Day 39-Whitestone Cove to Sitka

I woke up around 6:00 am without my alarm this morning, and pulled the anchor soon after, bound for Sitka.  The trip to Sitka was pleasant, although there was a steady of sport fishing boats zooming up Neva and Olga Straits to the fishing grounds.  With the help of a bit of current, I covered the 15 nm to Sitka quickly and arrived before 9:00 am.  I got settled into a slip and headed to the harbormasters office to check in and figure out where to buy a computer mouse.

Mt. Edgecumbe on the way into Sitka

Heading towards Sitka

The lady at the office suggested a store a 10-minute walk away, and I headed in that direction.  Like almost everyone else I’ve met so far, the gentleman working at the computer shop was exceedingly nice.  He gave me a few pointers on common problems with track pads and sold me a mouse.

On the walk back to the boat the rain began, lightly at first, but it built steadily throughout the day.  I showered (7 minutes for $1.50…a pretty good deal!) and caught up on computer stuff.  I did a bit of troubleshooting on the track pad, made sure the physical connection between the logic board and track pad was solid (it was), and searched the web for suggestions.  Eventually I stumbled upon an Apple support document that showed how to reset the PRAM and NVRAM.  The Apple site said these components may control aspects of the pointing device, but I have no idea what they are beyond that.  I followed the procedure to reset them, and miraculously the track pad came back to life!  We’ll see if it lasts...I’d like to wait to get a new computer until Apple introduces a 13” MacBook Pro with the retina display.

For the record, if you have a MacBook Pro with a touchpad that is acting erratically, try resetting the PRAM and NVRAM. 

I never enjoy equipment failures (even if they are as mundane as a screwed up track pad), but I do enjoy the problem solving process.  It’s a satisfying exercise, as long as the problem gets solved.

I made some calls and confirmed the appointments tomorrow for the boat to get hauled out and serviced.  I originally intended to have the outboard raised one hole, but I figured that I didn’t want to pay for two haulouts (at $250 per) if the performance with the engine raised was unacceptable.  Realistically I cruise most of the time slowly, and will do so for most of the rest of the trip, so I’m not too concerned about the engine height.  My dad is flying up here next week and hopefully bringing a 13.75” x 13” prop with him (the prop is taking a circuitous route here…it’s being shipped to Seattle, then Dad is flying to California with it for the weekend, then directly up to Alaska…he asked if he could put it in his carry on and I suggested that TSA might not like that…).  With a clean bottom and the new prop, I think the engine will be operating right where it should be at WOT.

Not much else to report.  I’ll get a look at the bottom tomorrow to see how much growth there is (I don’t expect too much) and if any ice or logs did any damage thus far.  Hopefully not!

15.2 nm today and 1,613.3 total