WOW !! What a Difference

WOW !! What a difference a couple weeks of hard work makes. The bottom is now completely stripped and ready for the bottom paint. GREAT BOTTOM !!.... 25 year old hull and not a blister..... a few war wounds in the form of scratches but otherwise unscathed. I took these pics from different angles. For those of you who have NOT had a chance to remember where all this work on the boat began, I've included the first picture of the original bulkhead that was removed and replaced. There's no saying that we don't know every inch of her by now. We're still on schedule for our Wednesday launch for the 2011 season.

THE WORK CONTINUES

That's right........ We're not living out of a suitcase for the next year so it's building shelves, book cases and drawers in the boat to make it more liveable. Now that it's spring comes the big question.... "What the hell do I do with the bottom paint?" So, after changing my mind numerous times I've taken on the task of stripping the hull down to bare gelcoat and applying an epoxy barrier coat to protect the hull from osmosis in the warm tropical waters, the reapplying new antifouling for this coming summer.

After a couple days of pressurewashing to remove about 75% of the old paint I followed it up with a good sanding. Ever see a "real" Papa Smurf ? Man I was blue at the end of each day.

Hopefully the boat will be back in the water before the end of June.

Enjoy the pics.

WINTER vs BARBADOS

With the boat hauled out of the water for the winter it's time for a little sojourn in the sunny south........ so off we went to Barbados. It was terrible...... yeah right !! Sunny, lush green everywhere and beautiful warm, clear waters.

The seas off north point were fantastic with waves around 35 feet crashing against the 80 foot cliffs in sharp contrast to the calm waters we experienced on the south coast.

On one of our day trips we happened upon a bunch of green monkeys. That was a lot of fun.

Hope you enjoy some of the pics and a video that we took.

ENOUGH ALREADY !!!

Man, is this rain ever going to stop? After 5 days of solid rain we've had over 200mm down and

it's not suppose to stop for another 2 days. Our normally lazy and nearly dried up Sackville River is a raging torent and all the low lying areas are now awash. If this keeps up we'll have to change the name of the boat to "NOAH'S ARC".
Baseball Anyone??? or would you prefer a game of Water Soccer?

Take a look....... it sure makes for some crappy sailing days.

Hurricane Earl

Last week was exciting with the onset of Hurricane Earl. It was suppose to miss us in Halifax but at the last minute took an unexpected turn straight at us. Most of the bigger boats at DYC were either hauled out of taken to a mooring. With sustained winds of 65 knots the marina system held out well. Here's a little video clip of the conditions. Glad I wasn't on this boat.

"Our Cape Breton Cruise"

We spent most of the month of August on a cruise to Cape Breton Island and ejoyed the Bras D'or Lakes. The swimming at Clark Cove was exceptional with 80 degree water.
Our trip up the Eastern shore was very picturesque as we following the well marked inshore route for a good portion of the trip and stopping at Shelter Cove, Liscombe, and Port Howe enroute to St. Peter's Canal via Canso. What a shock we got when crossing the Chedabucto Bay in 25 knot winds and 7 ft seas that made things a little tricky.
Our 2 weeks in the lakes were extremely enjoyable with fantastic weather and warm waters. We visited such places as Clark Cove, Marble Mountain, Little Harbour Baddeck, and Seal Island before leaving the Lakes to the north for a weekend visit to Sydney. Boy did I calculate the tides wrong. Did you know that running the engine at 3000 RPM against a current caused by the entire Atlantic Ocean trying to flood the Lakes will only get you about 1 knot in the vicinity of Big Bras D'or? That's right.... it took us an hour to pass through the 1 mile narrows.
Sydney was very relaxing..... and what a site to see the giant fiddle on the Cruise ship dock. How Cape Breton can you get?
After a nice weekend at the Royal CB Yacht Club we made the run back into the Lakes and hit the incoming tide just right..... 9.5 knots in the right direction this time.
A few more lovely anchorages found us again at St. Peters Marina to re-suppy and fuel up for our trip home.
Four days of Easterly winds and high seas brought us back to Halifax to end a wonderful cruise with friends Don & Heather of Meridian.

The Navy's in Halifax

This week marks the 100th aniversary of the Canadian Navy and will end with a full review of the fleet by Queen Elizabeth II and an overhead airshow. Here's some pics.
Here's an energetic imaginative fellow who designed his boat to be completely powered by the wind. The prop is connected to the windmill and turns faster as the wind speed increases. Costs absolutely nothing to enjoy a nice day on the water.
The work on the boat is still continuing but at a slowing rate. I replace the galley countertop to match the rest and update the look of things.
Enjoy