Rolling with the punches
Yesterday was supposed to be a quiet day with a few projects to tie us over until our scheduled launch day, which was today. But when the marina owner calls you and says “Do you want to launch now?” you need to be ready to go! With a bit of a weather window much better than today’s forecasted rain and windy conditions, we quickly made the decision to launch. Fortunately I had just replaced the cracked cooling hose in the starboard engine and had also switched the graphics on the back of the boat to show Kingston as Katana’s home port as opposed to Oakville which is what it said before.
A quick jaunt out to our apartment to retrieve the dock-lines and the turnbuckles and we were ready. The one thing about the Collin’s Bay Marina staff is that they really know what they are doing. Hub, Ian and Henry had everything under control from start to finish. As we were stepping the mast however that weather window I mentioned was rapidly closing. Thunderstorms were predicted and in this case, the weatherman got it right. I was tightening the turnbuckles on the shrouds when the rain and thunder started and I could see lightning in the distance. Holding onto a steel cable during a lightning storm is pretty much the last thing I wanted to be doing so needless to say, I finished quickly. A final check of the dock-lines and I was off to find shelter.
That really wasn’t the end of our day though. After Rebecca was through with work (yes, SHE is still employed) we enjoyed a glass of wine while sorting through… you guessed it, stuff! We decided that there is no way we can keep all of the stuff that we thought we would be able to and so set out to create piles. The “must have stuff” pile included various boat things that we had stored in the apartment. Then there is the “would be nice to have” pile. In this pile is a lot of micro camping gear that we had used while kayaking. We had envisioned a use for this stuff if we were to go off on some trips in various ports. The stuff is not super heavy but it will take up a fair chunk of room which me may not have. Finally there is the “get rid of it” pile. In this pile we had a multitude of board games (we’ll find other ways to entertain ourselves I am sure) and other miscellaneous stuff. Will this purging ever end? We need to have a yard sale!!!
And because I promised some video…
Note: Normally the smaller crane that you see in the video is used to step the mast. They opted to use the large crane to speed up the process because of the impending bad weather.
Congratulations!!!! Your in!!! It’ s great to be on the water again. So begins another season.
I’m hoping for some nicer weather so we can get moving on Pirate jenny.
See you guys around the dock.
Terry & Anneke
Thanks guys.
Yes, some warmer weather would be nice. We were at the boat today and we saw snowflakes!!! And it was blowing over 20 knots. Good thing we launched yesterday.
Hurray! Congratulations!
Kier
Thanks Kier!
What a cool video! Ya’ll must have been glad when the boat was safe in the water and no longer hanging from the crane! By the way, we love the lettering you used on the boat for its name and home port. Congrats! Keep purging!
Thanks guys. The purging is ongoing!
Congratulations!
Ah yes, life under a long aluminum lightening rod!
At least there was no hail today, unlike some places on the west coast I hear. 😉
Don’t get rid of the board games. We play ours on board all the time. Just get rid of the packaging & combine several games in one box or use ziploc bags. Congrats on launching. We have 4 weeks to go but that’s OK since we have to paint the topsides etc. etc.
See you on the water.
We actually did do that. The games we played a lot were trivial pursuit (believe it or not). Those cards are heavy!!! 🙂
Mike,
I am having some challenges with the formatting of my blog. What theme do you use for this one?
In many cases if you scroll to the very bottom of a blog you will see a link or details on the theme. In this case it is called vigilance. That particular developer has several new themes and if I was starting from scratch I may use on of them. You may want to read this post though:
http://www.zerotocruising.com/?p=4571
I should have sent you this before you launched, just to get your blood pressure up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J5asOPyKXmw
Actually, I saw a travel lift drop a Stiletto (ice on the slings) some years ago; fortunately, it landed in the water and glided away.
OMG… you think they would have found someone there that actually knew what they were doing.
hey mike –
by any chance did you happen to measure the length of your mast while it was down?
I did actually, because I was trying to calculate how many mast steps I would need. The mast from the boom to the top was 39′. I just measured and from the boom to the mast step is 2-2.5′ (not sure exactly where I measured from). Does that help?
Mike
Thanks for your help, Mike … yes that helps. I wanted to confirm the mast on an Altair was taller then the Classic. I just unstepped the mast on my new boat (for trucking to S. California) and it was 38 feet fromt the bottom to the top…. so from your measurements it appears that the Altair mast is indeed 4 feet or so taller.
I was shocked at how small both the original main and jib were on my boat (’96). I’m going to go with a 150 genoa and square top main with full roach to max out the sail area on my “vertically challenged” mast and hope for the best.
I really enjoy your blog, Mike. I read it every morning and appreciate the time you take to post. Thanks and Good Luck!
Thanks you, and congratulations on your new PDQ. I hope you like it as much as we do ours!