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After arriving in Key West, it was time to change Toad Hall from a racing machine to a more comfortable home base. The air conditioner was first on the list and it was soon pumping cool air down the mid hatch. The ice had done well and there were plenty of drinks and a few sandwiches left to pick on, but most of us wanted the sweeter delights of dry land.

In other words, drinks poolside, hot meals and the occasional dunk in the pool, just to name a few.

On the trip down, we had been taking a lot of water through the stuffing box, which is where the propeller shaft goes through the hull of the boat. The bilge pump switch also went bad on the way down, so I had a little maintenance to do while in port. After repairing the bilge switch, I realized that one of the pumps had burned out. With a new pump and some fresh wiring, the bilge was soon repaired.

I did not have any wrenches to fit the stuffing box so I was not sure if that could be taken care of until we got back to Marco. Having lived in Key West for years before moving to Marco, Spring Bok said that she would see what she could come up with from friends. She did not have to go far. In less than 10 minutes she returned with two large “C” clamps from Don and Gen Mills, owners of another Marco boat, Sea Plus.

The clamps worked great and I soon had the stuffing box open and the old packing removed. One small problem: I did not have any good packing to go back in and the water was coming in the boat like a garden hose full-on.

Luckily, Three Sheets and Mama Gia were on board so I had them stay on the bilge pumps while I ran to West Marine and got some new packing. I returned and the girls kept the boat afloat. The box was soon loaded with fresh packing and then tightened into place.

Three Sheets, Bowline, Mama Gia, MC Island and I were to stay on the boat. Everyone else had hotel rooms for the weekend. Bowline and MC met up with a harem that they had met the previous year and were only seen at the pool and downtown the rest of the weekend. Mama Gia came and went so Three Sheets and I pretty had the boat to ourselves most of the time.

Just as most of the previous years, there was a rare sighting of the endangered land manatee quite close to the boat. Apparently it was led to the boat by Jack. When he could not get it on the boat, he cleated it off on the dock to prevent it from falling into the water. The sighting was then verified by Bowline late at night, who made sure the creature was OK and breathing. But it was gone by daylight. These appearances are rare in general, but not uncommon to the crew of Toad Hall.

Three Sheets was not feeling well, so she and I did not venture too far from the boat and pool. The rest of the crew got into all sorts of things and were doing the typical “Duval Crawl.” Tapeworm and The Lass got new shoes, Krusty was up to his old tricks at the usual hangouts, and MC Island was even reportedly seen eating Beefaroni while riding a bicycle down Duval Street.

Pretty much everyone met at the pool each day and hung out in the Key West sun, talking and laughing about the silly things that were going on.

But soon it was time to prepare for the race back to Naples. Monday morning came and once again we turned Toad Hall from a comfortable base camp back into a racing machine. The crew provisioned her and I was off to the captain’s meeting to register the boat and go over the rules of the race.

Three Sheets had some kind of eye infection so she would have to return by car. The Happys and The Lass would return by plane. The rest of us boarded the boat and headed into the harbor for the start of the race back to Marco.

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Billy Harris welcomes ideas, comments and information about sailing. If you would like to inquire about sailing on Marco Island, e-mail him at defcon1bh@earthlink.net.