Monthly Archives: May 2012

Suddenly Buddhist

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Andrew with Franny on board. We said goodbye to Fran this year.

You have to be careful what you wish for in this world. This saying is well known  and yet we continue to wish for things and then suffer when they come true. Maybe the Buddhists are right: all suffering comes from attachment. If this is true, then we must be pretty attached to Moonrise because suddenly we are filled with suffering, fear, and loathing.

The reason is simple: suddenly there is considerable interest in our boat by potential buyers. Moonrise has been on the market for a couple of months now and the good weather is here; weather that inclines people toward being out on the water. All the time Moonrise has been for sale, we’ve been a bit perplexed by how many people have read the website advertisement, checked her out on Craigslist, emailed us how great she looks. Everything but asked to see her in person. We began to think maybe she wouldn’t sell, maybe we were not meant to sell her.

This has given us a false sense of security. We think of ways we could be comfortable on Moonrise while crossing a wild and woolly ocean. Mike continues to do little projects on the boat, as though she isn’t going anywhere. We continue to spend time on the boat whenever possible. In short, we continue to act like boat owners because nothing has told us that we are not. We’ve been in sweet, sweet denial.

Decent wind on Commencement Bay

Suddenly people are showing an actual interest in seeing the boat. We showed the boat to a nice couple yesterday. It would probably be perfect for them and I know they would care for it lovingly. We show the boat again tomorrow. This mean it’s possible we might actually be boatless for at least part of the summer, or even longer because right now there is nothing on Yachtworld that we like and can afford.

Frankly, this just makes me want to cry. I try to soothe myself by thinking things like ‘we’ll get another boat’, ‘think of all the money you can put into the boat kitty when you don’t pay moorage for awhile’, ‘you cannot buy another boat until Moonrise finds a new home’, etc. Mike tries to comfort me, and himself, by telling me ‘we’ll get another boat, don’t worry’.  It does not help. I just want to grab onto the safety lines and hang on. My two year old self wants to stomp my feet and shout, “MY BOAT! Mine mine mine!”. Maybe I can add some jumping up and down, and then throwing myself on the ground kicking and screaming, little fists pounding, to that picture.

The thing is, she is such a pretty boat. Anchored up in Barkley Sound.

Why, oh why do we get so attached to boats?  What is this thing in some of us that personifies boats in the same way we do houses? How is it possible to give our hearts to things that are, in the end, objects? Of course we know that we will always have the memories, yadda yadda yadda. Why does that not help in the least?

I’m going to have to practice channeling my inner Buddhist during this process of boat selling. But I’m pretty sure that regardless of how good I get at that, when we sell Moonrise, I’m going to cry like a baby. Note to the universe: please send us buyers who will love this boat with all of their hearts.

Moonrise under sail. Photo by EJHulsizer

A Beautiful Weekend…. On Land.

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My 'daffodil' rhodies.

We finally have decent weather in the Pacific Northwest! This weekend it hit 80 degrees, with blue skies and the sun acting as though it had been there all along. We wait all year for this weather. It’s the only reason many of us continue to live here through the dark disgusting winter season. The garden is filled with the majesty of spring.  So naturally our thoughts turned to being out on the boat.

“Oh good!”, the loyal reader exclaims! “They went out on the boat and there will be cool sailing photos. ”

But that is not what happened. We did not get out on the boat. You cannot possibly be more disappointed than we are about the fact that weekends are only 2 days long and one cannot be more than one place at a time, at least not in this dimension.

Alliums are in full dazzle.

When a certain mother and her daughter both have gift certificates to a certain spa and they want to go together, and the daughter works in Seattle Monday-Friday, then that mother/daughter pair must go to the spa on a Saturday. So we did. And after my body was scrubbed until it shone, I went outside to get dirty. I spent the rest of the day gardening. Being too clean and relaxed sends the wrong message to others. A little dirt under the nails calms down that kind of expectation.

And when that same mother has a son who is away at college and is coming home for the weekend to do the Color Run in Seattle on Mother’s Day, and then wants to go out to lunch with that mother, after which there will be a drive to Redmond,well, you can see that the two day weekend is now shot to heck in terms of going out on the boat for a day.

But all is not lost! There were some boats involved in this weekend. While in Seattle we took a little wander down to the Chittendon Locks in Ballard. The locks were named after a man named Hiram, and Mike’s grandfather’s name was Hiram, so we feel a special affinity for these locks. Also we wanted to see how they work because we’ve never been through them and we hear horror stories. You know, there are horror stories about just about everything. Locks are only one of many subjects.

This combination makes me happy.

After watching the locks open and close letting boats in and out between the salt water of Salmon Bay and the fresh water lakes, I’ve determined that once more, I am correct in assuming that if hundreds of thousands of people accomplish something with ease, we can too. Yep, it looks dead easy. You wait your turn, go in, tie up to the buttons on the wall, wait for the doors to open, then go out. I’m pretty sure we can hack it. So we hope to take a multi-day trip up to Lake Washington this summer, since we’ve never done that.

I took a couple of videos while up at the locks. Also, since there are no sailing photos, I took some of the garden and stuck them in this post. If I have to be on land, may as well enjoy what it has to offer. What’s that they say… bloom where you are planted? Well, I’m trying.

Watch the massive doors open in this video. Also hear the wind that we are missing out on by being on land.

 

Watch how they pack the boats in. It could make me a little nervous having other boats that close, but at least they are not moving fast.

Sailboat Rigging 101 with Brion Toss

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Brion Toss ascending the mast of s/v Osprey

This past Sunday, Melissa and I had the opportunity to attend a sailboat rigging and tuning seminar presented by Brion Toss. For those of you unfamiliar with sailboats, the rigging refers to the wires and hardware used to keep the mast aligned and tensioned. This allows the sails to work at their peak efficiency and is a veritable art. Brion Toss  (http://www.briontoss.com)  is perhaps the best known rigger in the world; certainly in our part of it, and is the author of numerous books and DVDs on rigging, rope work, sailmaking and other disciplines of the dedicated seaman.

Osprey is a beautiful Annapolis 44 owned by Steve and Elsie Hulsizer for the last 29 years. Brion spoke about the basic objectives of rig tuning and showed us how to use a tension gauge and other tools of the rigger, including this fetching gear keeper  modeled by one of our class mates.

Tools work better when they aren't at the bottom of the ocean. Brion's rule is if you drop it, you buy it.

Fortunately for us, Osprey’s rig was nicely out of tune which allowed Brion to show the class some basic adjustments. It also gave us an opportunity to calibrate our eyes. For example Osprey’s mast is designed to bend  a few inches to allow the sails to be shaped for various wind conditions and points of sail. After we had all looked up the mast to see the bend and then guess at how much bend was actually  present, Brion then showed us how to confirm our guesses with an actual measurement on the ground.

The class tested our ability to detect the bend in Osprey's mast

Brion had more tips than he could possibly impart in three short hours. One item of interest to me was his tips on adjusting the roller furling to minimize friction and wear.

Michael studying Osprey's roller furler after Brion's adjustment

Michael studying Osprey's roller furler after Brion's adjustment

It was a great class that gave Melissa and me some confidence that we could perform this important task and we came away with a great appreciation for  Brion’s expertise and skill as an instructor. I also appreciated Brion’s safety conscious attitude and will definitely use some of his techniques for ascending the mast the next time I go aloft. Below is a short clip of Brion coming down after adjusting the intermediary stays at the spreaders.