Sailing from Pete's Harbor

This weekend was the first weekend since I've been living on the boat that I have not been cold! Added to that, Judy came here for a weekend on the boat and a sail. It was looking like a great weekend! I haven't been able to get out for a sail since I pulled in five weeks ago. The roller furling jib needed repairs and I needed to ( and wanted to ) spend some time in Placerville.

Judy arrived Saturday about noon. We spent the rest of the day catching up on the time we have been apart as best we could. Sunday was sailing day. The good news was that there was wind. 5 - 10 knots. The bad news was that it was from the NE - almost directly down the channel from Redwood Creek to the bay. Laelia is a bit big to be tacking back and forth in a narrow channel with a crew of two so we motored until we were out into south SF Bay - 1 hr, 20 minutes under power making about 3 knots plugging into an incoming tide and the wind. That's agony to a sailor!

Once out on the bay, the sailing was quite nice. We worked our way up toward San Mateo Bridge then turned around and headed back. About the time we turned around, Judy called my attention to a sound that I hadn't heard before. It seemed to be coming from below so went below to check it out. I pulled up a section of the cabin sole (the floor) to find that the prop was spinning madly and making a grinding noise in the process. I was able to find a way to tied down the shift lever in reverse that stopped the noise. Unfortunately, when we got close to Pete's Harbor and I started up the engine, there was no thrust when we were in gear. It sounded like the engine was under no load at all despite my attempts to shift into either forward or reverse. Luckily, wind and tide were in our favor and I was able to sail into the guest slip without damaging anything. Judy was wonderful through all of this confusiont. She did a great job of steering when needed and passing me a line when I most needed it in the last few frantic moments of docking.

After getting all tidied up and fortifying myself with a glass of wine, I pulled the shifter cable off the transmission, started the engine, let it idle and used the lever on the side of the transmission to try to put it in gear. I was hoping that the problem was that the shift cable was loose. No such luck. When I put the transmission into forward gear, the drive shaft did not move for several seconds, then started to move with an expensive sounding noise somewhat like stirring a stick around in a can of bolts. Reverse was no better.

As of this evening (Monday), I am looking for solutions to the transmission problem and I am looking for a way to get the boat from the guest dock to my slip. I feel kind of vulnerable here. All sorts of people bring their boats in here - and not always under control!

The day started out overcast and cool and, as of this evening, still has not gotten back to the glorious summer weather of the weekend. Judy went back to Placerville this morning. The boat seems empty without her.

Life as a wage slave

It has been about three weeks since I first pulled into my slip here at Pete's Harbor. I am coming up on the end of the second week of my new job. What do I think?

Well, first the working world. I can sum it up by saying that I have returned to being a wage slave. When I was working before, I knew that work ate up a lot of my life - even though I enjoyed my work. Once again I like my work but it consumes most of my life. I wake up at 6:30 and hurry to get off to work. The commute is between 45 minutes and an hour depending on traffic. Then there is eight hours of work plus whatever lunch break - usually about 45 minutes. Then drive home - again 40 minutes to an hour. If I do nothing else, I am home just a few minutes after 7 PM. By the time I make dinner, eat it and clean up it is shower time and bed time. I need eight hours of sleep to survive when I am working.

If I didn't have nine months of retirement to compare it to, it wouldn't be quite so grim - but I do. Two weeks down - fifty to go.

And then there is Pete's Harbor. I liked Sausalito better. Sausalito was bright, Pacific blue. The water was everywhere. I could see Alcatraz and the Oakland/San Francisco Bay Bridge. When I backed out of my slip, I was five minutes away from great sailing.


Pete's Harbor is brown. See the pictures to the right. It is surrounded by marshes. To go sailing, I have to be careful to time my sailing by the tides lest I run aground in the narrow channel formed by Redwood Creek. Once out into the bay, the sailing room is limited. There is a relatively narrow channel running north/south along the bay. There is a lot of water that is less than six feet deep at low tide once out of the channel.

The best news is that tomorrow is payday. It will be good to have some money again and to feel like I am making some progress toward living out my dream. If things work out well, I will pick up the jib I left with Pineapple Sails for repairs and I will get to go sailing this weekend. It will be the first time in three weeks. I am ready! The rest of the weekend will be boatkeeping (the nautical version of housekeeping) and perhaps I will be able to start on some of the fixup stuff I need to do before I sail away.

Onward!