Building Character

Robert brought the boat down from Sausalito on a day when there was "only rain" according to the harbormaster. As soon as he left Schoonmaker's, the sky opened up: thunder, lightning and hail and rain so thick he couldn't see beyond the end of the boat. Then in the middle of the Bay, he hit an ebb with giant swells. I crossed the GG bridge and saw blue sky on my side of the peninsula, and he called to say that he had another heavy squall off the City front. I was warm and dry in the van with the dogs, but tense as I could see the weather. Oh, yeah. High winds, too. I was on the dock when he came down the channel and motored right into the slip. He said it was kind of fun. The above is a recent day of sailing in the South Bay: Bridge & Dave, Linda and our favorite helm person, Jean. We got 6.1 knots on the jib alone. Lots of tacking and of course, a weather forcast that was totally off.
This is Tom who was the magic behind the new engine installation.

he knows engines inside and out and talked Robert through the installation. Of course the new engine created another problem of a requirement of some work on the prop as we only go 4.5 knots under power and this is a 75hp engine. So, we will have the prop hauled by a diver, sent to Seattle and probably twiddle our thumbs for a couple weeks. Tom is our new hero.

Presently, Robert is putting the nonskid on the deck. We have spent the last three days sanding, taping, and painting and the deck looks wonderful.

The last touch up is tomorrow and we head to Linda's to sand and varnish the floorboards. We are staying out of trouble and all these aches and pains

from the bending, kneeling and crawling around on the deck are just adding to the character building. I would certainly hope so. Old people, when they wake up without anything hurting think they are dead. We don't live to fight the current in our channel, or the adrenaline of getting the boat pointed to the Bay, but we are living what we didn't count as part of our dream: maintenance. It is rewarding but as far as character building? Think again.