There is just NO WAY we can be out of here (responsibly, anyway) by
tomorrow. So our new goal is to leave by next weekend (Labor Day
weekend). We have a very good chance of making that goal.
Today we got both headsails bent on. It went pretty well all-in-all.
The yankee (our large headsail) ended up being a couple of inches
long, even though we thought it might actually be a little short. I'd
like to blame it on Spin-Tec's instructions but the fact is that we
measured the actual length we needed so we screwed up somewhere.
Since the furler's foil keeps the luff straight, there's just a tiny
little jog near the foot of the sail. Not enough of an issue to worry
about. Someday we'll be working on the sails again and we'll take
care of shortening the yankee then. We had to experiment a little
with block location to get the furling line to wind up on the drum
(or, as Lulu calls it: "the bobbin") without trying to climb the
headstay but we eventually got it. Sure is nice to just be able to
roll or unroll the sail.
I spent the remainder of the day working on several projects and
completing none. Lulu was bust down below rearranging stuff. Last
night she made sandwiches for dinner. I requested some clam chowder to
go with. Well, all of our canned goods are in this deep pit behind
the stove. The opening in the top of the pit is about 16" long but
only 6" wide. It's virtually impossible to reach the bottom without
climbing on something. So, back when we were first stowing our canned
goods I came up with the brilliant idea of loading the canned goods in
those old canvas Safeway shopping bags and then tying a tag to the
handle telling what was inside. Impossible to reach the bottom of the
pit and pull out one can of something but relatively easy to pull out
a bag at a time. Or so I thought. Turns out that it's pretty easy to
manipulate the cans inside the bag when you're lowering the bag into
the pit. But when you're hoisting the bag back out, the cans resist
all attempts to be rearranged enough so the bag can clear the
opening. At first I watched Lulu struggle for awhile while thinking,
"Geez, woman! What is so hard about pulling a bag out of a hole?"
Then, being the helpful kind of guy I am, I offered to take over.
WHAT A PAIN! We ultimately got our can of clam chowder out but we
resolved to do something to fix this situation.
Well, to make an already too-long story a little shorter, we
ultimately ended up moving the cans to the cupboards behind the settee
seatback where they are much easier to get to. We shoved our foul
weather gear in the pit behind the stove. As a bonus, this little
move managed to help relieve our list to port a little. We've got a
lot of canned goods.
We got rid of some stuff yesterday and got most of what was left
stowed. You know how in the old days the officers on a ship were the
only ones who knew how to navigate? This helped to minimize the
chance of mutiny. If the crew mutinied they wouldn't be able to find
their way back to land, not knowing the art of navigation. Well, Lulu
has that same kind of insurance. She's the only one who has any idea
where stuff is on this little boat. You'd be amazed how easy it is to
lose stuff on a 28' boat.
I think all our big jobs are at least started. Should be able to
finish them up in the next couple days. Not sure what the weather is
supposed to do this week. Guess I'd better start paying attention. It
was sort of nice in Newport for awhile today but this afternoon the
wind piped up and things got kind of cold again (as usual). I'm
thinking about submitting a new slogan to the Chamber of Commerce.
Something like "Newport Blows". Think they'd go for that?
Well, time to tie this up. It's just about time to tuck into Lulu's
tuna casserole. Life is good.
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