Sailing with Nine of Cups

Vessel Name: Nine of Cups
Vessel Make/Model: Liberty 458
Hailing Port: Denver, Colorado, USA
Crew: Marcie & David
About: We've lived aboard Nine of Cups since 2000 and have managed to accumulate 86,000+ nm under the keel since that time. We completed a circumnavigation in April 2015 and managed to sail around the five great southern capes. Come along with us for the ride!
Extra:
Visit our website at www.nineofcups.com for more photos and info about Nine of Cups and her crew. We also have a more extensive blogsite at www.justalittlefurther.com. Are some of our links broken? Links break from time to time. Please let us know which ones are broken and we'll fix them. You [...]
05 January 2017 | Chesapeake, VA
07 July 2016 | Us: East Walpole, MA / Cups: Chesapeake, VA
06 July 2016 | East Walpole, MA
04 July 2016 | East Walpole, MA
02 July 2016 | East Walpole, MA
01 July 2016 | Virginia Beach, Virginia
30 June 2016 | Chesapeake, VA
29 June 2016 | Chesapeake, VA
28 June 2016 | Intracoastal Waterway from St Augustine to Norfolk
27 June 2016 | Intracoastal Waterway from St Augustine to Norfolk
26 June 2016 | Intracoastal Waterway from St Augustine to Norfolk
25 June 2016 | Intracoastal Waterway from St Augustine to Norfolk
24 June 2016 | Intracoastal Waterway from St Augustine to Norfolk
23 June 2016 | Intracoastal Waterway from St Augustine to Norfolk
22 June 2016 | Intracoastal Waterway from St Augustine to Norfolk
21 June 2016 | Intracoastal Waterway from St Augustine to Norfolk
20 June 2016 | Charleston, South Carolina, USA
19 June 2016 | Charleston, South Carolina, USA
18 June 2016 | Intracoastal Waterway from St Augustine to Norfolk
17 June 2016 | Intracoastal Waterway from St Augustine to Norfolk
Recent Blog Posts
05 January 2017 | Chesapeake, VA

Happy 2017!

Happy New Year, Everyone!

07 July 2016 | Us: East Walpole, MA / Cups: Chesapeake, VA

Taking a breather ...

Since we'll be off the boat during July and August, we plan to post only three times per week. The Captain will continue writing a practical Blue View post each week, we'll keep you up to date on what's happening with us and then throw in some cruising nuggets as well.

06 July 2016 | East Walpole, MA

Keeping fit

We’ve written before about keeping fit on the boat. David is so much better at a regimented exercise program than I am. I have all the best intentions, but I can always think of something better to do than sit-ups, push-ups, leg lifts and running in place. It doesn’t take much to distract me. Walking, [...]

04 July 2016 | East Walpole, MA

Happy 240th Birthday, America

Growing up in New England, I took for granted just how lovely a summer’s morning can be in Massachusetts. It’s comfortably cool and everything smells clean and fresh. Spider webs glisten with morning dew and it’s just great to be alive and breathe in the new day. Being back at Lin’s house conjures up wonderful childhood memories of summer mornings past. And this is not just any morning … it’s the 4th of July, the best holiday of the summertime in the USA.

02 July 2016 | East Walpole, MA

Leaving Cups and a Road Trip

Leaving Nine of Cups is never easy. We know she’ll pout while we’re gone and so we do our best to make sure she’s as comfortable as possible before we leave. We were whirling dervishes trying to get everything ready.

01 July 2016 | Virginia Beach, Virginia

Hunting & Gathering - Virginia Beach

We had lots to do before leaving Cups. David was intent on getting as many chores done in advance of our departure as possible so that once we return in September, we can spend time sailing in the Chesapeake rather than doing repairs and maintenance. Much of what we needed in the way of parts and supplies, [...]

A New Commitment to Daily Blogging & the Mast

01 December 2010 | Opua
Marcie
Looking at the last time I posted a blog, I'm ashamed of myself. Really! The goal was to post something everyday and when we're at sea that seems easy. But when we're on land, sometimes I ask myself "What happened today that I can write about?". Then two days go by without a post and then a week and now a whole month. So...a new commitment to try to post every day. We'll see how long it lasts. I figure on the days when there's only boring stuff to report, I can add a cruiser joke or catch you up on stuff that happened that I forgot to write about in the past month.

Actually lots has been going on. First, the mast is STILL not on the boat. Re-reading my last post, it was supposed to be painted the next day. Well, it never got painted until mid-November and David has been re-rigging it ever since. It seems that all the demon gods of mast un- stepping conspired to delay this project in many ways.

We opted to sand the mast ourselves instead of having it sandblasted. This, we thought, would save us considerable $$ and be easier on the mast. We received lots of advice from many different people. "Don't sand it all the way down to the aluminium in the areas where the paint is in good shape, just rough it up", some said. The painter, however, said "If you don't sand it all down, all the way, it won't come out right and I won't be responsible!". Hmmm...so we sanded it all down. The painter left on holiday and his first lieutenant stopped by and said "Why did you sand down the good parts all the way to the aluminium? It really wasn't necessary." Well, so it went. Misdirection, bad direction, conflicting direction...we finally got it completed and then came the acid wash, the alodine wash, the sanding, the filling, then sanding again, then the sanding guide coat, more sanding, filling and fairing, priming...it never seemed to end. David worked daily 7am-7pm to prep it properly. He'd been working with the mast propped up on sawhorses beside the paint shed. It only fell off the sawhorses once! Finally, the painting day came. They moved the mast, boom and other bits into the paint shed, did their magic and the results were great. Thank goodness. Now to put it all back together again!

The re-rig is, of course, is a major commitment unto itself. We have digital photos of each part of the mast, location and orientation of hardware, etc. Each stainless bit and piece including all the wire, had to be cleaned and then polished before re-installing it. I sat on the dock for three days with a toothbrush applying Grunt (a Kiwi acid gel product that we highly recommend) to the long lengths of wire shrouds and stays and associated hardware. David decided the mast should be re-wired (radar, radio, lighting, wind instruments, etc) and of course, all new halyards. Then a winch needed replacing and various other bits of hardware. It seemed a good time to modify the whisker pole track which we've never liked in its current position and why not add lazy jacks now? Bit by bit, the parts are disappearing from Cups' salon and appearing on the mast. Whew!

We're getting near the end, I think. I've determined that not much more can possibly be replaced or added, but I've been wrong before. Stay tuned for the continuing saga. And then we can talk about the deck work....
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