My friend Jay once said, in his special tongue-and-cheek way, “I love work. I especially love watching other people work.”

So I figured you might enjoy knowing all the work we’ve been doing, as it offers some appreciation for the behind-the-scenes of running a sailboat; or at least some perverse satisfaction from reading about it from your computer desk!

Here’s the list of what we did in Rikitea during our week of work, between Michael’s departure and the arrival of our next crew member, Deena. It has

– Fixed the chainplate

– Reviewed all the food

– Re-wired the camera and Iridium chargers, as they got disconnected during our solar installation

– Serviced Mr. Isuzu: new oil and filter, new fuel filter, new transmission oil, washed off engine from belt wear, shop vac bilges

– Built shelves to install new camera gear

– Sorted medicine cabinet with additions from Pitcairn (more gifts from Bountiful Bay!)

– Troubleshooting the water maker, which hasn’t been working properly, with help from tech support

Spencer also led the charge on a number of places

– Repaired the sails (working jib, genoa, reacher) with the sewing machine

– Climbed mast to inspect rig and fix chafe problem on headsail

– Installed no-see-um Mosquito Nets in main cabin

– Fixed window that broke during our last night at sea

– Fixed dishrack that fell apart

At this point, our friend Jay would have said, while nursing a beer in the comfy chair: “God’s work. You guys are doing God’s work out there.” Indeed — keeping your own boat ship-shape (and preferably, afloat) is as divine a job as it gets!