Brightwork season...

It is now starting to warm up and you know what that means. Yes, it is the beginning of the brightwork season! The time of year that seafaring folk break out the sandpaper, steel wool, turpentine and varnish and go to town on the wooden bits of their boats that are left in the weather all year long.

Luckily for us the SV Clarion has very little in the way of exposed wood, but I still have to do all of the requisite things to be sure that she looks like a well cared for boat. To that end I have begun taping off sections of the hand rails and rubrails on the cabin top. I have applied eco friendly stripping product and will soon be applying a very large amount of elbow grease to get the stubborn varnish of years of use off the rails so I can sand and apply more and newer varnishes to them. It is a labor of love that is, still, in essence, labor.

Since the first day I had my first boat at ten years old, the need to keep it up has been my (grudging) responsibility. My dad told me in no uncertain terms that if I ever wanted to get out on the water in that cool boat I had first to remove and sand every wooden bit by hand, varnish them well, reassemble them and have them checked out by his expert eye. Needless to say I was not hot on the idea. Not much has changed. I still would rather do nearly anything than sand rubrails but duty calls and I can't have my boat looking shabby so off I go.

In a little while I will post some of the pics I have taken of the ongoing project. The taping is first and probably the most important part followed by stripping and sanding which is going on now. Next I will have to bleach out some of the wooden rails that have darkened too much from the weather, and finally I get to begin recoating the wood to bring out the old fire and make it look like new. I am looking forward to seeing the results. I have been looking at the blackened and scruffy looking wood for a while now and want it to look better. I want to learn magic to do it, however.

If anyone out there knows of a simple way to get the job done that does not involve giving lots of money to a boatyard to do it for you let me know. I may not have a lot of wood but I still want it to look great.

Curry and sailing

Long ago, when I was a little boy, my dad was a big believer in curry. He loved it and every once in a while my mother would make him curry dishes. "Eeeeww!" would be my reaction. I couldn't understand what the fuss was about. To me it tasted like too many spices all put together. It was foul.

During those times, my dad was sailing a lot with his friends. He was a racer and loved to have the curry's spicy goodness when he would come home from a cold day of sailing on the sound or the lake near our house.

Today I am beginning to understand. I have been having cravings for that that I used to find so offensive. To be sure, my tastes had changed many years ago as I was introduced to East Indian cuisine but recent developments have really given me a great appreciation for the art of fine curry.

The biggest development was moving next door to the "Bad Haggis," a vessel owned by my liveaboard next door (boat) neighbor Richard. He has some serious chops in the galley and his tastes lean heavily to curries. He has been making, and inspiring me to make some truly great curry dishes recently. There are lentils and chicken, potatoes and carrots and other fantastic combinations of vegetables all mixed with great quantities of coriander and cardamom. It is a very welcome set of flavors after a great day of sailing. Something seems to be a nice balance between the two. Something like history.

Lately the weather has been warming and the boaters are returning to the docks. I know that soon the curry will be flowing out of our respective galleys. I can't wait to try all of the new creations we are making. There is even a thought toward a curry cookoff around the dock as we have discovered that nearly everyone there is a fan. Nothing like a great community meal to get things going.

I can't wait.

THATS your problem, right there!

The last two times I have been out driving the boat (both of those times has been with the next door (boat) neighbor, Richard) I have run into a distressing problem where the engine has run very hot. On the first voyage there was an alarm and I had to drop the RPMs very quickly to keep the heat from seriously damaging the engine. After I did, it came back to normal and I was able to get home (however slowly to keep the heat down.)

The second time out we just had gone to the fuel dock "across the street" but I decided to test the cooling system and drove around the lake for a few minutes. Needless to say, It ran toward overheating fairly soon and we turned back early for home.

In talking with Richard, a life long sailor, he suggested that there were a few issues that would lead to this problem. The leading possibility was that the impeller for the sea water pump was faulty. Well, he was RIGHT!

The photo above is what was left of the impeller when I got the pump housing open. Nasty! It so happened that there were several replacements aboard that the previous owner had graciously left for me. I was able to replace the faulty one with a new version and the engine is running smooth as you could ever ask for.

THis is my first foray into small engine repair. As I see it this is a total success and I feel empowered to take on other projects. So far the whole boat ownership and liveaboard thing has been a fun bunch of challenges. I have felt that I could deal with most if not all of them. I feel like I am becoming a sailor in small steps. It is a good feeling.

Cool Runnings...

The rain on the cabin top.

There is a sincerely amazing quality to being on boats in the rain. The way the sounds are carried through the hull. The slap of the waves driven by the breeze. The heavy pounding or the lightest drip on the roof. It all creates a feeling of being so close to the water. That there is a single environment. A place of refuge from the storm. In Hawaii they have a name for that o'hana. For us who live here it is a very welcoming place indeed. I am blessed to be able to do this.

Feels like flying...

Last Sunday my next door (boat) neighbor Richard and I took the boat out to fuel it up and what would you know there was WIND! Never one to let that pass we decided to sail. I had the camera and Richard was at the helm and we made this little video of the sojourn.

Windy. Cold. Rainy. Fun.

In the home of a master

Carrie is taking a class in letterpress and has a complicated project coming up that will require the creation of a hand cut linoleum illustration. She has, in this regard, what can been seen as a true gift. Her sense of composition and detail is lyrical and I know that her execution will be great. There was only one problem...

There were no tools to be had and there was no linoleum to use for the work to be carved from. This was a real poser. She went everywhere. She called everyone. She ordered from the internets. She would have to wait till tuesday. She does not wait well.

She called her guest lecturer, Carl Montford. Carl is a master woodcarver and letterpressman. He would know what to do. Perhaps he could help. It turned out he could.

Carl told her to come over, that he had things that she could borrow plates that she could use and return after the class. He would be happy to let her use his gouges and vee chisels, the linoleum block and the other tools needed to complete the project. Yes, she could come right over and pick them up.

She looked at me." You need to go too," She said. "You are going to really want to see this." I was not so sure. Well, I was sure that she was right, but I didn't know if I really wanted to leave the boat. I was feeling like being a homebody and having thoughts of a book and a blanket and some wine and some solitude. Still... a fine woodcarving expert and his letterpress shop did sound like a very nice diversion... I said "Okay." She said "I'll drive."

She drove.

We arrived and were met by two smallish fuzzy dogs who seemed like they were either trying to eat the glass between us or were really trying to rip our throats out in the nicest way possible. I wasn't too sure.

Carl showed up. There was no mistaking him. He could be seen as an artist, as a patient soul, as a craftsman. You could see it in his walk. The clothes he wore. His hands. He led us in and down to a room the with the footprint of the whole house. With giant full floor to ceiling windows along one whole side, and absolutely crammed with the most beautiful things I had seen in a long time.

There were presses, not just one or two, but ten, twenty maybe, of all different sizes and makes. There were cases and cases of type. Wooden type, metal type, mixed fonts and letters. Beautiful ornaments and decorative edges, leading and typesticks and furnature and, of course, there were woodcuts. The woodcuts were epic. Amazing illustrations of incredible precision and deft hand. They sopke to you from within frames and under glass. They peeked out around the corners and under the stacks of paper on which were printed messages and jokes. A riot of type and imaging from a time long before digital imaging and Adobe Garamond Pro. This was the land that time forgot. A playground for anachronism.


We played and talked and asked all the questions. He answered and showed and talked and laughed. He told us of his craft, gave us tips and told her she was going to do great. He talked about his great loves. His wife, the presses, the type, the fine lines of the wood as they are peeled from the blocks, the english boxwood that he uses to make the intricate carvings that make up his work. He was a most gracious accidental host. We were very happy to have come.

We said our goodbyes and took the tools he leant Carrie. We talked on the way home of the things we saw. We talked of how I would have never forgiven her if she had not insisted I come. How she would use the block and the tools to create the piece. we drove back to the boat to work...

There are many people that I have met in many ways in my life and they are always interesting but this was a good night.

Followers...

I looked over on the side of the blog today and Lo, and Behold! there were people over there! Sarah and Mark have joined the blog as followers! Welcome. I am so glad to see you both here. Sarah I know, as a great friend of the family and a noted shipwreck researcher. (who must be getting it from all sides this week as the HMS Victory was just found!)

Mark I have just discovered as a local photographer who seems tied to the natural world around us with special links to water and the mountains. I look forward to seeing what he shoots in the future...

Which brings me to this. Please guys! Please enable the "Follow this Blog" widget on your own blogs so we can all follow each other! There are instructions to do that if you click the link on my page. It is pretty easy, too.

So once again, welcome. There will be lots more to come.