diff --git a/web/RdfDbChannel.ts b/web/RdfDbChannel.ts
--- a/web/RdfDbChannel.ts
+++ b/web/RdfDbChannel.ts
@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ export class RdfDbChannel {
   sendMessage(body: string): boolean {
     // one try, best effort, true if we think it worked
     if (!this.ws || this.ws.readyState !== this.ws.OPEN) {
+      log("dropping message: " + body);
       return false;
     }
     log("send patch to server, " + body.length + " bytes");
diff --git a/web/SyncedGraph.ts b/web/SyncedGraph.ts
--- a/web/SyncedGraph.ts
+++ b/web/SyncedGraph.ts
@@ -151,22 +151,19 @@ export class SyncedGraph {
   }
 
   applyAndSendPatch(patch: Patch) {
-    console.time("applyAndSendPatch");
     if (!this.client) {
-      log("not connected-- dropping patch");
+      throw new Error("no client yet");
+    }
+    if (patch.isEmpty()) {
       return;
     }
-    if (!patch.isEmpty()) {
-      this._applyPatch(patch);
-      // // chaos delay
-      //       setTimeout(()=>{
-      if (this.client) {
-        log("sending patch:\n", patch.dump());
-        this.client.sendPatch(patch);
-      }
-      // },300*Math.random())
-    }
-    console.timeEnd("applyAndSendPatch");
+    this._applyPatch(patch);
+    // // chaos delay
+    //       setTimeout(()=>{
+    log("sending patch:\n", patch.dump());
+    this.client.sendPatch(patch);
+
+    // },300*Math.random())
   }
 
   _applyPatch(patch: Patch) {
diff --git a/web/rdfdbclient.ts b/web/rdfdbclient.ts
--- a/web/rdfdbclient.ts
+++ b/web/rdfdbclient.ts
@@ -5,7 +5,7 @@ const log = debug("rdfdbclient");
 
 export class RdfDbClient {
   private channel: RdfDbChannel;
-  _patchesToSend: Patch[];
+  private patchesToSend: Patch[];
   // Send and receive patches from rdfdb. Primarily used in SyncedGraph.
   //
   // What this should do, and does not yet, is keep the graph
@@ -19,10 +19,10 @@ export class RdfDbClient {
     private applyPatch: (p: Patch) => void,
     setStatus: (status: string) => void
   ) {
-    this._patchesToSend = [];
+    this.patchesToSend = [];
     this.channel = new RdfDbChannel(patchSenderUrl);
     this.channel.statusDisplay.subscribe((st: string) => {
-      setStatus(st + `; ${this._patchesToSend.length} pending `);
+      setStatus(st + `; ${this.patchesToSend.length} pending `);
     });
     this.channel.newConnection.subscribe(() => {
       this.clearGraphOnNewConnection();
@@ -40,7 +40,7 @@ export class RdfDbClient {
 
   sendPatch(patch: Patch) {
     log("queue patch to server ", patch.summary());
-    this._patchesToSend.push(patch);
+    this.patchesToSend.push(patch);
     this._continueSending();
   }
 
@@ -51,11 +51,13 @@ export class RdfDbClient {
   async _continueSending() {
     // we could call this less often and coalesce patches together to optimize
     // the dragging cases. See rdfdb 'compactPatches' and 'processInbox'.
-    while (this._patchesToSend.length) {
-      const patch = this._patchesToSend.splice(0, 1)[0];
+    while (this.patchesToSend.length) {
+      const patch = this.patchesToSend.splice(0, 1)[0];
       const json = await patch.toJsonPatch();
       const ret = this.channel.sendMessage(json);
       if (!ret) {
+        log('sendMessage failed- retrying')
+        this.patchesToSend.unshift(patch);
         setTimeout(this._continueSending.bind(this), 500);
 
         // this.disconnect()