Inertia. One word that explains so much.
All At Sea magazine has some amusing musings from Fatty Goodlander. This is memorable, from January's online edition.
January 2013 Archives
It all started for us in August 2005 right around the time grandson Luke was born. The Averisera part started in 2007. A couple of pictures from the early days. As the song says, "we're older and so much wiser now... those were the days..."
May 2008 at the Boston Sailing Center docks for open house for which we used Averisera. Many other years we are skipper and crew on a BSC cruising boat, which is a lot easier on us and our boat.
Elizabeth grinning as we attempted to make it over the bar guarding Sesuit Harbor on Cape Cod. We didn't on that attempt. An hour later, we slid over sweetly.
Norm grinning while doing the dishes in Sesuit Harbor. It may have been his birthday.
Elizabeth making ready to head out on one cold and windy reach to the Cape Cod Canal in October 2008. It was a great sail with driving rain, thunder and lightning, cold, and a welcome entrance into the Canal at daybreak. Early morning transits of the Canal are a birdwatchers dream. Elizabeth is a birdwatcher and the transit made up for the sail down from Boston.
The next morning alongside at the Black Dog Wharf. Our favorite place to hang out off season. Notice how Averisera lists and sits low in the water. Cruising mode.
Melissa, our starter boat
Melissa, the boat that started us on our road to sailing together. The yacht belongs to Boston Sailing Center where Norm was an instructor and a licensed captain. She is a C&C 38 Mark 3. We love the boat and considered buying a sistership instead of an Aphrodite 101, more room for living aboard. Maybe when we go cruising forever? One small problem with the C&C 38 is her stern shape. It slams the water in any kind of chop. She has, on the other hand, a commodious interior and cockpit. Melissa's galley has served many happy meals to many happy sailors.
Averisera in a raft at Menemsha Harbor, Martha's Vineyard. We are alongside a 30 O'Day and a 34 Pearson. At 33 feet we are still the smallest boat in the raft. We are also the fastest and most seagoing. We love our boat!
Winter work. Some winter work, I amuse myself, is reading cruising blogs on my new Kindle Fire. Thanks, Elizabeth. Check out a favorite: Interview With A Cruiser. Another interesting one is Women and Cruising. Both are compilations of blogs. The kindle has opened up some reading opportunities. I bought cruising guides by Frank Virgintino and a small book by Kelly Waterhouse. My argument is that on days when I can't work on the boat, I am studying. What is this "work" about which I write?
The head needs to be rebuilt. While I am at it, why not remove and refit the holding tank? How about the hoses? Since everything is out, let's repaint the surfaces. Gee, it's going to be a great winter. Since I like that sort of work, it sounds more like fun than a non-boat owner might think. Some images from the work.
Sanded and taped for painting.
The cabin floor boards are covered in rosin paper. Earlier this season, I re-varnished them and have covered them to reduce scuffing as I work below this winter. The picture below is the finished paint job. In the fore-peak, one can see the condition of the former finish. Lots of flaked paint. We are going to leave that alone for a while as it is out of sight under the berth boards and holding tank (not installed). The toilet fits on the low shelf to starboard. The holding tank fits against the distant bulkhead.
The next task is to remove the mouse fur (as we call it) from the interior surfaces. The stuff is some sort of flocking installed by the builders. It attracts and retains mold. Fortunately, it is removed with a non-toxic orange oil based paint remover. Stay tuned!
Some motivation comes from reading blogs by cruisers. Everyone says the big job is maintenance. I believe it. When I arrived in Puerto Rico in 2004 aboard Rumor, a 45 foot flush deck racing machine from the drawing board of Herman Frers, one of the first things the live aboard community clued us in to was chandler locations. The chorus was, "boat repair n exotic locations." Rumor was not hard to maintain and she still required constant attention. In the Caribbean, that meant lots of dinghy trips. Averisera is the same in many ways. Maintenance now is accomplished with the advantages of a basement, truck, nearby stores. No dinghy rides to shore to search for the right size thingy.
Today was warm so I did some garden stuff around the house and planned more boat projects.
Constitution Yacht Club hosts a New Year's Day race each year. The Jack Roberts Memorial Race is named after an early advocate of yacht racing on Boston Harbor. The order of finish was:
Foot Loose, J30, Cottage Park YC, Georges Brun-Cottan
Black Seal, J35, Hingham YC, Jeff Kent
Eagle, Frers 38, Constitution YC, Alan McLean
Twist, Beneteau 42, Constitution YC, John Chuang
Corker, LS30, Boston Sailing Center, Kevin Browne
Rockit, Elliot 770, Constitution YC, Lance Ryley, withdrew
How windy was it? Some of the commercial traffic couldn't get away from their berths. Well done racers.
Foot Loose finishing first
Black Seal came up from Hingham
Boston Sailing Center's Grant Matthews in the Mako standing by as crash boat
Rockit tore her mainsail during the off-wind leg and sailed back under jib alone, 2 nm upwind in a breeze. Good sailing, Rockit.
Averisera, New Year's Eve. We found the boat and her lashing frozen solid.
Mama on the fore deck chipping ice with our grandchildrens' toy hoe. The bow line was a block of ice. After working on the problem for a few hours, we said, "the heck with it." and didn't race. Oh well, next year.
Now what is the date of the similar race in Antigua? November is delivery South. Cruise around for a while during December and then race all winter? Hmmm...
