I like that word: "crap". It can completely convey your point or feeling, without using more colorful (and negative) words which I wouldn't want to put in our blog. Yesterday we each had that kind of day. Louis was patching gelcoat (the fiberglass surface of our boat) and I was chemically stripping varnish (the picture actually shows the heat gun phase - that's actually the "fun" part of the job.). Anyway, Louis mixed up this very potent, toxic batch of white gelcoat "goo", mixing just the right amount of brown and yellow coloring to match our cream fiberglass. He had just finished patching various dings all around the boat when a wind came up and knocked the boat cusions off of their storage spot. He grabbed them (so they wouldn't fall in the gelcoat), dripping his tub of goo all over the place, and stepping in his patches in the process! Grrrrrrr! After cleaning all of that up, he waited. And waited. And waited. It seems he didn't put enough hardener in the gelcoat, and it wasn't "going off". (He was, though!) So....back to square one (or square minus-one, actually, as he now needs to remove the goo, mix up a new batch of gelcoat, try to rematch the color, and do the entire process over again! Crap!
Meanwhile, I was stripping the wood with a chemical stripper to get the varnish out of the crevices in the wood which remained after the heat gun step. I carefully taped all the edges where wood-to-be-stripped meets wood-not-to-be-stripped. Since we couldn't find the $50+ per roll "solvent-resistant tape", I used the standard 3M blue tape. I put several layers of that on, and then went over it with duct tape (my goal being to keep the stripper from stripping the good wood). Well, you can guess what happened. The stripper ate the tape and bled a little, peeling up a bit of the finish from the "good wood". Crap! Plus, it was a friggin' mess! Gooey, dusty, caustic chemicals dripping all over the plastic protectant, and me in the process. I had to shut the hatch to work on it, so I was sweating up a storm through my glasses & dust mask and could barely see...this stuff sucks! The good news is that the "good wood" I damaged is actually an already-damaged area we had decided not to tackle this time around. So, it's not a pristine area or anything. More good news: having learned this lesson, I will not be using stipper in hatch #2 (in the photo), where the beautiful pristine wood IS.
Anyway, that pretty much fit our definition of a "crappy" boat day! How was your day?
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If you know me very well, you'll know by this picture that I must be getting a bit tired by now from all of this woodwork! I rarely eat fast-food - like, once a year at most. And when I do, it's almost always an In-and-Out burger (hey, those are pretty good for you, right?). So for me to eat Kentucky Fried Chicken - well, it's just not normally "in" me. Well, tonight it was not only in me, but I suggested it! And, man, was it good...Louis and I inhaled most of a bucket of Original Recipe Fried Chicken (they didn't have extra crispy) while watching a pretty stupid Denzel Washington / Angelina Jolie movie. A great ending to an exhausting day of deck laying, caulking and varnish stripping!
Our great night was followed by a very fun day! Now, if you know Louis very well, you know he's a "worker". And he doesn't like to play games. (I'm not talking about the head-trip kinds - although thankfully he doesn't like those either!) Anyway, today we were invited for brunch on "Meow", a neighboring Catamaran in the boatyard. Her owner, Mel, invited us and another couple to eat enchiladas, drink Mango-mimosas, and play Mexican Train (a dominoes-type game). We spent all of Sunday afternoon - from 1:00 to 6:30 or so - hanging out eating, drinking, laughing and playing Mexican Train! Two firsts in a 24-hour period: KFC for me, and a day OFF playing games for Louis. You KNOW we're tired!
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Well, today we got some awful news: 3 good friends of ours were involved in a serious accident back home and 1 of our friends, Dennis Colbath, didn't survive. We are heartbroken. Dennis and his partner, Steve, are 2 very good friends of ours who were hoping to visit us this year on Scappatella. Several years ago Steve and Dennis joined us sailing in Mexico on "Basta" (Doug Nichoson's boat) for 10 days. This photo was taken in Ballena Bay-? in the Sea of Cortez, where the 4 of us were clamming, trying to avoid the killer crabs that kept attacking our feet. This trip, like many other times with Steve and Dennis, was filled with laughter and great memories! Dennis is - was - a fun-loving, smart, sweetheart of a guy and we will miss him very much. Bob and Linda, our other friends who were involved in the accident are ok, thankfully, although each will have a 3-month healing process from broken ribs (Linda) to a fractured vertebrae & broken clavicle (Bob).
I flew home as our "Caribbean emissary" to attend Dennis' memorial and support our friends. Louis stayed with Scappatella, keeping her safe and continuing the work that needed to be done. It was strange, but very good, to be home again. And I'm so glad I came home - it was good to spend time with Steve, Bob and Linda, and to be among friends while we all shared stories of times with Dennis and collectively mourned his passing. A few days later we continued that process, but in addition celebrated the inauguration of President Barack Obama! A day marked by intense sadness coupled with hope and excitement.
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New Year's Day we headed down to Scappatella...excited, and a bit apprehensive, to climb aboard. Apprehensive because we left her for soooooooo long...we've heard some horror stories involving theft, mold, water damage, and the like. We opened up the hatch, stepped inside, and all seemed ok! No funky smells and our systems were powered up (we'd left a solar panel hooked up to trickle charge our batteries while we were gone). Looking a bit more closely, however, we discovered a thin layer of mold over all of the wood and in a few more spots. Bummer! But luckily it hadn't done any damage (heavy mold can destroy finishes on wood), and it was pretty selective about what it grew on. Also luckily, we had put all of the linens, pillows, bedding, etc. in air-tight bags, so at least that stuff was still clean! Still, it took 3 days wiping everything down with vinegar to get rid it all but, finally, Scappatella was clean once more!
Once the basic stuff was done, we got to more serious tasks: ordering sails! Yup, we bit the bullet and ordered a new mainsail and a new foresail (genoa) for Scappatella! Our sails are over 20 years old, so it was pretty much a necessity, even though it dented the pocketbook quite a bit. Then, Louis began working on our decks -repairing and replacing some of the teak decking, and I started working on the "brightwork". With a name like that, you'd think I was working on the stainless, right? Nope, in boating, brightwork refers to the woodwork - go figure! Ours was more aptly called dullwork, as it had been let go of late. The process so far has been: cleaning the fiberglass surrounding the teak of previous varnish stains (duh...should have done that later, I learned); heat-stripping the old varnish off of the teak (my new favorite tool!) and finally, chemical-stripping and hand scraping the remaining varnish that wouldn't come off with the gun (this part sucks big time!). I have about 3 days into this phase, with about 3 more to go, I'm guessing. Then I have to make repairs, sand the wood down, apply 3 coats of sealer, and finally apply 8 - 10 coats of varnish (1 coat per day, sanding in between each coat). It sounds pretty daunting, but I'm excited to see how it looks a the end! (And, no matter how it turns out, if you visit Scappatella it would be a good idea to rave about our new "brightwork"!)
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Well, Louis and I are back at it...living in the boatyard in Curacao, working on Scappatella. We had an awesome summer following our 1st season sailing: reconnecting with friends at home, a river trip on the Main Salmon, a very fun holiday season, and the highlight of our year - a trip to Italy in September to celebrate the wedding of our wonderful cousin, Roberta to her very charming husband, Andrea! And wow, what a wedding it was! From the setting (Chiesa di San Rocco, 1649) to the food (family and friends spent weeks making all of the appetizers while the dinner was a handmade, multi-course affair at a charming "agriturismo") to the incredible people (the Tognolonis, Maineris, Boninos...and many other "cousins")...we had an amazing time!
I really reconnected with my "roots" in Italy, and Louis and I particularly loved the time we spent hanging with my family in and around the medieval town of Toirano, my grandfather's birthplace. We swam in the Mediterranean sea with Roberta and Andrea; toured Franco's beautiful garden and olive grove; and picnicked Italian-style (homemade pastasciutta, garden-tomatoes, wine, and limoncello) on the top of the mountain at St. Pietro, where my grandparents first met. We enjoyed many incredible meals together with "The Family", and I learned how to make gnocchi, salsa verde and boudino from cousins Tina and Marisa, and homemade gelato from Andrea. We also visited "The 10 Italians" we met on a boat in Barbuda last year, who treated us to a tasty outdoor traditional "Piacenzan meal"...very fun! And we met up with Tony and Hilary from "Miss Charlotte" (other yachties we met in the Caribbean), who had recently bought a place in Tuscany. They made a fantastic dinner for dinner for while we swapped adventure stores, and the next day we all explored the beautiful town of Sienna. Finally, we spent 10 days with Stefan and friends exploring the Verdon River Gorge in the South of France, hiking to huts in the mountains of Munich, drinking many "masses" of beer at Octoberfest, and, of course, eating lots of wonderful food. We were blown away by the generosity of all of our friends and family...what incredible hosts they all were!
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So, after an 8-month hiatus, we arrived in Curacao on New Year's Eve at 8:30pm - 24 hours after we left! We met a few interesting people on the plane, among them Bart, Karen and their 2 kids. They invited us to watch fireworks and ring in the new year, so around 11:00 we met up with them and Bart's sister, Esther, and watched the fireworks display from the top of this little hill in Curacao.
It was AMAZING...everyone in Curacao buys fireworks for New Years. And I'm not talking about the little Pinwheels and Piccolo Pete's we grew up with. In Curacao, there was a store on every street corner selling full-on, professional-type fireworks! The sky was lit up all around the island (we had a 360-degree view), and the noise was deafening........1000-foot strings of M-80's going off all over the place. It was very cool! At midnight, we all toasted with champagne and eventually headed to our apartment...a great way to ring in the new year!!
Does this sound a bit like a war zone?
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04/29/2008, Curacao Marine Boatyard
There are 3 types of unwelcome boat visitors: weevils, roaches, and rodents (not in that order). Unfortunately, we have now had them all aboard Scappatella. Fortunately, though, we've managed to catch them at very early stages so we've never had a real "problem".
The 1st signs of today's visitor were little black turds in the dinghy - either from a large mouse or a small rat. "How the heck did a rodent get in the dinghy" we wondered. We're currently anchored outside the boatyard in Curacao, having spent the day yesterday sailing over here from Bonaire. We hadn't even been ashore yet. I've heard of rats swimming out from shore in places and crawling up your anchor line. That would have to be one burly rat...ugh....I sure hoped that wasn't the case. Later that afternoon I noticed a few very neat little holes chewed through the garbage bag we had sitting up on the foredeck. (We usually stow garbage in the anchor locker until we can take it ashore.) Bummer. That confirmed we had an unwelcome "guest" aboard Scappatella. Even worse, we're getting ready to put the boat on the hard, and if we didn't catch him by the time we left we'd be in real trouble. In addition to eating your food and such, rats and mice can wreak havoc in a boat by chewing up your wiring, leaving you with a huge, expensive mess!
I looked in the anchor locker, Louis checked the dinghy, and I searched inside the food cabinets. No little black turds. I put out a couple of glue traps we had on the boat and continued searching below. After a bit I heard Louis yell - a sense of urgency to his voice - "Sweetie, he's in here...bring up some gloves; this could get messy". Louis had found him hiding in the anchor locker - I had apparently missed him. He had him trapped under a coiled up hose and had already given him a good whack by the time I arrived with the gloves. He put them on and finished off the poor little guy by giving him another couple of whacks and threw him overboard. Turned out to be a rat, and not a very cute one at that. He must have snuck onto the dinghy when we were ashore in Bonaire, and had quite a wild ride over here, towed behind Scappatella in 5' swells!
I guess it's a bit weird when offing a little rat can make your day. We both felt a bad killing him, but I have to say I was pretty damn happy at the end of the day!
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04/23/2008, Kralendijk, Bonaire
Ahhhh....the sounds of Bonaire: the bomp, bomp, bomp of the bass blaring out of "Karol's Place"; the eardrum-piercing whine of pocket-rockets drag-racing along the short strip of "Main Street"; and, my personal favorite, the constant yap yap yap of the irritating little dog on shore, just off our bow. What is an island escape and visit to paradise to some is a re-entry into civilization for us! Albeit a gentle one, as Bonaire is a small lightly-developed island with crystal-clear water, beautiful snorkeling and diving...and the best Italian restaurant in the Caribbean. But, compared to Los Aves where the only sounds we heard were the lapping of the sea and the cries of the birds...it's still a bit of a jolt.
We arrived yesterday afternoon after a beautiful sail from Sotavento. Hey, I just called our sail "beautiful"! That's huge for me - I never thought I'd refer to an 8-hour sail as "a beautiful sail"! Truth be known, I don't really like "sailing" all that much. Never have. For me, the main appeal has always been about adventure and exploration; I've viewed sailing as sort of a means to an end...a way we can explore all these cool places in our own little "floating home". Kind of like a floating Eurovan.
But, it turns out there are a few parts of sailing I have found that I do really like: I like pounding into big waves (weird, I know); the challenge of short-tacking thru the shallow coral reefs; trying to "surf" down the big-but-not-big-enough waves (don't know that I'd like that if they really were big enough, though!); and the gentle sails where I can sit on the foredeck and contemplate life, listen to my IPOD, or whatever. But, overall, the sport of sailing is a bit too cerebral or mechanical for me, I guess. "Sheet the sail in, let the sail out, figure out how to rig this or that, blah, blah, blah" And then there are all those damn knots! I'm a bit of a mechanical buffoon, so all that knot-tying and line-rigging just doesn't come easy to me. And, let's not forget the throwing-up part...that's pretty fun!
Anyway, back to our beautiful sail before I convince myself again that I don't really like this "sport". Yesterday we were "running wing-on-wing", which means the wind was coming from behind us - that's the running part - and we had the mainsail out on one side of the boat with the genoa - the sail in the front of the boat - hiked out on the other side, kept in place by what's called a "reaching pole". That setup is the "wing-on-wing" part, which presents the maximum amount of surface area of our tired, old sails to the wind, and allowed us to sail an average of 5 knots in light to moderate winds (5 to 15 knots).
So, when the wind comes from behind so do the seas, of course. And "following seas" create the most uncomfortable motion for both Louis and I; we always get seasick. Our worst seasick episode ever was our very 1st sail from Bonaire to Curacao last May, with the previous owner, Bob. Both Louis and I were violently puking over the rail, and even that night as we anchored off "Klein Curacao" we were both still a bit queasy. Turns out we had a combination of food-poisoning and sea-sickness, but we didn't know it at the time. Bob must have really been wondering what the hell we were doing buying a sailboat - we certainly were! Anyway, another triumph about yesterday's sail for me was that I didn't take meds, (except for some natural stuff), and I didn't get seasick! Yahoo!!
Anyway, as we approached Bonaire in the late afternoon light, we turned beam-on to the winds, and our last hour or so was a beam reach in 15 knots of wind with calm, flat seas - a perfect end to our day!
p.s. Pictured above are the old slave huts of Bonaire; extremely hot, cramped quarters.
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04/21/2008, Aves de Sotevento, Venezuela
Full Circle!
Well, about 6 months & 1,800 miles later and we've now come full circle. We're back in Aves de Sotavento and have just crossed our original path - we sailed here last December en route to Puerto Rico, and vowed to return to this desolate, beautiful little group of islands and reefs. This time, we anchored near what we're calling "Bird Island". There are literally thousands of birds nesting on this little island....mostly terns, we're thinking, and a few gulls, but we also saw a "baby Boobie" - the fuzzy one on the left in the photo attached to this entry. I had a bit of a Hitchcock moment as I apparently got to close to someone's nest and this tern swooped down, invoking a little scream out of me as his face all of a sudden appeared directly in front of my camera lens. (Sorry, bird!). We also had a few great snorkels here and saw 2 octopuses (octopi?), some HUGE 3' parrotfish, and then a NUCLEAR parrotfish. No kidding, this thing was close to 4 feet in length!
Just a few more days and then we're off to Bonaire, the island where we first laid eyes on Scappatella way back in January of 07.
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04/20/2008
Most people would say I'm a pretty good cook. My favorite way of cooking is to take a bunch of ingredients that seem to go together and create some new way of combining them into (hopefully) something tasty. The boat is great for that kind of experimentation, as I can't just go to the store and buy what I need for some recipe or another; I have to figure out something to make with what we have. After spending a week aboard Scappatella, my sister Suzanne named me "The Kitchen Witch" for my experiments in the kitchen. The idea for a dish is often generated while I'm zoning out doing something sort of passive like snorkeling or swimming...or during the rare moment we get to experience a "lazy" sail. And typically it's when I'm hungry. The actual "recipe" itself is always created real-time, as I'm throwing it together. It's often a bit of a mad rush at the end, and the kitchen, er galley, typically looks like the Tasmanian Devil came through. It's a bit of a crap shoot, but the odds are usually in my favor in the kitchen.
Except for the simpler things. Like cornbread. Rice. Corned Beef. All dishes I have royally screwed up aboard Scappatella. There's just something about cooking simple things that I seem to have the hardest time with. Maybe it's that there's no challenge in them, so I get bored. Probably, though, it's related to my inability (resistance?) to follow directions. Take rice, for example. Simple, right? 2 cups of water, a cup of rice, some butter, and simmer for 20 minutes or whatever. But I screw it up so often that at home Louis usually ends up making the rice. It's become his "job". (I don't dare ask him on the boat as there's already an inbalance of jobs...although I'm catching up lately!)
Or corned beef...how hard can that be? Put it in a pot with some veggies & potatoes and boil it for however long it says on the package, and voila, right? Not. The WORST meal I've ever cooked in my life was last year's Christmas dinner aboard Scappatella. Salty, tough, corned beef and flavorless, mushy boiled vegetables. (In all fairness, though, I think the cow had something to do with the beef part.) But what was I thinking anyway, serving Corned Beef for Christmas dinner? I guess it sounded homey, and Louis and I wanted homey as we were missing family and friends. It was fitting, though, as it was such a crappy Christmas that having a lousy meal to go with it was what was called for.
Well, today, it's cornbread. Burned on the bottom, dense like a hockey-puck on the inside, and the nicely browned top layer is so greasy I can almost slide it off by itself. How can I screw up cornbread? It was a mix; you just add egg, milk and butter. Ok, I didn't measure the butter 'cuz it was too hard (as in rock solid); so I "eyed" it, erring on the high side. I mean, who ever heard of corn bread being too buttery? (It is). And, then there's the oven, with it's scary high-output burner that always sounds like it's going to explode or something. During this 30 minute baking project I had to mess with the temperature gauge 5 or 6 times to try and keep it at temperature. It went from 250 to 425 in my effort to keep it at 350.
I'm sure I'll get the hang of the oven eventually. But I will still probably screw up the cornbread. Maybe I'd better stick to my tried and true kitchen-witch way of cooking.
So....Soy-Marinated Grilled Pork and Roasted Eggplant over a bed of Asian Rice Noodles, Mint and Napa Cabbage - no problem!
But a nice hunk of cornbread to go with it - no can do! (It wouldn't go anyway)
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