Reef Smooch
To my own disbelief, I had correctly wired in the wind generator and watched with glee the next morning as the ammeter on the board showed amps coming in with each gust! Without further celebration, I got back to work to remount and rewire the solar panels. My ‘albatross’, arrived in timely fashion with my solar charge controller and I spent that blazingly hot, long day climbing in and out of the back lazerette and port torpedo tube with wire ties, my new multimeter (Thanks Dad!!), and the side cutters, crimper, and torch. As I hooked up the last wire to the charge controller, the little green LED light on its face beamed up at me as if to say”¦
“You did it!!!!!!!!!!!!! The list is finished!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
A moment later I heard an engine outside. It was Maui and Aymeric headed for a sunset surf. I crawled out of the cabin, half delirious, my grimy clothes soaked through with sweat and covered in filth”¦
“Tu veux aller au surf?” They asked.
They dropped me back at Swell that evening with a kiss from the reef on my left cheek. Three little gouges and a rising bruise that I accepted as a congratulatory offering from the reef. I’d gone left at the right, duh! But I guess, the reef, too, was excited to celebrate my accomplishment. Returning to Swell, I felt a surge of excitement”¦ but after stepping aboard, I looked around and I realized that it wasn’t all over quite yet… Swell had to be transformed from a stationary floating tool barge, back into a dynamic seaworthy home. This in itself would be no small task.
