Quandary

Part of our volunteer projects has been to investigate the possibility of fixing the upper pulley and installing a new halyard on the lighthouse flagpole. Remember this from a few years ago?

 

That's obviously never going to happen again, so Dave had to come with a plan that could make it so that anyone could service the aluminum pole. The original flagpole was shorter and made out of wood. A slot was made in the base, and it had a tabernacle so it could be raised and lowered with the aid of two fixed points and a block and tackle or come-along. Today we checked to see how far down the concrete base it went, and whether the base was solid concrete, or perhaps part of it was just concrete building blocks. First Dave drilled a hole into the pole and put down a wire to see how deep it was...it went all the way to the bottom, about four feet.

Then he drilled holes in the concrete in the top and side of the slot...unfortunately it's solid and would need to be jackhammered to access it.

The next quandary is how could this flagpole be lowered the first time to put a tabernacle on it? It is tall and on the side of a rocky hill. Definitely not a job for the volunteers!

Can You Find Him?

While we recover from the flu...yes, Dave caught it also...we get great pleasure from watching our hummingbirds on the porch. We have at least one male and female Cuban Emerald, but also a pair of rare to the Bahamas, Ruby Throated Hummingbirds. Can you find the male sitting in the trees, waiting to chase other 'intruders' away?

I believe this is the female at the feeder around the holidays. The lights never even bothered them.

I know the photos aren't the greatest but these fast little birds sure are hard to capture 'on film'. I swear they know when I have the camera out and they quickly disappear.

An Impressive Sight

Dave raced on the Abaco Rage yesterday and although they came in last, everyone had a great time. Dave is now the bowman and helps with the jib.

 (Above photos by Will Heyer)

The winds were so light that a couple of the boats even dropped out. Not the Rage though, with that huge mainsail. They even sailed into and through the harbor.

What a sight to see as they maneuver through all the moored boats!

Drifters

Our first full moon dinghy drift of the winter season was much smaller than last spring's record setting one. This time about 20 boats showed up, so it was much easier passing the appetizers around... and you would be guaranteed to get your dishes back! We were a little worried all day because it was windy, but by sunset there was barely a breeze.

The full moon peeked out from behind the clouds and lit up the whole harbor, making a great end to the evening.

From Tree To Boat

The trees that surround our apartment are corkwood trees. They are what the 'knees' are made of in the Abaco Dinghies. The shape works perfectly and you can almost picture the beginnings of a boat...

While Heinz is working on the dinghies over at his marina, Dave has started working on Dandy here in the boatyard. He is organized and has his own little corner to complete the project, with his tools and work bench close at hand.

We don't have any of the original wood, so Dave is making pieces out of mahogany to sister into the knees already in place. He found cracks in some of the braces, now that the floor boards have been removed for painting.

This will ensure that the boat will be strong and hold her shape. You can see the angles and why the corkwood works so well.

The restoration will continue when our next cold front arrives. Now it's calm and time to get back out on the water!

Dinghy Work

The Abaco Dinghy workshops are in full swing now. While Dave works on ours here in the boatyard, Heinz, Will and other volunteers work on the ones that were stored at Hope Town Marina. First they have to come off of the custom made rack and these small wooden boats are heavy!

Next Sunday is the first race of the season, and although our Dandy will certainly not be ready, hopefully some of the other classic dinghies will be out on the course.

2015 Is Here!