Taking a Blue Walk

I'm usually the social director aboard. I research what there is to see and do and David goes along most willingly with pretty much anything I plan … as long as it doesn't involve dancing. When I say “Let's go for a walk”, I mean let's go to the Company's Garden or a stroll along the waterfront or some other area I've discovered. That would be a “pink” walk. When David suggested, over our morning cuppas, that we take a walk, I knew he meant a non-scenic, supply-gathering “blue” walk.

Blue walks are very long walks through industrial areas that include chandleries and other exciting shops such as plumbing supplies, hardware, wood and other boat exotics. This morning's walk was no exception. We walked along Duncan Road past the mountain of Maersk containers, across the railroad tracks, through the rubble of a road construction site and beyond the scaffolding yard to get to a chandlery which didn't have stock of anything on David's list of needed supplies. He decided to purchase a tube of caulk anyway because it had good use-by dating.

Luckily, there was another chandlery just a block up the road which had one item he needed (seizing wire) and then we purchased some Velcro for securing the spreader boots. The Velcro wasn't on the list, but seemed like a good idea to both of us (and which subsequently didn't work, but at least I have extra Velcro on hand now).

He mentioned, in general conversation as we were walking, that the Southern Rope Factory Store was in the same neighborhood … give or take a mile. Hmmm … when I think factory outlet stores, rope never comes to mind. I knew I was in for a longer walk when he offered to stop for coffee after the second chandlery. There was rope in my future. Sure enough, Southern Rope was just up the road … a mile or more. Another cruiser had mentioned that the rope pricing was good there and worth a look. Did we need any rope? Does it really matter? What sailor can pass up reasonably priced rope?

In all fairness, Nine of Cups needed some new docklines; the existing lines were fairly old and beginning to show their age. And then David pointed out that two of the reefing lines were chafed, the bottom life-lines would need replacing soon, plus he was looking for a dedicated mast-climbing line. How could I deny it? We needed rope. In retrospect, I think I was probably bamboozled; he had all the answers ready much too quickly.

David chatted with a knowledgeable rope guy,  found what he needed, negotiated a good price and bought too much to carry. Our rigger friend came to the rescue and offered to tote it back to the boat for us. We are now the proud owners of six new mooring lines, a dedicated climbing line and some Dyneema cover for the chafed reefing lines. We walked a total of about six miles round-trip and actually found a shortcut along a bicycle path back to the marina. David thought that was excellent for the next time we needed to get to the chandleries in Paarden Island. That's the way “blue walks” work.

By the way, for clarification's sake … rope is rope until it's cut and employed for a specific purpose, then it's a line.

A Year Ago on Just a Little Further (11/18-11/24)

What a difference a year makes!  What Nine of Cups and Crew were doing a year ago this week (click on links for full posts):

Slither

"I really dislike snakes. David is ambivalent towards them, but there’s no ambivalence for me. I mean I REALLY dislike them. There are lots of snakes in Australia. In fact, there are about 170 different species of snakes here on land and in the sea. Eight of the ten most poisonous snakes in the world call Australia home, yet snakes are protected animals in Australia. To make you feel better, only 25 of these baddies are actually capable of killing humans. What a relief! Not that I wish them harm, but geez, they seem to have enough protection of their own with all that venom."

Chandlery

"A chandlery to us is a shop that specializes in boating equipment, gear and parts. We think as large as West Marine and Defender or as small and parts-deprived as Moe’s in the Cook Islands."

In Search of the White Wallaby

"We rose with the sun, packed our picnic lunch and headed in the marina’s courtesy van to the ferry dock. We caught the 0745 car ferry to Bruny Island and began my day late, but not forgotten, birthday celebration. First and foremost today, I wished to see and photograph a Bruny Island white wallaby."

Chandlery

When I was looking up a boat term the other day, I happened to find a Wiki article about chandleries and it got me to thinking about the origin of so many nautical terms. I thought I'd share this particular one with you because I found it particularly interesting. A chandlery to us is a shop that specializes in boating equipment, gear and parts. We think as large as West Marine and Defender or as small and parts-deprived as Moe's in the Cook Islands. So it was a big surprise to find that a chandlery in medieval times was a room where candles and wax were kept. The chandler was the person responsible for making and stocking the household with candles for its evening light. Chandelier, from Old French, was an early lighting fixture which held many candles. Soap is a by-product of candle-making (unbeknownst to me) and was added to the list of chandler responsibilities evidently when humans finally began to wash. That must have been an interesting day.

As populations and towns and cities grew, commercial enterprises specialized in the sale of soaps and candles...still called chandleries. The larger towns were usually near the sea and the chandlers many times provided stores to big ships. In their efforts to expand their product lines, the chandlers began to offer nautical items to these same ships. These shops became known as ship-chandleries. Other sources suggest that maybe a chandler was a corruption of the word handler, meaning a dealer or purveyor of commercial goods, like a ship's chandler for nautical things or a corn chandler who dealt in corn and seed.

With the advent of gas and electric lights, candles (other than for romance, hurricanes and birthday cakes) went the way of dial-up internet, but the nautical items remained. Boat supply stores are still called chandleries or chandler's shops. The place that sells candles and soap is now called WalMart.

Though we do try to make many things ourselves on the boat like beer, bread and homemade cookies, candle and soap making is not on the list in the foreseeable future.