Out of the Shipyard!

Yeah! Worrall Wind is back in the water. Her masts are up. Russ motored her over to the Berkeley Marina for our Bon Voyage party. Now we are getting all of the shipyard grime off her decks and things back in order. At the end of each shipyard visit we receive a bottle of wine with our invoice. We got two bottles of wine this time...proportionate I guess to the invoice! Seems to me we should have gotten a case. Our refrigeration system should be completed next week and our new sails installed.

Some of these things won't be ready for the party, but it looks like we are on target for launch on September 5. There is an ebb tide the morning of September 5 with slack current at 8:49. If all systems are go, including favorable weather and no fog, we anticipate sailing or motoring under the Golden Gate between 8:30 - 9:00 in the morning for any of you who wish to watch us go out. Be sure to bring a light colored flag, hanky, pompom to wave so we can spot you at Fort Point or on the bridge. We would love it if you share your videos or photos with us. On the evening of September 4, I will confirm our intentions. By 6:00 a.m. on September 5, I'll post again in the event there have been any changes. Please check the blogspot for updates. In the event it is a foggy morning, we may delay departure until later in the morning.

Check out the new feature in the left navigation bar called Where in the Worrall. That's it for now. Back to the scrub brush. More after the party!

Masts are down. Water line pushed up.

Little by little Worrall Wind is getting dolled up for the big cruise. Despite a chill summer wind, the yard rigger was lifted to the top of the masts on Worrall Wind where he wrapped a harness around each mast. The crane first lifted the mizzen, then the main mast laying them in separate horizontal cradles that were rolled to the mast yard for a rigging refit. Having stepped masts made this a much easier operation than pulling a mast that goes through the deck. Nevertheless, the downed main looked like a tangle of spaghetti.

Russ immediately mounted two brackets on the masts. On the main, he mounted a bracket for a radar reflector. On the the mizzen, he mounted a bracket for the ampair wind/water generator. In the meantime, I worked on cleaning, polishing, and painting the propellor. Thankfully, the bottom painter had already taken most of the growth off the propellor, an ugly - dirty job! He gave me an air pressured drill with wire brush to polish and score the prop. He took pity on me as, I was trying to clean the prop with Brasso and a wire brush. The air drill was amazing, zip, zip and each blade was incredibly shiney. Kind of sounded like a dentist drill so I turned up the IPod and rocked out. Yippee!

Over the course of the weekend, I painted on a base coat and 4 coats of this prop paint that drys like rubber cement and is supposed to keep the critters from attaching.

In between coats, I used the heat gun to strip varnish off the back rails. By the time I was working on the back rails, the sun had come out, and we exchanged out our jackets and earmuffs for sunscreen and wide brimmed hats.

While Russ and I were busy with our tasks, the bottom job painter, was busy raising the water line on Worrall Wind. We are using Trinidad Pettit bottom paint, applying two full coats and a third coat 18" from the water line down. We know once we load on our gear we will need that line raised a little or we will be growing a beard on the gel coat. Our starboard side was already pushed down with the weight of the diesel tanks. Once the painter was done on Friday, Russ scrubbed the boat down on Sunday morning, preparing to polish, but got sidetracked taking off the swim ladder and mounting brackets on the transom for the Hydrovane windsteering system. We didn't head home until dusk and were exhausted. Polishing will have to wait until our next trip down.

Hauled Out and Torn Apart

Another holiday at the dock. The July 4th holiday came and went as we broke the boat down for a haul out, bottom job, and standing rigging refit. The bimini, beautiful and completed was broken down and booted up. It took me about 45 minutes to unzip the sunscreens, unpin the front bow, fold the back bow and put the boot on. With practice the two of us could do this in 15 minutes.

We took off the mizzen boom and disconnected the antennas and radar which meant Russ had to climb the mizzen. We replaced three hatch covers with new tinted plexiglass. Russ continued to work on installing the water maker. He has a few more electical connections and that project will be complete. In the mean time the boat is totally torn apart on the inside. Walking around with floor boards up is quite a balancing act. The refrigeration experts are in the process of reinsulating our old well frig, rebuilding our upright frig and enlarging it, and installing a freezer under the starboard settee. We are having two Frigoboat keel coolers installed which should be energy efficient and give us plenty of space for storing foods that need to be cool and frozen.

While Russ worked on the watermaker, I fired up the computer and started listing all of the boat's equipment with model numbers and serial numbers. Apparently, this is important to have in case the property is ever stolen it is easier to recover. We were going to take the boat over to the boat yard on Sunday afternoon, but the wind was blowing 40 knots and would have been difficult to handle and dock single handed (I would be ferrying the car to the boat yard). The last time we did this in a high wind, it took two dockhands from KKMI to tie the boat down. No one would be there on Sunday afternoon to give us a hand so we decided to wait until Monday morning. We got up early on Monday, disconnected the electricity and water. Russ left early Monday a.m. It takes about 10 minutes to drive and 1 hour and 20 minutes to motor the boat from the Emery Cove Marina to KKMI in Richmond. We left the boom and main sail intact in the event of an engine failure. Russ checked his beautifully refurbished engine and pristine engine room half way through the short journey and everything looked and sounded fine. When he pulled into the slip at the dockyard, there was a lot of exhaust smoke/steam coming out the back.

Holy smoke! The hose clamp from the exhaust hose wasn't tightened enough and slipped down sometime between half-way and the end of the short hop; but in that short time, the entire engine room was covered with diesel soot and saltwater. Needless to say, we had our work cut out for us. We weren't expecting to spend the entire rest of the morning scrubbing an cleaning, but that's exactly what we did. What a mess and it still needs more scrubbing. Russ was heartsick. Fortunately, there was no real damage. Russ got some better clamps and cranked them down...a lesson learned.

Once we got the engine room cleaned up, we took off the main sail, boom and vang, unscrewed saftey pins and screws in the turn buckles, and did as much of the prep as we could. Both of the masts will be removed during the haul out. Russ will be stringing new radio wire and antenna wire. We would also like to install a multi-directional night vision video cam on the top of the main mast and brackets on the mizzen mast for a wind generator. Of course I will have the scrub brush out. Seems to be my new lot in life. Two days into retirement and I've broken every nail (not that I had that much anyway), so I cut them way down and filed them close to the skin. We are going to have to invest in a lot of rubber gloves.

The boat was hauled late in the afternoon. The bottom paint still looked good, but there were a lot of critters and growth on the props and zincs that will need to be cleaned off and brushed. Russ is looking forward to cleaning and polishing the hull. While out of the water we will have the boat surveyed for insurance purposes. Hopefully if all goes well, we will be back in the water in two or three weeks and finish up with the Hydrovane, wind generator, and solar panels. The list is getting shorter, but so much to do.

Our list of vicarious sailors is growing! Hey jbarker0 are you out there? You left a comment for us on the last blog, but we had no way of contacting you since you had not established a profile. For a response, check out our return comment on the same blog. We love to hear from folks and are happy to answer your questions, but will have to do so on the comment section if you don't provide us with an email address or establish a profile. One month and 30 days from our sail away. We'll keep you posted. Wishing you a fresh breeze.

Made for the Shade!

Here are a couple of photos of our new bimini from outside looking in and

inside looking out.

Our canvas smith is still working on the shade cloths which will zip onto the sides of the bimini for angled sun protection. We will be able to fold the bimini back just before mizzen and just in front of the back rail. When open the two folding parts of the bimini are connected with a canvas bridge that wraps around the mizzen sail. When in the folded position, each bimini component will have a protective boot. We wanted our shade to be removable in case of high winds, following seas, and evening star watch.

Looks like our number of vicarious sailors is growing. We are excited that we can keep in touch with you. If you have a digital photo to share of your smiling face, we would love it! Until next time!

Three Months and Counting

I turned in my retirement papers yesterday and stopped my parking...only 4 weeks to get everything off my desk and files cleared up or at least cleaned out. Russ is making arrangements with the optometrist who is buying his practice and beginning to introduce him to the community and patient base. We are both attending meetings for the last time and saying goodbyes. You would think these simple "end" tasks would be easier, but it is surprisingly more difficult than we thought it would be. The last 30 years have been relatively stable with incremental changes like a run-on sentence punctuated with commas and semi-colons. Now it's time to put a period at the end of that sentence and chapter and to start a new chapter by sailing into the uncharted waters.

Russ got the engine started last weekend! Yeah, what a nice sound after seeing the parts strewn about for the last five weeks. There was a slight hiccup when we realized that the water pump wasn't sealed well and we were leaking seawater into the engine compartment. After a mop-up and some moderate adjustments, we started the engine again...and it purred! No leaks, nice and dry, and peace of mind that all the parts and hoses are either new or rebuilt.

The bimini is almost complete. We are hauling the boat out July 6 to replace the standing rigging, new bottom paint, and whatever else we need to do. We got the watermaker two weeks ago and Russ is beginning to lay that out for installation. We already have a saltwater intake thru-hull, so we are hoping not to have to make a second one for the watermaker. The refrigeration expert should be starting that project this month before we haul out and then install the keel cooler components at the haul out.

In the galley, my wonderful little microwave is acting up. My start button gave it up. Now to use it, I have to use one of the special functions. Looks like I will have to replace this unit. I purchased some new silverware, that lays flat and nests together better than what I had. This should save some space and keep things better organized as we sail. I am looking at pressure cookers and solar ovens, and still buying air tight containers to transfer cereals, grains, rice, sugars, and other dry goods to keep the moisture and critters out. That's it for now. I'll be spending the rest of this weekend, sending out invitations to our Bon Voyage party.

Memorial Day at the Dock

This weekend, BYC went to Napa Yacht club. It is one of our favorite cruises, but we are still dock bound. It was cold and foggy most of the weekend in Emeryville. The sun peeked out around 10:00 on Monday morning. We went to dinner on Saturday evening with BYC friends, and took a couple of long walks, and an evening dinghy ride around the marina, but spent most of our time onboard working. Russ is almost finished rebuilding the engine. It looks shiney and new. We'll turn the key next weekend and hope the engine fires up.

While Russ worked on the engine, I spent my time studying for the general Ham license, lots of memorization of stuff I will probably never apply. Back to work tomorrow. It's getting more difficult to go back each week when our minds are already becoming increasingly invested in getting ready for our voyage. Only 29 more work days for me!

Signed Up for the Baja Ha-Ha!

We're all signed up. Russ and I sat down and filled out the registration last night. I started filling out the registration last Saturday, 1 day after the opening day and was already boat 41! Somehow I accidentally closed the browser and thought I lost everything. Fortunately, the Baja registration captured the first page even though I had not finished the process. Our sailing pals Marcia and Dave, currently in Mexico on SV Juniata, will be taking the bus north and crewing with us from San Diego to LaPaz. We are looking forward to their company and veteran expertise.

We got our Portabote and engine last week. We got the aluminum "silver" color. I was really torn between the "silver" or the cream color which would have matched our boat better, but ...the bottom of the boat is cream too....thought it would show too many scuffs and stuff.

Russ and I pried open the "little clam" in our garage last night. Fortunately, it came with a little notched board to keep the two sides opened until the seats were installed. It was like prying the jaws of an alligator open and keeping them open with a stick. We breathed a sigh of relief when the first seat was installed. The boat was a little stiff but went together pretty well. Not sure how we will do this on the big boat after a voyage. We'll have to practice, but it has been assembled on smaller boats than ours. The next adventure will be collapsing it, taking it out to the lake on a summer evening, prying it open again, and trying out the motor and oars.

We Got the Liferaft Mom!

Well we had a grand time.....maybe 20! We got some boat show specials and "saved" some dollars. Mom and Dad, you will be pleased to know that we bought a six person life raft. Hopefully we will never have to use it. The life raft will be shipped to us in August just before we leave. The three year clock will start running in August. Yes in August 2012 we will need to have it serviced and repacked.

We also bought an Echo2 water maker, hydrovane, porta bote with Nissan engine, and some stainless steel, opening portholes for the galley area. When we got to our boat on Friday, we found the steel fabrication installed for our bimini. Our stays are presenting a bit of a problem with the folding mechanism, so we are meeting with the canvasmythe on Saturday morning to discuss some modifications. We are also meeting with a fellow who will be repairing some of the gel coat dings on the hull.

Russ is stripping parts, hoses, alternator, etc.,off the engine, having things reworked and buying spares. Time is starting to fly by. So many projects. But it so exciting. May 1 is almost here. That is the day we sign up for the Baja ha ha. More later.

Eve of Boat Show! Time to Bleed $$$$ Big Time.

It's the eve of the boat show! Sugar plum fairies dancing in our heads. It's kind of like waiting for Santa with lots of expectations, but unlike Santa; there are no elves making free gifts and being delivered by a bearded man. So we've been psyching ourselves up for what will undoubtedly be a big bleed. On our boat show list:
water maker, Hydrovane, refrigeration system, maybe a new dingy, and a life raft. We've already contracted out separately for bimini, sails, and standng rigging. Russ is starting to refit engine parts with new ones and if the old ones are still serviceable, we will box and store them for spares. If they are too worn, we will buy doubles.

The radios are in and we passed our technician class HAM license test. Now we are studying for the General. I am attending a full day seminar tomorrow at the boat show on cruising preparation, navigation, etc. I tried to get into this class two years ago and it was sold out, so I am glad to have gotten a seat. Last year I took a basic marine weather class.

On the home front, we are painting decks and taking care of wood work that will need to weather some time without maintenance. We are also sorting and packing some things that we can move out in the event we decide to rent all our part of a furnished house.

Russ has sold his practice, and it will change hands in July. His patients are now making everyday an emotional one for him as they realize this will be the last visit for some of them. He is being showered back with all the love and caring he has given over the years. I am also painfully transitioning out of my role as the administrator of an office filled with work and people that I have grown to love and respect. Endings are tough! I plan to retire the beginning of July. Saying farewell to family in friends is really hard.

A new adventure and beginning keeps us going. We're ready to start living our long-time dream.

Equinox - Glorious Spring

Now that the ski season is wrapping up, we are spending more time at the boat. The Bay Area is a riot of spring color and reminds us that summer and fall are just around the corner. Only 5 months before we take off! In the last couple of months we have been making plans for the bimini, refrigeration system, energy capture, sails, and standing rigging replacement, digitizing photos, films, and music that we want on our voyage, and studying for technician class ham license. I've been learning how to make Greek Yogurt in my crockpot along with a lot of other low carb recipes. I hope this can transfer over to using a a dutch oven in a solar oven. This should work for most high temperature recipes but probably not for the yogurt. In the meantime, I've been buying air tight containers to store provisions. It hasn't been an idle winter.

Major work on and for the boat will begin in April and hopefully will be complete by the beginning of July when Russ and I will phase out of our jobs and retire. Then we can complete the finishing touches before our journey. Unfortunately, I doubt that we will be doing much sailing before we head out the Gate and head south. We do plan to attend the boat show in April and will sign up for the Baja Ha Ha in May.