Blog 4, July 12, 2015

     Well it has been over a month since my last post! Time really does fly. The last ten days of May were spent trying to finish various projects on the boat before Mike and I took off to do something different for a short while. Mike went off to Cincinnatti to visit old friends for a long weekend and I went to the southwest to join my sister Petra, a cousin-in-law, Maria Raab, my good friend Mary Kurt Mason, and three other women on a 6 day river rafting trip down the Goose Necks of the San Juan River in southern Utah. I was gone for twice that long with traveling to and from, preparing for the trip/ and clean up after the trip.

     Mike had a good visit with our friends the Holstegges and the river trip turned out to be quite the adventure. We were seven women, each with our own “cat boat” to paddle and load with our food, water, and camping gear every day. This was my third time in my own boat on the San Juan. The river was three times as high and fast as it normally is. This meant that put outs had to be anticipated way ahead of the actual put out because of the speed and strength of the river. Three of the women were doing this adventure for the first time ever and one of the experienced women was rowing a much larger boat and this was her first time in a river so fast and full of water. So, put this mix of circumstances all together and it made for quite the adrenalin enhanced river trip. We were so relieved in the evenings to have all made it in one peice to our campsite. This meant that our cocktail hour and meal time became quite jovial and slap happy. The sound of the river was so loud the first night and I was so keyed up after that first fast day on the river, I didn’t sleep very much at all. The second night though I slept like a baby. The next to our last day on the river it flooded even more than before. Some of the  campsites were a mixture of mud and ankle deep water. We were treated to some waterfalls running in side canyons with water a clay red and smelling like a potters workshop. We also experienced “sand waves” because of the huge volume of fresh silt flowing into the river. The sand forms waves on the bottom of the river which in turn create waves on the water. They were wonderful “free” waves, because there were no rocks involved whatsoever.

Since returning we have been pushing ourselves a little more than usual. This past week we began carting tools, paint, varnish, brushes, paint removers, extra clothing, and so on to storage. The car has been returning loaded with boat gear we’d stored for the last two winters. Things like seat cushions, life jackets, foul weather gear, wet suits, survival suits, life raft, first aid kits, water purifier, signal mirrors, space blankets, flares, and so on. Then Mike has been choosing and organizing the tools he will keep on board as well. Extra canned goods have been bought and stowed. 

Mike is off buying diesel for the motor. There isn’t a fuel dock on this side of town so we will be filling the fuel tank ourselves. The water tanks are filled and the decks are washed off of seagull and other birds droppings. The new dodger we had made to replace the old threadbare one  is attached and looks beautiful. The windlass is all repaired and newly painted after it died a few weeks ago as Mike was hauling up the anchor and chain. 

So what is left to do? The dinghy has to be hoisted back on the boat. Some last minute tools and paint, along with the little electric refrigerator we used this last year have to be hauled to storage. The mooring lines have to be brought from storage. The fenders will have to be placed on the side of the boat we will be moored to on the dock. Most through holes will need to be closed. Once the boat is lowered into the water we will sit there for a few days while making sure the engine runs properly, and the rigging will need adjusting since it will be in the water and not on solid ground anymore. The staysail and the jib or foresail have to be attached to the boat as well. So we will be busy even though we won’t be out sailing immediately.

Next Friday we are off to Redmond, Oregon to pick up our grandson, Johannes. He is flying out with a friend of Fiona’s. We will have Johannes on the boat with us for about three weeks. Then Fiona will join us on the fourteenth of August for a week or so.

So if all moves along without any major glitches the travel lift ( a big four wheeled vehicle that raises and lowers boats in and out of the water and also parks them in the boat yard) will set us into the water, Monday morning. Then we will begin the work that can only be done once the boat is in the water. Wish us luck!