Lightning update- Two weeks in

 "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!" 

The Red Queen talking to Alice in Alice in Wonderland

Can you find Rhapsody? The little sailboat, dwarfed by the massive Powerboats. She is the mast to the furthest left.

Two weeks have passed since we were struck by lightning. We have been busy every day and yet it feels like so little has been accomplished. A funny story about getting our damaged assessed. Before we arrived in Panama in March we had been dealing with a rigger to replace some rigging. His name is Abed Soliman. He was recommended by the manager of the marina we were heading to (Vista Mar) and we were told he did a lot of work there. 

He was always a little slow in responding to us, but usually got back to us. We were in contact on March 13th, the day we arrived at the marina in Panama,  telling him exactly when we were arriving. He said he would meet us at the dock. When we got to Vista Mar Marina he was not there, so we asked at the marina office. The office staff laughed and rolled their eyes and said that he had disappeared. We never heard from him again. He left us high and dry without another word.

Fast forward to the day of the lightning strike- we were looking for a company to come give us a bid for repairs. The marina manager in Flamenco Marina in Panama City gave us a name- Abed. Surely, we thought, it can't be the same guy. When the workers came to the boat and began assessing the damage we asked them "What is your boss's last name?" "Soliman" they replied.

Oh boy. 

They were supposed to bring us a bid on the following Monday. We still have not heard back from them. He left us high and dry yet again! In the meantime the second company has been here twice, once with marine electronics (instruments) and once with an electrician. We have received the bids from them are very happy with their responsiveness.

So, where do we stand now? Almost everything has been ordered. All orders have to go to a freight forwarding company in Florida and then onto a plane to come to Panama. Our first orders have made it as far as Miami and as far as we know they will be on the next flight out.

Next on the agenda will be to begin tearing out the old navigational equipment in preparation for the new as well as doing a short haul on the boat to check out the hull and see if there is any damage done and to see if we can find an exit point for the lightning. Sometimes lightning will go right out of the keel and we won't be able to see any damage. We have been putting this off because we have not had any water coming into the boat (we aren't sinking!) and we are hoping to combine the examination with the replacement of our depth and speed gauges.

And so we wait...