Someting from nothing

I think most people get great sense of satisfaction when creating things. While it might be a minor event to some, when finished product gets pushed out the door it's a good day.

Monday we wrapped up boat 39, handed it off to our dealer and it is most likely in Texas by now(straight run is ~20 hours). I didn't get a chance to get a pic before it was shrink wrapped. I think it might even be delivered to the buyer for the holiday.

Its neat seeing something in all stages of creation and especially rewarding if you have a hand in much of the the process (tho not quite as grand as Steve's projects). My hands touch the whole boat, but are also directly responsible for components like casting the prop and other parts from big rubber molds, machining raw aluminum castings into final assemblies, installing many of these components(like driveline and steering), but also jump around into other duties when behind schedule- like electrical, plumbing, and hydraulics, and finally detailing the boat before delivery.

One downside to working around fiberglass is that many days I come home itchy with glass dust.

Dockside and tied

Hey, that was fun. As you may have assumed, I am home and safe. The remainder of the trip went almost exactly as we thought it would. NOT that we preferred our outcome, but in review we couldn't have done any better.

We managed to get out of Newport but it wasn't without quite a bit of stress. Right away we were questioning our decision as we were trouncing through some pretty big seas. The boat was not having a problem, but if we weren't assured that it would get better in a couple of hours, we would have turned back and waited it out. That would have meant at least another week sitting in Newport with only a slim chance the weather window was only equally as big. Our weather router said we had 24 hours to move 30 hours of distance. It was going to be messy on both ends.

That night it did get better, but only for a while as the next front was coming in. The wind was picking up quite a bit as we made the turn into Straits of Juan De Fuca the next afternoon and pointed us directly into the short windy chop. Every 5th wave sprayed over the whole boat. We really had to watch for logs when it got dark and when we finally made Pt Angeles it was plenty dark. There we stopped for the night and cooked up a couple of nice steaks on the bbq. This boat does feed us well.

The boat owner, Ken, met up with us the next morning and we started right off. Again we had a very sloppy day ahead of us, and at one point we were in sustained winds of 45 and it gusted up to 58! In between the downbursts we did enjoy the beautiful coastline of the Puget Sound. We reached the locks as it was getting dark and it started raining again. Our dock was just up on the other side a bit further but we were soaked by the time we got the lines and fenders out and finally tied up to the dock.

We had our bad weather days, and our good. There were a couple of days of fog where we could hardly tell the boat was moving. The entire crew was a gag to be around. We all worked well together. The boat performed very well with only a few hiccups that were easily managed. In case you couldn't figure it out...

I had a great time.

Yup, This must be it

Up until today the weather has been patchy rain and gusty winds but that was because a storm was coming. It never got as bad as predicted and that is fortunate for me, but reports up and down the coast were quite different. Today I have a steady annoying drizzle, and it's cold out there. Yuppers, this is Oregon.
The rest of the crew is in transit back this way and I guess that means it's time to go. The seas are down to an 8ft swell today and supposed to be down to 5-6 by tomorrow. It's not great, but since there is another front headed this way it's as good as we get. We might be out tonight, or early am tomorrow. Then it's another 28hrs. Our window should be *just* big enough that we might make it up to our turn into the Sound as the seas build again. It won't be pretty.

So I have been down in the engine room prepping for getting under way again. I remounted a poorly mounted sump pump, cleaning out some of the raw water strainers, and poking around looking for other things that are just not right. There's always something that needs fixing on a boat.

Yes, Steve, I am in my element!

Hanging out in Newport, OR

In case you haven't been following Ken's blogs, we did not make it all the way up to Seattle before our weather window closed up on us. Ironically, we pulled into the closest port of Newport. No, (I know what you are thinking) this one is in Oregon. It's a neat little fishing port that is also supported by Rogue brewery, a tasty little microbrewery that has an inspiring success story. I remember this stop from my last trip up the coast and when I get a sec I'll have to walk over there for a visit and ummm... maybe a few samples. If I remember right they have a small eatery with a killer cheeseburger.

The weather reports from several sources have the conditions outside pretty bad(combined seas to 22 ft swells and winds to 35kts), but it has been really nice here at the dock. Reports above and below my position aren't nearly as pretty so I think we did good when we pulled in here when we did. I have been seeing a few more of the larger fishing charters come in today and chatting with them reinforces the idea of hiding out for a while. As I type tho- the skies are darkening and my onboard weather station registered a 22 kt gust just slammed the boat. Winds are predicted to go to 50kts tonight. I better go out and double up the lines. This storm could go out to Tuesday with another one right behind it so I might be here for a while.

The rest of the crew rented a brand new Impala and drove home to Seattle yesterday morning and left me minding the boat. No worries... I have food, water, power, the ability to stay dry(unless I have to do something outside), sat tv, a library of about 500 dvd's, xm, and finally managed internet, and the pilothouse will provide a real good view of the approaching storm. The coasties have a base right across the channel and they have been quite the source of entertainment today running some drills(those boats are kinda cool). I should go pop some popcorn.

I'd post some pics, but I left my usb adapter on the desk at home. I'll see If I can scrounge up a cable but for now you just get the text.

More later.

B

Off to WA

Egads- where has the time gone? Time to update the blog. Not that there hasn't been anything worthy of updating about... just too damn busy.

Then it just gets busier.

I am off again for the open waters. It's a new boat this time but also one that I know. I met the boat and skipper Jeff while down in Costa Rica. Sans Souci was in the next slip over from Astor and was the one that was supposed to be brought back via transport ship but couldn't be loaded for various reasons. The boat waited out the season sitting idle and just now is making it's way back home. I hooked up a ride and we leave tomorrow.

I'm not sure how much I will be able to update the blog because we are not planning to stop and will not have too much wifi that far out, but the owner in Seattle does a real good job of keeping track of his boat and keeps a good log. If that is the case I will keep notes and post them when I get home.

Find Ken's home page - here
(click on What's New for the latest)

and a way to track our position - here
Or click on "where is my boat now" from his logs.

and another way to track but only works if we are around busy ports - here
Once loading in the approximate area from the worldmap you can go find Sans Souci from the little pull down menu on the left. This only works if we are beaconing.

We should be heading out Sunday before noon and be up in Seattle by the end of the week. I've done this run before and it might not be a picnic. It should be good for a few stories.

B

Closer to home than you'd think

Wow, time flew since the last post. Activity has shifted into double-overdrive this last week and coupled with our usual round of chores it left me with NO time to sit(I know- hard to believe).

We now have a few new boats in the anchorage and with it comes the happy hour introductions, more random nights out, a few pizza parties, gut busting rounds of stories and possibly/maybe a few tequila shooters in there somewhere.

Welcome to Golfito, Dave and Mary, our friends cruising their Nordhaven named Jenny. We left them way back in El Sal and they just now caught up with us. It is good to run into them again.

Also a grand welcome to new friends Mark and Lyn. When they idled their boat WAHOO up and dropped anchor I noted the familiar BYC(Balboa Yacht Club) burgee he was flying and I HAD to call him on it. They have been motor-cruising their powerboat south since October. Interesting how one can travel 3000 miles and still run into connections from home. If anyone was looking for them I can toss a coconut and hit his boat.

It gets better tho. Also gathered around the table were fellow cruisers Patrick and Patricia (sv Rhapsody). At one point for some reason the topic switched over to geek talk (even out here) and Patrick started telling parallel stories I know I've heard before. I asked "Do you know Mike Friese?" Yep, they all worked together a while back. No kidding! He bought me a shot of Tequila. Thanks Mike.

Not that Astor was in any state other than close to perfect, I still had TONS to do before Richard found his way back. He did just that Yesterday morning, and he said the boat was in better shape than when he left. We did good- I think we can come back (I wasn't really worried tho).

With many of the major projects finished off and put to bed I have taken on more minor PITA chores like practicing my whipping skills on all of the newly replaced lines hanging around. I even gave Paula a very challenging job of stitching up Replacement Deck Doily #4 which has needed to be done for a couple of years since the original #4 failed it's float test. By coincidence and a strange comedy of events, RDD#4 also recently failed it's float test(over the side), but was recovered from it's 40ft drop to the mud by a true salvage legend after about 30 minutes of exploring the depths and muck. For those that are keeping track, I am now 3 for 3.

Yes- this means we are into another phase of our adventure. I spent a good part of the day looking at flight times, prices, seating assignments, booking a hotel stopover in San Jose, clicking on this and printing that. WHEW! That'll burn up a good part of a day. I started all this on my office on mid deck, but it started raining again so I had to move below. It turned out to be a good useless day to do it. Paula spent most of the day gathering all of our things from their little cubby corners and fitting them into our bags. Travel day towards SoCal begins Thursday and ends on Friday so we shall see how it all comes together. In it's infancy, flight travel used to be a fun and enjoyable part of a trip, but now there sure is alot of stress involved.

I'm not sure how fast we will acclimate back into the pace of SoCal. I'm sure much of it is the same, but since we left back in the begin of March you people have whacked out the fuel prices but that's ok because I hear the batteries in my truck are dead-dead, picked your American Idol, no doubt finished out the season for several of my favorite tv shows, made Hillary realize she is not the one for the US, and a few global tragedies have occurred on continents only an ocean away.

We still have a few stories in the writing stages so we will try to sneak them in here just for fun, and we will continue to blog probably in a different phase and perhaps rearranged a bit, but it has been a truly fantastic time.

For those that have enjoyed this, the best thing I can say is that sometime/somehow we will be back aboard and pick up the stories where we left off. This is only a planned side-step in the journey. Stay tuned.

Byron & Paula
Astor Tenders and Crew - Spring 2008

Sounds at night- Paula

The cemetery across the road from Fish Hook Marina is mostly a quiet place. There is activity that surrounds an occasional check-in or as some might argue, for those checking out. The above ground crypts start with basic rectangle brick boxes and are decorated with leftover tiles, rocks and others show simple trowel tracks designs in sweeps across the surface. Some have basic headstones or simple crosses made with plumbing fixtures, fancy scrolling wrought iron crosses, and the very basic have irregular names scratched in the wet concrete with a nail. Some of these crypts are stacked and empty cells await the rest of the family, others expecting future expansion still have rebar poking out of the tops. Sadly, many have been subject to vandals that just like breaking things and these give the place a run down feeling.

As one would hopefully expect, we don't hear too much from its occupants. However, when twilight sets in, the place takes on a whole different life of its own.

Once in a while, Byron and I will walk over to Banana Bay marina just up the road for dinner. When we exit Fish Hook, the cemetery across the road is practically at our door step. As we take a left and start walking along the edge of the road, we begin to hear strange noises coming from across the street. Our ears strain for any identifiable sounds. We hear a single clink of a wind chime repeating itself from different directions. Yes, kinda weird. We take a few steps farther and another noise becomes clearer. We swear that we hear the sound effects from Pac Man and we suddenly feel like we were in middle of an arcade. As if we needed a topper to our sensory overload, a third sound becomes recognizable. It sounds like one of the weapons used in the movie Star Wars. Wow, time to clean out the old ears! Confounded, we meet up with friends who enlighten us. The animated sounds that we were hearing were originating from the local wild life, commonly known as frogs! These just aren't your every day run of the mill frogs, these are foley artists.

There is no simple croaking in this town, except of course for the dearly departed.

(the attached mp3 file is NOT mixed, multi-tracked or doctored in any way)

Play the arcade frogs: