2013-12-22

Getting up at 05:30 wasn’t easy but I showered and changed into my old clothes and hoped that the stores in the departure area would open up early so I could get some deo and a new T-Shirt before hopping on the 4 hour flight to St. Thomas. The security system and checks were run efficiently and I was inside the terminal by 06:30am& fortunately I could use the first-class lounge to spend the long wait for the flight to board.
I did have them check the whereabouts of my luggage and they confirmed that it had just been loaded onto a flight to Dulles from Heathrow in the U.K. but that it would most likely not arrive in St. Thomas until the next day on same flight that I’m writing this blog entry from (as I type these words we are about halfway through the flight). So it looks like my well-planned process to replace the rudder in classic “Just-In-Time” style isn’t going to work out. Now I need to figure out if I can get Zanshin into the water and into a slip with the old rudder, then get her hauled out and fixed when the parts arrive and the companies at the yard open up again, which I think will be January; of if I find a hotel for that period. I don’t think I can find a hotel room since this is the height of the holiday season but I’ll found out in a couple of hours when I arrive on-island.
The lady sitting beside me is also German but works in Washington, and she and her husband have a Bénéteau Sense 50 in the islands, so perhaps we will have an opportunity to meet up during the next weeks (assuming Zanshin makes it out of the marina).