Friday, April 23, 2010

Had to Share... Working on a boat...

This exchange took place on a boat owners' message board I subscribe to.  The final words of the original poster are one of the basic tenets of boat ownership.  :)

A: I talked to my boat today but I can't repeat what I said in polite company. I spent 6 hours on a 2 hour project and got half done. More tomorrow.

C: by my calculations, you are right on schedule.

P. I agree with C, you are on schedule. Did you also happen to utter the 4 most expensive words in boat ownership "While I'm at it…"

A: Funny you should say that but there is this spot that might have some issues very close to where I am working and I was tempted but successfully resisted. Working on a boat is not a task, it is a process. You cannot finish it. It does not have an end, no completion date. If you don't enjoy working on [your boat], sell it. (emphasis mine)

Estimating Fuel Consumption

So I have been diligently recording each time we buy fuel--how much we put in each tank to fill it up, how many hours we had run the engine... you know, all the data we'd need to figure out our actual fuel consumption. I had been transcribing the notes into an online ship's log program and today figured it was time to do the calculations... went to the ship's log website to get my data... and the website has "expired"! Ok I did not even know that was possible... guess they stopped paying their hosting fee.  Do I have that fuel data anywhere in hard copy? doubtful... grrr. I guess if we fill up soon we will be motoring enough in the next month and a half to figure out an accurate fuel budget for the Hawaii return. My lesson-don't trust my data to free websites!


On another note, I am making chicken enchiladas tomorrow with the canned chicken. We shall see how it tastes! The ingredients that need to be in the refrigerator take up considerably less space than a pre-prepared and frozen batch.  This is crucial since we do not have the floor space for two huge coolers of dry ice and frozen food like the guys took in '08.

We have our Pac Cup inspection scheduled for 5/22 and we are so close to being 100% ready. I am excited to have the inspector come through and validate our preparedness.  I am hoping we will be in the running for the best prepared boat trophy!  We have certainly worked hard on our prep and with the number of meticulous people on our crew we are leaving nothing to chance.

Thursday, April 22, 2010

Pac Cup Prep... Is it ever DONE?

I have new latches ordered for the refrigerator lid.  We have been looking, for months, at different ways to hold the lid down in the event of a knockdown.  The lid is set up to be opened one side at a time with a middle hinge or to be completely lifted out.  The only thing holding it down is its own weight, which is considerable.  Not something you want flying through the air if the boat gets knocked on its side.  So I found some locking handles that are slightly larger than the handles currently installed. 

I ordered them from http://www.sailboatstuff.com/.  The locking arm is adjustable so I can set it to hold under the lip inside the reefer or maybe cut into the lip and reinforce the hole with metal...  Because the top plate is slightly larger than what is installed now I think my new screw holes will be clear outside the current holes. Worst comes to worst I can have the latches off center so one of the bottom holes is reused and the other is a new hole.  The top holes are a totally different configuration so I am not concerned about them.

We have an ocean race this Saturday.  The forecast as of yesterday was quite hairy.  It is less hairy today, but not what you would call calm either, 15-25 knots with big seas.  By tomorrow hopefully they will have narrowed down the wind range so we'll have a better idea of what we will be dealing with.  I have to remember to find all my warm clothes to bring along!  I also have to remember to put together the chicken enchiladas tonight with the canned chicken.  Hopefully we are going to do a final coat of paint on our kitchen cabinets tonight as well.  Maybe we will get the doors and drawers back from the guys at the shop at some point!

Wednesday, April 21, 2010

Open Post: Hosted By Drunk Flip Flop Dude

So this has nothing to do with boating, the Pac Cup, etc... but it is a good laugh if you need one today...

Open Post: Hosted By Drunk Flip Flop Dude

Posted using ShareThis

Pac Cup Prep progress

We are really getting close!  The list is under 80 items and most are in progress or something that we can't really do anything about yet, like sign up for the dinners in Kaneohe. 

One of my items is spare batteries and bulbs for "everything."  I couldn't find a spare battery for our spotlight and the bulb was half the price of the spotlight... so I ordered a second spotlight.  :p 

I am looking forward to having the spinnaker figured out once and for all.  We keep tweaking the blocks, block placement, etc.  The latest is we are adding a second pole.  Which is a good thing, just we are getting down to the wire and it would be nice to have everything in its to be sailed configuration so we can practice with it.  We only have three more ocean races before the Pac Cup and only one of those is with everyone from the Pac Cup crew. 

Tonight is Wednesday night Beer Cans with 5 of the 7 crew so that should be fun and good practice!

Tuesday, April 20, 2010

Pac Cup Prep continues

We visited Bequia, the Pac Cup boat, at the boat show.   It is always interesting to get ideas but I thought the way Green Buffalo was set up last year was more in a race ready configuration and gave us a lot of good storage ideas.  We did pick up a gem from Bequia for holding down the laptop!  It is always fun to chat with other people who are going this year.

I have 17 things left on my list (the list is divided by responsible party) and I am sooo close on all of them! A lot of mine are getting other people to do things--bring their PFD recharge kits, provide their medical history, make sure they have all the required equipment. My big thing is the provisioning. The canned meat came and I plan to try the canned ground beef this weekend on the way back from the duxship race. I just finished a preliminary menu with 17 days of breakfast and dinner. I figure we will have enough food that people can forage the rest of the time. With everyone on separate schedules and with different meal preferences I don't want to dictate lunch food as well. In come ways I am worried I am being too ambitious (bacon and eggs, French toast) and in others I wonder if people will be disappointed (I am not planning veggies or salads with meals but will have fruit for snacks). I am trying to keep dinner simple, one dish meals as much as possible.

Last time the guys took a lot of premade and frozen stuff while this year I plan to do that only the first three days when it may be rough and then have more "scratch" things later...  We are not going to have space to maintain 14 frozen casserole pans.

Here are the dinners:

chicken enchiladas-premade
lasanga- premade
stew-premade
Mexican Stackups
Jambalya with Adeles sausage
chili dogs
halfway or chicken enchiladas (I have a special treat planned for halfway)
halfway or chicken enchiladas
tortilla soup with chicken
fresh fish
chicken and rice casserole
"BBQ" pork
hamburgers
spaghetti (hopefully we have arrived and do not need the last four meals)
freeze dried
spaghetti
freeze dried

Monday, April 19, 2010

The Auld Mug

We saw the Auld Mug at the Strictly Sail Pacific boat show.  I wasn't able to get this great of a photo of it myself though as it was guarded by armed guys in suits with bullet proof vests!  Serious stuff.  The original trophy has had two additions made to the bottom to have room for engraving.  There is (of course) more info on wikipedia. Quite a storied history.  I am glad it is back in American hands!

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Strictly Sail Pacific II

Today is the day!  Have to do some work this morning then at noon we head to the boat show!  The Pac Cup had a boat on display, Bequia, as an example of good boat prep.  I am not sure if this is the same boat they had on display last year.  Whatever boat it was last year I believe had won the best prepared trophy in 2008.  They had a lot of great ideas for stowing odds and ends.  Of course we took lots of mental notes but it we saw so much it is hard to recall just what all those great ideas were.  This year I am taking the camera! 

Last night at Wednesday night beer cans I got my framed Commodore burgee from last year, which is one of my two gifts from the club for serving as Commodore.  I was supposed to receive it at the Commodore's Ball in January but trying to get it framed was quite a challenge for Kim.  The same place, around the corner from Kim's house no less, had been doing the framing for years and years but they closed.  Actually they were still open when she tried to take it to them but they were not taking any new business.  She was able to get detailed records with photos and measurements and they recommended another shop.  Thus started a series of being told either "we don't do fabric, try xxx" or "we don't do brass plaques, try xxx."  She finally found someone who said, "we don't do brass plaques but you can get xxx around the corner to do the plaque and we will put it together." SUCCESS at last.  And they were less expensive than the prior place.  She was tempted to go ahead and get the brass plaque done for this year's Commodore so it would save next year's Rear Commodore some trouble.  But that involves first getting cloisonné burgees from Di's Impressions so I don't think she actually did that... YET.  AH, gotta love this yachting stuff...

Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Strictly Sail Pacific

I am really getting excited about the boat show! I'd planned to go on the weekend and not take time off work for it (I will be using all my vacation for the Pac Cup) but once it was announced that the auld mug will be there on Thursday afternoon (and ONLY Thursday afternoon), Matt and I decided to take the afternoon off and head up there. Matt is taking Lee Chesneau's two day weather class (again) on Saturday and Sunday and I am taking an all day "getting ready to cruise the world" type class on Saturday. I hope to be able to go to some other seminars on Sunday, and get my shopping done! If I can get a picture of the America's Cup I will post it!

Monday, April 12, 2010

Home projects weekend

85 more days until the Pac Cup! The to do list isn't getting any shorter but we spent the past weekend on home projects instead of boat projects anyway! After four and a half years in our condo we finally are painting the kitchen cabinets. Even just primed it really brightens up our small kitchen. Since my husband works for a painting contractor we were able to get some expert help and advice. I think they are going to turn out really nice.

This week is the boat show here in Northern California. I have my wish list of things for the Pac Cup. I am going to check out a PLB--not completely sold on that, Landfall Navigation does not seem to think they are worthwhile offshore. I need a lightweight waterproof jacket so I have something besides my heavy offshore Musto Jacket to wear in the squalls. I need new sunglasses to replace the Maui Jim's I lost in February (UGH!) and a couple of little things. I am also going to a 10 hour cruising seminar on Saturday as I am determined to find a cruising boat and head out with my husband for some serious cruising. That probably won't happen for a few years but it is not too early to start thinking about it!

Friday, April 9, 2010

Canned Meat

Just ordered a selection of canned meat products from The Red Barn Market to try it out for the Pac Cup. My boat partner makes "Mexican Stackups" (which I call "frito tacos") and that is the first thing I am going to try with the canned ground beef! Here is hoping for the best!

New Crew... Pac Cup Eats

I just found out one of my coworkers used to be an avid sailor and is anxious to get back in to sailing. She'd love to do the Pac Cup but our boat is full for this year. I will get her out for Wednesday night Beer Can races and for the next OYRA race (since half of our Pac Cup crew is unavailable that day).

I am starting to get a little anxious about the meal planning. We don't have a terribly large reefer so I will need to rely on non-perishables. I can't even figure out how to do that for two people at home so two weeks of it for seven people is proving challenging. I have two books on the topic and I need to get serious on my planning. I personally could live on Peanut Butter and I know a few of the others could as well but we have one crew who'd rather not and another that will not eat anything mayo based like tuna or chicken salad--which would sure be easy to store and make... so we shall see. I think expect everyone to eat the same thing / spend meal time together is unrealistic anyway and will probably only happen at dinner...

Thursday, April 8, 2010

Things Have Changed!

Well.... we no longer have Pineapple Girl, our C-320, though I am still "Pineapple Girl"! We are partners on a J-42 called Tiki J and we will be leaving San Francisco bound for Hawaii in 9o days! We will be participating in the Pac Cup race. This will be my first long ocean voyage but everyone else (all six other crew) have done at least one long passage before.

We are hoping we can make the trip in 12-14 days, weather permitting. But this is definitely an "it's the journey, not the destination" adventure!

We have a lot to do still to get the boat ready, though most of the big things have been done.

I hope to make the time to keep you updated on our remaining preparations!