use that while I had the chance. I wandered around in the crowds for awhile and marveled at the randomness of it all. The best part was there was this bum who was using a pair of brushy liquid Ambar branches as a blind (like a hunting blind) and then he'd jump out and scare people. Now the really good part was that it worked. People were genuinly suprised. OK picture the scene. It's Saturday night and there's a crowd of people lined up staring at this little 3 foot high wall of tree-brush and you go walking buy...yet you are not noticing the crowd of people or the bum crouching down behind the brush. Then BLAH! He jumps. You jumps and the whole block breaks out in applause and laughter. It was really bizarre.

But I digress. Anyway after getting some coffee and some food I go back to the boat and climb down the ladder to sit on the cabintop and eat my dinner and watch the street from below. It was far cooler then I could've imagined. I was struck dumb at how happy and peaceful I felt on my little boat, munching on a burger, and rocking gently to the waves.

After all that I determined that the batteries were toast, packed up and went home.

Gary and his partner Spud (nee Karen) were planning on coming down today, as were Meredith and I. He was bringing all the tools he felt he needed as Ship's Engineer and a pair of golf cart batteries. I was gonna bring some diesel, a funnel and whatever else I could think of. Our goal was to get it started.

As it happened, Meredith, Orion and I all went down a little after noon, and Gary had been aboard for several hours replacing the roached batteries and figuring out the wiring as needed. I left Orion and Gary alone together and Meredith and I went for lunch and a quick, freezing stroll out the Hyde St. Pier. When we got back, Orion and Gary had gotten her started and had taken her out. Evidently it was quite a tight squeeze out and a bit uncomfortable getting back into the berth. They pack the boats in like...well...like sardines really. We hopped aboard and Gary started her up again (Jesus! The motor is LOUD) and Orion and I manned the boat hooks to fend off other boats (we did a terrible job of it and we got kinda stuck a couple of times). Eventually we got turned around the right way and headed out of the harbor. Midway out (in the picture where Gary is waving at the camera) I took control and steered out past the Jerimiah O'brien and that WW2 sub they have down there. Then we spun it around and headed back as Spud was on shore (she manned the camera) and wanted to go home. Getting it back in was also a bit of a bump-n-grind, but we were getting the hang of it. Then Gary and Spud went home, and Meredith went to wander around looking for Christmas presents a bit, and Orion and I were left to trouble shoot the bilge pump and clean up the boat. All I can really say is WHOOOOHOOOOOO!!! Pics to follow.

Now we just have to get her across the bay and up the Petaluma River.