He who hesitates does not go sailing and has to be content with whippings

In yesterday's posting, I said I hoped to go sailing today. Winds were forcast to be 10 - 13 knots from the west - great sailing weather. But, when I woke up this morning, there was no wind - dead calm. I dithered between going out anyhow and hoping that the wind would pick up and thinking that I could do some little things to tidy up around the boat. I decided to start in on the little things and see how the weather progressed. Around 11 or so, there were a few breezes - light and variable, mosty from the north and northeast - but not worth the effort if that was as good as it was going to get. I decided to give up the idea of going sailing. Naturally, that means that the wind gradually shifted around to the west and by 1:30 it was great sailing weather - pretty much as forcast. But it was too late to go. It takes me an hour to get ready to go and another half hour to get out to the bay. I need to be in by 4:30 or so because some of my navigation lights don't work right.

Instead of a brisk sail, I got to spend the day whipping - ropes. No - no. Not whipping with ropes - just whipping ropes. A whipping is just a way of wrapping small line (large thread) around the end of a rope to make the end stay neat and not unravel. Like this.

To do this, requires whipping twine, a large needle, a pair of pliers and a sailmaker's palm.

The "twine" is waxed nylon thread. The sailmaker's palm (at the top) has a button on it that is used for pushing the needle through heavy material - like rope or sail cloth. As you might imagine, this is not rocket science - it just requires some patience and concentration. By late afternoon, all of the various halyard, sheets, running backstays, etc had neatly whipped ends. The last step in the process is to use a hot knife to cut the rope about 1/2" past the end of the whipping. The ropes are all made of dacron or nylon so they melt and fuse the little fibers together making a nice neat end.

Fascinating, eh? So what to do with the rest of the day...

I finished reinstalling the wheel steering - four nuts had to be put in place at the foot of the pedestal guard. No big deal. It did involve diving (once again) into the depths of the port cockpit locker, removing some panels and reaching into uncomfortable places.

While I was at it, I remembered that I had found a hose dangling loose yesterday when I was doing all the cleaning under the galley sink. I thought this would be a good time to find out where the other end was. The hose had a water filter on the end of it so it must have had something to do with the water system. After spending an hour of poking about, removing more panels and poking about in the engine area, I still don't have the answer. Ah, the mysteries that come with a 33 year old boat!

Tomorrow, I will be heading over to Davis to visit with Suzanne and then on up to Placerville for a couple of days to spend time with Judy and work on taxes. Hopefully, by the time I get back to the boat, I will have heard good news about a job. Hope springs eternal!