The Blue View - Return to Nine of Cups

 

I've been back aboard Nine of Cups for about two weeks now, and it's time for an update.

I fully expected poor Cups to be in much worse shape than she was after spending an entire winter alone and neglected. There was quite a bit of dirt topsides and a lot of dust and dirt managed to find its way below, but no mold or mildew to speak of. The stainless needs attention, as would be expected, but isn't all that bad. I also expected her to be covered in bird poo, given the large gull population here, but there was hardly any. Half a dozen rather large spiders took up residence in the rigging, but all in all, Cups looked pretty good.

The to-do list is growing daily, but nothing too serious that I know of. The thru-hull for the engine raw water intake is completely clogged, so I cannot run the engine until I clear it out. No worries, I wasn't planning to go anywhere anytime soon. Some sea creature has died in the water intake for the forward head. The flow is restricted when I pump water into the head, and when I do, it smells like low tide at a nutrient rich mud flat. Several of the canvas covers protecting the windscreen and teak were damaged by the winter winds here; our marina neighbors kindly either removed sections or lashed them down to prevent them from blowing away. There is quite a bit of grass growing on the bottom. There is a new leak in the deck above the main saloon which will need to be tracked down. The inflatable is leaking air and needs pumping up every few days. I'm sure I'll find a lot of other problems over the next few weeks, but so far, nothing that can't wait until I get to it.

There was one big disappointment, however. The galley elves didn't finish the big galley project in my absence, and it looked just the way I left it. The galley is still dismantled, there are galley parts, pieces of teak lumber, tools and supplies covering every flat surface, and I still have to share my bed with the saloon table. I guess one positive is that I can't see all the accumulated dust for all the other debris covering everything.

I have made some good progress on it since I've been back, however, and I think I will have it 90% done by the time Marcie joins me on January 6th. After that I can't imagine it will take more than another month or two of concerted effort to finish that last 10%.

On the Ninth Day of Christmas, my true love gave to me …

Nine frantic fixes

Eight bulky boat parts

Seven quests for hardware

Six shiny shackles

Five I miss you's

Four galley updates

Three e-mailed errands

Two bigger duffels and a

Christmas morning greeting on Skype