Quote of the Day: Men in a ship...

"Men in a ship are always looking up, and men ashore are usually looking down." -John Masefield

Quote of the Day: The pessimist...

"The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails." -William Arthur Ward

Quote of the Day: Boats, like...

"Boats, like whiskey, are all good." -R.D. (Pete) Culler 

Little Boat Sailing

I have always sailed on cruising boats - The only dinghy I owned had no sail, I rowed it all over Hood Canal. This last week though I have had a couple opportunities to muck about with sailing dinghies. It brought out my long term wish to have one of those fast little buggers! 

Last weekend a good friend of ours invited us out to do some drifting and when the wind approved of it some sailing on his 18' Sol cat. We mostly drifted but if the wind puffed that boat moved well!

Thursday I did my Volunteer Duty onboard the CYC Committee boat for Thursday night dingy racing. It was a grand night and they had 18 Lasers, several 505s, I14 and Stars out! For the most part I was kept pretty busy writing down finishers but I did manage to take a few shots of the boats. 

There was one Moth out having a hooting good sail around us. Now that is a boat I would love to be able to race but I think I will set my sights a little lower....

Spring is Sproinging!

I am heavy into bicycle training and work right now so have not been doing as much boat stuff as I really want to. I have tried a variety of methods to strip the old Cetol off the teak - So far I have not found a really good method. I think my plan of a little at a time with lots of elbow grease will be what does it. I tried a chemical stripper which sort of worked. Heat gun did not help at all. 

Since the weather has not really been good for lounging about outside working on teak I have been doing inside work. 

I bought a small shop vac that takes drywall and soot sized filter bags and completely cleaned the diesel stove. That job has not been done since the stove was installed and was a messy but satisfying afternoon's work. I am attacking the galley counter now which is in need of sanding, cleaning and refinishing. I think the wood is strips of oak that Dad got out of a surplus deal somewhere. 

Once the weather is a little more reliable I plan to start on the topsides which are in need of a sanding and paint job.

I am still pondering plans for new sails but I think this year we will be limited to maintenance and electrical work. 

Meanwhile I am getting some really fun sailing in on a raceboat "Corvo" I just joined the Wednesday night crew onboard last week and had a hoot! It is quite a different boat to sail than Attitudes. 

Mucking About in Boats

There is nothing half so much worth doing as mucking about in boats. In them or out of them, it doesn't much matter. - The Water Rat, WInd in the Willows.

Attitudes at New Home

Attitudes meets tanker wake.

Well today was the big day. Attitudes got to go to her new home in the big city. Unlike most of my other boat moves it was a lovely day - not freezing cold. There where a few clouds out and the temp was crisp but it was a very nice day. We had Esra drop us at the Bremerton Ferry and took a taxi from the Ferry dock to Brownsville marina. I have to admit that after so many years at Brownsville it was a little hard to leave. It is a wonderful marina with many friendly people.  I am going to miss having a boat there but it will be very nice to be able to leave work and head to the boat for a little downtime in the evening every once in a while..... I am looking forward to getting some maintenance work done on it also. There are so many things on a boat that just take frequent short squirts of work to keep them done. I want the boat to look loved and carried for again.  My first item on the list is teak. Gonna get the teak stripped and refinished. I figure I will do a little section at a time. But first gonna spend a day at the boat show tomorrow.