PRODUCTIVE WEEKEND

The run up to Anacortes isn’t nearly as exciting as it used to be.  Will I make the ferry or not?  That was the burning question as you trudged up I5.  The reservation system has taken all the suspense out of the trip.  Which is a very good thing.

Friday night arrival just in time to hit the sack.

Bright sails, grey day

Saturday morning arrived all to early with gray clouds clinging to the islands.

The first order of business was to open the cabins.  Devin and went through the annual drill.  Turn off the drains, connect the  hot water tank, connect the refrigerator, station one person at the cabin, the other slowly turns on the water.  And then listen and watch for water where it shouldn’t be.  Last winter a pipe had burst during a cold snap and it required some plumbing work.  With the mild winter little chance of that this year and our luck held.  No surprises.

Installed a mirror so Mom could see where the car was positioned as she backed in the garage

Various tasks followed with the obligatory run to the hardware store and then an unexpected call.  Andy, Jill, Porter and now Magnus were anchored over at Garrison bay.  An invite was offered to come over to the house for appetizers and they agreed  Mom called old friends just down the road and a small party was born on the spot.  

Jill, Porter and Magnus

We ended having a great meal with the Crosses, traded stories and Porter was, well, Porter.  A little older, a few more words, but he stayed true to his Porterness.  What a wonderful thing.  At three months, Magnus is in the ‘too new to rate’ category.  Certainly cute, he has some big shoes to fill with his older brother.  I get the sense he’ll chart his own path.  Time will tell.

Sunday morning’s sunrise was great.  Friends of Kylie’s had arrived late the previous evening and were enjoying the sunrise from the cabin as we enjoyed it from the house.

After a great breakfast Devin scrubbed the deck, the girls set into weeding and I attempted to resurrect my strip planked kayak.  I find a really enjoy a good project with either a view or listening to some good radio.  With CBC radio and the Vinyl Cafe on, I had both working on the kayak.  Nice way to spend a few hours.

The kayak needed some love

Sanding, sanding and sanding

Better

Needs a few more hours of work, then a summer on the water

Andy and Jill sailed by in Yachtzee

They were finding wind where there wasn't any

Found a perch on the Gazebo

A few more fixes and it was time to head back to the ferry for a sunset trip back to the mainland.  

Sunset from the ferry

Sun setting behind Humphrey Head.  Julie, had she lived, had the property in about the center of the picture

Restorative weekend.  Family, friends, water and projects.  

DOWN WIND WEEKEND

Rail meat

Sloop Tavern Yacht Club and Windworks again conspired for a great weekend.  The weekend weather was looking iffy and I texted Jerda early Saturday morning seeing if she wanted to jump on Cambria for the ride north to Langley.  She did and it was a good thing there was an extra hand aboard the boat.

We set the jib with a strong southerly running and had a great romp north.  The GPS at one point registered 11 knots — between a nice ebb, nice wind, and surfing down big waves, we actually hit more than 10 knots several times and touched 11 once.

A race was underway and those boats walked away from us on their downwind leg then after they rounded the leeward mark we crossed paths as they beat to windward.  It looked like an expensive weekend for some.   We saw one shredded spinnaker at the top of a mast and after we docked we heard of 2 more blown spinnakers and a dis-masting.  (Update - there were two dismastings)

After we docked and got settled in Jill, Bobby, Michelle and Jason stopped by for a glass of wine and appetizers and the evening began in fine style. Dana, Shai, and Micah came aboard for dinner and we all had a good time.  I had made an Irish slow cooked stew and it was pretty good.

Sunday dawned drippy and the wind was out of the North.  After a great breakfast on Dana’s boat, Micah was kind enough to jump aboard for the trip south.  By pre-arrangement, Jerda had gone back to her original boat she had planned to be on for the weekend.

We powered most of the way south but did raise the jib and had a brief sail.

It was a good thing Micah was aboard as my docking attempts were simply lousy owing to a wind that was blowing me away from the dock and my miserable compensation for that wind.  Other than a bruised ego, no damage done.

9 DAYS ON THE HARD

The last couple of weeks have been busy and disruptive.  The boat should have been out of the water for 3 days, but the bottom paint area was behind and it took 9 days.  9 days of not running the sink.  9 days of climbing a ladder to get home. 9 days of living (camping, really) at the boatyard.

So for 9 days the boat was at a boatyard on the lake, the mast was at another boatyard on the sound, some of the rig was in my car, and the rest of the rig was in Anacortes.

A couple of weeks ago I had gone up to Anacortes to assist with measuring and making the rig and it was an interesting day — working with wire that seemed to have a mind of its own.  Coiling that stuff is difficult.

Last Thursday, the boat was finally ready and after raising it up and painting the centerboard it went back in the water.

Devin helped me bring her through the locks and we saw an aircraft carrier being towed north when we got into the sound.

Yesterday was a busy day.  I picked up a masthead platform piece that I had fabricated.  The new LED running/anchor/strobe light is attached to the top.  Then got back to the boat and a friend helped me wash the mast (the 2nd and final cleaning) then we spent a couple of hours chatting and polishing the mast.  It shines up nicely.

After that we strung the portions of the rig that were in my car, attaching it to the mast.  Then we enjoyed lunch on the boat - she had brought a great West African peanut and chicken stew. Boat friends are great!!

Today is more mast work - making the final connections for the new light and bundling the wires so they’ll go easily go down the compression post.

Then Tuesday the mast will be back on the boat!!

All the old cruddy wire from the inside of the mast

MAST DAY

It was a day for the mast.  Having it off the boat for first time in a third of a century offered the opportunity to look at it closely all over and discover all the -problems- opportunities.

The basics were good.  Structurally sound and not to much corrosion. It needed a good cleaning which it got last week.

It needed new wire — so I linked old wire to new and snaked through the VHF, then hooked put the new antenna.  Next was the new mast head light. No problems snaking through the 54 foot mast.  Then came the steaming light about 30 feet up the mast.  I knew there was conduit within the mast, but what I didn’t know is that the exit hole in the conduit part way up from the mast was too small for the new wire.  The first attempt failed.  So did the 2nd.  Ditto 3rd and 4th.  Then I switch tactics and snaked through a messenger line.  Then failure #5.   So I strip insulation.  Closer, but 6 was a bust. Then I staggered the 3 wire, so I’d pull up one, then 6 inches later 2 with the 3rd wire following in about 6 inches.  Difficult to explain but try number 7 worked.  Hooray.

So next was the sheaves at the top of the mast.  Corroded. They all came out, except, of course, for the last one.  It just wouldn’t budge.  I lubricated it, coaxed it, then used a rubber mallet, to push, pull, twist, cajole, and finally — AN HOUR LATER — it sprung loose.  Sheesh.

I went to replace the sheaves at Fisheries Supply, but they didn’t have them.  A quick call to my buddy Andy confirmed what I had expected — they could be cleaned up and would function just fine.

So a day of frustration requiring patience but I think it’ll pay off.  A good lesson on maintenance though.  Things have held up well, a regular maintenance schedule will certainly help things.