Week two on-the-hard, Check!

Another long dusty week gone by and so much has been done. Our decision to go big on the bottom relegated us to a very dusty environment. Since we were going to be wearing our ventilator masks anyway we figured it was a good time for a little sole sanding. Two days of Sergio throwing up old toxic bottom paint dust, Chris stripping what was left of the sole varnish with his drill and Shawn following with a random orbital sander (thanks to Caleb of La Cadencia since our sander pad gave up after several revivals). We survived and relished blowing all of it out of the cabin and off the deck with compressed air for a slightly cleaner environment.

We have continued to trudge forward with the projects. Chris finished plumbing the anchor locker and cockpit allowing us to reassemble the windlass, get Rocky ready for launching, load up the V-berth with our sails, and now after a couple days of drying we'll soon be able to reload the rest of the gear on our cabin top into the lazarettes. While waiting, we've been reattaching gear to the stern pulpit. This included a basic monitor wind vane repair (replacing a bushing) which turned a little bigger when one of the stainless bolts sheered, and became even bigger upon reinstallation of the gear linkage, some of the bearings came out... Another black box revealed. We're very grateful to have had Moni ashore for the improvements and that Moni is back in action; better than ever attached to the transom and and ready to steer.

"Slight" detours happen during every project, and we're trying to take advantage of our power-rich environment, so while loading more gear onto the stern pulpit, Shawn has been using the drill to buff clean our rusting cowl vents and Chris has been cutting stainless tubing to the correct lengths for new cockpit lifeline bars as well as the stern arch that he is creating (all will be revealed as that comes together). As always, more epoxy is flowing, this time into new holes in the cabin top created for our two new-to-us Lewmar 25 2-speed winches that are replacing the original four Barient 10 one-speeds.

It felt good to begin installing the running rigging as Tao has started to look like a sailboat again. The anchor was connected to the bow, the lifelines went up, the boom was installed, all of the plastic deck hardware that was removed for dry storage has been reinstalled, and halyards were hung by the mast with care in hopes that sailing soon will be near (anyone get the Christmas reference there?). We cleared the cockpit to check the fit of our new (ala Noah of Scheherazade) teak cockpit grate/outdoor bed and only minor adjustments had to be made for it to fit- though we realized we should get on staining it and decided also to start layering varnish on the 7-ft wooden oars we brought down for Eeyore.

Through all of this, Sergio has been diligently continuing the 9-day bottom job which included stripping the bottom down to the gel coat, followed by epoxy touch-ups when down to the fiberglass, then sanding with a finer grain and detailing (5-days) plus a half day on Saturday to tape everything and work on the propeller to finish the sanding. Monday was a big day with 3 coats of epoxy barrier, 1 coat of primer, and 1 coat of bottom paint. Tuesday the Lowboy showed up to move us so he could get underneath the keel and stands and repeat the same treatment there as well as apply a second full coat of bottom paint. Today is the final day with the third coat everywhere, all the detail work, blue tape pulled and voila, a beautiful new bottom!

For us today, we started with a hearty steak, egg and potato breakfast and we're now in high gear focused on getting Yannie up to speed and organizing everything that has been on the cabin top for the past weeks, maybe even bending sails; basic minimum preparation for life afloat. Spirits were lagging for a brief period in there, but we were reinvigorated by the full lunar eclipse on the winter solstice. And although a heavy marine layer has been hanging around for the last two days, we are fired up to splash tomorrow! Back to work...

Week one on-the-hard, Check!

Shawn and Griz taking a much needed break

Hey Crew! We have survived our first week on-the-hard. What have we been doing, you might dare to ask? We've been focused on everything "bottom," getting all work ready for handing over the bottom job to Marina Seca here in San Carlos. That means we've pulled everything out of our bow and the stern lazarettes in order to access points of improvement. (Where does all the stuff go? On deck of course...)

One of our main goals is to improve drainage and to do this we have:

(1) closed the original anchor locker drain (now below water line) which required Chris to do his first epoxy hull repair (he reglassed with 24 layers of fiberglass!), add added a new 1 1/2" through-hull much higher to drain from the anchor locker above it, which also got a new bigger drain

Chris in the V-berth, accessing underneath the anchor locker

(2) added two new 1 1/2" cockpit drains to the after portion of the cockpit

Chris doing crazy yoga moves to fit into the lazarette

(3) moved the engine exhaust from the bottom of the hull transom to the back of the transom to improve drainage and reduce the possibility of back flow, which required one new through-hull and some replumbing (still to do).

This is looking into the aftermost lazarette and obviously still needs to be plumbed, but the new engine exhaust is at the top (2"), the three on the bottom (all 1.5") are the automatic bilge pump, both cockpit drains, and the manual bilge pump T'd in.

At the same time, we have been chipping away at other projects. Most important to have ready when we splash is our anchoring system, so we have flipped the chain over and re-marked it for easy annual flipping. Another project that has been hanging over us, we have done everything possible to rebed the toe rail without actually removing it- i.e. removed all old caulking material on outside edge and inside edge, sanded, cleaned, taped, and recaulked with black Sika-Flex along both sides of the entire boat. We have also removed and rebed the few deck fittings that we had not yet done, epoxied numerous small areas, and have spent an inordinate amount of time reviving an old random orbital sander pad as there are apparently none available in all of Guaymas without purchasing a new sander. Currently, there is dust everywhere as Shawn decided to sand down the weather worn sole, Chris (sporting two different shoes as he managed to lose one of each along the trek down here) is on deck reattaching our windlass since the anchor locker improvements are done, Sergio from Marina Seca, is sanding the bottom, and Grizzly is trying to find a quiet dustless area (pretty much only happens at night, sorry 'niz).

Chris' work shoes

Any recommendations on what to seal our cabin sole with once we're done sanding? Most natural looking option possible while still protecting the wood...

During this year's bottom job, in addition to covering the boot stripe with bottom paint, we have decided to go all out and have the bottom resealed to avoid any possible blister problems and hopefully any big bottom work over the next years of cruising. Translated that means we will be in the yard (drum roll please...) another 10 days, that's until Christmas Eve. But don't worry, amid this work zone, we have tried to have a semblance of normal life by

organizing all of the food stores to enable easy cooking and designating the main salon a "safe" zone that is always easily transformable into a comfortable home. We've been eating okay, getting to bed early with the sun, and getting to work each morning by 8am. And it is nice to have a reliable and strong internet connection while here. That's it for now, time to get back to work!

Close up of very early stage blisters

What you're seeing is last years blue paint, previous red paint, and minuscule almost green blisters just possibly starting in the gelcoat underneath.

The Princess and her new pillow

Back to Mexico!!!

Just a quick hello to everyone wondering how our trip south went. We made it!

After one last trip to our storage unit and packing Pepe full, we had a nice dinner with Dave and Anette, and hit the road to Mexico the next morning. Of course, as usual, our road was winding. We left LA Friday December 3rd and drove to Flagstaff (which is almost on the way to Mexico) to see our great friend from graduate school Angie. We had a fun evening and morning filling each other in on recent life and Angie helped us get some final printing done and one last important mailing before the USPS closed. That afternoon we left bound for Tucson. On our way we ran errands in Tempe making last stops at the hardware store, pet store, and outdoor gear store and then had a nice sushi dinner before heading the last hours to Tucson.

Sunday the 5th we made our final push to Mexico. After a one last stop to fill up gas and buy nibbles, we crossed the border at around noon and weren't even stopped for questioning about our loaded down vehicle! We made it to Marina Seca in San Carlos at sunset and Tao was awaiting our arrival in the work yard as promised. Several hours of craziness ensued to get the boat liveable, and finally home, we all slept well. Wish us luck as we buckle down for the next several weeks hard at work on upgrades for Tao while on the hard.

November 2010; Cape Cod, Seattle, Juneau, Ithaca, LA

Our path to the boat has been a winding route over the past month. We started November on the cape spending our time organizing ourselves and doing yoga at BY Cape Cod. Besides great classes from the owner Meg, we got to take classes from Shawn's fellow teacher trainee graduates Lee and Ocean and Lee took her class along with Chris of course (her biggest fan). From here, we headed toward Chris' sister and new niece in Alaska, but we couldn't go through Seattle without stopping...

(Nov 7-11) Seattle- four fantastic days were spent with Julia and Jacob from s/v Pisces, a bit farther north than previously... As our sailing adventures have evolved together, it was great to see them in their newest iteration of cruising- graduate school from the dock. Great discussions of life, as always, and although we had great weather while there, we tried to ride their bikes from Shilshole to town one day while they were at work and aborted due to pouring rain... We were also able to see our friends Adam and Kris from s/v Estrella who have sold their boat and are starting land life anew in Seattle excitedly expecting a baby.

(Nov 11-19) Juneau- after the rejuvenating stop in Seattle we headed up to Alaska to visit Sarah and Jimmy and new baby Hazel at the same time as Chris' mom, now Nana Jane. We spent our week there holding Hazel, walking Skye-dog, doing errands, hiking whenever the sun was out (which was actually quite a lot), living at the sweet "cottage" (compost-able toilet and all!) and generally enjoying time with Sarah, Jimmy and of course Hazel. It was very special to be able to be part of Sarah and Jimmy figuring out life with their newest addition. Best of luck to the new parents!

(Nov 20-25) Ithaca- post Alaska, Shawn took another quick trip back to Ithaca to visit her Mum one more time, ensure that her radiation treatments and house renovations were coming along, and of course pick up Griz for the next stage of sailing. In addition to helping hang pictures on newly painted walls, she managed to go to a Cornell hockey game with both of her parents, have a nice dinner with Leah and Gretchen and their twins, and even saw Chuck briefly in a post-hunting-flyby.

(Nov 25- Dec 3) LA- after our time drew to a close in Alaska, Chris flew down to LA to start final preparations for leaving the States and concurrently take care of his dad's dogs Abby and Penny while Dave and Anette visited Juneau. On Thanksgiving, Chris bought a new-to-him surfboard (5'10" quad fish) for the sailing trip, enjoyed a vegetarian celebration with Al and Noah from Scheherazade at their place in Silver Lake, then picked up Shawn and Grizzly at LAX where we headed directly to Ledy and Angie's for a nice family Thanksgiving celebration. The last week of crazy stateside preparations was spent running around like chicken's with our heads cut off at Chris' dad's place in Rancho Palos Verdes. Now the proud renters of a storage unit in LA, we did manage to mix some pleasure with the business of heading south by taking a sunny sanity-saving-sail on Scheherazade, who got home to Marina del Rey from Mexico two short weeks ago. Quite a busy month, hopefully our next post will be from Mexico!

Fall 2010 on the East Coast

September 10-19. After a month and a half apart, we met in the Bangor airport in Maine on September 10th. Happily reunited, we made our way east to Little Deer Isle. It was a busy but fun week savoring the end of summer in Penobscot Bay watching the tides from the Atlantic rise and fall with Dave and Anette. We had group dinners, several day sails with Dave in his 31-ft DuFour, Mouette, and even got a little boat excitement on the way to haul out.

On a roaring downwind run we were tempted to continue past our destination just a little further at which point it was decided to turn on the engine, drop the genoa, and motor back. Amidst the howling wind, pounding waves, purring engine, and flapping sails, the port sheet found its way securely... yes, into the propeller. Rapidly drifting downwind, after 20 minutes of wrestling with the line from the dinghy, his body half submerged, Chris wrenched it free. We crossed our fingers, started the engine and went on our merry way checking the stuffing box for appropriate drip rate. Of course, every true sailing adventure does not end without mishap. As it happens, another item on Dave’s list during Mouette's spring recommissioning will be to check/repair the cutlass bearing…

We also took a trip to Baxter State Park to hike Mount Katahdin, the highest point in Maine, with Dave and family friend Zip, just turned 60. Chris had last hiked it post Occidental in 1997 and Dave in 2002 when he turned 60. It was a picture perfect sunny end-of-summer-Saturday as we hiked up the Saddle route to join what must have been nearly 100 others that had also reached the summit at the end of the Appalachian Trail, and then looped down along the knife-edge on the Helon-Taylor route. A fairly arduous hike, our legs screamed at us as we cooked up some quick hot food and went to bed early with the sun in our reserved state park lean-to. On our way back from Katahdin we checked out some great boating spots on the West Branch of the Penobscot River and picked up a one day one way car rental from the Bangor airport for the next mornings trip south to Cape Cod.

September 20-October 5. We were welcomed to the cape by Jane and Abe in a flurry of activity. The next morning we headed back to Boston, to Harvard, to hear Jane give a well attended seminar on gender equity in Latin America. It was the first time either of us had heard her speak and was very special, particularly for Chris. Early that evening the four of us had a nice dinner in the city with Chris’ step-brother Michael’s partner Scott and his step-sister Linda and her partner Chris before hurrying off to Fenway and Shawn’s first Red Sox game ever! Over the next week we had nice dinners, watched the Red Sox final games of the season, and found there is a new Bikram Yoga studio just over a mile away from the house in West Barnstable. While visiting the cape, we managed a quick stop in Quincy to see Shawn’s teacher training friend Melissa Bell who also has sailing dreams, a brunch in Somerville to see Chris' friend from high school Brian Garrison, as well as a day at the beach celebrating our 9-year anniversary!

October 6-19. Another one day one way car rental and we drove to Ithaca through heavy rains with brilliant moments of sun shining on the changing leaves. The next day we were there for Mum’s 4th chemotherapy infusion and through our stay we had many great dinners and were able to help with a few things while her house is daily being overrun by contractors building an addition onto the kitchen. It was very special that she felt well enough to have a Canadian Thanksgiving celebration. Chuck, Maura and the kids came down to Ithaca, Mum’s good friends Janet and Jackie came over and we all celebrated the harvest season together with lots of food and a beautiful sunny day at the peak of leaf color changes. While in Ithaca, we also visited Leah and Gretchen and their twins on their momentous 4-month shot day and fit in near daily 6:45 am yoga classes.

Another one way (though this time a week long) car rental and we headed north. First stop: Syracuse for an evening with Chuck, Maura and the kids. Liam had just turned four and the girls 18-months. The next morning, Chris got to take the rambunctious puppy for a walk and then watch Saturday morning cartoons with Liam while Shawn and Maura took Campbell and Ainsley respectively to their swim lesson- it is amazing how different identical twins actually are! Then it was off to Canada for a quick trip to “the river” to visit Shawn’s dad at the family cottage on the St. Lawrence. We indulged in time on the river, helped with several closing tasks, watched the sun set each night with dad, and even briefly visited Aunt Barbie. Although the weather was cold, transitioning to fall, it was beautiful with clear sunny days and the colors changing on the islands were stunning.

October 20-Nov 6. Things got a bit crazy when within one week, Chris’ grandfather (92, Dave’s father) was diagnosed with lung cancer metastasized to the brain, his step-uncle (67, Abe’s sister’s husband) just diagnosed two weeks previously with lung cancer suddenly fell into a coma and passed away, and his sister Sarah gave birth to healthy Hazel Jane after two days of labor. Reeling from all of this, we drove back to Cape Cod and up to Boston to Chris’ step-aunt Judy's to pay our respects to Neil by making a shiva call (a very educational experience for us non-Jewish). Then back to the Cape awaiting news from Alaska about the new baby, the first grandchild in the Jaquette-Ray families. Skype is an amazing thing, after they got home from the first three days of recovery in the hospital, we were able to see Sarah, Jimmy, and baby Hazel all together in a video call! Congratulations Uncle Chris!

We are now appreciating a week of solitude on the Cape while Jane and Abe are vacationing in Europe. We are enjoying warmth from the wood stove, ocean views as trees shed their final leaves, the yoga studio down the road, and time alone to organize things for heading back to the boat and Mexico at the beginning of December. Still a month of adventuring stateside until then, we’ll keep you posted!