I’m sitting in the cockpit, sheltered under the dodger, while outside it’s howling 30 knots and raining hard. It’s Tuesday morning, 8:30 AM. I’m all ready to cast off, but for the moment I’m pinned down by this tropical squall blowing over us.

Five action-packed days are behind me. And all in all, things went much smoother and faster than last year. I am grateful.

As some will remember, last season Karin and I spent a week getting JACE ready for the season and sorting out a few boat projects.

This year, by comparison, is a breeze. Brad is here with me, lending his capable hands to the whole process. Except for a last-minute sea cock (valve in the hull) replacement, Thursday’s launch goes smoothly. The engine starts almost immediately. All systems come online without drama. We work through a long list of tasks — more than I’ll bore you with here — and things go so well with the must-do jobs that we even find time for a few long-overdue “nice to haves.”

I replace the genoa furling line with a longer one, something that’s bothered us for years. We pull the staysail sheet out of the mast and re-run it; it had been wrapped around halyards inside, creating unwanted friction and chafe. Now it runs smooth and free — a small thing that makes me disproportionately happy. The yard team also adds a clean patch to our cracked hard dodger, so it no longer leaks. Brad and I service the watermaker with spare parts I brought from Europe, and earlier the generator had been repaired and now works like a charm. And the cracked forward cabin hatch has been replaced. Yay!

Progress is so swift that by Sunday we can treat ourselves to a leisure day. I do a couple of hours of work for my business in the morning, then Brad and I head out to meet some of his friends at a beach bar — swimming, beers, conversation — before ending up at a barbecue on another beach. It is great to see the community Brad and his family have built here and to enjoy a truly relaxed day.

And that brings me to this moment: sitting in the cockpit, waiting for the rain to ease and the wind to settle so I can cast off my lines and head out for the first day of this season.

Wish me luck. More updates soon.