A motley crew?

Finally got the whole crew (minus one) for the Ha Ha together to take a crew photo. Lorraine, since she lives in L.A. will be joining us at the last minute in San Diego. Photo # 1 from left to right: Hank, Patty, Chris, yours truly & Sue. Lorraine's pic is the other one. At any rate, we had a nice BBQ, drank some wine, had some laughs and got excited about the trip. This should be a very fun trip as everyone going has a somewhat irreverent sense of humor! The one thing we forgot was to come up with Halloween costumes for the big party so that is yet to be done. Yesterday Chris finished the forward head (whoo hoo!) so today we can start on the hoses on the aft head. One shroud has been replaced and #2 is being made. Since those are what hold up the mast we can only remove one at a time. That means our wonderful friend, Mike, has to go up the mast numerous times to get it all accomplished. Just received a phone call that the hardware for installing the solar panels is ready to be picked up so will be off to get that shortly. Chris is also planning to start working on the battery bank today. Click...click...click...things are falling into place like the tumblers in a combination lock. Good news since we only have 21 more days available to get everything done. YIKES! We are able to find an occasional moment for some entertainment so that is all good. Sunday I was able to accompany Sue when she took her new Catalina 22 out for the maiden sail. GREAT fun! She is really going to enjoy this first boat and I can't think of anyone who needs a boat of their own more!

Crunch time begins

Work, work, work! One job at a time getting checked off the list. Plenty of checks being written. The solar panels arrived on Monday which entailed a trip to the chandlery to order needed parts and pieces to install them. New furling unit was delivered yesterday. That will go on after the port/starboard shrouds have been replaced. The cockpit is full of parts and the salon is a regular disaster area. Poor Chris is becoming much more intimate with the boat's sewage treatment areas than he would like. With less than 4 weeks left the lists of jobs to be done and things to be purchased seem endless but Chris assures me we will be ready. Here's hoping he is right!!

Momentary pause in the action.

Sunday afternoon and we are taking a little break. Chris arrived Wednesday night and we've been working pretty steadily ever since. Have gotten a lot done but still much, much more to do. The teak trim is finished and looks beautiful. All that sanding and sanding was so hard on my back but it was worth it. Butch has picked up the pace on getting the new furling unit ordered so once the new upper port shroud arrives we'll install that and take down the forestay and furling unit and 2 of the inner shrouds. The time is blowing by and before Chris got here I was feeling pretty worried that we weren't going to get finished but the stress level is much reduced now. Today we took Amanda & Anthony (my daughter & grandson) to brunch as they were in town. This afternoon we are going through all the tools to see what we have and what we need and get them organized so we both know where everything is. Later, the "Ha Ha" group and a few extras are coming over for a BBQ and to get our group photo taken...also, to figure out what we're going to do about Halloween costumes. Sent off the Crew Waivers yesterday. With a departure date now agreed upon the hammer is down and we don't have much time to "play" so every little momentary pause is appreciated.

Winch Class

Moving right along. Saturday I was invited to join Pat for a lesson on dismantling, cleaning and re-installing winches. We were both pretty intimidated about the project at the beginning but Fred is an excellent teacher and just took us through it one small step at a time. We did the first winch (actually Pat did most of the work on that one) before lunch and after lunch "the boys" went below to work on fiberglassing, etc while we did the 2nd winch by ourselves. It was so great to accomplish that and we were pretty puffed up by the time we got done. Yesterday I bought the things I need to start working on the winches on m boat. Sunday Mike, Fred, Jack, Pat & I removed one of my shrouds and that will be shipped off to the rigger today to get a new one made. Then I was back to work on sanding the brightwork (teak rails, etc). Chris will be here Wednesday or Thursday and then the work schedule will go way up. Only FIVE more weeks until departure day and still so much left to do!

Racing and mentoring

I dropped into the old office to say hello yesterday and Todd told me I hadn't written in my blog in a while. OK...I did that yesterday, but will try harder to do it more often.
Yesterday was a day for laundry and errands so pretty ordinary...until 6:00. The first race of the OWSA (Oregon Women's Sailing Assn) series and I was a mentor on the ISC (Island Sailing Club) Catalina 25. OWSA and ISC have partnered to give a scholarship each year to 4 lucky OWSA members. They must take and pass a Basic Keelboat class through ISC and then they can use the ISC boats for that year. The expectation is that they'll expose other OWSA members to sailing and participate in OWSA events. Since Sue, Helen, Robin & Wendy don't have much racing experience I was asked to mentor. The wind was blowing 20 mph so it was fast racing and every time we had to tack or jibe the excitement level (fear factor?) went up for "the girls". We were last in fleet but had a great time and the women did well and learned a lot. I have been racing on the J-30 for many years, but still remember when I had little boats and was just starting out with them in races. Many was the day when I'd stand on the dock looking at the whitecaps and beg "the boys" (my crew) to stay at the dock...they wouldn't let me. They were right. Those gnarly, scary nights when I'd almost throw up at the start and rounding marks in a tight knot of other boats was terror like I'd never known before, were when I learned the most. Once I realized I wasn't going to die and the boat wouldn't disintegrate it started to become fun...very fun...loads of fun. It was all a great proving ground for the upcoming adventure. I learned to trust my boat and honed my abilities so I now feel confident that I can accomplish my dream.
Mentoring is another somewhat uncomfortable place to be. I still doubt my experience (even though I have 17 years of it) and ability to teach (the women disagree), but it is most definately a duty I have. My mentors were a huge reason I have been able to make my dream come true and it is time to give back.

It's always something.

Well, I had an interesting experience yesterday. Perhaps 'interesting' isn't quite correct. I was awakened at 4:30 am by a loud buzzing under the galley sink. After much searching, the only thing I could find in the general vicinity of the noise was the Accumulation Tank. I had absolutely NO idea what it was, what it did, if it was going to explode, etc so I called Chris (yes...at 4:30 am). He explained that it is part of the water system and we concluded that it needed replacement but was not going to do anything lethal so I went back to bed until a more reasonable hour. I slept fitfully because of the noise and got up at 8:00 to get started. Decided on breakfast at Elmer's and then it was off to West Marine. Bought the new Accumulation Tank, brought it back, and set about taking the old one out. It wasn't all that hard but it was clear that the screw on the bottom was going to be a real pain to get back in as it was behind one of the hoses and so close to the floor that my fingers wouldn't fit under the little plastic tank. When I got everything disconnected and the old part removed and deposited in the sink, lo & behold the buzzing was just as loud as before. OK...this is NOT good. I started hunting again but could not figure out where it was coming from so went to get Butch, who was working on his boat, to take a look. It took him a while to find it, but finally, there it was...the brand new bilge pump that Chris installed 3 weeks ago had clearly malfunctioned and, even though the bilge was empty, was running and running and hard at work frying it's insides. Butch disconnected the wires and the pump finally quit running but was extremely hot. Once it cooled off I removed it and returned it to W.Marine for a replacement as well as returning the new, un-needed, accumulation tank. At this point, I had to re-install the tank one I'd just removed. I was correct about the bottom screw and after several banged knuckles, gouges & scratches from misc hose clamps (not to mention some bright language), I got it back in and working with no leaks. I've wisely left that bottom screw for Chris to deal with when he gets back (sometimes I am SUCH a girl!). All things considered, I'm really quite lucky to be a liveaboard. If the thing had malfunctioned on a boat that no one was on for days or weeks at a time it would likely have gone up in flames! Regardless, I'm going back to the things I KNOW how to do...sanding, waxing, writing the checks, etc!