Giving Notice

We gave notice today.  Notice to the alarm clock that we’ll stop setting it for 6:45 AM each weekday.  Notice to the bus driver that we’ll not be boarding out on busy, stinky Lake City Way in the early morning. I’m giving notice to all those smokers I have to pass by on my way into the building where I work.  Will they notice my absence?

And we gave notice to our bosses and co-workers at work, both Beechers and Harborview, all good people who have been good to us and as fair as can be.

I gave notice to more than half of my wardrobe that I’ll soon be taking to the Goodwill.  Goodbye dress shirts and corduroy pants.  Hello shorts! 

We gave notice to the every afternoon Seattle traffic jam when we sit on the bus and watch drivers block intersections, creating gridlock.  We gave notice to all those people who stand on the sidewalk, walk on the sidewalk, sit on busses, and ride in elevators while always, always staring at iPods, iPhones, Androids, or Kindels while the world around them passes by in silence.

I say goodbye to rent, phone bills, utility bills, and insurance. The payroll department gave me notice that my paychecks will soon cease.

Yes, we've taken that big step to sever ourselves from our Seattle world. Now we're down to a timetable of making lists and checking off items.  Get rid of that, stash the other, loan out this, repack, rethink, and reduce what we have down to a small car load of stuff that will fit in the Honda.  By mid September we'll be unemployed.  By the end of September we'll be gone from the state.  We'll spend the month of October in Ensenada prepping the boat and head south when we're done.

We've given notice.

Got some exploring to do..

This is the voice of Consuelo now, the other sailor aboard Traveler. Guido has convinced me to participate in our blog, so this will be my first entry of many to come.

Adventure Diva!

 
For over 30 years I’ve lived in this spectacular place, raised my kids here, studied music, theater and dance, met my dearest friends and learned the trades of retail grocery and cheese mongering. Leaving my community and its beautiful setting in the Pacific Northwest has become one of the hardest things for me to do. We will be living on the water for years to come, and I have a desire to see a few more wild places here on land before we go. Where though and to what extreme? I imagine a drive to the trail head with dinner on the road Friday night, set up camp and wake to an early start. Make our ascent, set up camp for the night then return the next day. Easy, right?

After serious consideration we decide on a day hike up Mt. Pilchuck; it’s six miles round trip, only a 2K’ ascent and we won’t have to sleep in a tent. It’s been years since either of us has hiked and the voice of reason wins the debate. For being a grounded earth sign, characterized as making calculated, well thought out decisions, the crazy adventure diva is all too willing to jump into the abyss. Whereas my much more practical and somewhat uncharacteristic fire sign fiancé knows how to talk me down from the edge.

View of Three Fingers

It’s a hot day, one of the first of the summer. At the Verlot ranger station they ask if we’re prepared for snow. We have sturdy boots and extra layers. So, off we go! The little Honda climbs to the trail head and we take in the view: Mt. Baker, Three Fingers, Mt. Index, and Mt. Rainier.

Snow in July

Water, check, snacks, check, sandwiches, check, moleskin, check, hat, check, sunglasses, check, sunscreen, check…It didn’t take long to find snow! and the squeals of younger hikers sliding down on their returns, some with tennis shoes, some in sandals and all with wet bottoms. Onward and upward, photo ops-a-plenty, the final 100 yards straight up, sort of, chipping footholds in the snow, we get a grip and declare these rocks the summit and toast success with our well-deserved micro brew favorites. There’s never a better moment in a hike when one can finally liberate the toes from hot and heavy boots, eat tuna sandwiches while sitting in the crook of a rock shaded by scrubby trees on the mountainside…

Refreshed and ready for our descent we pack up and go. There is some slipping and sliding taking it all in long strides. Fortunately our return is not nearly as hot or sweaty as our ascent. We are running low on water and feeling the limitations of our middle-age. In other words, we got our butts kicked and I’m glad Scott talked me out of my initial, more challenging quest. At the end of the day we remain a happy couple and the test of our first hike proves this relationship will survive our ambitions for adventure!

Ah, The Summit!

Ocho Pies at The Washington Center for the Performing Arts

Ocho played a gig with the Masterworks Choral Ensemble this weekend.  The 50 person Masterworks choir performed the first set then during the intermission, Ocho Pies set up on stage.  The second half of the show featured Ocho Pies with the last four songs including backup vocals from the choir. The show went really well.  Everyone had good energy.

Prior to the show, Michael Olson (Ocho's drummer) gave an interview to Molly Gilmore who writes for the newspaper The Olympian.  Here is a excerpt from that article published June 15, 2012:

Masterworks Choral Ensemble is teaming up with Olympia’s Afro-Cuban quartet Ocho Pies to end its season, and this matchup is a win-win. As an authentic world-music group, Ocho Pies enhances the concert’s world-music theme, while Masterworks’ singers lend some of Ocho Pies’ traditional Afro-Cuban tunes a more authentic sound.

“For us, it’s very exciting to do this music with Ocho Pies and a choir, because normally, that is how it’s done,” said Michael Olson, Ocho Pies’ drummer. “We’ve never been able to do that before.“In Cuba, it’s done with a big entourage of singers, so it’s exciting to hear it in that fashion.”

....... and then later on in the interview:

The concert is likely to be among Ocho Pies’ last, at least for a long while. Lead singer Connie Bunyer is getting married in August and will leave the quartet in the fall to go on an extended sailboat journey with her new husband.

“It’s sad,” Olson said. “I’m super happy for her. She’s in love; she’s going to go out and do this beautiful thing. But it’s a little sad.

“It’s kind of the end of Ocho Pies as we know it.”

Olson and the other remaining members, Paul Hjelm and Steve Luceno, are still figuring out what’s next. Meanwhile, Olson said, the band will have some summer gigs at the Water Street Cafe where friends and fans can bid a fond farewell to Bunyer.

See the whole article here at the Olympian

So as you see, the cat's out of the bag, at least in Olympia. While Connie is excited about wandering the seas with Scott on Traveler, she will really miss playing music with her good friends Michael, Stephen, and Paul.

In the meantime:  Embarkation is just over the horizon.
                              Time accelerates as we approach the date. 

Parts, lists, and more lists. and a party!

We have many lists: provisioning list, project list, maintenance list, storage location list, light bulb list, spare parts list, safety check list, departure list, debarkation list.

On one hand the most important thing we are doing right now in Seattle is saving money for the boat kitty.  On the other hand the most important thing we are doing right now is gathering together all those needed items for cruising.  One negates the other. C'est la vie!

There is a storage locker that we’re filling up with all sorts of fun projects. Eventually we’ll have to load all this up and transport it 1300 miles to Ensenada.  I just hope we’ll be able to avoid paying duty on all this stuff.

1

·         Jack lines, safety tethers, harnesses, PFDs

·         Sewing machine and kits

·         Nav station - VHF radio and GPS

·         Handheld - VHFs and GPS’s

·         ICOM  M-802 SSB, Tuner, Pactor Modem

·         Laptop, cameras, chargers, extra batteries

·         Electrical repair supplies

·         Inflatable kayaks

·         Spare parts and tools

·         Portable generator

·         Diving gear

·         Books

·         Vino Tinto 

      Note how everything on the list involves the act of sailing or cruising on a small boat.  You’d think with a big fat 42 foot boat we’d have oodles of room for all sorts of stuff.  But no, the lockers are filling up and the waterline is rising with it.  Put too much stuff aboard and she’ll be shipping water over the gunwales. 

      

      Letting go involves saying goodbye to friends too. We're putting together a going away party in August. We've rented a hall in Seattle and Connie's band, Ocho Pies are coming up from Olympia to provide the music.  

                      We'll drink and dance and eat, 

                                 laugh and sing and weep.

a    

Ensenada April 6 - 16 2012

Duck Breath, firmly bolted to the hill overlooking Ensenada, gives his morning weather report and unique slant on world news most mornings on VHF 69. Our standard morning routine has one of us jumping out from under the warm covers (brrrrr) to dash into the galley to put on the tea pot to boil. Then back in bed where it is warm, then back out to add the tea once the whistle starts. Back in bed while the tea steeps. Then dash out again to grab fruit and tea and the handheld VHF. We sit upright in the master berth and switch on the radio for Duck Breath's morning soliloquy. Soon, the air outside is warmer than the air inside so we open up the the gangway and portlights and start our day on Traveler. It's such a nice way to wake up and it's how we want to wake up every day.

Traveler has moved from rocking and rolling around Baja Naval to the calm waters of Cruiseport Marina. The constant lunging of the boat was taking a huge toll on our dock lines and fenders so we had to make the move. We do miss being right there on the Ensenada Malecon, so close to the fish market and all the sounds and smells of a busy waterfront. While at Baja Naval we had dinner with Marco and Naida on their sweet Passport 40 and the next day had an exciting sail and anchor practice out in the bay as a big storm was approaching from the north. We only broke the main halyard turning block and the chain stripper on the anchor windlass on this outing.  Not too shabby.

We got turned on to a little family run restaurant/food stand called Carnitas Hnos Ramirez on Riveroll and Segunda. Each day they bring a roasted pig to their small restaurant.  Mamma makes fresh corn tortillas on a griddle while Papa chops up the pork for a delicious pork taco for 14 pesos.  Every day, only one menu item, except on Friday when they fry up all the pork fat and load a table up with fried pork rind, free for the taking. If you don't tell them otherwise they will see you are a gringo and pull out very lean cuts for your taco. But I'm sure it's more flavorful to have the standard mix that has a higher fat content. It's right next to the SuperAqua water store where we fill our 5 gallon "garrafon" for 7 pesos (about 50 cents).

At Cruiseport we met many of the live-aboard gringos at a Sunday potluck. Quite a few old salts living single and fixing their boats up (forever), and some couples getting ready to head south in November. Not exactly an exciting bunch but I'm sure we'll find some adventurous types or at least musicians as time goes by. The to-do list gets longer and shorter, longer and shorter, and Connie and Scott are trying our best to be patient as it all starts to come together. Like making a roux, huh? It takes time to do it right.  In the meantime, give me one of those pork tacos and let's go find a cerveza to go with it.

Draining the Rudder

As I mentioned last May, we found water in the rudder and had it repaired. Since then I've been reading up on rudders and water in the rudder. It seems like it is very common for rudders and skegs to get water in them. Some folks will say water in the rudder is a sure sign of upcoming disaster, others say it's par for the course.

Rudders usually have a part foam core and part solid glass layup. This combination results in a more lightweight rudder then you'd have if it was solid glass. Near neutral buoyancy helps the performance of the boat and makes it possible (not easy, but possible) to  remove the rudder without hauling out.
 
Over time, water gets into the foam, steel, and glass core through small cracks in the glass. As the boat bumps along the gulf stream the rudder goes up and down in the water and the pressure on the surface of the rudder changes. This creates a vacuum inside that will pull water in through the smallest crack.

Inside the rudder you'll find two to four steel web tangs welded to the rudder shaft (or stock) running aft. These help transfer the turning effort to the rest of the rudder. The interface (weld) between the rudder stock and these tangs can rust over time if water is present there without oxygen. Hence this connection area should be properly glassed when the rudder is assembled.

When we hauled Traveler I knew we had some delamination in the top part of the rudder because the surveyor had tapped around and found a hollow sounding area. Ovidio cut out a square in the fiberglass skin so we could inspect the area. He also drilled a couple of holes in the bottom of the rudder and that's when the water started coming out. I tried not to freak out when I saw this.

Ovidio also drilled a hole in the bottom of the skeg and water drained out there also.

 Double freak.

I've heard, and it makes sense, that if the water is rusty colored then duh, you've got rusting steel and the connection of the tangs to the stock might be compromised. The water draining out of Traveler's rudder was not brown but light amber. And there was not more than a cup coming out anyway, which is common for many rudders.

People up north have a problem with water in the rudder because when they haul out for the winter the water in the rudder can freeze and cause delamination. Go look in a boatyard in upper Michigan in the winter and you'll see rudders puffing up left and right. Another reason why it is crazy to live up north.

After draining the water out of the rudder and skeg and letting it dry for a few days, Ovidio patched up the side of the rudder where he cut out the inspection area, then he re-glassed the rudder and skep, stopping up the drain holes of course.

Do I have water in my rudder now? You betcha. Am I worried about it? Just a little. But the consensus on water in the rudder is that it's like lecherous thoughts. Most every sailor has some.

And this is yet another reason why we should have a Hydrovane self-steering system mounted on the stern. It can be used as an emergency rudder for when my waterlogged rusty rudder drops off the boat and down into the murky deep.

The Sea Gypsy

Rowena

I am fevered with the sunset,

I am fretful with the bay,

For the wander-thirst is on me

And my soul is in Cathay.

There's a schooner in the offing,

With her topsails shot with fire,

And my heart has gone aboard her

For the Islands of Desire.

I must forth again to-morrow!

With the sunset I must be

Hull down on the trail of rapture

In the wonder of the sea.

Richard Hovey

Note: Rowena is a Formosa 41 topsail ketch formerly skippered by my friend Rebecca and now being sailed by Live Ocean, a marine conservation group in Kirkland Washington. 

Full speed ahead

Here it is March and we've gotten over a major hurdle.  I've not only sold the house but sold some land I owned in Sequim WA.  Now we have cruising kitty! This is not a good time to sell real estate, but when is a good time? We all thought we had a gold mine in our properties till the housing bubble burst.  I was able to get out of all my properties with enough to buy the boat and have a little cash to cruise on so I consider myself fortunate. Fortunate indeed! 

Today I sent out an email to a bunch of my sailing friends here in Seattle, telling them of our plans, and seeing if any are interested in meeting up with us later to help out with long crossings or just to hang out near a warm Mexican port. Since we are cruising on a shoestring, we thought we'd offer a weeks worth of sailing in exchange for some supplies.  Crew can fly down to meet us, donate a week's worth of groceries (think wine), top off the diesel tank, and have a leisurely relaxing week on the clear blue warm waters off the coast of Mexico.  You will have your own private quarters and opportunity to sail, snorkel, cook, tan, eat, drink, and play music.

Connie and I are very excited about this next phase in our lives and are keen to share our adventures with our friends.   The clock's a-tickin.

Commodore's Ball

Scott & Connie at the Commodore's Ball

Eagle and Silhouette are in La Paz

Here is a picture of a caleta on Isla Espirtu Santos that I lifted from Tom Brown and Jeanne Walker's blog, "Eagle's Big Left Turn." 

I want to be there!

We met Tom and Jeanne on the dock in Ensenada in January.  I believe they are in La Paz now as are Patrick Dayshaw and Kirsten Rohrbach on Silhouette who I'm following as an armchair sailor as well.  Living vicariously, you do what you got to do.

We were there two years ago on SeaScrape.  A very happy time it was.