It took until about 1600 hrs. to get the one engine dialed in. There were a few head scratchers involved, and a fair share of stress, but the majority of our consternation was resolved when the "smoking gun" we were all hoping to find did indeed manifest. Upon replacing the failed component - she ran like new; literally. Both in tone and performance the main engines are now identical - just like they were when we fired them up in April 2009. I report this with a huge sense of relief.

Now: looking forward we are not done by a long shot. I will be directing my full effort to developing a comprehensive maintenance program with Cummins Marine to evaluate the components in both main engines at regular intervals. The goal is to avoid such failures in the future. With the new generation of electronic, computer controlled diesel engines, as a result of Federal and CA, state emission requirements, apparently there is still a learning curve to surmount. That is my opinion I share following this experience. Needless to say we are on it. From every perspective we can not afford for this to happen again.

That said I will keep everyone abreast of any significant developments regarding this topic. Otherwise I will defer to Capt. Brian Sims who departed on schedule this morning with a great group of anglers on board. Understandably anxious about the condition of Royal Star following last week's events, anglers settled in when the engines fired off and departed at 0900 with a full load of bait headed for the southern reaches. It was all smiles, well wishes, and handshakes upon departure. This is more like it.

Tim