The last (for now) boat project

I have been on a rampage this past year.
So many upgrades.
Changing those non tailing winches have been on my list for a long long time, but the cost always stopped me.

Seal tailing vs non self tailing

When West Marine did a first - one buy, one free - last year, I passed after a lot of hesitation.
Then I regretted it.
They just redid it, one week before us leaving.

More holes !!!

Not a lot of time, but this is overall a relatively simple project. No electronics, no electrical.
The hard part as always, is to dismantle the old frozen nuts and bolts and get the damn old thing out of the boat.

Beautiful engineering work

It was a bit strecht - but this is not everyday than you can save 1600$.
While still spending 1600$.
Hum.I feel I have been played.

Anyway, here they are.

And now, fueling, provisioning....



and... Sailing !

The last sea trial

This is it. The boat is ready.
Dream awaits.

Honolulu and Diamond Head .. and a rainbow !

Not exactly sure when I realized it could be actually doable, but I have dreamed for the South Pacific paradise islands as long as I can remember. I guess as an escape of the grey and rainy north of France.
Falling in love with the water 10 years ago in California, everything as built to this moment since then.
Learning to sail, buying a boat, buying another (better and smaller) boat, working on the boat, crossing half of the Pacific to Hawaii, improving the boat and sailing a bit here and there.

Windy !

Seeing dock buddies dreaming large and undertaking crazy adventures ill-equipped just reminded me that we are running out of time and can't delay chasing our dreams.

This year, everything sort-of aligned - job, money, time, crew -  for it to be possible. 

Sort of because you are - down the line - creating your own opportunities.

We are sailing South. 

And we will cross the equator at sea, a tipping point for all sailors since the early ages. 

We will reach new landfalls. Paradise landfalls.

I have been lucky enough to get my perfect 1st mate this time again to avoid this to be even more adventurous. Not sure how long I will be able to avoid doing those passages solo - the boat is definitely equipped for at this point and my skill set slightly improved. The mental challenges are of a whole other level though.
Great. There is always a next step, a next challenge to drive us forward.

To be fair - once you reach the South Pacific atolls, the distances toward Asia are less impressive. You jump from place to place with not more than a week long passage.

This one gonna take us another good 21 or more days, weather permitting.
Crossing the doldrums gonna be an experience by itself. 

Every sailor fear a storm at sea, but dead calm for days can drive you insane - they say.

Traces

Well, we are about to see by ourselves. 

Two weeks to go.

What if it were fun ?

"What would this look like if it were easy? is such a lovely and deceptively leveraged question. It’s easy to convince yourself that things need to be hard, that if you’re not redlining, you’re not trying hard enough. This leads us to look for paths of most resistance, often creating unnecessary hardship in the process." Tim Ferris

Proud owner of Hull #44

Let's challenge the "No Pain No Gain" rule.
I am the first to be guilty of believing that hard work pays, and high pain tolerance bring you want you to be.
I always thought that it was my dedication to my career that made the difference.
Truth to be told, it was always easy for me to spend long hours sitting in front a computer, programming.
I liked it, still do. I am enjoying the creative process of coding, the constant brain games and solving problems.
It is easy for me to go in flow while programming. Time flies, code lines accumulate.
Was it that hard to achieve success ? Maybe not.

Rage drill on an old aluminium traveler

Running my first marathon I had a fierce determination to never walk.
What ever it will take, never stopping. Failure was not an option, pain to be endured.
No pain, no gain.
Now, after I finally learned to stop and walk - hitting the wall on my second marathon pretty dramaticcaly made me believe that
all rules are meant to be broken - I am following the MAF method - which could be resumed by taking it easy.
You focus on running in zone 2 - Anaerobic zone - the easy zone. Believe it or not, you will improve and run faster and faster.
This is actually the golden rule of endurance.
As a side benefit this is more gentle on your joints and body and you reduce greatly the risk of injury - not a small advantage for me - still recovering from at least 4 different running injuries.
Running slow and easy.

back winded working jib.

Take it easy and bring the fun into everything you do.
Everything you do becomes a hobby.
Times flies, you are in flow, living the moment and improving.
The only way to improve is to spend the time. The body is an incredible adaption machine, and  so adapt the brain as well.
In everything you do, find the fun, and offset it to be easy.
Raging or swearing makes it worst, every obstacle is a chance to improve.

Starting on make her pretty. A paint job.

I discovered lately how to apply this to boat work.
I always assumed I did not like working on the boat. Hard, long, expensive. Not gratifying.
It was a mean to an end, travelling, cruising, and only because I did not have enough money to pay someone to do that grueling work in my place.
Now, what if boat work was easy ?
Remove the time constraint, work on one project at a time, and allocate only few hours a day to it.
Don't make it a live or die situation. Buy the right tools and do any shortcut.
What if it was fun ?
Prepare it well, make yourself comfortable. Take the time, Do it well, Appreciate the results. Appreciate the creation, the problem solving, the handcrafting.
Be patient. Do it once, twice, third time. Listen to a podcast.
It is actually quite marvelous to see your work take shape.

Reward of a job well done.

What if fixing the boat was actually half of the fun ? And the cruising only the excuse ?
By embracing it, you go with the flow, you go in the zone.
Slow and easy. And you improve.
Live your life like a hobby, live in the zone.

Half and half

This past month has been charged with emotions.
I lost a grand-ma and I lost a friend.
I hit 45, which I believe is a good crossing the middle line of a life.
Half of my life.

It all comes down which half of the bottle you are looking into.

I did long and deep thinking - and the only conclusion, really, is that I should not waste my time, because - who knows.

Call of the sea

It is time to reach for my dream.
It is time to sail south.
To cross the equator and step into the other hemisphere.

It is time to see the other half.

Going Simple

Still on Oahu, working on the boat.

Life is simple on the boat. You ride your bike. You do your morning and evening exercises in the park next door.

Walk to the store to grab food.

Nice rainbow on the marina

As more and more people post fancy food and restaurant plates on Facebook, I go backward.

Simpler and simpler on the food. Vegan, of course.

Veggies, Raw or cooked. Soup. Fruit and Green juices.

Avocados. Coconut milk. Add some brown rice and black chocolate for dessert.

Simple.

Veggies and Tiger balm

Really wanted to remove a support for a spinnaker pole I am not using. Was really tricky to get access to the bolt under the deck. Had to tear off a large part of the wood shelves of the inside of the boat.

Way more complicated than it sounds, it took me 3 days to sort this mess.

Tearing off the inside of the boat

Finally got that part of the deck.

Fixing rotten supports on the way.

Has been a while I wanted to swap the reader lights to LED version.

There are 7 of them, takes some time.

And yes, I know, there is some varnish work that really needs to happen.

New little LEDs

Iridium GO on place

As well as its Antenna (On the left)

Work is not going as fast as I would like, but it is happening, and the boat is getting ready.
Ready for her next little adventure.

Respect the weather, Respect yourself

Hiding inside a Coffee Bean to escape the Waikiki afternoon heat, I took some time to reflect on the last "disastrous" passage from Maui to Honolulu.

A series of mistakes and choice ended up costing me a new Fiddle block (150$), Sail repair (800$), and damage on the pulpit ($$$) and bottom paint ($$), and more important some bruises in my pride and slaps in my captain face.

To be clear, I am not pretentious when I sail. I am actually very aware of my lack of experience and any trip is always like an adventure. Which is why I like it so much, even if I do not sail that much.
But a day sail in between islands, I thought I got it.
The ocean was there to humble  me.

I knew it was gonna be windy. Small craft advisory, a small low just went by the island few days before, clearing winds and strong trades (25+knots) on tap. Of course, 25 knots of predicted grib wind means 35+ in the channel.
Solo I would have certainly push back one week. But a friend was coming by plane, the ticket was taken... Anyway, that was a test for the boat.
Well, I guess I failed it.
In between Lanai and Molokai , we had gusts of 40+ knots. As a kitesurfer, those numbers never really scared me. You just rig smaller and tight your butt.
 As a sailor, this is more than atypical winds and require a set of skills I do not have yet.

High wind, but no waves. Pictures rarely capture the intensity of the sea.

Typical - The furler jammed with a double reef in the jib.
We could have go with it until Honolulu, after all, it was very unlikely to be worst.

Sunset. We still had a genoa at that time.

I waited for the night to fall - no moon - (why not ?) to decide to try to solve this - just in case - (of what?).
Which means unfurl the full sail (Genoa 140) and put it down, on deck.
This is doable by going upwind or heave-to. Heaving-to with a 140 Genoa in that kind of wind, I was not feeling it. There was a bit of shade behind our double reefed main, and I thought I could bring it down on deck while we were running (Really?). Obviously, some maneuvers you do in 8 knots of wind do not work in 30+.
Of course, the sail went in the water, generated an immense amount of force and drag,  teared along the furler, and went under the boat to tangle on the prop.
Dragging this huge mess under the boat, we slowed down to a mere 2 knots of boat speed and the motion became really uncomfortable.
Which made me sea sick - but not incapacitated, except while throwing up.
Losing control, we ended up jibbing involuntary a couple of time until the traveler gave up and the main slammed a last time.

In the morning, that what the sail looked like.

Fast forwarding, we eventually managed to bring most of the sail on board, jury rigging the main, disentangled the prop while drifting in front of the harbor and made it safely to the slip, 6 hours later than expected. Overall, no harm.
As they say, we kept "the people in the boat, and the water out of the boat".
Following this simple rule, nothing really critical can or should happen.

Once docked, easier to notice the bent bow pulpit.

Still few lessons I learned the hard way.

If you can't fix it and don't have to, just go with it.
(At least, wait for the morning and daylight)
140 Genoa is too big of a sail for Hawaii - if just fine from San Diego where I got the boat.
(I am gonna save some money to buy a smaller one)
Go upwind, motoring if needed,  to bring down the headsail.
(I got an idea how to disentangle the furler with the sail on, but that need to be proven)
40 knots is a lot of wind for a small sailboat
(even for a kite)
I need to up my game
(If I ever want to cross that pacific equator solo)

Actually not so bad. there is 3 or 5 tears like that one.

Repairing the traveler

Positive lessons:

We stayed calm the whole way and never endangered ourselves.
(according to the fact that working on deck by night is dangerous by definition)
If I was on a passage, I think I could have fixed all that mess on board, alone - eventually
(After the wind calmed down, as it usually does)
If I was solo, I certainly would have avoided this mess by being more cautious.
(Need to learn to always sail as I was solo)
We kept control of the boat and never were on a lee-shore.
(Even if we were not going fast)
The boat and the rigging took it without grim.
(For an old grand pa that is almost as old as me)

Safely in the harbor, enjoying the sunset

Anyway, I slowly getting back in the pace of working on the boat, which was the plan of this month on Oahu.
Adding more things that will break one day.
Fixing what I just broke,
And maintaining what did not break yet.

Chinese made Stainless vents. They look awesome.

Mostly on the program for this time, electrical and electronics.

AIS Transponder
Iridium Go
Steaming Light
Anchor Light
Hatches
And half a dozen of smaller things.

Adding a deck and steaming light. Easier to work at night on deck.

Plan is to stay in Ala Wai until my time is up (6 weeks left on my transient permit for 2017), a couple of back and forth to stay with the family on Maui, and get most of that s**t done before next year.
And if that was going as planned, that would be freaking awesome.
For a change.

This will have to wait...

It is no secret I was planning to go south next Spring, the good weather window for a sail from Hawaii To French Polynesia. It was not official - as I am starting to post about it in the blog - but kicking off the boat repairs, pouring the money into the project....

Well, this will have to wait one more year.

South Pacific

First, this happened.



We still have no real clues of what's going on, and I am not hopeful on tearing apart the injector pump. Bu I am no mechanic, and two mechanics confirmed it. Let's follow the flow. A tweaking round of that pump cannot be a bad thing anyway, since the time.... This engine is almost as old as me.
But that's a serious project to take on (next week), and who knows how long the boat will be immobilized ( I am actually moving it to another marina to start again the 120 days clock - hopefully, that will be enough).

Then, This happened.




I am not sure when I hurt myself, but I know for sure I do not have much power left in my left harm. I actually -somehow- damaged a nerve running from the next to the shoulder blade.
It is a not uncommon injury, but there is not much to do except waiting - waiting a long time - 6 months to a year ! Nerve tissue is slow to heal.

(more details for the curious : https://www.academyofclinicalmassage.com/long-thoracic-nerve-compression/)

It is more impressive than painful, but all activities implying the back muscle should be avoided, as you might compensate with (weaker) shoulder muscles. And not much physical therapy to do until the muscle activate itself (I cannot even trigger it at the moment).

Surfing, paddling, swimming and winch grinding - sailing, all unadvised.

Well, that's all for the bad news - so far.

The good news is that I found an awesome Physical Therapist on Oahu, and with me, he will have work for years :P

Michael Turner, DPT, OCS, MTC, FAAOMPT
https://www.orthosport.com/

Well, actually we will see how that turns out :)
    - Achille tendinitis
    - Hip Impingement
    - TFL Issues
    - LTN - Winged Scapula

But so far, I am back at running - not fast, not long. I am actually spending twice the amount of running in stretching, then maybe I should consider my self a 'Stretcher'.

Jeez. I just did a 26.2 in stretching.

Aloha From Portugal

As we are slowly but surely planning our trip to Portugal for this summer, and I relentlessly surfing the web of catamarans - my new hobby...cat, we found this affordable - sizeable - french cat named Aloha in Portugal.
Too many coincidences to be ignored.

Aloha From Fountaine Pajot

Living aboard has been on my dream list for quite a while now. We tried - unsuccessfully - On 'Mobylette' - A Beneteau 43- half a dozen years ago already.
It is tricky.
Very few marinas allow for official liveaboards. Most of people 'sneak-a-board'. Which is certainly a valid strategy if you are in your twenties without money and family, but less appealing as a grown-up with responsibilities.
Living on a boat is quite complicated in places where there is real seasons. Cold is really an issue as boats are usually very badly insulated. Of course, bad weather is extremely hard to cope with.
Livingaboard is living outside before all.

Now I slowly accepted that a boat is not the best adapted house for our family - with pets and kid.
Sure people are doing it. all around the world. Mostly traveling.
Well, sooner than later Kids and petz will leave home to live their own (kid and petz) life.
And (soon-tm) will be the time to revisit that statement.

Now, Catamarans have a very appealing advantage over monohulls. They are roomy and comfortable AT ANCHOR.
This simplify a lot if you can actually be on the boat at anchorage and not rolling left and right all day long. Now, you are not relying on expensive private marinas slips for docking.
Now, you are auto-sufficient.
Making your own electricity.
Your own water.
Sustainable.
Simpler, smaller, outdoor life.


And there is a cheery on the cake.

https://www.beforetheflood.com/

When the world goes deep - after the flood,
You are already floating.

Taking a Break

The main purpose of that Oahu trip was the haul-out and the bottom paint. I never did it myself, and it was long overdue. We had some damage with a previous buoy, and the old one was anyway totally inefficient.

It was meant to be an adventure, indeed.

1-2-3, Lift !

I lived on a yard before, in Oxnard, while preparing Traces for the Pacific crossing. It is uncomfortable, noisy, dusty, without easy access to clean water or shower.
This time was a bit better, mostly because the Hawaiian sun allows you to take a shower at the hose, outside, in shorts.
But the sun made it really uncomfortable to work during mid-day hours, sweating under the protective suit.

1-2-3, ready

The hard part in a bottom paint is the sanding, depending how deep you want to go. I went pretty deep because I knew I would not do it again soon. Depending how many blisters you got. I had a few hundreds of them. Started to be better at them toward the end, but I did a couple of major mistakes that took hours to fix.
Learning curve.
And I got rid of an annoying vinyl decorative band that was in really bad shape but a real pain in the butt to take off.

Sanding, Sanding, Sanding ...

The paint job is straightforward. A bit tiring for the back as the curve of the hull force you in awkward positions toward the keel, but it is very gratifying.

Voila !

Going back to the marina after the work, forced to motor all the way due to lack of  wind, I realized that the engine issue - rpm dropping slowly - likely fuel starvation - was getting - if not worst - not better.
Something had to be done.

On the way back to Ala Wai,
under (failing) engine

My first attempt to isolate the leak ended up causing another leak - major, on the inlet of the injector pump. Few days later, I eventually fixed that one with new parts, call it a day and flew back home.
Has been one month short have been off Maui and far from family, it was time to take a break.

Looking back, a lot has been done during that month, and on the 'major' items list, only few remains.

 - Engine
 - Garmin Windvane (changed to a wired one after endless disconnection issues)
 - Mast lights

Those can wait March. I need a break.
But We are closing in.

Cruising around

Without a car, simple things like picking a scuba tank become a real chore and a real issue for your back. That time, I found a solution, cruising around with the dinghy (and testing the new Honda 2.5hp 4 strokes), I went very close from the scuba shop, at the other side of the marina.
Pretty fun actually, even if I cannot plane the dinghy anymore.
(The previous 9HP 2 Strokes was way more powerful but... capricious... And heavy)

GhostRider

With this new ladder (WIP),
it is way easier to go back on the boatr.

Getting ready to scuba .. explore the deep.....
... of the boat's bottom.

Unrelated but I am still amazed of what you can polish on a boat.

Before / After

The bad news is that with one tank and one hour and half of scrubbing, I only did 1/3 of the boat. I am actually really scrubbing the bottom, not just a simple clean. Takes a lot of efforts.....

For the fun, a quick video.

Still dreaming about that cat.

Relentless Forward Progress

For the curious, this is the title of an ultra-marathoner guide. How-to.
Based on the title (did not read yet) it seems that perseverance is key.
Well, in that case, I am playing at the ultra-cruiser nowadays.

Alright, because it has been a good 2 weeks, a special super long super boring list of the fixes/work on this damn boat.

Before the sunset.

Second time I redo the water pump gasket.

Third time I redo the tank inspection plate.

Fourth, or fifth time the transmission oil drain gasket

Those cloth pins, all stainless, are amazing.

We found a bit of time for a sea trial for the "fix" for the engine.
Sailing was nice, motoring was NOT nice. Fix did not work at all.

Finally fixing the toilets cover (Two years ago ?)

CWR Hawaii. Paradise of the rigger. More later.

Liferaft service. Getting ready for the next trip ?

All good. I feel lighter of 1300$.

Molly's Art to decorate the cabin

Removing the life lines, the boat feel naked.

Paradise of the metal worker. More later.

Garmin GNX wireless was a failure. Up to the mast, Back to the factory.
We are going wired. Ouch. More work to come.

Before

During. The sell a kit 'DYI lifelines'.
Time consuming but saving big bucks. (Rigger estimate 1000$).

After. No coating. Cheaper, and less subject to rust.
Little rough on the palm though.

To run one cable I had to pull put 150' chain and my old tackle ground.
150' pounds !

That's how I like it !

Just in case you thought the aft was better.

Windlass cables, across all boat. Awg2, Big & heavy, 100A.
Tooling for crimping is Hammer style.

Hard to see, but that's the solenoid of the windlass.
Had to pull one battery out. Dealing with awg2 cables is not easy.

Before

After. We broke that two years ago. It was time.

Those first weeks on Oahu, I have mixed feelings. The arrangement of not working too much on the boat, training as possible and work normally makes it way easier. Downside, the work on the boat go slower. O surprising.
I was fearing the moment to finish the electrical work on the windlass but so far I am 80% in, and it seems to go very well. "Professional Installer Only". Well, I guess I am a pro.
Disclaimer : Did not try it yet :)
The engine is still my biggest problem. Unreliable at best,  we could not really work on it because I need it to go to the haul-out next week for the bottom paint. Really annoying.
I don't talk about the electronic. Back to Garmin, Jeez. 50 ft mast ? Really ? just good for a dinghy IMHO.
But the other stuff - Double solar panel, the ladder, the various gaskets, the windlass, progress is good.

Next week will be key. Windlass. Bottom Paint and Yard.
If I hit that, only the engine will be on 'Major' issue list.

Oh yeah, nowadays, I dream of more space, less work. Just need 500K$.

Seawind 1600. Comfortable. Fast. Expansive.

Sacrilege ?