Archive for August, 2012

 

Waxing Darling

August 31, 2012   

The mast on Darling had become very chalky so it was time for a wash and polish. I had Paige come and help me out. She hoisted me up the mast with the electric winch and I first of all washed the rig down then let it dry for a half hour. Next she hoisted me back up and as we had walky talkies I gave her some jobs I don’t like doing to do while I put the wax on and polished it off 5 feet at a time. Paige got to clean the fridge out, do some ironing and spot clean the cushions! The last hour I was up the rig (total time 5 hours) it started to get a little windy and cold. This was the hard work to make the weekend even more fun!

Two weeks adventures on Darling in pictures

August 28, 2012   

Coffee Darling style capsules that go into the coffee maker – confusing colours!

With the very long days this last two weeks I have actually had to drink coffee to wake up in the morning.

Sunrise at anchor looking towards Angel Island on Sunday turned out to be a stunning day unlike a few days before when we had lots of fog.

Fog  shrouding Angel island from our anchorage off Ondine’s resturant Sausalito.

Sea grass removed from  engine and generator intakes

My phone in a bowl of rice attempting to save it after a dunking in salt water. It wasn’t revived…

Tabouli (recipe from my friend Olivier) for the guests on Sunday. We had 12 aboard.

Food all ready for Paige to serve out to the guests on Sunday’s AC45 viewing.

At the helm of Darling keeping the boat on station.

Surrounded by 450+ sailboats, ferries, motorboats all crowding to see the racing.

AIS shows how crazy it was for commercial traffic but there was also all the boats without AIS.

One of the fleet races starts.

People keep on asking how the AC45 racing was! Frankly I couldn’t tell you I was concentrating too hard on keeping Darling on station and in a good position for the guests… A total of 145 hours work in two weeks. 4 days out on the boat. Basically it takes about 40 hours to set her up to go for a day sail and 40 hours to put her to bed! I haven’t finished putting her to bed yet. Tomorrow time to wash down the hull and polish her and get the interior back in shape.

 

Top of rig to the bottom

August 17, 2012   

Last two weeks Chad and I have been working on Darling from the top of the rig to the bottom.

What I was doing up the rig was removing the old top cap that had been demolished on the furler. It had damaged the foil so i had to hacksaw part of the foil then hammer out the old top cap and install a new one (as seen here). Instead of two machine screw I installed 4.

The remains of the old top cap and copious amounts of tape that had been put on instead of fixing the problem.

The  batten pocket ends had suffered a lot of UV damage so the massive mainsail that ways 400 lbs had to be removed from the boom by Chad and I and carted up to my truck and taken to Doyle (who has ground floor access) for repair.

You can see from the different shades of blue the uv damage to the mainsail.

Some safety equipment has needed an overhaul.

The cloud from the Chevron fire over in Richmond luckily we were upwind.

View from the top of the rig.

Chad being domestic and doing the ironing. I did some as well!  All those white sheets have to be ironed and hospital folded in the cabins.

Some nights I have been leaving pretty late.

Jelly fish monterey aquarium

August 14, 2012   

The jelly fish exhibit at Monterey Bay aquarium is simply amazing. So well presented as well.

Some species have tentacles that are over 100 feet long.

The upside down jellies are pretty funny looking.

Tiny little ones the size of a rubber on a pencil and smaller.

These guys look like clouds.

These are like the ones we had surrounding Rhumb Boogie on the Pacific Cup in 2010.

 The aquarium was absolutely packed. It has been a number of years since I went last the exhibits are so well done and interactive it is almost like taking your kids to an amusement center. They even have scuba in the bay for kids up to the age of 13.

California coast

August 12, 2012   

Last weekend I introduced Chad to the coast south of SF we went as far down as Carmel and then took HW1 back up stopping at beaches for him to surf, the boardwalk just cause it is fun and the monterey aquarium (the best in the world in my opinion). I wanted to go diving and had all my kit but unfortunately the viz wasn’t that great.

Low Speed Chase Report

August 6, 2012   

US Sailing has published the report into the Low Speed Chase accident. It can been see at http://media.ussailing.org/AssetFactory.aspx?vid=18654

Darling Delivery

August 4, 2012   

Paige, James, Pat and myself went up to Seattle last week and met up with Chad aboard the Oyster 82 Darling. I haven’t been to Seattle that I remember (I am sure I went as a kid) but unfortunately there was no time to hang around as we had a delivery to do so we went from the airport to the boat. Most pictures below are by Paige Brooks.

Before leaving the dock it was time for a safety briefing to orientate everyone to where safety equipment was and what we expected in a emergency situation.

 

In the lock to get out to the ocean from Lake Union no wiggle room!

 

Paige and I on Puget Sound with boats racing the monday night series behind.

This is the nav station on the boat.

On watch somewhere along the coast.

 

Chad with his catch.

Chad having filleted his tuna on the swim platform.

Whale spotting

 

Humpback whale waving hello with fishing vessel behind.

Another humpback whale – there were quite a few. It was great to see wildlife again as it has been very sterile the last few years I have been out there.

Fresh tuna served courtesy of Paige and Chad.

The galley aboard the boat where Chad and Paige made many delicous things.

We did a lot of  motoring downwind in light air sometimes with the jib and only a few hours with the main.