We have been here in Hampton, VA a few weeks, and are ready to move. After the excitement of the delivery aborted due to the lightning strike, we enjoyed the opportunity to complete a few Harmonie projects at a leisurely pace.

Just as a quick update to those who might be wondering, we got an update from the Hylas’ owner today, and the bill for the electrical damage is probably going to exceed $20,000. Unfortunately, not an unusual kind of number for a complicated boat hit by the energy in a lightning bolt.

We finally received all the bits and pieces to replace our radar. Our electronics are mostly B&G brand, which is owned by the Norwegian company, Navico, which is in turn owned by the American company Brunswick. They did well by us. Our radar model was retired several years ago, but they let us slide into their “in-service” replacement program, basically getting us a current model for less than half retail price. If you are at all familiar with the pricing structure for the marine electronic market, this is a huge discount.

We have been doing this boat stuff long enough now that the idea of going up the mast to install the new radar dome is just sort of all in a day’s work, and we don’t even consider it an especially challenging or interesting project.

I have to say, some of the features of the new radar are just awesome for offshore cruising. We’ll give it a workout and let you know if it works as well in practice as it looks on the spec sheet.

As part of the radar upgrade, we also upgraded the ethernet connections on our instrument systems. We also (hopefully!) fixed a pesky window leak, and fixed some bilge pump problems.

We have a few picking up things to do, and some boat cleaning left, but in a day or three we will be back out into the ocean. Our destination will be Lewes, Delaware. This puts us in easy reach of the Baltimore and Norfolk canyons out on the edge of the continental shelf. What’s out there? Why FISH, what else? We will primarily be targeting golden tilefish, but we will be happy to pick off some sea bass, tuna or dolphinfish that present themselves.

Once we have our fill of fishing (or just fill the freezers!) we will head up the Delaware River, through the C&D Canal, and then down to Annapolis.