Sunday August 3, 2014

 

 

 

Sunday August 3 I have woken to the last of the dust residing in the corner of my eye balls, pour my coffee and report to the bridge and no magic fairy has continued the work that left the boat in shambles, (so some of you can relate to this as it is like renovating your kitchen at home and you are at the sheet rock stage and sanding and you are still living in the kitchen.) Before we can continue I must fix the washer/dryer so that we can have clean dust free clothing to fill comfortable in. I have tackled this problem with this machine a number of times and as I have manufactured or remade the parts, it is not quite fixed yet but it is working better.

We slog on and now at the painting portion of the project and I am not allowed to do this work as according to the painter foreman (Pen), I am not skilled and I have not completed my mandatory  apprenticeship  in not getting the white sticky stuff on the teak deck.

In a rest bit of the work MOM and DAD come over from “MOM” and introduce themselves as Kate and Carl Anderson and we talk about the close connection we all have in the North Country, people, bays and adventure that we have in common. We talk about their boat building experience with “Mom” and they have a strong insight into what it takes to successfully cruise this area of the beaten path.  There are no true sail boats up here as we all have engines big or small and that allows us to move around the North Country safely. There are many vessels that haves sticks protruding from the cabin top but the challenge to using the fabric that hangs from them .This country has strong currents, long periods of no wind in narrow inlets and when it does blow most of the time it is what the Coast Guard call strong wind warning with moderate sea condition (we know all about this first hand and you do not want to go there) with wave height that can double with shore line effects and currents, so on and so on. SO there, most of us are cowards and those who do not have the fear and the respect of these North Waters end up like the 72 year old lost off Aristazabal Island that we talked about on an earlier Blog. I talked to the admiral of the Red sailing vessel anchored in our little bay and as they are ham radio operators have received word that the boat has been found but no old guy. This is sad news but it does bring closure to part of the saga.