As I said yesterday, today was a total skate day. We got up at a reasonable hour, for a Sunday, had breakfast and got to work. First we put another coat of green paint on the bulwarks. Originally we only planned to do 2 coats but we both agreed that one more coat would be better. Still a few thin spots.
After that, Lulu got out her screwdriver and proceeded to do the maintenance on the seacocks under the head sink and the galley sink.
After she got the one in the head done, we were saved from further labor by a visit from my folks. We drove in to Newport and met up with my uncle Felty and his SO Delores, my uncle Norman and aunt Marci as well as my cousin Brian, his wife Susie and their kids. We all had lunch at the Sandbar & Grill and then back to the boat to show everyone around.
After everyone left, Lulu finished doing the maintenance on the seacocks in the galley and I loaded the anchors back on he bowsprit. Then we walked down to the Mad Dog for beer and popcorn. Now we're home and hunkering in for the evening.
One question that keeps coming up is "When are you leaving?" I'm assuming that this isn't meant in the vein of "how can I miss you if you won't go away?" and is rather asked in earnest.
Unlike land travel, we need to pay a LOT more attention to the weather before we shove off. Can't just pick a date and go. Well, you could but we'd rather be safe. So, after we're put back in the water on Tuesday, we'll be watching for a promising weather window to head out to sea. What constitutes "promising" for us? Well, winds of 5-15 knots with the occasional gust to 20 and seas less than 10' high, projected to last for 3-4 days would be very nice. Currently the Oregon coast is looking at winds greater than 20 knots and small craft advisories. Further south it gets mellower but we have to get there first. So, Tuesday afternoon we'll head upriver a little bit and drop the anchor. Then we'll watch the weather and, when conditions meet our criteria, we'll shove off. We may be at anchor only a couple days or we could be there a couple weeks (although we hope not). One thing we're NOT going to do is start off our cruising life by heading out in crappy weather just to make it somewhere at a pre-set time.
Here are a few of the resources we use:
Marine Forecast for Latitude 44.64°N and Longitude 124.23°W
Coastal Waters Forecast for Coastal waters from Cascade Head to Florence OR out 10 nm (PZZ255)
Coastal Waters Forecast for Coastal waters from Cape Blanco OR to Pt. St. George CA out 10 nm (PZZ356)
Coastal Waters Forecast for Coastal waters from Pt. St. George to Cape Mendocino CA out 10 nm (PZZ450)
Coastal Waters Forecast for Coastal waters from Cape Mendocino to Pt. Arena CA out 10 nm (PZZ455)
Coastal Waters Forecast for Coastal Waters from Point Arena to Point Reyes California out to 10 nm (PZZ540)
and
www.passageweather.com
How will we check these sites when anchored? Good question. Stay tuned for details.
3 comments:
Steve, sometimes I think you make up questions yourself. And if that isn't enough, you even call them "good question" then you get to answer. We're on to you!
another "good question" if i may? The suports that are holding your boat off the ground... square ones... what do you do about painting them? And isnt it sad that the purdy blue is in the water....? just asking and sayin. Some might call it participatin!
Normally what happens is that after they pick us up in the slings, they just let us hang there for a few minutes while we hurriedly paint the squares. Then, into the water we go. Bottom paint has a very volatile solvent so it dries pretty fast. But this time, I think we'll just let the squares be. It's still good paint. It'll all look the same soon anyway.
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