Burning Up in Boston

My time in Boston has flown by in a whirlwind of holiday socializing and sister-izing. It's been grand, but it's time to head back home … to David and Nine of Cups. All the ordered boat parts arrived in plenty of time to stuff them into the two 23kg (50#) duffels that have been sitting on Lin's basement floor, slowly filling to capacity with every UPS delivery. I weighed the unwieldy duffels on Lin's bathroom scale. I had an ounce or so to spare in each one, but I had not yet packed any of my clothes!

Before leaving, I promised Lin I'd help to take down all the Christmas decorations and stow them away. It's a full-day's job, so I packed the duffels early and we planned our last full day together as a de-decorating day. We hauled out all the storage boxes and I de-ornamented the tree while Lin carefully wrapped each precious bauble in tissue paper and packed it away till next year. Then the lights came down and all that was left was a bare tree and millions of dry pine needles on the hardwood floor. We wrapped the tree in a sheet to contain it … a shroud of sorts … and dragged it down the stairs to the chiminea in Lin's woods leaving a trail of needles behind in our track. As is Lin's tradition, we planned to burn the tree. Goodbye to the old year and hello to the new.

There always seems to be one stubborn ornament that remains hidden on the tree. This year it was a brass elephant stuck in the middle of the tree, close to the trunk. As I lopped the branches off the tree to add them to the chiminea, there he was. It made me wonder how he had migrated to the inner branches to hide. Surely being stowed away till next year was preferable to be tossed into the fire!

We sat in wooden chairs on this crisp, cold day, sipping hot cider and rum, avoiding the smoke and cinders from the burning tree. We walked through the woods and reminisced about the challenging year past, talked about how lucky we were to have each other to share these challenges and what 2015 might hold for us.

As we say goodbye to the Christmas tree and 2014, don't forget First Foot Day. It's celebrated  on New Year's Day in several countries including Greece and Scotland. The first person to set foot in your home after the stroke of midnight on New Year's Day is thought to bring good luck. It's not usually a resident family member and the person cannot be in the house at the stroke of midnight. The visitor usually brings some traditional gifts like bread, a coin and perhaps some whiskey or wine signifying that you'll have enough to eat, drink and spend for the upcoming year.

Just a hint … if you haven't checked out Days and Ways to Celebrate 2015, it's available here in .pdf format that will work well on you computer or tablet, or in Kindle format at Amazon. It's a whole year's worth of celebrations … day by day!

This Side ... That Side

While I've been busy visiting, carousing and generally enjoying family and the holiday season on this side of world (and incidentally freezing my butt off), my captain has been working hard on Nine of Cups and sweating bullets in Africa. Seems hardly fair! I spent a weekend visiting cousins and aging aunties. Here's an excerpt from one of David's emails to give you an idea of the type of weekend he's just experienced ...

“I had a trying day. Nothing seemed to go as planned. The flowcoat fumes were quite annoying with everything open, but then the clouds rolled in and it started raining, so I had to close the hatches and all the starboard ports, making the fumes quite strong. It should have kicked and cured in a few hours, but as of this morning, it is still tacky and stinky. I had written on the can how many drops of MEKP to add to a tablespoon of flowcoat, but either this flowcoat takes a different amount or what I had written was wrong. (He learned later it was 10 drops, not 3-4!).  I'm hoping I can put another coat over it and get it all to kick - if not, I will have to remove the whole mess with a scraper and acetone and start over. I'll do some research, then try a small patch and see. Meanwhile, I closed the doors to the aft cabin, put a couple fans on in there, and planned on sleeping on the settee. I thought with the headache I was getting from the fumes, I'd quit a little early before the Tradewinds Restaurant closed and have dinner out. I brought my shower bag and the computer, so I could send some pix to Gentry, and headed over in the rain. I forgot that Tradewinds closes early on Sunday. I also forgot to download the pix from the stick in the camera. I didn't feel like going over to the other yacht club, so I just showered (hardly necessary with the downpour) and went back to Cups.

When I got back, I thought that a nice cottage pie would be just the thing to cheer me up. I had some fresh mince (hamburger), which I browned with onions, boiled some potatoes, and opened a can of corn. Then I realized that Worcestershire sauce was still on the shopping list. I must say, cottage pie made with barbeque sauce just isn't the same.

What else? Oh yeah … I filled the water tank yesterday, then noticed the bilge pump was continually cycling on and off. This went on for a good half hour or so, until I finally decided it was more than what I could blame on the tank overflow. I shut it off for the day and will investigate later. Last night the wind began increasing and when I got up to check on things, I noticed the wind gen was not putting out any amps. It was spinning nicely – just no output. So I shut it down and I will need to investigate this as well.

But today is sunny and nice, and surely will be a better day.”

I think I'll call him Saint David for awhile.

Boston and Durban - Working Together

On this side of the world … While David's working hard on the boat in South Africa, it hasn't been all fun and games here in Boston, although what I'm doing definitely beats polishing stainless. Apart from socializing with my sister and friends, my jobs have been to write and publish the Christmas newsletter, get Christmas cards and gifts sent out to family and, the hardest part of all, gather together boat parts and bits to transport back to Africa. This is not always as easy as you might think.

In many cases, David has specified and ordered parts online and had them delivered. I just have to accept them, make sure they're what was ordered and figure out a way to get them all packed into two duffel bags and still have room for my underwear. Despite the fact I have internet and a car at my disposal, it's been hard locating some of the parts and quite time-consuming.

A “for instance”? An o-ring for the windlass. We purchased a windlass back in August in Australia, if you'll remember. Evidently an o-ring was not seated properly when we received it and got squished and subsequently broke after a couple of uses. We had purchased a repair kit ($150) which included one o-ring among other bits, but now we've used it and wanted a spare. Well, they're not to be found. I've gone to plumbing supply stores, hardware stores, Home Depot, Lowe's. I'm still on the prowl, but it's been a challenge. In the meantime, the clock is ticking and the duffels are quickly filling up.

On the other side of the world ...

Here in Durban, I have been under the gun doing a lot of time critical stuff. There are many very skilled people here – machinists, sailmakers, canvas fabricators and other tradesmen. In addition, the rand is soft against the dollar right now, and we are finding the cost of getting things done is quite reasonable, especially compared to what things cost in Australia. So, the to-do list is longer than just the needed repairs. We are getting a new staysail, new bimini and dodger, and perhaps new upholstery below.  I also plan to attach a generator to the prop shaft so we can generate power as we sail. This has been on my list for a long time, and I now have the opportunity to get the necessary brackets and fixtures made.

A complication is that most of the local businesses and their suppliers close shop over the Christmas holidays, more or less from Dec 15th to as late as Jan 10th. Many of the smaller businesses and the individual tradesmen don't all take such long vacations, but they may not be able to get the materials they need during this period. So I have been working at getting drawings made and parts on order before the summer holiday begins.

I also need to get the parts on order for Marcie to bring back. Everything needs to be received by Dec 24th, and I don't want to wait until the last minute and have to pay for expedited shipping.

In between these things, I've been knocking off a few items on the repairs list... the anchor shaft has been straightened, most of the whisker pole repairs are done (I'm waiting on fabrication of a part), the alarm/indicator panel is done, the jib halyard has been replaced, as well as a host of smaller tasks.

I also drank my last bottle of home-brewed beer last night. Fortunately, I had enough ingredients for one more batch, and it is brewing as I write. It will be ready for bottling in a few more days and drinkable in another week or so, but in the meantime, the yacht club bar is only a short walk away where the ambiance is pleasant, the yachties friendly and the beer is cheap.