Preparations go into high gear

The following is a blow-by-blow description of the trip to Alameda to accomplish major projects required before I can shove off for exotic locations. A quick synopsis – all of the standing rigging is replaced, mast steps are on both masts so I can climb the mast without outside help, the anchor windlass is mounted and the fittings are in place to allow me to convert the bow water tank into a holding tank.

October 21 – Monday

The big day is upon me. Time to move the boat to Alameda to have the big ticket items taken care of before departure. The plan is to have the standing rigging replaced, install the anchor windlass and have the bow water tank made ready to be converted to a holding tank.

Judy came down to the boat with me on Friday. We left my car in Alameda. The estimated time to get all the work done is 10 days and I can be pretty certain that I will be chasing after parts and food in that time so I need the car. The plan is to sail to Alameda today and drive back to Westpoint Harbor on Wednesday to retrieve Judy’s car. She will return to Placerville and I will return to the boat.

We got under way at about 9:30 AM. There was not a breath of wind to be found so the iron genny (the diesel engine) was doing all the work. Aside from the lack of wind, it was a beautiful, sunny, cloudless California Fall day.

All went well until about 2:15 PM when I looked at the engine instruments and realized that the oil pressure had dropped to zero. I quickly shut down the engine and checked the oil level. Nothing! I pulled off the access covers to the engine hoping that I could add oil and get going again. Not a chance! The starboard side of the engine, the oil pan and the bilge were covered in oil.

At that point, I was very grateful that I had unlimited tow insurance through Boat US. I called for help and about 45 minutes later, a tow boat showed up, took us in tow and delivered us to the dock at Hansen Rigging on Alameda about 1630. Not exactly a glorious ending to the trip. You can see the tow boat in the picture below.

Shortly after I got tied up, I called Jeff at Alameda Canvas to come to the boat and measure for sail covers. The old ones are disgustingly tattered and the fabric is so sun worn that it tears easily. This will never do in the tropics where the sails will need good sun protection when they are not in use. Jeff did not answer the phone so I left him a message. Hansen is eager to get started and I had to fight off his workers to keep them from taking the sails off and starting to take the booms off the masts. I asked them to wait until tomorrow after Jeff finishes measuring.

Hansen Rigging also runs a small marina – of sorts. It is a collection of slips with an eclectic collection of power outlets – none of which matched my power cord. Fortunately, the use of the slip also gets me an access key to the restroom/shower. We were both feeling in need of a hot shower. The good news is that it was there and it was functional. The bad news is that it was pretty Spartan and only marginally clean. Nonetheless, the shower did feel good.

We located a nearby Roundtable Pizza and ordered a Gourmet Garlic Vegetarian pizza. Back at the boat, we sat in the cockpit and practically inhaled the pizza. We were hungry! A glass or two of wine helped take the edge off the stress of the day.

October 22 – Tuesday

I didn’t sleep well worrying about the engine. If it costs a lot to fix, it will greatly complicate the preparations. If the cost of the rigging stays close to estimate and the boatyard work is no more expensive that I think, all is well. Otherwise, it is time for Plan B – and I don’t have a Plan B. I could go engineless. That would be an interesting proposition!

Jeff showed up to measure for sail covers. As soon as he left, I notified Hansen and started pulling off sails and disconnecting booms. His helpers then did more preparation for pulling

 the masts out of the boat. When all was as ready as it could be, Glenn Hansen towed us to The Boatyard at Grand Marina (yep, that really is the name of the boatyard.)
The ensuing hours were intense. Both masts were lifted off the boat. There had been some concern that the aluminum main mast might be rusted solidly into the steel mast step. There is often water in that part of the boat and the combination of aluminum, steel and salt water is not a good one. The results of this unhappy mixture are shown at the right. Fortunately, the rust penetrating spray (PB Blaster) that Glenn had told me to use on the base did the job. The picture to the right shows the main mast being lifted off the boat.

A mechanic from the boatyard looked over the engine and diagnosed the problem as a blown out oil pressure sensor. It is a little gizmo that screws into the side of the engine block. Apparently they have a history of failing. It wasn’t terribly expensive to replace but there was still the oily mess in the bilge to take care of. Since it had been almost two years since the last time I had the engine serviced, I had them change what remained of the oil and replace the fuel filters. At the end of the day, all that was done but the engine wouldn’t start. My diagnosis was that there was an air lock in the fuel system. The yard’s best mechanic was tied up for the rest of the day so there would be no resolution until the next day.

I arranged for MarineLube, Inc, to come to the boat to remove the oil from the bilge and steam clean the bilge so I wouldn’t be discharging oil into SF Bay next time the bilge pump turned on. They can’t do the work until later this week or possibly next week.

The original plan was that we would drive back to Westpoint Harbor Wednesday so Judy could pick up her car and drive home to Placerville. She sized up the situation today and volunteered to stay another day. Tomorrow is shaping up to be another busy day and this will reduce the stress. The offer took me by surprise. Judy likes to operate according to plan. Deviations are not appreciated. Added to that is that she doesn’t have a whole lot to do while she is here. It is all boat stuff involving crowds of people doing things that she isn’t involved in. For her to do this means a lot to me.

By quitting time at the boatyard, the boat was a mess! I had to take everything out of the port cockpit locker so the mechanic could get to the engine. The cockpit was full of stuff, the cabin was full of things that had been moved around so Hansen’s people could get access to the mast. We spent the next hour or so cleaning up dirt from the mast removal and making the cabin as close to normal as possible. By then, I was pretty tired. The picture at the right is the "cleaned up" cabin. Below is the on-deck picture of the mess.

Judy fixed snacks and poured wine. Once again, we sat in the cockpit and watched the sun set on another perfect California autumn day. She followed this up with a great dinner of spinach and mushrooms over veggie burgers. I was almost restored to feeling human.

Big bonus! We have power here at the boatyard! That means we have hot water and we can shower in our nice, clean, private shower on the boat. A perfect end to a long day.

October 23 – Wednesday

The boatyard’s ace mechanic (also named Greg) had the engine started first thing this morning. It was an airlock – not all that unusual in diesel engines. This one seems to be especially susceptible to them when the fuel system gets opened up to change fuel filters.

A year ago, almost to the day, I bought an anchor windlass – a device designed to pull up the anchor and spare my aged back from undue stress. I wanted this particular one based on research and on what seemed to me to be common sense about what works well. Today, I found out that it won’t work on my boat. It would require a wooden pad on the deck to raise it to the height it needs to pull in the anchor chain without rubbing on other parts of the boat. Incredibly, West Marine took it back with no fuss! They advertise themselves as the home of the No Hassle Guarantee – and they mean it. Even more incredibly, they took back the chain that they had cut to length for me. Of course, I promptly turned around and bought the windlass and chain that I needed. It cost more than the original so I guess they do OK in the end.

Greg Hansen had hauled the masts back to his shop after we pulled them out of the boat yesterday. Today, he had looked them over and we went over the work to be done. Of course there is more than I had planned on. He recommended strengthening some fittings and replacing some additional parts.

And then there was the problem of the main mast. The picture to the left shows the bottom inch and a half - corroded to the point that it should be cut off. That means building up a pad to put under the steel step so all the rigging, sails, etc. will still fit right. This all means that the cost will go over the original estimate. Since the original estimate was made without seeing the boat and was based on specifications that I supplied, this is no great surprise.

I am feeling quite stressed with all this activity and finding out that it is going to cost more than planned. It has been such a blessing to have Judy here today. Her presence calms me – keeps me on track. She didn’t actually have to do much but a touch, a hug, an encouraging word here and there make a tremendous difference. It will be much harder when she goes home tomorrow.

My birthday is Saturday but since Judy won’t be here, she took me out for an early birthday dinner at a Thai noodle house just a few blocks away. It advertises the best noodles in California. It may be true. Dinner was excellent – and cheap! We topped it off by going across the street to a coffee shop that serves some excellent little dessert treats. I had boysenberry cheese cake. Wonderful!

October 24 – Thursday

I awoke during the night feeling upset about an intense dream I was having. It seemed like the theme of it was my desire for reconciliation – for setting things right with people in my life. I suspect that no small part of that comes from my feelings about how this trip affects Judy. We are facing a long separation that is not of her choosing. It is somewhat easier for me – it is my adventure. But, Judy will be staying home alone when we had talked about how we would be spending our declining years together.

In addition to my guilt feelings about all of this, I will miss her – intensely. Over and over, I find myself wishing she could and would come with me. But, it is not possible. For her, a boat is a small, uncomfortable place. The idea of spending 20 or 30 days at a time at sea is not just unattractive – it is impossible. I understand her reasons and I accept that they are true for her. I still wish it were possible.

Eventually, morning came and the whirlwind cranked up again. I drove Judy to her car and bid her an reluctant farewell.

By the time I got back to the boat, there was plenty to do. Greg Hansen said that I could save myself some money by getting the mast step out of the bilge. That required about three hours of dealing with rusty bolts that were in such bad shape that a wrench just broke off pieces when I tried to turn the bolts. Eventually, with a couple of tips from Greg the mechanic, I was able to get them out. I took it over to Greg Hansen and we discussed what all should be done to fix it up and to, hopefully, keep it from happening again. The pad that will go under the mast step is high enough to keep it out of the small amount of water that tends to accumulate in that part of the bilge.

Greg the mechanic is installing the anchor windlass. To do this, he has to make frequent trips through the boat to crawl up into the bow where he makes measurements and prepares the installation. That means that I have to tear up the bed that normally occupies the forward cabin. Since this is going to be going on for a few days, I decided not to make up the bed at night. It is a hassle to crawl into that space and tuck things in at the foot of the bed. The foot is at the pointy end of the boat so it is quite narrow and there is only about three feet of crawl space. Not my favorite job!

Finally, I am far enough ahead of things to be able to do some cleanup. I put all the things away that normally live in the port cockpit locker. I was able to clean up some of the cabin mess as well but it is a long way from the normal situation.

Judy and I have a regular 9 PM phone conversation – time to connect and catch up on what is happening. Tonight, it reinforced how much I miss her presence. No phone call can match face to face conversation. Nor is it much fun to snuggle up to an iPhone!

At day’s end, I threw the mattresses back into the forward cabin, wrapped up in blankets and slept.

October 25 – Friday

Today is the day before my birthday. I had requested that KDFC, the SF classical music station, play The Light Cavalry Overture by Franz von Suppe. They did it – and read most of my emailed request telling about the planned trip. Quite a good way to start the day!

I’m building a stairway to heaven. Well, actually, I am putting steps on the mast so I can climb up it safely without having someone else haul me up in a bosun’s chair. The picture to the right shows one of the mast steps. (Keep in mind that the mast is lying down in this picture.) It is not difficult to add the mast steps – technically. However, it involves measuring and figuring out where to put them, drilling six holes for each step, tapping the holes (making threads in them) and screwing them into place. But – multiply that by 40 mast steps and consider that the mast is on supports that are just a little too low for me to work comfortably, and it takes on a different complexion. It is tedious and requires that I pay close attention to make sure they are properly lined up and the steps are square to the mast, etc, etc. To top it all off, I had Led Zepplin and Stairway to Heaven running through my head - over and over and over... 

I quit as it was getting dark. I had mounted only six step in about as many hours. Greg Hansen had been out of the shop while I was working. He returned just as I was quitting for the day. He gave me several tips on how to speed things up – including having the right tools to do the job. Hopefully, it will go better Monday.

I was so focused on doing the mast steps that I hadn’t thought about dinner. I needed to go to Home Depot to get some tools and do some grocery shopping before I went back to the boat. I was still eating my dinner when I called Judy at 9 PM. After that, I wrapped myself in blankets again and fell asleep wishing I were snuggled up to Judy.

October 26  & 27 – The weekend

Happy Birthday to me! Birthday #70!

It is hard to believe. This only happens to other people. I don’t feel a day past 50 – if that. But when I turn 70, it is hard to deny that I am getting OLD! It is hard to look toward the future and realize that the future is probably only 15 or 20 years long. There is so much to do! I am just getting the hang of this business of being a human being and living with other humans. It leaves me with an even greater feeling of urgency about getting started on the trip.

Nobody works on the weekend so I had the boat to myself. I did a good deck scrub down and got down on hands and knees to scrub and clean the cabin sole (floor). I took a long nap – boy did that feel good! In the late afternoon, I drove to Davis and had dinner with daughter Lane.

It was hard to get started Sunday. I just sat in the cabin listening to music and drifting for a while before I fixed breakfast. I rounded up my laundry and drove to Westpoint Harbor to do my laundry and sort through all the stuff in my storage locker. While the laundry was in the machines, I sorted through the piles of stuff that I have randomly thrown into my storage locker over the last 10 months. I ended up with three groupings: things to get rid of, things to evaluate to see if I should keep or get rid of, and a pile of things that are definitely going with me. The second pile was, by far, the biggest. I have several sails to evaluate. I will take some of them to Pineapple Sails where they run a used sail brokerage. The rest will go with me.

I stopped by the office to talk to Doug, the harbormaster. I wanted to make sure they had gotten my email telling them that I will be moving out on November 23^rd. They had. We talked about what I needed to do to get checked out – nothing major. I left with a tight feeling in my throat. It is getting so close! It really is going to happen. I will pull in my shore power cord and start living the way I will live when I am cruising. Live at anchor instead of in a slip. Row or sail back and forth to shore. Move! See new places! It is both exciting and daunting.

October 28 – Monday

MarineLube came and cleaned up the mess from the engine failure. I also had him clean the fuel tank so I won’t have dirt and rust breaking free when the boat is in constant motion under sail on the ocean. The bill was just under $500 – not part of the expenses I had planned on. The bilge pump appears to have been wrenched from its mount. Just another little thing to fix or replace.

I resumed building my Stairway to Heaven – all day. By the end of the day, I had all of the steps done on the one side of the main mast. I had the holes drilled for all the steps on the other side of the mast but I still needed to bed the mast steps in silicone and screw them down. Quite a bit better than Friday!

I had the boatyard and Hansen Rigging give me an update on costs. It is more than planned but it is within limits. I just won’t be able to do some of the things I had hoped to do before I sail off to San Diego.

October 29 – Tuesday

Mast steps! All day! I did all of the steps for the mizzen. Hansen & Co were working on the main.

Greg the mechanic finished the windlass installation and has started on the water tank to holding tank conversion. The current holding tank is only 15 gallons – barely enough for two people for a weekend. The new setup will be 50 gallons. That means I can haul up to 400 lbs of sewage when I am under sail. What a wonderful thought!

The new fitting for the base of the mast is ready. As you can see, it is much cleaned up and it sits on a pad of some sort of dense plastic to raise it by the amount that was cut off of the base of the mast.

I had dinner with old friends. They are friends from the late seventies when we all worked at Four Phase Systems in Cupertino. So they are both long-time friends and they are getting old along with me. They are old friends in all the meanings of “old friends.”

October 30 – Wednesday

I finished bedding and screwing down the mast steps on the main. Around noon, Hansen hauled the main mast over to the boat yard and installed it. It looks great! The Stairway to Heaven is ready for climbing! All the lights on the mast work! Most of them haven’t worked since I bought the boat almost two years ago but it has been too hard to get up the mast to replace bulbs.

October 31 – Thursday

The mizzen is back in the boat. The rig is not tuned yet but at least it looks like a sailboat again. All the pieces are coming together! I put the sails on the boat and prepared to depart.

Greg the mechanic finished the water tank/holding tank work. The tank is under the bed in the forward cabin so I have still been sleeping wrapped up in blankets rather than make the bed every night. I can sleep in a real bed tonight!

I paid the boatyard. Ugh! Not more than I expected but more that I wanted to pay. I motored back to Hansen Rigging’s slips. Jeff from Alameda Canvas came over with the rough-cut sail covers. He draped them over the sails to check the fit. He says he can have them finished tomorrow. That means I can move the boat back to Westpoint Harbor on Saturday.

I motored over to Jack London Square to get fuel and empty the holding tank. As I was backing away from the dock, I noticed people taking pictures of Laelia. Quite a compliment!

I spent most of the day working in the sun, helping with the mast installation, cleaning up, etc. I was pretty beat by dark. I had bought an adapter so I would be able to plug in to one of the electrical outlets when I got back here. It doesn’t work. There is power at the outlet but the adapter doesn’t appear to be making contact with the appropriate pieces of the outlet. That means no hot water, no heater when it gets dark and cold and no music. My only AM/FM radio only runs off shore power. There wasn’t much to do except fix dinner, eat, clean up and crawl into bed to keep warm.

I fell asleep just before time to call Judy and woke up about a half hour later. I was so groggy that it was hard to stay awake during the call. Bad timing! Judy was feeling distressed that it is getting so close to departure time. I couldn’t respond meaningfully. I awoke later in the night horrified at my lack of response. She deserves better than that from me.

November 1 – Friday

Wrapup Day! Hansen’s people did the final tuning. Greg made some changes to the running pole setup. I paid the bill. Double ugh! It is enough over the amount I had planned that it is going to require me to be very careful how I spend money. Some things I had hoped to get done won’t get done. I still have to have the boat hauled and the bottom cleaned before I head south of the border. It may have to wait until I get to San Diego. I could get by with having the bottom scrubbed by a diver for the SF to SD leg of the trip.

Alameda Canvas has not showed up with the sail covers. I finally got a hold of Jeff. He has had some schedule conflicts. He says he can have the covers ready to go by 1 PM tomorrow. I should still be able to get back to Westpoint Harbor before dark if I leave at one.

Judy’s old, gray cat, Oz, appears to be quite ill. He is 14 years old and has been gradually slowing down. It is obvious that it hurts when he walks but he still insists on going on the prowl and often does not come in at night.

November 2 – Saturday

Howard Brunnings, my crewmate for the SF to SD leg of the trip, met me at Westpoint Harbor. I left my car there and he drove me back to the boat. We spent some time looking at the new rigging and talking about how to use some of the new features.

I called Jeff about the sail covers when I got back to the boat. He was still saying 1 PM. I started putting things away and getting ready to sail as soon as he brought the covers. He showed up at 1:15 with the finished mizzen sail cover and a partially completed main sail cover. He promised to have it all  finished by end of day - but I won’t be going back to Westpoint until tomorrow.

Jeff showed up with the main sail cover about 7 PM. It all looks great. He went back to his shop and finished up the last piece – a mast boot – and brought it to the boat a little after 9 PM.

November 3 – Sunday

The sail back to Westpoint Harbor was uneventful. All of the new rigging and the whisker pole worked flawlessly. The self steering worked better than it has in the past but it still isn’t quite up to the expected level of performance. There wasn’t a whole lot of wind so I motored about 2/3  of the way. The engine worked well too.

I pulled into Westpoint Harbor around 3:15 PM. It took seven hour to cover about 30 miles. I was tired but running on adrenaline from the excitement of trying out all the new equipment. I did a quick cleanup on deck, put the new sail covers in place, hopped in the car and started driving. I had dinner with Lane and then drove on up to Placerville to spend the next couple of days with Judy.

Postscript

On Monday, it became obvious that Judy's cat, Oz, was in really bad shape. A mobile vet came to the house, examined him and told Judy he needed to go to the animal hospital for treatment. Unfortunately, Oz was too far gone to be helped. His kidney and liver functions were close to non-existent. Judy held him in her lap and sang to him while the vet gave him a shot to put him to sleep. It was a very emotional, sad experience.

Oz was about 15 years old and has been Judy's constant companion. He was a cat with character - a polydactyl (extra toes) cat of unknown breeding except that he apparently has a lot of Russian Blue in him.

We both miss him. It is a shock to walk out the front door or into the garage and not find him there waiting for his tribute - a few strokes - before being allowed to pass.