Boat Yard

3/29/2013-  I awoke early this morning and decided to drive the 30 miles to where I was having the boat yard work on my boat.   I had gotten no call backs and had left quite a few messages.    As I pulled into the yard, I was pleasantly surprised to see my boat being worked on and in fact the bottom had already been prepped and painted.   The owner had written down all of the things that I wanted done, but I could see right away that they had painted the bottom blue instead of green.   The owner quickly apologized and said that it would be green the next time I saw it.   The rest of the work was proceeding and some of it was actually done.  As I spoke to Jr., one of the workers, he took notes and said that all of the work would be done by Monday after Easter.   I was once again happy and my schedule seems back on track.

 

Memories 3

American 24

3/24/2013-
After quite a few years of belonging to the Aqua Cat group the club just kind of dissolved. We sold our Aqua Cat and within a short time, that itch to own another boat was soon upon me.   This time I found a neat little boat with a fixed keel and it was trailerable.   Our poor van did suffer a few clutches as I traveled and launched the boat.   Some memorable trips were going to Catalina Island with my daughter, my sister, her daughter (Deana) and another girlfriend of my daughters.    We spent three or four days in Avalon harbor and everyone had a blast.   Can you imagine, five of us living on a twenty four foot boat?   Another time, I launched from Oxnard, CA with a person that I didn't even know (he was a friend of a friend who wanted to go) we headed to Santa Cruz Island with another sailboat.   The other boat was owned by a fellow teacher and his wife.   For those who don't know, it gets very windy as you cross to Santa Cruz Island.   Within about two miles of the island, the winds were hitting in the high 20's and we had lost sight of our friends boat.   We just kept on and within a short time, we were snuggled into a beautiful little cove that was very protected.   We radioed and radioed for our friends and could not get an answer.   After several more hours, we reported them missing to the Coast Guard.   Later, we found that they had actually turned around when they were within a few miles of Santa Cruz Island and sailed all of the way back to Oxnard.   They never got to Santa Cruz.   One last memory was when I was teaching middle school  and I would choose students to go to Catalina or San Diego on the boat.   On one trip I had chosen two students and with my family aboard, we sailed to San Diego.   The kids were great and they kept regular watches during the night as we sailed.   Upon finding a berth in San Diego, we all walked over to Sea World and had an amazing day there.   These are the things that memories are made from.

Haul Out & Bottom Paint

3/21/2013

I slept on the boat last night so that I didn't have to join the working bunch on the 22 & 405 freeways.

I am impressed at the Long Beach Marina and how clean the boat owners restrooms & showers are.  After a quick shower and some breakfast, I readied the boat and motored over the Cabrillo Boat Yard for my boat's first bottom painting.  (Do you think it needs it?)   I am having them plug up the two holes that have been used for the head as I will be installing a brand new composting head.   It seems that you seldom have to empty it (maybe once every three to six months) and the only smell you get from it is that of soil.   I have read everything I can about this and everyone thinks it is great.   I am taking away two holes on the port side of my boat and adding one (sea water intake) on the starboard side so that I can have salt water pumped on demand into one of my two sinks.  Washing dishes and things like that will be done with salt water and then I will just rinse them quickly with fresh water.   This should conserve fresh water.   I am also changing the colors of my boat from blue to green.   I just like green.

   I am also changing the name of the boat from Aeroskobing (a small town in Denmark???) to Spirit of Adventure.   Believe it or not, I was at Disneyland.  We were going through the Lincoln exhibit and their were small statues of things that make Americans great.   One was a sailor at a wheel during a storm.   Under that statue was the name, "Spirit of Adventure".   Anyway, I'll bet you would agree that it is better than the name my boat currently has.

Memories 2

 Aqua Cat- 12 ft long

                                                              Note- Mary, second from left

After the Marine Corp, I decided to not return to Colorado and to stay here in California.   By that time, I had met the girl of my dreams and got engaged after three weeks and married after only knowing her for three months.   Mary was a school teacher and she and her friends encouraged me to do the same.   As a high school drop out, the idea of me being able to graduate from college came slowly.   I graduated without honors, but I did graduate.   Our son and later, our daughter were born and soon we we owned a small catamaran and joined a sailing club.  What fun we all had with the kids learning to sail right along side of us.

MOVING DAY

3/15/2013
After arranging for a slip in Long Beach (closer to home) this morning I dropped my jeep off in Long Beach and Hugh (the broker who sold me the boat) drove me up to Redondo Beach and to my new (old) sailboat.   I have to admit that I was apprehensive because today I would solo sail/motor my boat from Redondo Beach to Long Beach.   It had been very foggy in the mornings and afternoons along the coast and this morning was no exception.   I decided to just take one step at a time and after getting the sails on and the anchor (just in case) mounted, I cranked up the diesel engine and headed to the fuel dock.  The fuel gauge read empty and I wanted a few gallons just in case I had to motor.  Wind was light.   It only took a bit more than seven gallons before the 27 gallon tank was full.

This boat has a tiller (which I am excited about) and my last boat (Ericson 29) had a wheel.   As I awkwardly backed out of the fuel dock, I realized that I needed practice on the tiller.  No mishaps though and I was soon headed to sea.   I had purchased and set up a Garmin 740S GPS and I set my first waypoint out beyond the headlands headed south.   I immediately liked the Garmin as the fog was a bit thick.   Immediately after leaving the Redondo Beach Harbor, a small pod of dolphin greeted me and began leaping and frolicking all around my boat.   All of my worries vanished and I knew that I was once again home on the ocean.

L.A. Harbor Entrance

I BOUGHT IT!

3/13/2013-  After talking to the broker of this boat, I drove up to Redondo Beach and took a closer look at this boat.   One of the things I liked was that it had a keel stepped mast.  It also had a 3/4 length keel.   It was 34 ft long as compared to the 32 ft of the Ericson and it was one of the earliest Islander sailboats produced.   Later Islander became a well known name in cruising sailboats.   The engine was fairly new with only a couple of hundred hours on it.   It also had an electric windless for raising the anchor and at my age (I just turned 68), that is a benefit to me.

I made an offer that was considerably less than the initial asking price and after a bit of adjusting on both of our parts, the sale was made.  I once again, own a sailboat.   For the next two days, I stayed at the boat and cleaned and cleaned and cleaned.  As the trash and grime disappeared, I began to finally appreciate this boat of my dreams.  It was sound and some have called it overbuilt.   It could take me far.   I had the boat hauled and surveyed the next day and the survey came out that the boat only needed cosmetics and I had a sound boat.

FINALLY

3/9/2013- Wow, where to begin...
As some of you might know, I made a full asking price offer on the Ericson 32 sailboat in Oxnard CA on January 3rd of this year.   I liked the owner but it seems that he and his wife had some disfunction in their ability to complete the sale of this boat.   Finally on March 9th, it all came to a head and we decided that I would not buy that boat.

Now I had been looking at this boat,pictured here,
(1972 Islander 34-2) and in many respects, I liked it even more than the Ericson that I had been longing for.   The problem with this Islander was that it was a real project.   I will not go into detail, but the boat had been very poorly kept.   It had been owned by a young kid who (How can I say this?) had never cleaned the boat in six years of living aboard and owning the boat.