Second Place Again!

The Charles P. Manchee trophy race for cruising boats was finally held today after two postponements due to inclement weather. This was a point to point race around Sandy and Garden Cays off of Man-O-War. There was a crew of 4 on board Sunrise with the west wind beginning higher than predicted, but then turning to the north and becoming lighter than expected. The start of the race was really close and that is Sunrise with the shorter mast next to the committee boat in this photo...

This is what they look like next to the Abaco Rage...

They made it around the islands before most of the boats had a chance to make it there, so Sunrise was in better air, before it eased.

You can tell the guys are concentrating!

When the handicaps were tallied they came in 2nd place. They certainly are consistent!

Thanks again to Will Heyer for the great photos.

Transient Housing

Look who is back! Too bad the woodpecker doesn't use this birdhouse for nesting instead of a motel.

Soon they will be pecking on our apartment siding. Then again, that will mean spring is here! 

When The Wind Blows

More windy day projects! Actually this project has been ongoing for a little while, doing a bit at a time during the winter gales. Yesterday we completed our easy and cheap (aka free) bathroom update. Before, I never liked the yellow on the wood that covered where the old window used to be and on the shelves:

After (we used the leftover blue paint from when I had to cover up the same bright yellow that the back bedroom was painted):

The bathroom vanity countertop was painted over and starfish designs added by the previous tenants....can you tell that they really liked starfish? With age and water getting under the paint, it had started to lift so bad that I couldn't clean it without paint chips everywhere. Before:

Dave had a brilliant idea to alleviate the problem and freshen up the look. He had found some foam insulated laminate panels, removed the foam and sanded the back of the piece so it would lay flat.

He removed the sink, cut the piece to size, and glued the laminate down over the old countertop. Then he re-caulked everything. After:

Now it all looks fresh and the blue is much more soothing. Plus it matches the blue/green tiles and curtain in the shower much better. 

It sure is nice to have a handy and innovative husband!

 

Mast Mentoring

Dave has been learning how to make an Abaco Dinghy wooden mast from wooden boat restorer Will (who also takes all those great cruising boat race photos). Will has lots of experience in projects such as this and Dave enjoyed being mentored by him. His expertise is amazing. This mast is for the Abaco Dinghy Winer Malone that was rebuilt last year. First they started with this beautiful piece of clear hemlock, measuring it to the proper length. Then Jim, Dave, and Will cut and sanded little by little with the help of some boards to keep it straight...

Eventually it ended up looking like this with LOTS more sanding, and owner Craig was thrilled to pitch in to help.

The base of the mast needs to remain square to fit into the base of the dinghy and then becomes round and tapered. 

What a fantastic windy day(s) project. Now there are two mast pros!

Super Moon

The Super Blood Wolf Moon rising tonight was spectacular! The moon was huge coming up over the ocean.

However, from these photos you can really see how wind burned and drought ridden the trees out front of our apartment are. We did get some rain yesterday, but not enough to make much of a difference. We see more of the water everyday, which is actually kind of nice!

It Moved!

I know that sounds like a Seinfeld skit, but it's nothing like that. I am talking about the ice box that has been under our porch since we arrived here in late October. It runs almost non-stop and when someone went to get ice, they always slammed the doors so hard it rattled the whole apartment. Although a 'white noise' when running, when it would go off for a little while, we realized how loud it had been. Now that the dock and dockmaster's house are complete, the ice box had to go back out there. Five workers, all speaking Haitian and making their plan for the move, eventually got the job done. First they moved it out on the dock with the dolly they use to move the pallets of supplies with.

Once out there, the dock got too skinny for the dolly, so they had another lengthy discussion, all talking at once. Then they decided to run and get a couple of metal pipes to put under it and roll it to the building.

When it was in line with the area it had to fit in (From up on my porch it didn't look like it would fit, it was that close), they stood there trying to figure out how to back in. I think they finally just combined their brute strength, and voila it was in its final resting area (sorry no photo with that yacht in the way). I know it sounds boring writing about it, but it really was funny with all the discussions and contemplating. Thinking back on it, the whole process probably would have made a great Seinfeld skit after all. 😉

Off The Rock

We ventured "off the rock" for an excursion north to Great Guana Cay yesterday. The sailing club had an overnight get-together up there, but we decided to go for the day. As it turned out, we ended up not even going to the restaurant where everyone was having lunch. We loaded up Walkabout with the kayaks and a picnic lunch and off we went.

After anchoring in Fisher's Bay, we launched the kayaks and toured the harbor, going by Grabbers and their beautiful new dock. Rumor has it that drinks are $12 a piece and beers are $10, but I guess someone has to pay for the dock. 😉

We kept paddling over to Settlement Harbour and into the shallows underneath all the docks.

These underwater diving scooters were here 2 years ago when we last visited. I have to wonder if the dive company actually uses them.

Things were quiet at Orchid Bay Marina, and actually it was pretty quiet everywhere. The island really livens up when the Barefoot Man Concert comes to town.

I paddled close to the riprap boulders that protect the marina from west winds and waves. The marina and whole settlement is exposed to the Sea of Abaco. It works well at low tide....

Perhaps not working so well at high tide when you can see between the holes in the boulders and the surge must come through too. It might be made this way though so that the pressure of the water gets eased by going through the holes and doesn't put as much pressure on the rocks themselves and they theoretically stay in place.

I took this photo of the houseboat, because there is a cormorant on the skiff. It looked like a regular resident there...both the boat and the bird, that is.

We got to see an island freighter and a tug and barge come by on their way south after transiting the famous Whale Cay Cut. The freighter was the sistership of the one we took from Palm Beach to Green Turtle Cay quite a few years ago.

After lunch, it was time for Dave to get in the water and clean the growth off of Walkabout's bottom. This project was sorely needed, but the water was really cold. It took Dave awhile to contemplate the project or perhaps catch a few warm rays of sun before diving in.

Meanwhile the boat's stereo was hooked up to our phone and I played tunes. The speakers are awesome and we sounded like so many of the boats blasting music as they come into Hope Town Harbor. Unfortunately most of the time they play rap, but we had Pink Floyd. Now that's the way to travel!

Sailing Class

Dave helped with the ladies beginner Sunfish class yesterday. The guys came early to get the heavy Sunfish off the racks and the rigs on the boats.

Looks like John and Jim (and Dave taking the photo) had fun towing the boats out to Nathan's Bay Beach to start the class given by one of the Junior Sailing instructors.

The ladies did well and some even sailed back into the harbor afterwards. This is a once a week, four week course and it looks like they are off to a great start!

Not me though. I almost drowned many years ago, when we flipped Dave's parents' Sunfish on Lake George, and the lines got caught around my ankle. I would rather stick to Suja and Dandy. While Dave was helping the ladies, I walked 3 miles...and forgot I had even broken my ankle. 😎

Racing With Pros

Dave did really well in yesterday's Sunfish races. He ended up coming in third place out of 9 competitors! Not only that, the 1st place finisher was workboat class skipper extraordinaire/Best of the Best, Jeff Gale. Coming in second was Richard Woods who owns his own catamaran company and has a mile long sailing and pro racing history. Dave beat Colin Buffin who owns and races a Swan 62 in the Caribbean. Dave was also first around the windward mark in two out of three races in the regatta.

What a day! The weather was gray, but the rain stayed away. However, the wind kept increasing. Before the races even started, Dave's tiller extension broke and I, as chase boat, had to fly from the Sea of Abaco, back to the sailing club to get him a new rudder, since the extension is attached to it. Meanwhile he had headed back towards the harbor entrance to save time with me coming back out. He had the rudder swapped over and back out to the start line with only 2 minutes to spare before the first race. The timing threw him off a bit, so he didn't finish so well in that race, but in the second race he finished third, and in the 3rd race he finished second.

Meanwhile, the Abaco Dinghies were out racing (tough choice for Dave as to which class to race, but he chose well). There were some newbies out sailing and one broached and the skipper ended up in the water. Art, who took the photos I have posted here, said he could see the fear in his eyes and knew he was going to flip over. Time for me to pump the water out of the boat with our electric pump, but another wife of a racer beat me to it, so I helped keep the boat floating. It is quite a process, and the mark boat crew helped by bailing with a bucket. Skipper Ted was such a good sport and said he is not giving up and claims he just needs more practice.

With new sails on the club's Sunfish (they actually belong to Junior Sailing), that were only used once at the Sunfish World's Regatta in North Carolina this summer, Dave's performance really improved and hopefully he will continue to do well.

2nd Race, 3rd Place

In the second cruising boat race of the season, Sunrise received 3rd place honors after the handicaps were tallied. The winds were boisterous, starting out at about 15 mph and increasing to over 20 by the end. Luckily there were 4 crew onboard including the skipper, Milton, who owns the boat. They used both of their new Carbon Kevlar sails and the Capri 25 looked quite impressive!

In the middle of the race, the pin that holds the headstay on to the foredeck broke and the whole rig got quite wobbly. Dave found a long bolt, some washers, and a wingnut and crawled up to the bow, with one of the guys holding his ankles so he wouldn't go overboard, and he jury rigged the headstay so they could continue on their way. If not for that, they probably would have finished in at least 2nd place.

They all had fun, but I bet they were totally exhausted by the time they got back to the dock.

 Next up, Sunfish and Abaco Dinghy races!

Thanks once again to Will for the fantastic photos.

Swelling Up

Our Abaco Dinghy Dandy was put in the water today. First though, the forklift that launches the boats had to be fixed due to a flat tire. It is quite a challenge to repair something this big here in the islands, and certainly it can't be done in Hope Town. The wheel was removed and brought by boat over to Marsh Harbour, where a truck repair shop supposedly got it fixed (it ended up having a big slice in the side).  They put down carboard to keep the tire from making marks on our nice new dock.

After the wheel was installed, we grabbed Brandon and Charles to get Dandy launched before they completed their backlog of work from the forklift being out of commission. One of the advantages of living in the boatyard! Brandon easily lifted Dandy off the trailer...

Then carefully Dave and Charles laid the boat over on its side and it was brought over to the 'well' to be lowered into the water...

I ran and got our skiff, picked up Dave and Dandy, and we brought it over to its high visibility slip out front of the marina for the remainder of the season. Tomorrow we will put the mast and boom on.

This year though, the boat has been taking on a lot of water, more than in previous years. That means it has been out of the water too long and the wood needs to swell up. Dave is leaving a little bit of water in it to help that process. Hopefully in the next couple of days, the wood will swell and the seams will seal up. Then she will be ready to sail around the harbor again.

Oh, and the forklift tire repair? Tonight Dave walked out in the boatyard and the tire was flat again. Good thing all our boats are in the water now, since they will have to repeat the process or wait for their newly ordered tire to arrive. That's life in the islands!