Today was one of those days that it is really tough to think about work with such a great sailing breeze. I gave in to temptation and took the afternoon off to get Rose Lee out for a run (she looked so lonely tied up to her mooring). By the time I had made a few minor adjustments for work it was just after 1400 hrs that I left the mooring. They were calling for wind in the 20-25 knot range so I thought I would just unfurl 2é3 of the main and gennoa. I,m glad that I did. The wind piped up to just over 25 as soon as I had the sails up and Rose Lee had a bone in her teeth and was off and running. The heel angle wasnt too steep with the reduced sails but we were in the 6-7 knot range as we passed under the Mackay bridge, and on one tack, how sweet is that. The wind was a bit lighter as we made our way up the harbour due to all the wind shadows created by the building along the water but Rose Lee kept up a respectable speed of 6+ knots. I left Georges Island to Starboard and was planning on tacking fro my bema reach along the waterfront. After clearing Georges the wind was breezy at 20-25 but I once I made tacked on to port I unfurled everything for a quick beam reach home. We made great time wizzing along between 6-9 knots depending on where we were on the waterfront. When we got back to the Bedford Basin the wind was pretty steady at 18-20 so I decided it would be easier to go into Wrights cove to tidy up my sails. I had the motor running as back-up just in case but it was still pretty exciting coming in at 8 knots under full sail. Everything went according to plan and Rose Lee and I made it back to our mooring with-out incident. Today was a great day and it was good to solo the boat in a bit more breeze, it forces me to plan each move, it was a good learning day and fun as well (the funny thing about this sport is that I never think about work:).
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Wow what a great day, this morning the sun was beaming and it was already nice and worm at 0900. We spent some time on our patio overlooking the marina watching everyone get ready yo enjoy a nice day on the water. The summer is drawing to a close so its important to enjoy these good day's when they comes along. After taking care of a few chores (groceries and brunch we cast off at 1300 hrs. It was nice to get the sails up again after returning to work we just haven't had a chance to get out for the last few weeks. The breeze was about 12-14 knots and was blowing in the right direction allowing a beam reach all the way out the harbour, very nice. We saw a ton of other boats and quite a few from our own club. I think some boats got out for the first time today, better late then never I guess. We turned at Georges Island to start the journey home since we had plans to meet with our friends Roger and Mary-Anne to check out Shakespeare by the Sea. WE had a great breeze that brought us back at a pretty good clip and we were back on the mooring by 1630 just in time to have a refreshment before heading to shore to get ready for the play. The play "A mid-summers night dream" was lots of fun, it was an outdoor stage set-up in Point Pleasant park. It was a really nice time and we were happy to catch up with our friends whom we hadn't been in touch with for quite a while, life is busy but that's not a good enough reason not to keep up with our friends.
I determined that my radar problem was a hardware issue and not the cable which is quite often the case. I removed the dome last week and dropped it over to our local raymarine service center. I received a call from Paul (the CMC tech) yesterday who told me that the shaft which the antenna rotates on was slightly misaligned and after diagnosing the issue and a realignment the dome was now working, excellent. I picked up the dome and took it out to the boat, my batteries were a little low so I started the genset to charge the batteries while I was installing the radome. The genset ran for a short time and quit with a red battery warning indicator on the panel. I opened up the genny to check it out and found that the belt was shot. No big deal I always have a few spare belts so I quickly changed to one of my spares and put everything back together. I tried starting the generator again only to find it was having difficulty turning over and then finally it came to life but that red battery light was still on huhhh! I shut it down and opened everything up again only to discover that I had gone through another belt, it must have been defective, no problem I still have one belt left. I put my last belt on and left everything open this time while I tried to get it started. It started up right away along with a huge cloud of gray smoke, oh oh! I shut it down and finally realized that my alternator had seized and it was causing the belts to burn off:( I removed the alternator and have a new one ordered along with three more belts, and another project in the life of a boat owner.
Now back to the radar, Joyce and I after a little cussing had the dome back in place and we can now once again see in the fog which is a necessity here in the fogbound coast of Nova Scotia. I consider any boat project a resounding success when I don't break anything, or end up with a new project:) We had an abnormally wet summer this year and over the course of our vacation we noticed our new enclosure was starting to get quite black and mildewy from the weather. I went to one of our local yacht shop to see what I could get to clean up everything. They provided me with a powdered product that you mix with water. I removed the full enclosure on Saturday and went at the bimini. After four hours I had gotten about 40% of the mildew out, however it did loom better after it dried. On Saturday night I went to the sunbrella site and they recommended 1 cup of bleach along with 1/4 cup of dawn dish soap per gallon of water. On Sunday Joyce and I went back at it and after about 6 hours we had everything cleaned up. The bleach and soap solution worked great, however some area received a few treatments. We just slopped it on with a soft bristled brush and worked it in a little and then left it alone for 15-30 minutes before thoroughly rinsing. The results were worth the effort and on Monday I finished the job by sealing everything with a 303 protectant/waterproofing.
Joyce and I dropped out to Rose Lee this evening to have a bite and remove the radome which has been causing us issues since we installed it, I will drop the radome off at CMC tomorrow to see if they can determine whats going on with it. We also had the generator running to top up the batteries since we keep the fridge and freezer on while we are on the mooring. I am looking forward to adding solar, which will dramatically reduce my genset running time.
We left Mahone Bay under sunny skies at 0830 with a forecast of clear weather and a SW breeze, perfect conditions for a nice sail. Joyce made some breakfast while I motored out looking for a breeze. By the time Joyce came on deck I had found a fog bank and a little breeze so we set the sails and shut down the motor. Visibility was 1./2 a mile in the fog so it wasnt too bad and we did have a nice breeze that kept us moving along at 6+ so all in all we made really good time and found the sun as we entered halifax Harbour at 1400 hrs. We were back on our home mooring by around 1600 hrs and sat down to relax for a few minutes befor heading back to shore, it was hard to believe that we had been on Rose Lee for five weeks and today would be the 1st time we would ina car, watch tv and sleep in a non-floating bed (non of which we missed). Our trip was great and we gained some more experience with the boat and generally became more confident in our own abilities as well as Rose Lee's which is what it is all about right now. Kate and our three grand daughters Alana, Abbey and Mayme were all waiting to give us a great welcome home, a great ending to a great trip. Two more years till retirement, two more years till retirement:) and then Rose Lee keeps going South.
We woke up to a gorgeous day here in Mahone Bay and decided we would relax today since we would be sailing for home tomorrow. We set up our folding sport a seats on the fore deck and spent the morning reading and taking in the sights of boats coming and going, eventually the heat won out and we had to seek a bit of shade but that is a problem I enjoy having. We took a run into town and went for a nice walk which incorporated grabbing a few supplies and checking out some of the nice shops. After our walk we went back to Rose Lee and enjoyed a few cocktails before Supper. Joyce made a super nice meal Scallops and mushrooms souteeded in white wine and drizzled over rice, wow it was almost to good to eat:) After supper we headed in to the tavern to get a good seat for the Celtic music that evening "The Wooly Jumpers" . We heard lots of great music and were joined by a few friends Bob, Roger and Dexter who added to the great time, Joyce even got up a did a few steps, pretty cool!
We woke again to fog this morning but had a pretty good feeling that it would clear by noon so we enjoyed a relaxing breakfast and left out anchorage at 1200 hrs. Our friends Mark and Elsie had aslo decided to head towards Mahone Bay so we motored out of the fog together and were able to set sail as soon as we cleared Norris bald Rock off Prospect Village. The wind initially was pretty light and we ghosted along at 3.5. What a nice day relaxing up on the deck while "Bobby Lee" our authelm steered us along. We soon had a nice breeze and were scooting along at 7.5 what a perfect day. It was beoutiful coming around East Ironbound Island and seeing all of the racing sailboats from Chester race week rounding the mark putting up thier chutes. We had a front row seat. We doused our sails just before the anchorage in Mahone bay at 1630 with one of our best sails yet this summer, awesome! We soon met up with several members from our club the DYC and made plans to meet up for supper and perhaps check out the live music that evening. Island Girl was also moored beside us owned by our good friends John and Rita. John had the boat with a few friends and we made plans to hook up a little later for a night cap since they were going to stay on Island Girl and relax. What a fun evening we had, a few more guests show up at the pub and we had a great time listening to the Jazz and getting caught up. We never got back to Rose Lee until 2300 hrs and Island Girl was looking pretty quiet by that time so we missed out on catching up with John, oh well tomorrow is another day.
We woke to fog this moring and several of the boats had already headed out for their next destination but since we were going further down towards Mahone Bay we decided to wait for the sun which was forecast for Friday and today would be a lazy day with Supper ashore at the Bay Landing. When we went in for supper we ran into Robert and Suzanne our neighbors that we hadnt seen in quite a while so it was really nice to see them and get caught up on all the news. After supper we shot a few games of pool and were soon headed back to Rose Lee for a lazy evening, nice.
After a nice breakfast we watched several rain showers pass and decided to take ouyr tender into the store at the Bay landing which was at the head of the Bay about 3 miles away. Our 15hp pushes our 10' dinghy along pretty nicely so it should be a quick trip. Before we left we swung by the other six sailboats and asked themn if they needed anything ice etc.. and invited them over to Rose Lee for drinks at 1900 hrs. The store run went well with no hitches and after delivevering our good to the other Sailboats we headed back for a nap befor supper. Our BBQ was great and dinghy;s for the other sailboats soon started to arrive for drinks. Wow what a nice bunch of folks, Paul and Verna, Cliff and Ella, Mark and Elsie, Doug and Joanne and Edward were lots of fun and we heard a few good stories. Mark and Elsie are also planning on heading South about the same time as we are in 2017 so we had lots to chat about. It was nice to meet a few more sailors since we had been on the boat for the last few days. |
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