Memories 4

After the American 24 sailboat, came my largest and one of the best boats I will ever own.   It was an Ericson 29 that I bought in partnership with my friends Mike and Deanna.   I had been without a sailboat for a few years and I had gone to Mike to discuss this unchangeable need for another sailboat.  I don't know if I wanted him to talk me out of it, but I just shared my heart and my desire for some more adventure in my life.   We talked and within a few weeks he started sending me ads for sailboats for sale.   I then realized that he had captured my same disease and wanted to partner with me in buying a boat.   Financially, this was just what I needed and we soon found the "boat of our dreams."   It was beautiful and would sleep four.   Deanna, I believe, was equally excited and soon we were sailing the ocean blue.   They were great learners, the best of friends and were always (it seemed) up for an adventure.

 This sailboat had been kept up and was too large to trailer.   We were now introduced to renting a slip and the marina life.    We also had the monthly expense of a bottom cleaning and the haul out and bottom painting every few years.

I do believe that Mary actually liked the boat also.   Mary is a fair weather sailor and I am afraid that I (who like a good stiff wind) would sometimes get her and our son (who also suffered from mal-de-mer) into some rough weather.   They didn't like that.   Sara, our daughter, on the other hand was like me and never got sea sick.   When it got rough, she would put a few boards in the gangway and go down below to do puppet shows for the rest of us huddled into the cockpit.

Ericson 29

One summer my dad who lived in Colorado had planned on coming to California and spending a week with me sailing up to the Channel Islands.
I so looked forward to spending time with my dad and letting him experience the thrill of sailing.   He was a hard working carpenter all of his life and never joined the carpenter's union.   He had put in for vacation and even though he was 66 years old, he was still working.   One week before we were supposed to go, he called me and told me that his boss had told him that if he left, he wouldn't have a job when he got back.   He cancelled the trip.   By the next summer he had a heart attack and died at the young age of 67.   We never did take that trip together.

My sis Diana, however, did come out the next summer from Colorado and we cast off on the same trip that I would have taken with my dad.   I don't know if it was Dad helping us or not, but we had a great and safe adventure.   On the first night, my sis was extremely tired and I could not awaken her to stand watch so I just did what I had to and sailed on through the night.   Toward morning, I was falling asleep at the wheel and I began to think about all of the "what if things " that could happen in the night.   I have seldom felt fear in the ocean, but that night I did.   We could hit something and hole our boat, a whale could hit us, our mast could break and on and on.   Within a very few moments, the sun started to lighten the eastern sky.   Just then a small group of dolphin came out of the darkness and frolicked around and around me.   I got the overwhelming sense that my dad had sent them to let me know that everything would be just fine and that "maybe" he was along for the fun.

Painting the deck

April 28, 2013

Ok, ok... I am getting it.   When I want something done by someone other than myself, I should plan on it taking twice as long as I thought or was promised and as to the price,  I should just double that also.   After getting a very high recommendation from the person who sold me my boat and had his boat's deck painted by this person, I hired him to do my deck also.    Now, I know that the deck was way too much for me to handle and that I wouldn't have even invited anyone I know on the boat with the deck the way it was.   I will call this person Jim.    Jim's paint job, on the boat that I looked at, was eight years old and still looked like new.

Jim went to work on April 4th and he assured me that by the time we got back from our two week trip, the job would be finished (barring bad weather).   Mary and I flew off to Israel and I believed that I had won the jackpot for both getting to travel with my wife and also getting my deck painted while I was away.   

Now I have learned a long time ago not to pay a lot up front and to always hold back what I would need to finish the job.    We had agreed on a total price with materials before I hired Jim.

When we got back (no bad weather here in CA) the job was about half done and more materials (of course) needed to be purchased.
My boat looked like a big taco all wrapped up with tape and paper.   My marina neighbors were getting a bit nervous but assured me that Jim had not (yet) painted their boat with over-spray.   The guy on one side of me was kind of hoping that a good wind would blow a bunch of paint onto his boat as it really needed a paint job.    He had it planned how he would turn his boat in the slip so that both sides would get done.

Big taco... Wrapped!

I have to admit that the old flaky, cracked paint was disappearing and Jim was making everything look smooth if not shiny.    Someone told me that he was an artist and that you must not rush an artist.   Let me just say here that I am retired, with (except for traveling) pretty much unlimited time (unless I die first).   That saying, "What? Me Worry?" and Bob Marley's  "Don't worry, be happy!"  Ran through my head and I decided to just let the artist work.

Nice job!

4/1- 4/2, 2013

Old bottom paint or lack thereof

New bottom paint

After some adjustment with the boat yard, I drove to the boat yard and was pleasantly surprised to see that they were putting my boat back into the water.   I had told the owner and he had repeated back that he knew that I wanted to see the work done before it was four feet under water.   Wow, was I pleased.   If you have read my last post, you know that they painted the bottom (two coats) with the wrong color blue.   The owner of the yard assured me that it would be re-painted green as I had agreed upon and directed.   I am so happy that I went with green.   What do you think?

I asked John who was in charge of the yard if they had just added one green coat or two?   He said that they had added two more coats of the green.    Once in the water, I motored back to Long Beach and as it was getting late, I only had a chance to hose and scrub off the boat yard grime that had accumulated on the deck.

The more I fix up this boat, the more beautiful I think she is.

Today (Tuesday) the fellow that had been recommended to paint the deck stopped by and after some haggling, we agreed on a price.   The work will be done during the two weeks that Mary and I are out of the country on a trip to Israel.

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.