Be Careful What You Wish For...

So, last Saturday, the crew from SailTime-SF went to a diesel mechanics class at KKMI (one of the biggest boatyards in the Bay, where Team Oracle & Alinghi both set up shop a few years ago during the America's Cup races in SF). It was a five hour class that covered diesel theory, troubleshooting, etc. I was blown away by the amount of information they imparted on us.

While we were at KKMI, Discovery Channel was setting up to do a commercial about a documentary they've made on Zac Sunderland. Evidently, there's a sistership, with the same canvas color, in KKMI's boatyard. We didn't stick around long enough to see if Zac was actually going to be there, but it was still an interesting thing to experience.

To make matters more interesting, the 36 footer in Emeryville had some problems last weekend. I ended up replacing fuses in the lazarette locker and replacing the starter ON THE DIESEL ENGINE... It was incredibly difficult to get to some of the bolts, and I did bust a couple of knuckles. When I got home, I told Kim that if this keeps up, we'll have a bona fide diesel mechanic in the family. It's great experience if not a lot of fun.

Oh, thanks to Lisa's suggestion, we pulled the 100 pound batteries out of the bottom of the boat with the man overboard block & tackle system, greatly saving wear & tear on my back. I'm going to run the batteries up to KKMI for charging & stress testing in an effort to understand why this is the second starter we've blown in three months.

I can't wait for the boat electrical systems class this Saturday!