That's a BIG Mast

Well, well, well......... I didn't think this day would come. The boat is now launched and today, with the help of a lot of friends we got the mast stepped and later the boom on.

We started around noon putting the mast together on saw horses and later gathered up a few friends to move the mast on a dolly over to the DYC mast crane so we could hoist her up. At 60 feet and weighing in at about 500 lbs it was quite a chore to get everything together. After about half an hour she was up and standing on her own......... AND NOTHING GOT BROKEN !!

So now she's back at her dock and looking great.

Tomorrow, we tune the rig and get some sails on her.

Bottoms Done

Well, Here she is after 2 1/2 weeks of crawling around on the ground, slogging about in three inches of water while we blasted the old paint off....... followed by a heavy grinding to remove what was left, and finish everything off with a finer sanding to remove everything down to the bare gelcoat. Now she's all set with 3 coats of epoxy barrier coat followed with 3 coats of antifouling. Jan was a great help in all the repainting. Everybody is asking if she's a new boat. WIND WARRIOR looks fantastic ... and we're both proud of her !

Today I removed the winter cover from the cockpit. All that's left now is to replace the rudder, hook up the propellor shaft and get set for launching later this week.

HOOOOOOORRRRRAAAAYYYY !!!!!!

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.