Uproar sails again.....sort of
08 November 2021
Russ Whitford
It is a bit hard getting back on that horse. I haven't written a blog in about six months. Not much interesting has happened since we landed in Beaufort, NC in June.
What I mean is not much that the reader may find interesting. Lisa and I had a great summer in Wisconsin. Visiting family and friends was the highlight. We have been full-time cruisers for six years and that's what we miss most about the cruising lifestyle. Not only that but Wisconsin is a great place to spend a summer.
But summer is over and Uproar waited patiently in Beaufort, NC. Lisa and I drove Snowflake (Fiat 500L) to Beaufort loaded with our new sailing dinghy, Velocette and lots of boat stuff.
We have been in Beaufort for three weeks now. The first two were working on Uproar, getting ready for the next sailing adventure. After six years and 33,000 nautical miles (equivalent of 1 ½ times around the world) Uproar needed some maintenance.
The list includes:
Sanding and new bottom paint
Compounding and waxing the topsides
New propeller shaft
New cutlass bearing
Adjusting rudder bearings
New watermaker membrane
New engine shift and throttle controls
Recharge refrigerant
New autopilot bracket and fittings
New rigging turnbuckle screws
Insurance survey
Install sails, bimini and solar panels.
I know there were a lot more small jobs but this hits the high spots. Projects were made a lot more difficult by years of salt corrosion on many parts. I had to grind off fasteners and other violent means to get stuff apart. The interior of the boat suffered from mildew and all surfaces were cleaned, all upholstery covers removed and laundered. Lisa spent days organizing out stuff and other projects.
Weather was perfect in Beaufort for this work. Uproar was in a very nice boat yard but we stayed in a small cottage. Living on the hard while things are torn up is not fun! Oh, Lisa and I both had nagging colds, coughing through most of this work. Needless to say, not the most fun two weeks we have enjoyed on Uproar. Let's not even talk about the expense of all of this, close to $10,000!
Bill and Judy, sailing friends from Milwaukee were on their way south in their camper. They stopped in Beaufort for a few days and helped celebrate the launch and motored with us to the Homer Smith Marina. Everything we repaired or adjusted on Uproar worked perfectly!
But the weather has turned to snot! We have been at the marina for a week of gale force winds and cold temperatures. Fortunately, we love Beaufort, lots of cool restaurants and places to visit. We have met other cruising friends from Milwaukee and made new ones. Today the wind has started to subside and the sun is out. Things are looking up.
We have been looking for a good weather window to sail to our planned destination, the Caribbean. But wait! We don't have our passports! With all the planning, we temporarily forgot about this important detail.
Lisa and I applied for an Italian visa at the consulate in Chicago over a month ago. They insisted we leave our passports with them to insert the visa page. We explained we may need our passports for travel. They said if we left them a Priority Mail envelope, paid and addressed, they would mail them to is if we requested. We did request and they haven't! They don't answer their phone or emails. In the meantime, Lisa and I applied for duplicate passports (if your passport is held waiting a visa, this is a legitimate reason for a duplicate). We went through all that paperwork at the county courthouse in Beaufort, a short walk from the boat. Still, it will take five to seven weeks to get the duplicate passports. In the meantime, we are still hoping Italy will relinquish ours.
Most of our cruising friends here are just doing the snowbird route, they cruise up the east coast in the summer and south in the winter. Some plan to sail to the Bahamas. Cruising the east coast is something we never considered. We don't like to stay in marinas, we call them “boat jail.” But looks like that's the only alternative at this point in time.
As cruisers are fond of saying, cruiser's plans are written in sand at low tide. Our plans are being washed away but we treasure the freedom to tack on any wind shift and sail where the winds and fate direct us.