‘Stuck’ is a bad word

All sailors should be taught to avoid the code word for temporary abandonment of one’s vessel to technical fate. Teachers should educate kids that say they are stuck on their homework that the answer is going to cost them $4,000 usd and might be available next week, or perhaps not. Did I just write $4,000? Must be some zeros missing.

Stuck in St Martin means the loss of Transatlantic momentum, waiting for parts, becoming bored whilst expenses rise rapidly and spending trends with it as the numbers in daily life seem so insignificant. Stuck is a condition. It starts slowly, often with just one simple question, and develops down many channels before it gets a grip.

Stuck is waiting in for suppliers, missing calls, waiting for emails, hanging about whilst one technician goes and another arrives, opinions differ and creative solutions hit obstacles. Stuck is saying goodbye to others as they set off and whilst running out of the available passage window.

And the condition rarely has a clearly defined ending as some things are fixed and others get patched due to time, skills and parts availability. Ah, did I mention the medicine; money! Stuck eases with a touch of the green stuff

Replacing a cog in the furling gear becomes ‘wow look at that’ to we will see about parts and migrates toward they don’t make those anymore, is it worth repairing? Actually for the price of a small hydraulic furler with about a dozen moving parts one could stroll into the Harley Davidson dealership here and ride away with a smart custom bike about 10 times it’s size, 20 times it’s weight, with 50 times it’s moving parts all operating at 100 times the speed. Strap a v-twin on the foredeck and furl in half a second?

Not going to Panama? Looking like a smart move at this point. A very smart move.