Practice Docking - Phil and another transport

Friday, Phil and I went out so that I could practice stopping Changes using the reverse on the engine.  I've not felt comfortable docking Changes last summer and wanted to get better at it.  We were lucky to find a floating plastic water bottle in Fairport Harbor that I was able to use to determine how well I was stopping when I wanted to.  I got much more comfortable and then we went out for a great sail with winds from the N 7-9 knots.  Then I docked Changes - doing pretty good I thought.

Today, Phil Waddle and Terri Pogolzelski went out with me.  It was very different as the winds were from the S to SSW 10 - 20 knots.  So I got practice stopping at the "C" mark with the wind trying to blow me away from it, which sometimes happens when docking a boat.  After several tries, Terri was able to touch the mark for a period of time long enough for if she had to jump off at the dock.  Success!!  We then went for a sail - just letting out the jib.  We let it out all the way - so was #1 - we definitely had too much sail out, so the Phil rolled it up to the #2 mark.  That was much better and with no main sail up -we got up to 7.6 knots - but mostly 6.5 - 7 knots - which is screaming for Changes.   We motored up the river and I was able to dock the boat ok.  Next time I'll have to get a little closer to the dock - but definitely I have more confidence docking Changes.  BTW, This was the first time that I have taken Changes out and Phil wasn't on the boat.  I'm feeling proud of myself and much more confident.

Talking about Phil,  he and Captain Dave, w/a guy that was on the boat for the race down, have left Bermuda today and expect to make Mystic, CT on July 2.  Louisa, Captain Dave's girlfriend called me tonight and gave me a brief update.  The wind was behind them and all was well.  Dave is planning on calling on Tuesday with an update and then Louisa will call me.  They are transporting a Benateau 367 (i think is the length) back from a race down to Bermuda.  

Tuesday Night Race

I am racing on Tuesday night for North Coast Women's Sailing Association out of Edgewater Yacht Club on "Trivial Pursuit" to hone up some of my sailing skills.  We would have been 3rd if we had finished the race but we didn't make the 2 hour time limit - though "Celebration" did.  Check out the video made of the event.  I'm the one with the red lift jacket on Trivial Pursuit.  http://videos.cleveland.com/plain-dealer/2009/06/sailboat_racing_cleveland_race.html    I'm on at 2:31. Don't blink or you'll miss me. Earlier in the video, Megan is the girl sitting on the bow pulpit - she races on "Providence" which at Grand River Yacht Club.

Binnacle Cover and Lee Cloth

Phil and I started making making a Binnacle cover working on it all morning this past weekend.  I don't have any pictures of it - yet.  Saturday, I took some of the velum that I got from my Dad - that he had gotten from work.  Usually I use the velum for paper piecing for my quilts, but in this case, I used it to make a pattern.  It worked well because it's stiff and the sunbrella fabric is also stiff.  We have decided not to cover the wheel because when at anchor or at a dock, we take the wheel off to make more room in the cockpit.  Then Sunday morning I got the Viking sewing machine out on the table that Phil made to put up in the cockpit and sewed - Phil helping to hold up the extra fabric. WE're getting pretty good about this - so don't think there was many "words" between us.  I got the darts sewed and the front and back sewed together.  Then we stopped and went sailing about 130pm.  After about a hour of sailing, I went below and took a nap and promptly went to sleep.  Phil said - we're tacking - I went over to the other settee and went back to sleep, not waking up until we were in the harbor and it being about 4pm or so.  It's been awhile since I had such a good nap.  It was a great sail with the winds from the north about 7-9 knots.

This evening after Phil treated me to supper at Sammy's in Grand River, I decided to work on the binnacle cover some more.  Phil went to "Abby Marie" and talked with Dan Christian, then Paul Canfield on "Tachyon" tied up and Pete Fluhr came down from their condo.  Oh! and Bud and Jack w/daughters Meghan and Hannah from "Providence" arrived too.  It's great at GRYC and usually there is someone to visit with.  

Back on track now - I cut the hole for the post or axle that the wheel is attached to and cut down the center of the fabric below to the edge.  I sewed on some fabric to edge the hole and also to sew the 2" wide velcro.  When it came time to sew on the velcro -I realized that Phil bought the hook part but not the loop part.  Oops!   Pete came to the rescue saying that he has a source that we can order it tomorrow morning and get it delivered to his company down the road across the river 4 hours later - so we will take him up on it.  The cover is now usable even though not complete and we left it on the binnacle - looks like it will be easy to velcro it together even with the wheel on.  I'll probably finish it when Phil is on his trip transporting a boat from the Bahamas.  He leave Saturday morning early!!!!  He's to get back at the latest July 3 - Captain Dave is renting a car and they are driving home from Mystic, Conn.

Now the Lee Cloth - Phil made a batten and also the lee cloth for the port settee.  We want to make sure our 2yr 7 mo grandson, Henry, doesn't fall out when sleeping when we go on vacation.  Phil also plans to use this as a storage area when we are cruising.  He also made it from the sunbrella that we use for the main sail cover and binnacle cover.  Looks good and he left enough room that if I get seasick bad, I can still lay in the settee and have enough room for my head to pitch into a bucket.  We mock tried it out and I think will work well.

I'll try to get some pictures and add them later to this post.

Boat sewing projects

I have my Viking sewing machine fixed and at the boat.  First project is to make a binnacle cover. I'll be making one that doesn't cover the steering wheel as we like to take it off when we are at the dock or at anchor.  2nd project to make lee cloth for the port settee - 3rd project is to make our cloth and cloth covered plastic dividers so that we can put our clothes on the shelf about the settees and be able to hold them in place without having to put them in duffel bags or plastic totes.  I have an idea on something I think will work - but will require both Phil and I to design.  Also Phil has got out the Bimini pipe frame that he bought years and years ago.  so our 4th project is to make a Bimini with it's cover.  It's a 2-person job to set it up and determine where everything goes.  If the weather is good enough, I think that we'll check it out on Saturday.  Phil realized on his trip from St. Thomas that it's important for the person at helm to be able to be out of the sun.

My father is making a cotton rug for the salon to go at the bottom of the companion way stairs.  He sent me some pictures to show how it looks - not very far yet, but I talked to him today and he's about third of the way done.  It was great that we were able to go out to Walmart and get the fabric making the choices together.  I made some choices that he wouldn't have thought to pick, but it's turning out well.  He hopes to have it done in August.  Also on the plans in the future is to make a another rug - a runner that will have cut outs to fit around the mast and the "legs" of the table.   The top two pictures show the fabric in the order that they go into the rug, and the bottom 2 pictures show the rug after going thru the fabric 1 time.

Waiting for the House to Sell

Our realtor stopped by today.  Good news and bad news.  Good news is that there are 6 houses in the Chardon zip code that are in the same price range that we are.  The bad news is that there are over 200 houses for sale.  I think that it's also good news that the majority of them are priced higher than our house.  There are people that are interested in buying, but have to sell their house, so she thinks that when it gets to be the Sept/Oct - that people will realize that the $8,000 tax credit is going to disappear Dec 1 (i think) and they better buy a house.  She think houses will sell like dominoes - I hope she's right.  I do feel better after her visit.  Like I told Phil, if it's meant for us to go cruising, the house will sell.     Our realtor did mention that there are several houses that have a contracts on a contingent basis - and many of these are short sells - which means that they are offering less than the outstanding loan on the house, so the banks has to approve these types of contracts.  

My friend Debbie N. says that I should bury Saint Thomas by my front door with his feet towards the road.  Anyone have a Saint Thomas statute???  just kidding.

ST6001 Installation Project Part II

The next step is to build and install a mount for the end of the linear drive.  In the picture the linear drive is mounted to a 1/2 inch aluminum plate that is in turn mounted to two black walnut blocks epoxied to the hull.  The blocks are epoxied with west system and two layers of 28 oz fiberglass cloth.  After this set up cured, the Corepack and control head were mounted on the boat and all the wires were connected to the terminal strip on the corepack.  The compass also was mounted next to the water tank on the port side of the boat and its wires connected to the corepack.  Then I wired the the Garmin 545 GPS NEMA output to the Corepack.  After all the equipment was connected and powered up, I went through the dockside commissioning.

SEA TRIALS

The next day 6/17  I took Changes out on Lake Erie for her sea trials.  This included setting the compass deviation and rudder gain.  After this set up I raised the sails and went for a sail in a 12 knot wind.  The ST6001 autopilot system performed well and seemed to require minimum movement of the helm to keep the boat on course.  Once the sails were put away and we were motoring up the river the autopilot drove the boat with occasional input from me, the on watch person. 

ST6001 Installation Project

After the tiller arm is installed the next step is the rudder angle transducer.  In the above picture the rudder angle transducer is mounted on the T shaped wooden block and the connecting rod is set up so the tiller arm and rudder angle transducer are parallel.  The connecting rod is attached to the tiller arm at 5.5 inches from the rudder post center.  

Katie getting ready for College

Katie and I drove to Dayton, OH Thursday night so that we could register her for college this fall. We had a busy day at Sinclair Community College. In the morning she had her placement testing. Turns out that the tests are harder and longer than at Lakeland Community College. Then we had lunch and visited her Academic Advisor, Susan. Katie wants to go to Wright State Univ for her Junior and Senior year, so Susan had the information Katie needed to get her Associates in Biology. We also found out that the Intro to Psych and Comparative Religion classes she's taking at Lakeland this summer will also transfer and count.

We were very lucky in the afternoon. Everywhere that we needed to go, there was no or minimal line and when we left there was a long line. We went to register her - visit the Office of Disabilities, and was able to speak to Tony about getting a referral to doctors in this area instead of waiting until an August appt. We also got any paperwork needed for her physicians to fill out. Next we went to Career Services - and found out that there is a chance that she'll be able to get a job on campus for the fall. Important for her to be in Dayton mid-August so that she is available for interviews - so looks like we'll be moving her down August 15. The freshman orientation lasted 1hr 10 min instead of 2 hrs, so we were able to go to Admissions for a Sinclair College Catalog and then visit the Library. Tuition is due August 28 and classes start Sept 9 and end Nov 25 as they are on the Quarter system instead of semesters.

Everyone was very friendly - Katie felt very welcomed and seems happy going there. When we were on an elevator, a student gave us the tips to have a specific English prof but not these two - for Math to have so and so, but NOT so and so, so she was able to have the good teachers for her classes. She's taking English, Math, Biology and a freshman intro class. 15 cred hrs, which will be plenty with her also having to work.

We both were tired of walking by the end of the day, but have everything accomplished that we needed to have done.

We decided to stay overnight w/my parents instead of coming home - so had supper w/my sister Cheryl and Desmond that my Dad fixed and then are going over to her house today for Desmond's 11th birthday party. Glad that we can stay, though it means we are missing the Grand River Sailing Club Cruising Picnic today. Phil will hold up the fort while I'm gone.

Tomorrow is "Changes" day for race committee - so I'm hoping that there are light winds so I don't get sick bobbing around on the lake.

Our plan is to leave Dayton late this afternoon and get home mid to late evening as it's a 4 hr drive.

BTW, I have given Phil access to post on this blog - and encouraged him to post, as he's doing a lot of work on the under deck autopilot - has it working I understand. So maybe he needs your encouragement to write.

What Lorraine is doing

I understand that I am talking too much about what Phil is doing to get ready.  Well, I have order 8 screens and 8  Solid Fruit roll sheet so that I can take all the tomato products except the salsa and dry them on my dehydrator.  That way they'll take up less room on the boat and I won't waste the items that I have canned.  I may be doing this with some of the fruit/veggies in the freezer.  I ordered them yesterday, so hope to get them by next week at the latest.

I have also been driving Phil nuts by wanting to have the house at a higher level of cleanliness than he thinks is required for selling the house.  The house was shown last Thursday, and the autoshowing service stated "no feed back" provided.  This is a disappointment for me.  I want the house to sell!!  so we can live on the boat this summer and pay off some bills. 

Phil and I went shopping for a new watch for me for my birthday that has this countdown feature and is also an atomic  clock so that it has GPS time.  But he won't let me use it for the North Coast Women's Sailing association race that I am crewing on tomorrow night.  Oh well.  

We charted out all the storage places on Changes Saturday afternoon and now have to decide what is most important to take with us, and what needs to be stored and what to get rid of.  The Viking sewing machine will be fixed tomorrow and Phil is kind enough to pick it up for me.  I want to keep it on Changes so that I can make the binnacle cover and other items needed on Changes.

For now, I need to go to sleep so that I can do well on my job tomorrow.  Have a nice evening.

Ray Marine ST6000 Autohelm Project

Hi,  Phil has been working the past week to install the under the deck autopilot on Changes.  Attached is a picture of the tiller arm installed.  Phil had it made from Aluminum bar stock instead of ordering it - save several hundred dollars and it's very sturdy.  He made a mock up from wood and then took it to a guy in town who made it up.  Tomorrow he is fiberglassing some parts to the hull.   This has turned into quite a project, but so necessary for us to go cruising in September.   

We participated in a just for fun race today.  Half the group went on the "B" course - and others (us included) went on the "A" course.     We didn't hear the race announced on the radio.  That's ok - the "A" course was  close reach, so we were able to head for the marks instead of tacking - much more fun in my opinion.  I steered the entire race, so good experience for me.  Was really nice - expected 5 knot winds and instead were from 10 - 20 knots.  Afterwards, we have hot dogs and other food that was brought for a nice lunch.  A fun time was had by all. Next Sunday we are race committee boat, so I'm hoping for South winds which will give me no waves.

First Sail for 2009

Phil and I went for our first sail this past Saturday, May 30.  It was very nice - now waves and winds 5- 6 knots.  Just my type of first sail.  I don't know exactly how long we were out miles wise, but time wise about 2 hours.  Didn't race the next day as I had too much to do at home.  Tomorrow is potluck at GRYC - guess it's Mexican night - so will have to see what to bring besides my home made salsa.