BoatGirl’sIndianSummer

Had a great sail this Sunday - Amy was crewing to learn to sail.  We headed over in light (well, for SF Bay) winds to Aquatic Park, where I realized at the last minute that I was going a little too fast for what I was planning.  Quickly tacked around, after slowing down, tried again, and sailed in to Aquatic Park, then quick jib left and Z’d around past the marine museum ships and out the East entrance.  Amy said it was the first time she’s heard me nervous.

Great sail, lovely day on the bay, then I dropped Amy off on a dock at Clipper to do a photo shoot. I sailed around a bit then docked nicely under sail to pick her up again.  

I think I’m about there.  Its a matter of picking a day with fairly gentle winds and getting things set up properly before starting out.  Oh yeah, and remembering to check and make sure that the overboard clip on the emergency stop button hasn’t slipped off before attempting to start the motor.  Man, that makes me feel dumb.

heeling overOriginally uploaded by carrollelizabeth1Just me and my boat. I was happy to find out I could leave a dock, handle both jib sheets, main sheet and tiller all by me lonesome.

sailingOriginally uploaded by carrollelizabeth1Nice, eh?

On Sunday, I got one step closer to soloing.  I brought my friend Marla along for a sail out the Gate; her first ever sail.  Since it was her first time on a sailboat, I let her take it easy and not do much (other than serving food and drinks, of course).  What this meant was that I got minimal help actually sailing throughout the day, and it went well.  I found that I could leave the tiller for short times to do various mainsail related things, I could tack alone (although I did have her learn to do jib sheets) and I was able to leave and return to dock without assistance.

Beautiful sail against the tide but with the wind out the gate, then flying back in with both to help.  Gorgeous sunny warm day.

And it gives me confidence that I’m about ready to solo - my plan is to start in August.

This is not a boat-topic post - this is a blog related post.  I happened to skip through the blog’s dashboard today and came upon something that has me a little worried.  The dashboard will show you the search terms people used that led them to the site.

This one was used today: IT IS TELLING ME TO KILL

This leads me to worry about a few things.  There is someone out there that apparently has inanimate objects (hence ‘it’) telling them to kill.  And this individual is computer savvy enough to do web searches.  Please, no more web searches, just TURN IN YOUR DAYPASS NOW!  And lastly, I’m concerned that now crazy, voices-in-head-telling-them-to-kill person is aware that me and my boat exist.

I brought the boat back to Sausalito this Sunday with the help of Carlos.  I don’t think he quite knew what he was getting in for.  Winds were predicted to be 10 - 20, which is pretty standard and not bad at all, but to me they seemed more like 30 knots, with higher gusts.  At one point, the boat heeled over so much that water came over the side into the cockpit.  Now some boats are designed to do that, but not the Indian Summer.  In fact, I don’t recall that ever happening before.

Luckily, the tiller repair was highly successful.   It is now stable and stiff, and in calm water can even be let loose of without it wobbling.  It inspires a lot more confidence.  And just knowing that the rudder has been looked at and pieces replaced makes me feel better.  I know they could still fall off, but now I don’t suspect it to be imminent.

It was an exhilerating, tiring sail.  Took a long time to tack through Raccoon Straits as we missed the tide turn of the tide and ended up fighting it at the end.  We were about half an hour too late.

Felt good to finally get her back home.  And for my troubles, she sprained my left shoulder somehow.  Boat 1,  me 0.

The Indian Summer spent the last two weeks at KKMI in Point Richmond, and seemed to really enjoy her time there.  I enjoyed it as well.  It was neat having the boat out of the water and seeing parts I was unfamiliar with.

The rudder issues went back and forth (sorry, had to). 

rudder after grindingIt was clear immediately to the project manager that some bushings were missing, but then it also looked like the rudder had been damaged and poorly repaired.  On closer inspection (once the paint was ground down), he discovered it was actually a nice repair job and that the actual problem turned out to be that the rudder post was slightly bent just above the rudder.  No way to straighten it, but it was taking up too much room at the base of the rudder post tube as it twisted, and that’s why the bottom bushing was missing.  After some deliberation, a new bushing was installed above that spot where the post is still straight and the bushing can do its job.The new anti-fouling paint looks good, I think they did a great job.  

Since the boat was out of the water, I had a nice opportunity to wax the hull and install the swim ladder (only took 3 hours longer than I intended). I really enjoyed going over on the 2 weekends and working on my boat in a sunny yard surrounded by other people working on their boats.
If I can figure it out, I’ll print some photos showing their perfectly named boat hoists: the big one is William Randolph Hoist and the little one is Patty Hoise. Cute.

So, in honor of last weeks boat birthday/anniversary, I dropped her off this past weekend to get hauled and get her hull repainted and some other stuff done at the same time.  After talking to a bunch of people whose opinions I trust, I decided to go with KKMI over in Point Richmond.  Everyone I spoke with said the same thing: Svendsen’s in Alameda or KKMI in Point Richmond.  Reviews and online things pointed in the same direction, to those two.  Finally, I’m from Richmond (RI) and Point Richmond is easier for me to get to from work for things like this little trip, so decided to go with KKMI.   I put forth that decision making rationale to see if I get feedback from other people who make decisions in a similar fashion - narrow the choices based on real reasons, then to decide among those final few, go with kind of odd non-reasons. 

Sailed the boat over Sunday on a day with really strange wind for the bay - it was coming from the Southeast.  Weird.  Rebecca was crew, which meant I got to take pee breaks!!! and Javier served as cabino boy (ok, he was crew, too).  It was neat sailing into an industrial area.  There are a lot of cool abandoned (or at least, they look abandoned) waterfront buildings.  I’ll try to remember to take some photos of them when I pick the boat up.

Boat got pulled out yesterday, and I went over to go over things with the project manager, Bob.  The hull turns out to be in decent shape, just ready for a new antifouling paint job.  While its on the hard, I’m going to have them install the sensor for my depth sounder, which will make me feel more comfortable in a few places I want to check out.  The other big thing they’ll do is fix the rudder.

The rudder has always had a bit of a wobble - turns out the lower bushing is worn out and the top bushing is missing completely!  I’m hoping getting this repaired will make backing out of the dock under motor easier.  Additionally, Bob pointed out that the rudder had a bad repair job sometime in the past.  Some sealant of some sort was slapped on over the paint and is now peeling off.  They’ll grind it down, figure out what the problem was, and fix it.  I’m really glad to know about this before it just fell apart!

They said I can go over there and work on it when they aren’t, so I’m planning to go over this weekend and do a little fiberglassing in the engine well plus install the holder for my swim ladder.

Yesterday was the Indian Summer’s birthday.  Or at least, the day when I celebrate it.  Two years ago yesterday, I acquired the Indian Summer, sometime during its 37th year.  Now, its approaching 40 and still cranky as ever.

Winds were very high yesterday, but I went out for a short spin anyway.  Winds were 18 knots at the GG Bridge, gusting to 33 by Angel Island.  I sailed on the jib with a severely reefed main so that I could have a little more control.   Lots of heeling!  At one point, we heeled so far that the gas tank fell over.  That hasn’t happened since the first summer, when I figured out a better way to secure it in place.  Luckily, almost none spilled out.

Sabine (the other Tink) came with me - she’d never been sailing on  SF Bay, but had quite a bit as a kid in France.  She didn’t tell me till half way through the sail that she was a little frightened of sailing, having once been on a dinghy that demasted, capsized, and sank, leaving her and another kid clinging to a breakwater while helicoptors tried to rescue them!  I’m quite impressed that she has gone sailing again after that.

My boat got a little belligerent (or maybe I got cocky) and tried to ram a big boat (100 feet or so) in swirling winds.  It was a near miss, and in fact, I think my forestay might have kissed a line on the other boat’s bow sprit.  Luckily, no damage to either boat.

Still, had a nice sail and boat bonding, then today went out and boat the fiberglass and other things I’m going to have to use to set up the mount for the new swim ladder.  Can’t wait for those late summer afternoons in the lee of Angel Island.

Lets see if I can get the photos to upload today.

This first one is my favorite from my midweek sail: my crew making themselves useful at Angel Island.

<a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/58381652@N00/523559766/” title=”Photo Sharing”><img src=”http://farm1.static.flickr.com/229/523559766_377705e832.jpg” width=”500″ height=”298″ alt=”crewnapping” /></a>

Then we have the rationale for why a midweek sail is a good thing.

<a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/58381652@N00/523559756/” title=”Photo Sharing”><img src=”http://farm1.static.flickr.com/252/523559756_bd45b4c098_t.jpg” width=”100″ height=”75″ alt=”Angel Island empty docks” /></a>

A few days later, I sailed on the Sirena with Chris.  Quite windy, lot of fun, then we got chased by the water cops.

<a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/58381652@N00/523559848/” title=”Photo Sharing”><img src=”http://farm1.static.flickr.com/248/523559848_1bdea4dc08_o.jpg” width=”594″ height=”418″ alt=”CGchase” /></a>

Luckily, they pulled over someone else.  I honestly don’t think I’ve ever seen guns this big outside of movies or the third world.

<a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/58381652@N00/523559852/” title=”Photo Sharing”><img src=”http://farm1.static.flickr.com/192/523559852_144682350f_o.jpg” width=”849″ height=”520″ alt=”CoastGuard” /></a>

I did see guns that big when I was in Zimbabwe once.  I was on a bus that got pulled over and men in uniforms got on carrying guns like that and took someone off.  I didn’t ask any questions.

No, that’s not a good pirate aarrrggghhh.  That’s a frustrated “why won’t WordPress let me upload photos anymore?” aarrrggghhh.  For over a week now, anything I try to upload just leads to an error with a little red x.  Nothing useful in FAQ or Forums and no response yet to my help request.

And there’s a lot of good pictures cause I’ve been sailing a lot!

I did an over-night to Berkeley - first chance to use my bbq grill, and sailed on the Sirena with Chris then did some late night kayaking (highly recommended).

But without pics I just don’t know what to do.

Drat.  Curses.  Hell and damnation.