It’s been about a week since we missed our weather window for moving from Newport RI to Port Washington NY. The plan was simple, our engine maintenance kit arrives on Thursday, Friday we change the oil and whatnot, and then Saturday we go.

Sadly, this was not to pass. The easiest of the jobs to do was changing the impeller in the engine’s raw water pump. So I saved that one for last. Everything went well until we fired up the engine and no water flowing through the coolant system. The raw water pump wasn’t working.

I spent Friday taking the pump apart over and over again to try and figure out what the problem was but everything looked correct. I was completely defeated. Bested by the pump we decided to call for help.

Saturday was spent looking for help but all of the mechanics were closed for the weekend. Once again we delayed too long. The decision was made to go to land and go for a walk to mourn the loss of this perfect weather window.

On the dock we bumped into a man who had a cool Boston Whaler as a dinghy. After complimenting him on his dinghy he asked how we were doing, just making polite conversation I think. Well, I shared my defeat and the hands of the water pump. And he responded with a phone number and the name of “The Best Marine Mechanic in Newport” So I called.

Charlie Anderson, who I now also think may be the best mechanic in Newport, came by on his boat to the anchorage and checked out our engine. He opened the pump up to make sure it all looked okay and when putting it back together he said that one of the bolts was starting to strip. A replacement bolt and locking nut and our engine was once again working.

But we had missed our window. A major Nor’Easter was due in just another day so instead of moving to Port Washington, we moved to a Mooring Field to wait out the storm.

And what a storm it was. The morning after the storm we were all very grateful we had moved to the mooring since we had seen 50mph winds with gusts to 70mph. The lingering winds with gusts up to 40mph felt like nothing after that night.

Then we moved back to the anchorage to wait out one more regular-sized storm and to watch the marine forecast to wait for the seas to subside outside of the harbor. We won’t be exposed for very long but we’re still waiting for a window with good wind and waves to get us into Long Island Sound where we should be more protected for a while.

Right now that looks like about a 24 hour run from Monday to Tuesday.

So more waiting. Luckily there is work to be done in the meantime.