Monthly Archives: June 2013

All….Most….There….

Posted on by

Ah, what a weekend! Today was sunny and very warm for us, 82 degrees.  It was one of those days that came together just like clockwork. After Mike’s hard work all week, he really needed a break and this was our only opportunity to get one before we leave for the long vacation. How is it that we need a break from preparing for our vacation? That just sounds weird, and yet it’s true.

Thursday I met Mike down at Moonrise to help him install the final piece of the autopilot. He drilled holes, I passed wires and retrieved tools, and before we knew it, he had completed the job. Next was the commissioning and sea trial of the unit.

Mich

Mike, puddling around. Isn’t she cute?

At the same time that Mike was working on the autopilot, I had been thinking about the dinghy situation. Several years ago Mike built our dinghy, Puddler, and she has been a great little boat. She has ridden the waves behind Moonrise on every trip. We like her. But she is, in a word, heavy. She was Mike’s first pass at building a plywood boat and he used,    um, plenty of fiberglass. You know how they say those fiberglass boats of the ’70s were ‘overbuilt’. Enough said.

Mike really wanted a tender that could be easily brought up on deck during rough passages and Puddler does not fit that bill. In addition, she needs some minor repairs that may turn into major repairs if we take her through rough water. And we just don’t have time to get to those right now.  Barkley Sound isn’t exactly the end of the earth, but it’s wild enough that one wants a dinghy that is easy to maneuver and stow.

No, it was time to try something else so I turned to Craigslist. I had been looking every day this week and had found a few possibilities, but they were not anywhere close to home and I really wanted to find one that could be outfitted with a sail. So when I pulled up Craigslist last night and saw that the very first dinghy listed was an 8 foot Walker Bay with a set of really nice, adjustable oars with good looking stainless steel oarlocks, my heart started beating faster. The price was about 1/3 what that set would cost new, and it was in good condition. There is a place for a mast, a centerboard, and a rudder. The clincher was that it was sitting on the dock by the guy’s boat in Gig Harbor, right across the water from us. I emailed him. Could we sail across this morning and take a look? We could!

Hey, Moonrise! What's that up on deck? The dinghy can actually lay flat when we pull it forward a bit.

Hey, Moonrise! What’s that up on deck? The dinghy can actually lay flat when we pull it forward a bit.

So we got off the dock around 9:00 this morning and sailed over to Gig Harbor, bought the dinghy and oars, and then tied up at the dock at The Tides tavern for lunch, right behind a really cool Coast Guard boat. The Tides has great dockside service this time of year and is a very popular spot for local boaters. It’s so popular that you might not be able to leave when you want to if people raft up to you, but the show is free and the weather is fine, so who cares? I love those kind of days.

These Coast Guard boats are pretty cool, when their engines start. Unfortunately, this one didn't.

These Coast Guard boats are pretty cool, when their engines start. Unfortunately, this one didn’t. We were sorry for the Coasties. 

After lunch we spent time commissioning our newest crew member, Stella. She is going to be an awesome addition to the boat. We don’t know how we lived this long without her! For her first test, she took us directly to our favorite anchorage off Vashon Island where we dropped the hook for a few hours.  With this heat, and all the activity, we were both in need of a nap.

Mike with our new crew member, Stella. We love her already.

Mike with our new crew member, Stella. We love her already. 

The boat is pretty much ready to go now except for fuel and water. I still have some grocery shopping to do and we need to pack clothing and take my kayak down to the marina. But the end of preparations is in sight.  Four days and counting!

Time Warping

Posted on by

Ever notice that when you are waiting for something time seems to slow down to an excruciating minute by minute experience? I think this is some kind of quantum time warp that happens when vacations loom in the near future. You would think that with the craziness that is our lives this week time would simply be flying, but such is not the case. We’re moving at warp speed, but time seems like it is standing still. There must be some strange law of physics at work here.

We are packing a whole lot of living into one little week around here.  We’ve got one kid leaving for Turkey and Europe tomorrow, another kid moving home this weekend in advance of her own adventure to Scotland and beyond. There are rooms to get ready, bags to pack, tickets to double check, sheets to wash, travel snacks to pack, and what’s left of an apartment full of stuff to move home with said oldest child. And the dog looks like he feels puny. I can’t tell if he’s just responding to the stress or whether there is something wrong.

Mike and Andrew in the process of what has become alarmingly commonplace at our house: moving people and furnishings around.

Mike and Andrew in the process of what has become alarmingly commonplace at our house: moving people and furnishings around.

Our oldest is doing it right. She is taking the plunge and casting her net into the wide world, expecting it to work out. She has started by selling almost everything in her apartment. She made about 1000$ toward her travel plans. A pretty good haul if you ask me. Only a few pieces of furniture are coming home, and it’s because of me, not because of her. She’s a brave one. I’m trying to envision doing that same kind of thing with a 3000 square foot house and I’m coming up short in the vision department. I guess it’s just going to take us longer.

She got to enjoy living in this lovely building in Seattle for exactly one year. Now on to other things.

She got to enjoy living in this lovely building in Seattle for exactly one year. Now on to other things.

So her move is the background music of our lives all the time right now, and Andrew’s trip to Turkey and Europe is coming up starting tomorrow. We’ve been scurrying around helping him with last minute things, and just being with him until he leaves. By the time a kid gets to be this age, he can pretty much do his own packing and all that, but, you know. Moms.

Meanwhile my practice is busier than ever. I’m completely booked until the day before we cast off. Go figure. But it did feel good to change my voice mail message, which I did a few days ago already,  announcing that new client appointments had to be scheduled the first week of August. That should slow down the tidal wave so I can keep my head above water.

Last weekend we retrieved Moonrise from her place in Olympia and brought her home. She’s still ours and we’re just going to take her up to Canada and enjoy the heck out of her. Mike is working on getting the autopilot installed and it’s working really well so far. He works his day, then goes to the boat and puts in hours there. Guess which hours he enjoys more? He’s taken loads of photos and will be posting his finished product coming up. This is good practice for the next boat, whenever that is. We were able to get most of our things back on the boat and get them stowed this weekend, so all that’s left is the stocking of food and clothing and entertainment items. Eight more days and counting. Even time warps must come to an end.

South sound anchorage off Anderson Island. No wind, but pretty day.

South sound anchorage off Anderson Island. No wind, but pretty day.

Gearing Up!

Posted on by

June 23 is fast approaching. In case you are wondering why that day is important, aside from it being Mike’s birthday,  it’s the day by which if Moonrise doesn’t sell we will be sailing her back to her home port in Tacoma and getting her outfitted for an actual adventure. I’m holding my breath. In a recent post I threw down the proverbial gauntlet and challenged the Universe. Either sell our boat, or give us a good vacation this year. It’s just entirely possible we will get our vacation. So it’s hard to be sorry that the boat hasn’t sold yet. The vacation cannot come fast enough for me.

I want this. I want it now.

I want this. I want it now.

I remember the last time we headed up to Barkley Sound and how much planning we did for the trip. We bought a Spot Locator so family could keep track of us, only to realize when we failed to push the magic locator button at the end of the day, they got worried. Oy. That was a mistake. We dithered and bought things and laid on supplies like we were going to the far reaches of civilization. Imagine our dismay when we realized just how many boats there were up there in the wilds of Vancouver Island. And they actually have grocery stores there, too! Imagine that!

This time we are preparing in a different way. With all of our ‘stuff’ off of the boat, we have the opportunity to be choosy about what goes back onto her for the trip. Only things we know we will use will find their places below. Of course, that includes my hammock. I will need that desperately. And reading material of all kinds. I like to have a small library to choose from as the spirit moves me. Mike has bought another anchor off Craigslist to replace the one we lost last year in the ‘sailboat hard on the rocks‘ debacle, so that will go on the boat. This year we both have new cameras, one of them waterproof. And I have a fancy new Asus notebook computer with some fabulous navigation software that we’ll be reviewing. We can’t wait to try it out.

But that’s not the only new toy we’ll be having on this trip.

Looks like Mike had an early birthday this year! Is that a halo?

It may seem counter intuitive to some, but we bought an auto pilot for the boat. Yes, the boat will be for sale again when we get back, unless we find a buyer while we’re up there. But the way we look at it, if the boat doesn’t sell and we keep it awhile longer, we’ll enjoy having one. Going to Barkley Sound without one would still be fun, but it would mean taking turns being wheel slaves constantly as it’s likely there will be a lot of motoring time unless we get lucky. This will be a long trip and if we did something else for a vacation, that money would be spent anyhow. So we’ll get to use it for the trip, and as long as we have the boat. And it will make Moonrise that much more desirable to someone else in the future. See how happy Mike looks? That’s because we are going to learn so much about installing this thing and making it work and all that learning will benefit us the second time around.

While we’re waiting for next weekend, we’re busy reading some classic sailing books by Tristan Jones. I’ll be taking some of his books aboard for the trip. I’d never heard of him before, but noticed an entire shelf devoted to his considerable works at my local used book store. He tells a good yarn and did things most sane people wouldn’t even consider, such as taking his trimaran, S/V Outward Leg, across the rivers of Europe during the height of the cold war. Oh, and when he did this, he had only one leg, the other one being a wooden model allegedly carved for him by none other than Larry Pardey. I have not checked this out with Mr. Pardey, so I’ll just take Tristan’s word for it. His books are page turners and we found we couldn’t wait to see what kind of wild thing he did next. He must have been some kind of character. Pick up one of his books and see if you can read just one. By the time we come back, maybe I will have read them all.