18 August 2009

Worlds day 2: boatwork...

Today's main problems to solve were threefold:

1. Buy a paddle.

2. Bolt on extra lead and have it inspected by a measurer.

3. Go sailing.

The third was not achieved and we didn't leave the boat park until 8pm. We started the day helping Adam move some heavy pipes, etc., because we needed to go to his office to pick up boat parts like McLube and mylar tape and blocks for the shrouds, that were being delivered there. Then we went to buy a paddle. Next thing you know it's 11.30 and we are at a West Marine down by the airport. Now we were truly stuck in the vortex...

We didn't get back to the dinghy park until 1.30pm, after lunch and picking up my shades from the apartment. Gareth went to work McLubing and mylaring and generally making my boat look like we know what we are doing. I worked on drilling holes in the lead, drilling holes in boat, and joining the two with screws. This took a long time due to the trickiness of getting the nuts on the bolts. This also required taking out the mast, and once that happened, it was clear we weren't going sailing. Disappointing.

Anyway, at that point we decided we could epoxy, so we screwed in new turning blocks for my shrouds, the old ones were the wrong type installed the wrong way, and when we took them off, little ball bearings went all over my boat, since they were all busted up. So glad to be changing that before those blow up 3 miles downwind of the beach.

Importantly, Gareth also redid the chafe guard on his trap twings, the 'old' one (i.e. has 90 minutes of sailing on it) had chafed through already... So this was good, it means he is less likely to fall off of the boat tomorrow.

Had dinner with the two Danish guys next to us in the boat park, and now we are beat.

Tomorrow is going to be crazy.

I haven't had a chance yet to study the tides or even really get the local knowledge.

Not to mention get used to sailing in heavy air.

Wish us luck!

p.s. It's cold here! Jeans & jacket & hat all day.

1 comment:

Kirk said...

Locals go to the westmarine in Sausalito...easier to get to, but you need to pay a bridge toll on the way back.