The Need for Speed When Performing Boat Yoga, and a Cunning Little Cruiser!

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You think a Cal 34 cannot go fast? HA! Double Ha!

Another fine weekend of Pacific Northwest sailing. On Saturday we headed over to Oro Bay on Anderson Island. There was a little boat moored there that we wanted to take a look at for our son, Andrew. More on that later.

The wind was whipping about 15 knots as we headed out of the marina, taking full advantage of the incoming tide as we swept under the Narrows Bridge. Sailing around here means always being very aware of what the tide is doing and when, since any sailor up here knows that if you try to sail against the tide in the narrows, you will sail backwards.

This time we had about 2-3 knots of current with us, and great wind to boot, so naturally there was time for a little boat yoga. Boat yoga is good for all parts of a person and really takes the edge off those long wheel-slave sessions when the only auto pilots on board are named Mike and Melissa. That’s right, folks, there is nothing like a few yoga poses while heeled at 25 degrees to make what could otherwise be a tiring time at the wheel simply fly by.

Thankfulness. Hold pose for at least 30 seconds while you give thanks for the wind and your saucy boat.

 

The Wind Tunnel. Sailing for long periods on a broad reach in plenty of wind allows tension to build up in the body. Use this pose to discharge that tension, sending the energy back up into the wind from whence it came. Brace foot firmly. Blow out through your mouth, like the wind.

The Compass. Become the needle on your compass, pointing toward the horizon. Strike pose swinging arm through all four of the major directions, keeping arm straight. Pivot at the hips. Brace feet and be careful! Alternatively, you can pretend you are singing into a microphone with one hand, point to your audience with the other. Your choice.

After a refreshing yoga session, it’s time to change helmsmen and sail through some tidal rips. May as well turn off the sound on your computer because I still don’t have the hang of talking during a video clip when there is a lot of wind.

The anchorage at Oro Bay is really protected and quiet. We anchored in about 16 feet of water, feeling completely protected from the wind. An interesting feature of this anchorage is this old ferry. Someone brought this thing over from the east coast, thinking they would somehow restore it and take over the ferry service over on Ketron Island, just next door. Why do people think they can salvage huge things like this? It’s pretty cool, but I cannot imagine how much money it would take to get something like this up and running.

The old ferry from Ocean City, which is probably in New Jersey. Just now it has two travel trailers parked in it, and plenty of sea life parked ON it.

So, now we can satisfy the question on everyone’s minds: Why are these people looking for a boat for their son? The answer is simple: we are insane. Let’s just get it onto the table right now. We have lost our minds somewhere in the wind. Sure, there are nice logical answers like ‘We want Andrew to learn about working on boats.’, ‘Andrew needs a project to work on.’, or ‘It would be cheap housing during college.’

But those answers are probably not the real reason. Probably the real reason is that young men need adventures in order to become solid men. We prefer that Andrew’s adventures not be in the form of either going to war, or playing like he is going to war in front of the video screen. Andrew had a grand adventure traveling through Europe on his own between highschool and college. It crystalized something in him that has helped him be successful in college. Adventures do that. We’d like to see that kind of development continue so that he can become even more self-sufficient and make choices about how he lives his life that might be a little outside the box. He’s enough like me that I worry he will get bored with life if he enters the world of work, never to have time to himself again until retirement.  We see this as part of his education, part of his growing-up. And if we get to live a little vicariously through him, well, what are kids for? I guess like most parents, we want better for our kids than we had for ourselves, and we want them to know they don’t have to do things the way we did them.

So we sailed out to Anderson Island to look at this little Westerly Cirrus, a 22 foot sailboat that could take Andrew just about anywhere.

The Westerly Cirrus

This little boat is salty as heck, but it needs some work because it’s been sitting there for a long time. The price is right, but does Andrew want to take it on? Like us, he’d rather sail than work on a boat, but it wouldn’t take much to make this boat sail-able. And the sails are in good condition, as is the standing rigging. I’ll review this boat on the boat reviews page.

Here’s a final video of our sail back. We ran our engine for about 1/2 hour the entire weekend. Great Pacific Northwest sailing!

Moonrise, out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another One Bites the Dust

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File this under ‘how to save money so you can buy a boat’, ‘downsizing’, or ‘preparing to cruise’, whichever you prefer. Mike and I are trying to live more frugally lately and this means that at times we have to make choices. Suffice to say I ran smack up against my definition of self, otherwise known as ‘ego’, this week. Turns out this whole idea of saving money is making me a pretty cheap date.

Recently 3 seemingly unrelated things happened: We sold my Mazda van, and our daughter moved to an apartment in Seattle, on her own once more. She left her 1994 Toyota Camry behind forever, sitting in our driveway. Then our son came home for the summer. I had been driving his cute little Toyota Matrix, a car both versatile and attractive. Astute readers will see the handwriting on this wall by now.

This is what I usually drive. Cute, versatile.

When a son returns home for the summer, he wants his car and because the car belongs to him (and I promised he could have it back) I am currently without vehicle. I need to get to work. We considered our options, including riding the bus (but I have to find a way to the bus stop) and buying a scooter to be ridden in the summer. Cute, but not very versatile. Trouble is, we don’t want to replace one vehicle with another. That’s not part of our plan.

“But wait!”, you may think. “Don’t you have the old Camry?”. Oh. Yes. We. Do. Let me tell you about this car. We bought it for $5000 when our daughter was a Junior in highschool. She has driven it for 10 years. Driven it only. Not actually cared for it. It has 270,000 miles on it (Long live Toyota!). It has had several minor skirmishes with various fences, gates, and other vehicles and apparently we don’t believe in spending money fixing cosmetic things on old cars.  Think of the damage as war wounds. The windshield is cracked, the doors don’t lock properly, the windows will roll down but then won’t roll up, steering is decidedly wavy, the dashboard is cracked, and it leaks like a sieve… as in there was a small lake on the passenger’s side of the car and Mike actually found large mushrooms growing in the back. I am not making this up.

The Camry was a fine looking automobile. That's past tense.

 

Understand, we have never driven new cars, believing a new car to be a profound waste of money. We do not even drive late model cars, as a general rule. We pretty much see cars as a means of transportation. We like them reliable, safe, inexpensive, and fuel efficient. So we don’t really think of cars as being reflections of our true selves, but there’s a limit and I thought I’d reached it when faced with this transportation issue.

I contemplated driving the Camry. Mike had spent considerable time and energy drying it out and cleaning it up. But still, it’s a car from 1994. I don’t even remember that long ago. I don’t think Andrew even existed yet.  I thought about clients and colleagues sizing me up as I pulled into the parking lot in this ‘vehicle’. I thought about the fact that as a middle aged woman, I am already part of a segment of the population that people don’t take very seriously, as though my usefulness as a human being is nearing its expiration date. (If you think this isn’t true, you are either not a middle aged woman, you are not paying attention, or both.) In short I was thinking, ‘What will people think of me?’. I ran smack up against ego, once more! Damn! Will it never end? Where is the part of me that gives less than a rat’s ass about the judgments of others? I know she’s around here somewhere…

I contemplated driving the car to the park and ride, taking the bus to work. It would actually be fine as it stops just a few blocks from my office and I would enjoy the walk. That was the plan for today.

Then I found myself driving to the park and ride in pouring rain, without an umbrella. I would get soaked walking the few blocks to my office. Unacceptable. So I drove to work. And you know what? It wasn’t bad. I studiously ignored any looks from other drivers. Maybe there weren’t any. I’ll never know. There is a sunroof and great visability in that car; much better visability than the Matrix. And the sound system is terrific! I pulled into the parking lot with my hearing aids vibrating to ‘Another One Bites the Dust’.

Can I allow my self-imposed persona of the professional woman who drives above-average looking, versatile cars give way to the part of me that wants to be frugal for the sake of living the rest of our lives on our own terms? Yep. I can. I’ve always been a bit of a rule breaker, even when I’ve made the rules myself. Another one bites the dust, indeed!

My new ride!

 

My Bottom is Black and Shiny

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Moonrise is back in the water after having her bottom painted. What a difference a fresh coat of bottom paint makes! But let’s start from the beginning.

For our readers that are not hip to the intricacies of boat ownership, boats left in the water year round must have special paint applied to the bottom of their hulls to inhibit growth of the many critters that want to live there. In the Puget Sound, barnacles are the main culprit. The paint we use contains copper which leeches out over time. We last painted Moonrise in October of 2009 and so, thirty months later, we have pulled her out for a fresh coat of paint and to repair a scrape to the keel.

We are hoping that a freshly painted bottom will help Moonrise sell since it is a considerable expense and a lot of work. We also really enjoy sailing her with a clean bottom. So, before we sell her, we benefit from our labors.

The first step is to get Moonrise out of the water.  In Tacoma, we use the Hylebos Boatyard. Even though it is a lot of work, we both enjoy the yard. You get to oogle other boats in various states of undress and the yard boss, Shaun, is friendly and helpful.

Want to see her being pulled from the water?

After being hauled out, Moonrise gets a pressure wash to remove the soft algae and other easy to remove critters. It also tends to take off some of the old paint.

Moonrise after having her bottom pressure washed

Melissa and I were quite happy with the state of the bottom. There was very little hard growth and it looked like a very easy job to to lightly sand and repair a gouge on the keel. We bumped into a rock in Barkley Sound a year and half ago which took a divot out of the keel in two places.

Moonrise ready for a light sanding and paint

After getting the boat secured with jack stands we sanded the bottom to remove any remaining hard growth and to rough up the bottom for the fresh paint. We have to rent a sander which is attached to a industrial sized shop vacuum to keep the bottom paint dust from contaminating the air and water. The boat yard is pretty meticulous about keeping the area clean since the EPA can fine them (and us) for polluting the waterway.

View of damage to bottom of keel after pressure washing

This damage was a source of some embarrassment for us. Fortunately, it was easy to fix. After sanding the damage out, I applied a coat of epoxy to the area and then filled the gouge with thickened epoxy. The next day, I sanded everything fair.

Epoxy with filler applied to keel. Just need to sand everything fair now.

Repaired keel before painting

And this is what the area looked like after painting

The finished product. Epoxy is a wonderful thing

With two of us working to paint, it only takes a couple of hours per coat. It isn’t terribly hard work but you do have paint upside down and in other awkward positions.

God, I love that woman

For the second time since we have owned Moonrise, we used the Interlux Bottom Coat ACT with Irgarol. This paint is relatively inexpensive as bottom paints go ($140 a gallon at West Marine) and had done a great job for the last 30 months.

Et Voila! Fresh bottom paint and a waxed hull to boot.

Happiness is a clean, freshly painted bottom

Just before re-launching the boat, we have to paint the area where the keel rests on the ground. Shaun, the yard boss lifts the boat up a few inches to remove the jack stands and prepare the boat for the journey back to the water. While he works, I slip in to slap a last few bits of paint on the bottom of the keel. It is a little weird being under the boat just suspended by two nylon straps, large though they may be.

Here is Moonrise being lowered back into the water.

It had been a rainy day and Melissa and I were not looking forward to sailing her back to our moorage across the bay in a downpour. The gods smiled upon us and the rain stopped just as we left the yard. The effects of having a clean, fresh bottom on the performance of a sailboat are amazing. We had perhaps ten knots of wind gusting to 13 as we flew across the bay with just the headsail at nearly six knots. It was a beautiful reward for all our labors.