San Francisco to San Diego

Judy and I spent a rather subdued Christmas together in Placerville. Getting there was something of an adventure. It required that I catch the bus from Alameda to Jack London Square in Oakland and then Amtrack from there to Davis. Other than the inconvenience of lugging a heavy bag and a backpack, it was an enjoyable trip. I didn’t have to fight traffic or stay awake to cover the 100 miles to Davis. Lane met me in Davis and dropped me off at Judy’s on her way to spend Christmas with family in Pollock Pines.

The time with Judy was wonderful but there was the looming separation casting a pall over the occasion. Judy’s son Douglas, his wife Tavifa and son Isaac joined us for an afternoon and dinner. They insisted on bringing gifts even though we specified that we weren’t doing any gift giving this year. I have to admit that I was delighted to receive a dark chocolate orange. I will savor it in small chunks – if I can exercise some self control.

Saturday after Christmas, I returned to the boat. Judy drove me to the Amtrak station in Sacramento and we parted there for who knows how long. I am encouraging her to come spend some time with me on the boat in San Diego when I get settled in.



Yaesu FT-890 SSB transceiver

My luggage had gotten even heavier thanks to a very generous gift from Terry Hoffart (K7ASU). He sent his ham radio Yaesu FT-890 SSB transceiver – quite a welcome gift. Hopefully, it will give Judy and me a way to keep in closer communication. It also is a general coverage receiver so I can get weather forecasts and time signals from WWV. I will be studying up to take the amateur radio general class exam when I get to San Diego.

December 30, Sunday, was spent tidying up the boat, putting things away where they wouldn’t escape when the boat starts rocking and rolling on the open ocean. I also did some last minute grocery shopping.

Monday, I paid my bill for having the masts rewired (ouch), returned my boatyard key that the boatyard had very kindly allowed me to use well after I was finished with the boatyard work. A little after noon, I pulled out of my slip, visited the harbormaster’s dock long enough to pump the holding tank, then headed off to Richardson Bay. There was not much wind so most of the trip involved motoring rather than sailing. A little after 5 PM I anchored about ¼ mile off the Spinnaker Restaurant in Sausalito. This is the first time I have used the anchor since I bought Laelia. I am happy to report that the new anchor roller, anchor windlass and associated gear all worked as they should.

It was a wonderful to be anchored out again. I spent most of a year living at anchor in San Diego during 1975 and loved it. There is a feeling of independence and peace that comes with living in my self-sufficient space. I had the pleasure of being able to listen to classical KDFC while fixing dinner, cleaning up and getting ready to sleep.

31 Dec 2013 - Tuesday – New Year’s Eve Day. This is it! Departure day!

I had a relaxed morning, fixed breakfast, cleaned up and tucked away the last few items. I made up a batch of rice and chili and left it sitting on the stovetop. I was anticipating that I would be busy and/or seasick and would not feel like fixing meals. It is important to stay well fed and well hydrated to keep up strength and alertness.

There was little wind so I laid out the little genoa jib in preparation for starting to sail. A little after noon, I pulled up the anchor and started motoring toward the Golden Gate Bridge with the main and mizzen sails set. Once out into the slot there was a light wind coming off the ocean into the Bay. I got the jenny up, shut off the engine and started being a real sailboat. In the picture to the right, the Golden Gate is disappearing astern.

At first, I had trouble getting the self steering to work. Eventually, I figured out the magic combination of steering wheel position, steering line tension and sail balance and I was able to sit back and watch Laelia sail herself out to sea. For a while, the wind was favorable and Laelia charged along at 6 – 7 knots. But then the sea surface started getting rather lumpy making it quite uncomfortable to keep up that speed. I changed to using the working jib (smaller than the little jenny) and got violently seasick in the process. I had applied the patch behind my ear several hours before departure in the hope that I could avoid this, but no such luck. Once the sail change was complete, I retired to my bunk for a nap. After that, there was no more seasickness – at least no more throwing up. That was a great improvement over my 1975 departure from San Diego when I was seasick at least once a day for the first 10 days.

1 Jan 2014 – Tuesday

The general plan for SF – SD leg of the trip was to get far enough offshore to be where the winds were stronger and where I would be outside the coastal shipping lanes. Then I would turn south on a course to stay 40 miles offshore and outside the southern California islands. Around 7 AM I reached the point where I wanted to make the turn and start south. Laelia was not cooperative. While I was sleeping she had slowed to the point that we were making almost no headway. When I tried to make her turn, there just wasn’t enough water going past the rudder fast enough to make it happen. I had to take the mizzen down and do some more sail juggling to get set up on the new course.

The new course took us almost dead down wind. With the jib out on one side and the main out on the other, we were making good time. The self steering was keeping Laelia generally pointed in the right direction but she was yawing (turning from side to side) through a range of 30 degrees. I think there is too much friction in the setup to allow the vane to work better. In addition, Laelia is not terribly happy with sailing downwind with waves coming from behind or a little off to one side. When I steer manually, I have to stay ahead by using the wheel to anticipate the yawing and start turning the wheel a little before Laelia starts to yaw. I doubt that the vane will ever be able to fully compensate for this.

To contrast this with Chatelaine and the 1975 – 76 trip to Hawaii, Chatelaine had a tiller instead of a wheel. That is a huge reduction in friction to be overcome to steer the boat. In addition, Chatelaine had a longer keel which helped to dampen the yawing. I wish I could afford to convert Laelia to tiller steering but it is not likely. I hope to make some improvements while I am in San Diego. It will be good enough for the trip – just not as good as I would like.

As the day wore on, I was still feeling a bit off – not quite seasick but not totally comfortable. I alternated napping and time on deck. I was able to eat some of my rice and chili and drink lots of water. Living on a boat in motion takes a little getting used to. In the picture at the right, note that the stove top is level - the rest of the world is tilted.

In the forenoon the sky was mostly gray and the air quite cool – around 50 degrees. I sat in the cockpit wondering why it was that I wanted to be out here where it was cold and rough. The sea was an unpleasant, lumpy gray. As the day wore on, there was some sunshine and some warming. Standing at the rail hanging on to the mainmast shrouds, I looked down into the water and saw the distinctive blue color that told me I was in the deep Pacific waters again. It has been 37 years since I have seen this. It cheered me greatly.

The idea of staying outside the shipping lanes was working well. I saw very few ships – although one did pass within about ½ mile. I don’t know if they saw me but I say them and I was not comfortable with being that close.

One very puzzling phenomenon surfaced. When I am lying in my bunk, I hear voices. It sounds like people talking but just far enough away that I can’t quite understand the words. Sometimes it sounded like an NPR interview involving a man and a woman. No music – just conversation. I hunted around the boat trying to locate the source of the sounds but I couldn’t pinpoint it.

The wind picked up some more and I reefed the main (pulled it part way down and made it smaller.) This slowed Laelia down a bit, made the ride a bit more comfortable and reduced the strain on the rigging. This was the first time I had reefed under sail. I had rehearsed reefing with the boat tied up in a slip and no wind – quite different from doing it with the boat rolling and pitching and the wind blowing. I am happy to report that it all went smoothly.

2 Jan 2014 – Thursday

The wind dropped off around dawn. I pulled down the working jib and found that my brand new tanbark sail had two tears in the cloth near the luff (the leading edge). This is upsetting – this is supposed to be the sail I will be using a good bit of the time when the wind starts to pick up into the 10 – 20 knot range. It is heavy, stiff cloth and should be quite rugged. I will be talking to the Hood sail maker people about this when I get to San Diego.

Getting the sail down and bagged was a lot of work. The stiff, heavy cloth does not take kindly to being stuffed into a sail bag. By the time I had it bagged and stowed below deck, I was sweaty and starting to feel seasick again. I replaced it with the genniker. This is a colorful, light weight nylon sail meant to be used when there is less than 10 knots of wind and we are reaching or running (the wind is out to the side of the boat or behind it.)  See picture to the right. I was able to get it set and get below to lie down without throwing up again but it was close!

One of the improvements I had installed when I had the standing rigging replaced was the running pole. In the picture, you can see a pole holding out the corner of the genniker. There is a definite learning curve associated with using the pole. It is difficult to impossible to change its position if there is much pressure on the pole from the line leading through the outboard end of the pole. Also, getting it started from the up-and-down stowed position to the horizontal position takes some finagling. The topping lift (the line that lifts the pole to the horizontal position) is almost parallel to the pole when it is stowed. I have to wait for the boat to roll toward the side I want the pole to be set. The pole swings outboard and I pull on the line to bring it to the horizontal position. As the trip wore on, I got better at this but I suspect there is a better way to set things up. It is another item to be worked on when I get to San Diego.

The solar panels are not keeping up with the drain on the batteries. I had the foredeck light on for the better part of an hour last night while I was doing sail changes and reefing the main. In addition, the AIS is on all the time (0.5 amps) and the masthead navigation light is on all night (0.4 amps). Additional loads are the carbon monoxide detectors (0.6 amp, continuously), the solenoid to open the propane valve so I can cook (1.0 amp while I am cooking) and cabin lights (0.5 – 1.0 amp intermittently). This isn’t a lot. It should not be hard for the panels to keep up with. Granted, there was some cloud cover during a good part of the day. I ran the engine for about an hour when the going got slow – mostly to charge the batteries. I also pulled the fuses for the carbon monoxide detectors. The probability of needing them is quite small. They weren’t installed when I bought Laelia. The surveyor wrote up the lack of them up as a deficiency. The insurance company required me to remedy this deficiency before they would issue insurance. Now, they are a big liability since they put a constant load on the electrical system.

By the end of the day, I had all the sail that I could summon up and drawing – main, mizzen and the genniker. Laelia is happy – rolling along at an average of about 5 knots. In the late afternoon, I realized that what I thought was a cloud bank to the east was actually mountain tops along the Big Sur area. As darkness fell, I could see scattered lights along the eastern horizon. They were gone by morning.

3 Jan 2014 – Friday

The wind got light and shifty during the night. I spent a lot of time managing the sails – gybing (changing them from one side of the boat to the other), trimming (pulling them in closer to the boat) and easing (letting them back out.) It makes the night go a lot faster! I have fallen into the routine of setting a timer for 40 minutes during the night. Either the timer or the change in boat motion wakes me up and I check on sails. The other thing that wakes me up is the AIS – the collision warning system that lets me know that there are other boats around. Nothing came very close, but when the alarm goes off, I pull out the binoculars, check out the oncoming boat and monitor it until it has passed.

The first time I had to gybe everything, it took about an hour. There are three sails involved and it is important that the main and mizzen be under tight control when they swing from one side of the boat to the other. If not, they come across the boat at high speed and they can destroy the lines and fittings attached to them. The procedure for gybing goes something like this:

·         Set the wind vane to steer the boat dead down wind.

·         Change the running pole from one side of the boat to the other.

·         Pull the jib across to the new side of the boat.

·         Get the jib trimmed so it is stable and pulling well.

·         Pull the main in to the boat centerline.

·         Change the boom vang from one side of the boat to the other. The boom vang is a block and tackle arrangement attached to the main boom and the base of a lifeline stantion. Pulling it up tight keeps the sail flat – a more efficient configuration – and it keeps the sail from accidently gybing if I am asleep or I am not paying close attention.

·         Let the main out on the new side of the boat.

·         Do the same sequence with the mizzen.

The first time I did all this, I spent a lot of time figuring out how to deal with the running pole. It got better as the trip work on but it provoked a lot of heated comments this time!

It was mostly overcast today. I ran the engine for another hour to charge the batteries.

Things are starting to fall into a comfortable rhythm. I am enjoying being at sea again. Still, I am looking forward to warmer air and more sun. On the other hand, the thought of sailing into San Diego has me feeling mildly panicked. How do I stay awake enough to dodge traffic and keep from running into the coastline in an undesirable place? I can shorten my alarm intervals to 20 minutes. The AIS seems to be doing a good job of alerting me to traffic – but still I worry!

4 Jan 2014 – Saturday

Got lots of sleep during the night – too much. Either I forgot to reset the alarm after one of my sail checks or I slept through it. No damage done – I have lots of room between here and the nearest land. Still, it is not something I want to happen when I get closer to land.

I can hear classical music on KUSC in Los Angeles. It is wonderful to have some sun and coast along listening to Jaqueline Dupree playing a cello piece by Boccherini.

Around noon, I reached the point where it was time to start steering toward land again. San Marcos Island is off to port somewere – I never did see it or any sign of it although it is only about 10 miles away.

When I went sailing back in the 70s, navigation was all dead reckoning and celestial. This trip would be nerve wracking navigating that way. There has been so little opportunity for sun and star sights because of the cloud cover. That would mean keeping track of position mostly by closely monitoring boat speed and direction and guessing at how much the California Current affects me. I am grateful for GPS. I get reliable position information 24/7, regardless of weather conditions. GPS devices have gotten so inexpensive that I have at least four devices on the boat that give me latitude, longitude, speed and course information at all times.

Winds have been light and variable all day. After dark, they fell off to nearly nothing. Laelia is moving so slowly that the wind vane won’t steer properly. The vane requires some wind to make the steering vane tip one way or the other and it requires about 2 knots boat speed to operate the oar that pulls on the lines attached to the steering wheel. When the wind gets light and Laelia is moving slowly, I have to steer by hand. It is peaceful and satisfying to do it – for a while.

At night it isn’t always easy to tell which way the boat is pointed. The usual tool for doing this is the compass. Unfortunately, the way things are wired on Laelia, there is no compass light unless I turn on the set of navigation lights that are supposed to be used when the engine is running. Not only is that incorrect when we are under sail, that set of lights is not LED – and they use a lot of electricity. When the sky is clear, I can use the stars as a reference to keep the boat pointed in the right direction and use a flashlight to take occasional looks at the compass. This evening, there is a cloud cover – no stars to be seen. I had picked out a light on the horizon that I thought was based on San Clemente Island and I was using it as a reference for steering. Over the next hour, I realized that it was the lights of a ship headed off to the south of Laelia. I was gradually turning farther and farther south as the ship passed.

Finally, there was no wind at all. I stowed the jib and sheeted the main and mizzen in tight so they wouldn’t swing back and forth and cause damage. There wasn’t much in the way of wave action but still I started feeling queasy. I have been two days without wearing the patch and this was the first time I have felt any discomfort. Rather than risk another bout of seasickness, I applied another patch.

Then I slept. I still made my 40 minute checks but there was nothing to do most of the night for lack of wind.

5 Jan 2014 – Sunday

About 0630, there was enough wind to start sailing again. The wind was from north and north-east so I hoisted the big genoa (aka big genny). The wind held for most of the day. Laelia ghosted along at 2 – 3 knots with the wind vane doing all the steering. I passed one patch of floating kelp with a small flock of seagulls feeding from it. Occasionally a seal would poke its head out of the water as well.

For a change, it was sunny most of the day. I got my first full change of clothing since leaving my slip in Alameda. It was so pleasant that I spent some time on deck sans clothing. The sun felt good but the wind was a bit chilly. Before long, I was back to sweat shirt and jeans – but at least they were clean and not so smelly.

As I am getting more comfortable with the boat routine, I start having more time to think about things other than just surviving. With the sun shining and the boat moving so smoothly, I couldn’t help but wish that Judy was here to enjoy it with me. It is totally relaxing – an opportunity to just be instead of having to be so focused on doing. If only there were a way to transport her back and forth to enjoy times like this and not have to put up with the more demanding parts.

I also started thinking more about food. I got out some of the recipes that Judy had found for me and made a big pot of black bean and sweet potato stew. It required a bit of creative thinking since the recipe called for black beans and I had none. It also called for vegetable broth. I thought I had some, but if I do, I couldn’t find it. I substituted kidney beans for black beans and dried black bean soup for vegetable broth. It worked well enough to make a delicious dinner!

I did some debugging of the solar panel problem today. I figured out that the panel on the starboard (sunny) side of the boat was not putting out anything at all. I messed around with the connectors a bit and it started to work! I have a loose connection in the portion of the wiring from the panel to the first connector. Another job to take care of in San Diego. Once the panel started working, it did a fine job of charging at 5 – 6 amps. The port side panel (shown to the right) added a little but it is partially shaded by the mizzen most of the day when the boat is on this course.

6 Jan 2014 – Monday

Drifted most of the night again. Although there was no wind to speak of, Laelia was making about ½ knot to the north and drifting closer to San Clemente Island. About 0530 I decided to turn on the engine long enough to get around the southern tip of the island. Out of curiosity, I turned on the depth sounder to see how deep it was. The depth sounder showed no reading – meaning that it was too deep to get a reading. Just moments after I turned on the sounder, a couple of whales surfaced nearby and spouted. Coincidence? I don’t know. I have heard some reports that seem to indicate that whales hear depth sounders and sometimes take offense. I turned it off – just in case.

As I motored, there were numerous dolphins around the boat. Sometimes the appeared to be playing with the boat – swimming alongside in pairs, diving and coming up just ahead of the boat.

Once clear of San Clemente, I shut the engine off and went back to sailing. Most of the day the winds were so light that I had to hand steer. I had hoped to be within cell phone range by evening but it quickly became apparent that it wasn’t going to happen. I miss my daily 9 PM phone time with Judy.

The solar panels were doing a good job today – 24.3 amp hours of charging. That’s about what the boat uses on an ordinary day so we are breaking even today.

7 Jan 2014 – Tuesday

Lost the wind again after dark. Mostly drifted. Winds were light and variable after sunrise. Started out hoping that I would make it in to San Diego today but it quickly became clear that it wasn’t going to happen. I was busy doing sail trimming. It seemed that as fast as I would adjust the sails, the wind would switch to a different direction. None of the directions were good for pointing directly at Pt. Loma. Frustrating!!

By dusk, I was about 12 miles from Pt. Loma – and almost no wind. I don’t want to be sailing into the harbor in the dark. It has been too many years since I have done that to feel terribly confident. And then there is the question of where to go when I get inside. I would rather get there in daylight.

There is a lot of helicopter traffic and there is a navy boat describing itself as Warship 100 steaming around in circles doing some exercise. There is enough other shipping activity to make me a bit nervous. I decided to heave to for the night. That involves having turning the boat into the wind as if I were going to tack but keeping the jib on the windward side of the boat. I had the main pulled out to the other side and held there with the boom vang. In this configuration, Laelia was drifting northward and about ½ knot. I kept my usual schedule of waking up periodically during the night. There were no AIS alarms for nearby boats.

8 Jan 2014 – Wednesday

Made it past Pt. Loma – finally. There was a light southwesterly breeze most of the day. Laelia was close hauled on starboard tack and just barely managed to squeak by Pt. Loma without having to tack. As we were coming around Pt Loma, an aircraft carrier was going out. I was careful to stay well away from it!

Once inside Pt Loma, I got real busy getting the sails down and stowed. The breeze had fallen so light again that the self steering wouldn’t steer the boat. I had to keep going between the sails and the steering wheel. It must have looked to any observers like I was drunk.

With the sails finally stowed, I motored to the area behind Shelter Island looking for the Southwestern Yacht Club. I found the yacht club but no signs pointing to a guest dock nor were there any apparent vacant slips. I gave up and started to motor away when a man on the dock called out.

“What are you looking for?”

“Guest dock,” says I.

He pointed me to a vacant slip and told me that the owner of the slip was away and I could use it for the evening. Great! I got into the slip and tied up. I made a quick change of clothes in the hope that no one would get close enough to tell that I hadn’t had a shower in over a week and went to the clubhouse to sign in as a guest.

The Southwestern Yacht Club is a first class operation! They have a 15,000 sq. ft. club house with a full time dining room and bar and several activity rooms. It is all mahogany and polished wood – very nice!

The office was closed but one of the friendly members showed me where to sign in and invited me to join his party for dinner. He even bought me my first drink as a welcome to San Diego. I enjoyed a salmon fillet and conversation with several club members before I returned to Laelia and crashed. I slept through the night quite soundly for the first time in over a week.

9 Jan 2014 – Thursday

I went to the club office to inquire about a guest slip. There are none available. I moved on down the bay to Harbor Island WestMarinia, slip #229. It looks like this will be home for at least two weeks while I fix things and wait to see how things work out in Mexico.

After getting checked in, I went back to the boat feeling let down, depressed. For the past week I have been living in a world where all I had to think about was simple things like navigation and sail handling. Now I am back in “the real world.” The part about getting things fixed and ready to move on is not so bad. The part about money is not so good. I had thought I would be taking off with some money in the bank. Instead, I am several thousand dollars in the hole. That means that for the next six months or so, I will be living on very short rations while I pay off my credit cards. I suppose it isn’t all that bad. At least I get to make the trip.

Shortly after I got back to the boat, I got an email from Judy that her cat, Karma, had died. It was not unexpected. She had been diagnosed with lymphoma at the same time that her other cat, Oz, had to be put to sleep. Karma was a wonderful companion. She would come up to Judy and tap her lightly with a paw to get Judy’s attention – and then she would talk. She had a vocal range that I’ve never heard in a cat. She would say something and Judy would say something back. Karma would stare at her intently, listen and answer. After Oz passed on, Karma started curling up in Judy’s lap when Judy was sitting on the patio reading – utterly content and purring loudly. It had become increasingly obvious that the lymphoma was spreading and that Karma was suffering. It is good that her suffering is over but she will be missed.

Whole again

Daring young man in bosun's chair

The mast work was finished and the masts reinstalled yesterday thanks to the daring young man in the bosun's char (see picture to right). BTW - it isn't me in the chair. The re-installation went smoothly. I spent close to three hours putting the booms and sails back on and sorting out all the lines. The end result is a boat that I can sail again.

A sailboat without mast(s) is a bird without wings. Between the absence of the masts and the attendant mess (see picture below, right), I have felt weighed down - almost crippled. With the masts back and some semblance of order on deck, I feel much freer and lighter. I can spread my wings and fly again - soon.

That is not to say that there isn't work to be done. The masts have all new internal wiring. This time it is done right which means that it is different from the way it used to be. That means I have come up with a new way to get it all hooked up. Not a huge problem - just another thing to get done. Once the wiring is finished I think I am down to just needing to get everything stowed properly for sailing and I can be off.

Home (not so) sweet mess

With this most recent delay, I won't be moving to Richardson Bay to do my shakedown sailing until after Christmas. I'm hoping things check out quickly once I am there. I will be anchored out rather than tied up at a slip. That means no plugging in to shore power. That, in turn, means that I will not have any kind of heat on the boat. With the nights getting down into the low 40s, that is not a wonderful prospect.

Disturbing news from Mexico. Apparently one branch of the Mexican government has decided to go wild on checking boat paperwork for foreign boats with the result that a large number of boats are now forbidden to leave Mexico until they prove that they have the proper paperwork. In most cases, the paperwork is OK but the boat owner was not present when the officials showed up to check it so the boat was classified as illegal. Read more about it here. Maybe I will go to Hawaii for a month instead if the situation isn't resolved by the time I am ready to leave San Diego. I would be happy to renew my acquaintance with the Hawaii Yacht Club. I stayed there when I sailed my boat out from San Diego in 1976 and then again when I ferried a boat from Hawaii to Guam in early 1977.

I probably will not post again until after the Winter Solstice and the insane religious and commercial activities that go with it so I will take this opportunity to wish you a Happy Winter Solstice. Remember, solstice is the reason for the season.

Please! No rock and roll!

I am still waiting to get the masts back in the boat. The main has been rewired and is ready to be reinstalled but the mizzen has disappeared off to the rigger's shop. Possibly it will be back today.

The time since the last post has been spent in doing the last minute things that have to be done before I can head offshore as well as a few projects that I had intended to postpone until San Diego. Since I have no hard deadline for departure, I am planning to revert to the original plan.

When the masts are back in the boat, I will move over to Richardson Bay (Sausalito) where I can anchor out and verify that all my live-aboard systems work. I can also do day sail forays into The Slot (the Golden Gate) where I can usually count on finding some wind in the afternoons. That will let me do more checkouts on the rigging and the wind vane.

When things look really good, I can head out onto the open ocean and around the corner to Pilar Point Marina in Half Moon Bay. From there, I can do more day sail trips to do final shakedown on the open ocean with the kind of wind and waves I can expect for the trip to San Diego.

When the boat is ready and there is a suitable weather window, I can shove off for San Diego. Since I plan to spend Christmas with family in Placerville, that puts departure off until January - maybe around the Wolf Moon - the full moon of Jan 16th.

So - what does this have to do with the title of this post?

Nothing.

However, for those of you who have limited sailing experience...

One problem with being offshore for more than 24 hours is that it is necessary to sleep. Sleep is best accomplished in a bed. But sailboats are not stable platforms like the average landlubber's bedroom. When the boat rocks, the sleeper rolls. So how does one manage to sleep under these conditions?

The solution is a device known as a lee cloth (or lee board). A bunk is normally situated against the hull of the boat. The hull keeps the occupant from rolling out of the bunk in that direction. On the other side, some kind of restraint is required. In the old days, it was a board running the full length of the bunk. These days, it is usually a net or a cloth. Mine is made up of sections cut out of an old sail. See the pictures to the right.

Most of the time, the boat will be sailing in such a direction that it will roll to one side and back toward the upright position and will stop short of upright because of the wind pressure on the sails. When the boat is headed straight down wind, this is not the case. The sails are out to the side so they do not dampen the rolling as the boat approaches the upright position. This is when the intrepid sailor finds out what things are not well secured on the boat. Typically, there is a lot of banging and crashing as things shift from one side to the other of the storage areas each time the boat rolls past upright.

It is also the least comfortable point of sail for sleeping. The sleeper will roll from one side to the other of the bunk as the boat rolls. Ideally, the bunk is quite narrow so the lee cloth holds the sleeper firmly against the other side of the bunk leaving no room for rolling from side to side.

And that, my friend, is how not to rock when the boat rolls.

Holding...

When last I wrote, the big item left to check off before departure was to get the VHF/AIS working. Some testing showed that the transmission lines were bad in each mast. Monday, December 9th,  Hansen Rigging came to the boat intending to replace the lines without pulling the masts out of the boat. That attempt failed. The coax cable in the main would not come loose. We decided to pull the masts. The earliest opportunity would be Wednesday.

Meanwhile, Mario was busily working on the anchor roller assembly. It was coming together well - a bright spot in the ensuing chaos.

On Wednesday, I pulled the boat back into the boatyard to have the masts pulled out. It seemed like a pretty straightforward procedure - pull the masts, remove the old transmission lines, install the new ones and drop the masts back into the boat. At worst, it should be a two day effort.

It was not to be. It took almost four hours to pull the main. The main mast goes through the cabin top and is seated on the keel. There is a small gap between the mast and the cabin top that has to be sealed to keep water from running into the cabin. The gap was sealed with a new Spartite collar when I had the standing rigging replaced and the masts reinstalled in the boat. Spartite is one of those miracle compounds that is poured into place and allowed to cure. The result is a collar that exactly fits the space. It is also somewhat adhesive so part of the procedure for pouring the collar is to coat the sides of the hole through the cabin top with a release agent - some sort of slippery agent that keeps the Spartite from bonding to the cabin top. Apparently, the release agent was not properly applied and the collar did bond to the cabin top. When the crane went to pull the mast out of the boat, it lifted the entire boat up a few inches before we realized that the mast was not going to come out easily. When it did finally come loose, it pulled the old coating from the hole around the mast along with the mast. Messy - but fairly easily repaired. In the picture above, right, you can see the hole through the cabin top and a fragment of the collar. Below, left, is a closeup of the hole from below decks.

With the mast lying on horses, the riggers tried again to pull the transmission line. Unfortunately, it had been installed in such a way the it was necessary to pull all of the wires out of the mast. Hansen carted the mast off to their shop to work on it still thinking that the mast would be back in the boat by Friday.










While all this was going on, I moved the boat back to Mario's slip so he could finish the installation of the anchor roller assembly. Here he is at the right, welding the assembly to the anchor roller platform. It is SO much better than the old arrangement - it is much stronger and it will work when the boat is yawing and pitching during anchor deployment and retrieval.





That done, I moved the boat back to the boat yard so their worker could repair the damaged hole in the cabin top.

Friday came. Along with it came the news that the mast could not be ready before next Wednesday, December 18th. Some parts are needed that are not readily available. When they do arrive it will take some time to install them.

So, there is nothing to do but to postpone the departure. Even if the mast is in place on the 18th, it looks like there will be high winds offshore for the next several days so that pushes the departure even farther down the road. It now looks like the earliest I could reasonably hope to depart would be the 21st. That would mean Christmas at sea instead of being with Judy and other family members.

That left me without a place to keep the boat unless I signed up for a $45/day slip at a nearby marina. The boat yard people suggested that I ask Mario if I could sublet from him. He agreed to that saying that the slip will be unused until after New Year. When I asked him what he wanted for rent, he offered it for free! What a generous act of kindness - but it doesn't seem quite fair to him since I am using about $5/day of electricity to heat the boat. He suggested that I give him whatever I think is fair.

The boat yard had finished the repairs by then, so I pulled back into Mario's slip. That gave me the opportunity to install the anchor into the anchor roller assembly and see the finished product. See the picture to the right.





The change in schedule affects more than just me. Howard Brunnings was planning to come with me to San Diego. He had made arrangements to be off work for the trip. I don't know if he will be able to rearrange things to be able to go later. He also wants to be with family at Christmas so leaving on the 21st would not be an option. It is not clear whether he will be able to rearrange his life to accommodate this latest change.

It looks like the earliest possibility will be after Christmas. The good news it that it will give me some time to do some rearranging of storage and take care of some projects that I was going to postpone until San Diego. It will also give me some time for a better shakedown. I can move the boat to Sausalito and do day sail trips outside the Golden Gate. I may move the boat to Pilar Point Marina in Half Moon Bay where I can anchor out while waiting for the next break in the weather.

Once again, everything is up in the air. Stay tuned...

Progress!

The time spent in the boatyard up in the air was not all bad. The biggest irritation was having to be careful about letting water drain out in the galley sink where I do dishes. Each day began with washing breakfast dishes, being very careful to make sure all the dishwater ended up in my slop bucket along with the previous days' dishwater. Next was a trip to the men's room to dump the contents of the slop bucket down the toilet. Not terrible - just annoying.

The good news is that I was able to get a lot of work done.

• There was wiring to finish up so the solar panels will charge the battery I use for running the anchor windlass as well as charging the main ship batteries.
• Checked the cables that connect the steering wheel to the rudder. They are good.
• Finally got around to installing the panel that covers up the big hole in the aft end of the cockpit where the autopilot panel used to be. The autopilot is defunct and has long since been removed. Now the hole is reduced to a smaller hole for running wires from accessories mounted on the stern rail. I added some some shielding to help keep water out. The wires for the GPS and the solar panels go through the access hole.
• Started to install a stereo. It is much like a unit you would find in a car but the board in it are conformal coated to (hopefully) make it resistant to moisture and salt air. I quickly discovered that my idea for mounting the stereo unit and speakers wasn't going to work. I cut some pieces of teak, glued them to the cabin interior using an adhesive known as 5200. Much to my surprise, it took 48 hours to cure to the point that I dared mount the components on the blocks.
• When I installed the GPS receiver that is used by the AIS (Automatic Identification System), I strung the wiring through the starboard cockpit locker rather haphazardly so I could see if it worked before I did the final wiring. Now it was time to do the proper routing so the wire would not be in the way or accidently get snagged on something and break. The AIS is a wonderful piece of equipment that transmits my boat position, course and speed periodically so other boats with AIS receivers can know where I am. My receiver monitors the other boats' transmissions and tells me if we are on a collision course so I really, really want this to work reliably. Sounds easy but it involved taking out all the stuff in the locker, removing the longitudinal bulkheads that give me access to the engine compartment, stringing the wire through the engine compartment and securing it with a bazillion cable ties to keep it where it belongs. Part of this required me to be upside down, head first into one of the lockers. It was touch and go as to whether I would be able to get out once I finished what I needed to do. This was Thanksgiving Day and it could have been three days before anyone was around to pull me out if I really was well and truly stuck. I did make it - with a few scrapes and sore muscles.
• Got all the wiring done for the stereo. That meant running power leads and a ground from the
  
  switch/breaker panel to the place where the stereo will be mounted. Stringing the wires was a tedious exercise involving pushing wires through holes that I couldn't see well and hoping that they would come out in the right place. Eventually they did. I turned the stereo on and for the first time in two years I have decent quality sound in the boat. My music has been coming from a little bedside radio. It is a good alarm clock but a really poor sound system. I don't have AM/FM radio yet - no antenna. I listened to Bob Dylan "Blonde on Blonde" album for the first time in years. I have put most of my best music on my iPhone. It connects to the stereo either by USB cable or Bluetooth. What a luxury!
• Ran wiring from the switch/breaker panel to the navigation table area for the 12 volt outlets and the USB charger ports.

2 Dec 2013 - Monday

Monday morning finally arrived! Despite the fact that I was pretty busy most of the time, the boatyard was a lonely place over the weekend. I made several trips out on the bicycle to do some shopping but people contact was at a minimum. Even though I don't spend a lot of time talking to the people in the boatyard, it is nice to have people and activity around.

I set my alarm to get up a little early so I could have the dishes done and get stuff cleaned up on deck to be ready to launch the boat and move it to another slip. I got the dishes done, went to the mens room to empty the dishwater and perform my morning constitutional. When I came out, the ladder to the boat was gone! The workers were busily preparing to put Laelia back in the water. Whoopeee!!!

In short order, Laelia was back in the water and I was $1700 poorer after paying my bill. I moved the boat to a nearby slip where Mario Gonzales could start working on replacing the lifelines in the cockpit area with steel tubing that I need to be able to mount the solar panels. It was tricky getting the boat backed into the slip - there wasn't much room for getting turned around - but I made it with help from Mario on the dock lines. It was another lesson in boat handling. In no time at all, Mario was on the boat with a cutting wheel and removed pieces of the existing rail and the lifelines. See picture above. Mario is still saying he thinks he can have the railing done and the anchor rollers in place by Friday or Saturday.

I spent the rest of the day working on installing the 12 volt outlets and the USB chargers at the navigation table. One could be forgiven for thinking that this should be a trivial task - but it wasn't. I had to drill holes to install the outlets but before I could do that, I had to empty out the compartment that was on the other side of the bulkhead where the outlets were to be installed. Then, there was some investigation and planning to ensure that I didn't drill into any existing wiring and that I would be able to reach the backside of the outlets to do the wiring. By the end of the day, I had half of them done and the cabin was, once again, a disaster area. It took me about an hour to clean up wood shavings, dust from sanding, bits of wire and insulation and all the tools that I has scattered about in the process. After that, I could start fixing dinner.

By the end of his working day, Mario had cut away chunks of the old rail and it looked like the picture to the left.

3 Dec 2013 - Tuesday

Tuesday was more of the same. I finished the 12 volt outlets and USB charger wiring. I made a brief trip out to do some shopping - pieces needed for boom vangs and a safety tether to keep me safely on board when the boat motion get bad enough to knock me down when I am working on deck.

I also bought a piece of equipment known as an antenna splitter. It allows me to share the VHF radio antenna with the stereo AM/FM antenna. Unfortunately, when I hooked it up, it didn't appear to be working. The cable that connected the AM/FM radio to the splitter was functioning as an antenna  - but poorly. Connecting the splitter didn't make any improvement in the FM signal quality. Most disappointing since I really like to listen to KDFC and they have several relatively low power stations scattered around the bay area. None of them came in very well on the new unit despite the fact that my cheapie bedside clock radio picked up at least one of them just fine. More on this later.

I made up boom vangs for the main and the mizzen using the components I bought at Blue Pelican marine consignment store earlier in the day. I wish I had found this place earlier. They have tons of used gear in good shape at a fraction of the cost of new components. I'm sure I could have saved a couple thousand dollars had I only known.

What is a boom vang? It is a device to keep the boom of a sail from lifting when the main/mizzen sheet is eased (relaxed). Having the boom lift up is bad because it spoils the sail shape. Instead of being a nicely shaped airfoil, it becomes a baggy triangular sail which operates much less efficiently.

While I was working on all this, Mario got the new rails in place and actually finished the port rail - welded and polished and looking great! In short order, I had one solar panel mounted and connected. It is great to see the battery being charged when I have the shore power disconnected. It gives me a feeling of independence. I won't have to hook up to shore power or run the engine to keep the batteries charged up. That will be a huge relief on long passages when shore power is not available and it will allow me to lounge about in an isolated tropical lagoon for days on end without running the batteries flat.

4 Dec 2013 - Wednesday

Mario finished the railing project. He does top quality work. The railings look even better than the original installation - smooth welds, nicely polished. The picture to the right shows the finished rail with solar panel mounted.

I made a quick trip with Laelia to the Grand Marina harbormaster's office to pump out the holding tank and to inquire about the availability of guest slips. No problem - they have lots of slips. I asked because I am beginning to think I may depart from here rather than Half Moon Bay (actually, Pilar Point Marina in Princeton-by-the-Sea.) I don't know for sure when Mario will be finished. It sounds like Friday or Saturday at the earliest. The weather outlook is quite unsettled. If I can make the move to Pilar Point on Monday or Tuesday, I can still do it. The other days look like they will be windier than I care to try single handed on my first venture out. I may just stay here until the 15th - or the first day after that that is safe to start south to San Diego. It Is all up in the air (again/still.)

I got the second solar panel hooked up but it was too late in the day to tell if it is functioning normally.

The other big activity of the day was more troubleshooting on the VHF and AIS antenna problems. Glenn Hansen of Hansen Rigging brought me an antenna on 50' of cable to help troubleshoot the problem. First, I hoisted his antenna and hooked it up to the VHF and the AIS in turn. All is well. I see an SWR of 2.5:1 when I key the VHF transmitter - not great, but OK.

The next step was to climb the mizzen mast and hook the cable to my antenna. Repeating the tests with the VHF and the AIS, I got an SWR of 1.5:1 (outstanding!) and the AIS did not complain about antenna problems. That pretty much confirm that there is a problem with the transmission line. It means having to use a crane to pick up the mast while we replace the cable that runs down the inside of the mast. The connector between the portion of the transmission line in the boat and the transmission line in the mast is inside the mast and is inaccessible without lifting the mast off its base. Bummer!

While I had the test transmission line and mizzen antenna connected, I retried my antenna splitter. It works great! Now all I need is a good antenna on the boat.

Next, I took the test transmission line and hauled it up the main mast, disconnected the boat's transmission line, connected the test line and ran an SWR check. This one came out at over 3:1 so there is an antenna problem. I will have to replace the antenna before I can run another test to see if the transmission line is any good.

This all sounds kind of dry and academic, but it means climbing my "stairway to heaven" to a point 47 feet above the water to get to the top of the main. The mizzen is only about 35 feet. It is a good exercise - both for the muscles and for purging oneself of agoraphobia.

That brings things up to date. I am sitting here listening to the stereo and typing away on the laptop using only battery power. I have also turned on the running lights that I would be using if I were under sail. I figure it is a good test of battery capacity and solar panel capacity. We shall see if the panels can keep up with demand over the next few days. In the interest of full disclosure, I have to admit that I am still using heaters that require shore power. It is going to be awfully cold the first few days offshore! I am hoping for another bout of unseasonably warm weather starting December 15th.

It is exciting to see things coming together. December 15th is approaching fast. I think Laelia and I will be ready. Will the weather cooperate? Dunno. Stay tuned.

Up in the air

The last week has been a scramble getting ready to get out of Westpoint Harbor and on to Alameda. The part that makes it interesting is that I won’t be going back to Westpoint. I have to clean out my storage locker, find places on the boat to store all the stuff in the locker that I am taking with me on the cruise, get rid of the rest of it, sell my car, etc. I am going to Alameda to get the boat hauled out of the water, the bottom cleaned and repainted with anti-fouling paint and a few other miscellaneous items. After that, I hope to go to Angel Island for the Sequoia Yacht Club cruise-out and on to Half Moon Bay. The best laid plans…

The following is the blow-by-blow account of the last week.

20 Nov 2013 – Wednesday

I put the car up for sale on Craig’s List. The response was amazing – lots of interest. I thought I had priced it a bit high but the interest suggests otherwise. The first interested party to show up tried to bargain the price down despite my statement in the ad that the price was firm. He pulled out a wad of bills, started counting out money and discovered that he was about $1500 short. He said he would run down the road and get the rest of it from a friend and be back in 10 minutes. I told him I would give him 30 minutes then I was going to sell to interested party #2 who had promised to give me a non-refundable deposit of $100 via PayPal if I would hold the car for him. Half an hour passed and the first party had not returned so I called party #2 and told him the car was his if I got the deposit. It showed up in PayPal in a matter of minutes. Shortly after that, party #1 returned and was highly incensed that I hadn’t waited. I pointed out that he hadn’t done what he promised nor had he returned in the time period I specified. He spluttered on about traffic, etc, but never explained why he hadn’t called to tell me he would be late. Party #2 showed up at about 9:30 PM with a pocketful of $100 bill, counted out the asking price and the deal was done.

Farewell to my beloved Prius

I am carless for the first time since 1975 – the last time I was living on a boat. I have mixed feelings about it. This was by far the best car I have ever owned. It has been comfortable, reliable and economical to operate. In 144,000 miles, the only significant repair has been the water pump that went out a couple of weeks ago.

Still, it feels like I shed a big weight. I know it will be a bit inconvenient at time, but my load of possessions is getting lighter. I have long said that my personal freedom varied in inverse proportion to the number of keys I am carrying around in my pocket. I am down to five keys and an electronic key that gets me into the facilities at Westpoint Harbor.

In the midst of all this, Mike Manlove (from Agilent) and his wife, Mary Lou, came by to get the boat tour. We had set this up a week earlier but despite the advance planning, the boat looked like a junk yard with stuff strewn about the cabin from projects in progress. In addition, it was raining off and on. Still, I enjoyed the visit. I hope I am forgiven for my disorderly house.

Mike has been helping me figure out why my two VHF antennas don’t seem to work. The best we are able to figure out is that there is a break in the transmission line somewhere. I emailed Glenn Hansen (the rigger who replaced the antennas) and described the problem. We will get together next week while I am in Alameda and fix it.

21 Nov 2013 – Thursday

Out on the bicycle for my first shopping trip. I went to Trader Joe’s and then on to West Marine. West Marine has been trying to sort out my last order for a bunch of cleats and a few other items. It never seems to quite come out right. Today was no exception. I hung around the store for about an hour while they tried to figure out what had gone wrong and how they could fix it. I left the store with part of the order. They promised to have the rest tomorrow.

Back at the boat, I sorted through the clothing I have on board. I have more clothes than I have space to keep them. A couple of shopping bags of clothing are going to charity. The rest of the day was spent tucking things away into various cubbyholes. At the end of the day, the boat looked worse than it did the day before. The cabin interior and the cockpit were littered with stuff that still needed a home.

22 Nov 2013 – Friday

It is the 50^th anniversary of President Kennedy’s assassination. It was a Friday morning. I was a sophomore at West Virginia University. I was walking from a class toward my off-campus housing when I started hearing that he had been shot. I hurried home and turned on the radio. (I was a penniless student – no television.) It wasn’t long before the announcement that he was dead. I was among the people who had bought into the JFK/Camelot legend. His death felt like a physical body blow. The bizarre events of the next few days were so unreal that it seemed like we had taken a turn into Alice in Wonderland. It was hard to believe that LBJ would possibly fill Kennedy’s shoes. He was old-school, backroom politics and JFK was a plain dealing, knight in shining armor.

I’ve come to have a somewhat different view of things. I doubt that JFK could have come close to the hopes we had for him any more than Obama has. JFK’s overly aggressive foreign policy and his inability to persuade Congress to go along with his civil rights agenda would have severely tarnished his image. There is also the possibility that his womanizing would have come to light. In those days, it would have been a fatal blow to his political career. On the other hand, things like that didn’t get reported back then.

But I digress…

More agonizingly slow progress getting things stowed. I haven’t even looked at the storage locker yet. I made another shopping trip in the afternoon for groceries and for my remaining items at West Marine. I got groceries. I did not get any more of my order. The store manager was sufficiently embarrassed that she asked Done, one of the staff, to give me a ride back to the boat with my 12’ long sections of stainless steel tubing. That was quite helpful. I had planned to strap the tubing to the bike and walk the bike back to the boat – about 3 miles.

Back at the boat, I invited Don to look over the boat. He is a sailor and marine salvage person from way back. He looked over the boat and said some nice things about it. Then he said something to the effect of “I would feel a lot better about your trip if I knew you were making the trip with Jesus.” My reply was “Don, let’s not go there.” Of course, that didn’t stop him. I told him that in my mind the premise that God exists is not supported by the facts. We spent another five minutes on the subject before he dropped it. Naturally, neither of have changed our position about the subject.

23 Nov 2013 – Saturday

Time to panic! I am going to be pulling out of here sometime around 9 AM tomorrow and I haven’t even touched the storage locker. Hurriedly, I stowed a few more things and went to the locker for the first load. This promised to be a long process. The locker is a five minute walk from the boat and all I have to carry things with is a two wheeled cart. I estimated there were five or six loads. Fortunately, another of my Agilent friends bailed me out. Jennifer Sanderson had scheduled a visit and boat tour in response to my email to my former co-workers. She showed up driving an SUV and volunteered to help transport stuff. It took two SUV trips from the locker to the top of the gangway to the pier. It took five cart loads plus some hand-carried items to finish off the locker clean-out. Some items went straight to the dumpster but most of them went on the boat. The foredeck was piled high with bags of sails and the rest of the cockpit and cabin top were littered with things that needed a home.

Mike Manlove came by in the midst of this with another diagnostic tool to try to localize the antenna problem. After about an hour of climbing the mizzen mast and trying different combinations of cables and dummy loads, the diagnosis had not changed. There appears to be an open spot in the transmission line. Bummer! If I have to replace the transmission line in the mizzen mast, the mast will have to be lifted off its base to get access to the connector that hooks the line to the short section of line that runs under the deck to the transmitter. That translates into more money and more time. Both are promising to be in short supply.

After Mike and Jennifer departed, I fixed a minimal dinner and started tidying up the cabin. I worked at it until just short of midnight. By then I had everything tucked away somewhere. I had two shopping bags of items that I couldn’t deal with at the moment and another three shopping bags of parts for projects that need to be finished over the next three weeks. But – the bags and everything else were stowed well enough to make the trip to Alameda.

A big thank you to Jennifer for the help moving stuff and to Mike for helping me diagnose the antenna problem. It would have been much harder to get through the day without your help.

23 Nov 2013 – Saturday

I set the alarm for 6 AM. Since I retired two months ago, 6 AM has been unimaginably early. But I had a lot to do before I could get under way. Howard Brunnings was going to show up at 9 AM to help me move the boat and I wanted to be ready to depart shortly after he arrived.

Storing the sail bags was not too difficult. All but one of them went into the V berth in the bow. It is queen size at the top of the berth and about two feet wide at the foot. The sails filled the berth. The sail left on deck was the big genoa jib that I thought we might use. The forecast was for light winds.

A little after 8 AM, I got a text message from Howard. He had lost his car keys. I replied that I could wait for him until 10 AM and went back to stowing things.  

Somehow, everything else went into cockpit lockers and into the shower stall in the head. I took a short break to go to the harbor master’s office and turn in my keys – the electronic key and the key to my storage locker. Now I am down to four keys – one for the bicycle lock, two for the boat and one for the house in Placerville.

Howard texted a little after 9 that he had found his keys and was on the way. I pumped out the holding tank and I was in the process of filling the water tanks when Howard showed up a few minutes before 10. Doug Furman, the harbor master for the day, came down to say good-bye and help cast off. Around 10:15, we got under way.

There is not much to report about the trip. There was no wind - and I mean none! The water was glassy calm from the time we cleared Redwood Creek until we got to the entrance to Oakland’s inner harbor. There, we picked up a light breeze that it wasn’t worth trying to sail in it. We pulled in to The Boatyard at Grand Marina a little after 3 PM. Howard called for his ride. We relaxed with a glass of wine while we waited and worked out some more details of the upcoming trip to San Diego and did our best to solve the problems of the rest of the world. A glass of wine after a day on the water is very inspirational!

A pot of spaghetti, another glass of wine and the evening phone call to Judy wrapped up the day.

25 Nov 2013 – Monday

I was up a 6 AM again so I would have a chance to have breakfast and do a few little chores before the boat got hauled. It was scheduled for 8 AM and shortly after 8 AM there were yard workers at the boat pushing it into the slings of the travel lift.

This is where the “up in the air” part starts. In a few minutes, Laelia was hoisted into the air and moved to a location where one of the workers could use a high pressure spray to remove as much of the marine growth on the bottom as possible. See picture to the right.

Another half hour and Laelia was parked with blocks under her keel and big jack stands to support her. Then, nothing happened. I had expected that since I was first in line, they would start immediately with the sanding to clean up the bottom and get ready for painting. I made a trip to the office to find out why there was no action.

This is where the next part of the “up in the air” comes in. Surprise, surprise! Although I was first in line today, there were boats left over from last week that were before me in the work queue. They wouldn’t be able to start until Tuesday. That meant that they would not be finished by Wednesday PM. The yard will be closed from Thursday thru Sunday for Thanksgiving weekend. I would be back in the water Tuesday or Wednesday next week. I am literally high and dry – living up in the air - until then.

That put the kibosh on the Angel Island plan. I was left wondering how I would live on the boat for the next week. I had visions of not being able take showers for the coming week. I would have no heat because I had no power. Even washing dishes was going to be a gigantic hassle. The sink normally drains into the outside water. If I drained the sink in my new situation, the dirty water would run out onto the pavement. This was obviously unsanitary and would certainly attract adverse attention from the boat yard operators.

But the yard is used to dealing with live aboard boat owners. They hooked up power and gave me a key to the showers at Grand Marina next door. I figured out how to wash dishes by stoppering up the sink, washing dishes in a big bowel and dumping all of my wash water into a bucket on board. I emptied the bucket into the toilet in the men’s room. No problem!

However, this begins to put a crimp in my plans – even beyond missing the Angel Island cruise-out. Originally, I had hoped to move out to Half Moon Bay after the cruise-out. The antenna problem had already changed that plan since Hansen Rigging couldn’t look at it until Tuesday. The boat has to be in the water so it might even be a day later. Also, I needed to have two other important items taken care of. The big one was the setup for anchoring. I haven’t been able to find a readymade, bolt-on anchor roller with the functionality I need and the robustness that would withstand having the boat pitch and yaw while the anchor is being pulled in. The second thing is installing a tubular steel section in place of the lifelines in the cockpit area. It is needed as a mount for the solar panels.

I spent the rest of the day working on hooking up the AIS unit to the VHF transceiver so I can have a constant GPS position displayed on the VHF screen. I don’t understand why the manufacturer (Icom) makes these two units that are supposed to work together but there are no connectors to make that happen – only unterminated wires. Now I have an ugly bundle of wires hanging out of the AIS and running across the back of the navigation station.

26 Nov 2013 – Tuesday

Made a trip out on the bike for some groceries and the inevitable trip to West Marine. Spent the day installing stuff on deck – an additional cleat on the main mast, cleats on the cockpit coaming, a mast steps near the base of each mast – the first step to climb the mast was too big a step. I’m trying to get work done on deck in case the weather turns unpleasant.

 

I have some work to do that requires access to the cockpit lockers - so, once again, everything comes out of the lockers and the cockpit becomes a disaster area.

The yard got started on the bottom job today. They sanded off the remaining marine growth and applied paint to all of the areas they could reach. There are still some spots where the support stands touch the hull that they won’t be able to do until the existing paint dries and they can move the stands.

I contacted Mario Gonzales – the owner and sole employee of Alameda Marine Metal Fabrication and asked him to look over the anchor roller installation and the railing modification. He said he would come by in the evening but didn’t show. Not a promising beginning!

27 Nov 2013 – Wednesday

Another shopping trip – West Marine and Home Depot for bits and pieces I need.

Mario Gonzales came to the boat and looked over what I need to have done. He gave me an estimate for the work. It will leave me with way less money in my bank account than I was hoping for when I set sail but I don’t have a lot of choice in the matter. These are both essential items. But this leaves me still further “up in the air.” Mario was kind of vague about when he could finish. I explained that if I didn’t have the work finished on time, I would lose my crew for the trip to San Diego. He said he thinks he can have it all finished by the end of next week. That leaves me with about a week to do some shakedown and to move out to Half Moon Bay.

The picture to the right shows the area where then new bow roller is supposed to be installed at the far end of the teak platform. Imagine a set of rollers that allow chain (with an anchor attached to the end) to roll over the end of the platform. It has to be more than a simple roller because the boat may be bobbing up and down and slewing from side to side as the anchor is being lowered or retrieved. Open rollers would allow the chain to jump out of the rollers and jam between the platform and the bow pulpit. Not good! The assembly has to be strong since Laelia's design weight is 17,500 lbs and because the masts and rigging create a fair amount of windage. Between the two, the forces acting on the assembly can be destructive if the assembly is lightweight. More on this later when I get the new assembly mounted.

I am supposed to supply the actual rollers for the assembly so I went shopping. My first stop was a place called Blue Pelican Marine Nautical Consignments. I wish I had found this place before I started buying boat parts. I could easily have saved myself over a thousand dollars by buying used parts. I may still be able to use them for some remaining items. However, they didn’t have the rollers so I walked on down the street to Svenson Marine’s chandlery. They had the rollers. I have been told that their prices are better than West Marine’s but for this item they weren’t. But then again, the rollers are made of a different (and hopefully better) material.

The big accomplishment for the day was getting the masthead tri-color navigation light wired and working. It is a multi-function device that has the red, green and white navigation light as well as an anchor light (shows white all around) and a flashing white light. I had hoped to put the function selector next to the companionway where I could reach it from the cockpit but that would have meant tearing up the boat to string three wires behind various panels. I am not up to doing that right now so the switch ended up at the base of the mast in the cabin. It’s not ideal but it is workable and doable in the time I have available.

The last of my botched order from West Marine was delivered this evening. Lauren, the manager of the store, delivered it personally after she got off work. I am impressed! Keep in mind that this is Thanksgiving Eve and she had to drive up I-880 during rush hour to do it.

28 Nov 2013 – Thursday – Thanksgiving Day

So, here I am - still. The good news is that it looks like all the work is done that needs to be done before Laelia goes back into the water. In addition to the bottom job, Laelia got waxed. She looks better now than she did when I bought her two years ago. She had accumulated quite a collection of scuff marks from docking attempts that rubbed against the rubber bumpers.

I decided to use the holiday to take my time getting started, take a shower and get caught up on this blog. So that brings me up to date.

Things I am thankful for this Thanksgiving Day:

I am thankful for a sunny day on what was forecasted to be overcast with a chance of rain.

I am thankful for Judy. She brings warmth and joy into my life. She has chosen to stick with me and support me in this endeavor even though it is not something that she wanted.

I am thankful for my four daughters. They have been my teachers as well as my children. They have grown up to be people I respect and admire – as well as love.

 

I am thankful for my three granddaughters who are also becoming wonderful adults. I wish it were possible to see more of them.

I am thankful for my good health and this opportunity to pursue a 40 year old dream.

I am thankful for my friends, co-workers, acquaintances who have encouraged me on this venture.

I am thankful for pancakes – hot off the griddle, slathered with butter and drowned in syrup.

 

There is so much more...

Happy Thanksgiving to all of you.

I expect the next weeks to be pretty busy but I do hope to update this blog at least once more before departing to San Diego sometime around Dec 15^th.