day in the life. or just another day in paradise.

Life on the boat is a whole different animal than anything we've experienced thus far. Truthfully, we've been moving more slowly around here and we aren't even mad about it. I feel better than I have in awhile. It seems like the sunshine, the flexibility of our schedule, and the change of scenery are just what the doctor ordered. I'm calm, I'm more focused, I'm relaxed. I like myself on the boat. That's not to say that there aren't days that are busy or demanding (I fully expect this to be the sort of ebb and flow we will experience once we are underway) but I feel less tense when tackling those instances. 

Every day is a little different but this is mostly how it goes:

We get up when our internal clocks wake us, take the dog out, maybe have some coffee, I go for a run or to the YMCA to work out, Josh works while I'm gone--takes calls, does paperwork, sends emails, etc. I come back, I fix lunch, we eat in the cockpit, plan our afternoon (is today laundry day? Or do we need to get groceries?) then he goes back to it and I work on blog posts, read, clean, or jump in the pool here at the marina. As of this week my bike is here so I plan on doing some exploring and we got a kayak as my college graduation gift a billion years ago (thanks for storing it all this time, mom and pop!).

at last.

Interlude is FINALLY back in the water, ladies and gents. Yes! Finally. It all happened in just a few short days. After much heel dragging on the part of the marina/shop where Interlude was being "serviced" (I very loosely will acknowledge that she did indeed have some work done though not near enough) they pulled it together, finished up 90% of outstanding issues. Thee is at least one that will be completed in the coming winter (supposedly) and I would guess the other one as well (chain plates STILL need replaced and there was some fiberglass work that needs addressing as well as the malfunctioning autopilot remote). 

But enough of the bummer part of the whole process! The fun now begins!  

We went up to Waukegan, where she's been all winter, on Saturday with Josh's parents who graciously agreed to help us get her put back to sailing condition and deliver her to her home port in Racine. We put up the sails, tidied the cabin, scrubbed down the cockpit cushions, filled tanks, checked electrical systems, hosed her down, etc. 

Bright and early, err...late Sunday morning, we came back, climbed aboard, stowed belongings and snacks below and motored out into the lake. Seriously you guys, the weather was unbelievably perfect. It was the type of day sailors daydream about: 8-10 knots per hour wind, moderate waves, sunny and clear. I had thought we might be sweaty beasts but once we got out on the lake it was clear the humidity was not going to be an issue. Heavenly. Magical. We motored out around noon and arrived in Racine just about 6pm. We only had to jibe once which was nice. There is a reef, of sorts, just outside the harbor in Racine so we turned on the motor to maneuver her in about 3.5 miles out since the wind wasn't ideal for bringing her in under sail. Once we switched on the motor there was a little hiccup where the propeller wasn't engaged and moving us forward so Josh was a little frazzled trying to drop the main but we got it all sorted out and then we were right as rain. 

And now Interlude is tucked nicely in her slip, waiting for us to come do a few projects and generally enjoy the remainder of the sailing season. We'll head up Saturday morning and stay a few days and hopefully next weekend or the following we'll be there for most of the summer!

what do you do...

When no one seems to be in a big hurry but you?

As you may have guessed, the lack of posts around here has much to do with the fact that Interlude is not yet in the water. She went into the shop around the first of the year and up until mid-March, we were told she was being serviced. The purchase agreement had a laundry list of things to be fixed and we were told the service department would address them all and let us know when repairs were completed. Around the end of March, Josh received an email update complete with photos of the king plank and bowspirit being replaced, as well as the compression post being replaced. We assumed that all meant the boat was in tip top shape. Josh took a trip up one Saturday following that email to look over the work. Lo and behold, during his inspection he saw that the chain plates had not been cleaned, replaced, or in any way serviced. He also noted that the sea cocks hadn't been replaced (both issues are troublesome and need attention before being launched). He followed up in person by showing the head of the service department the lack of action on the issues. He subsequently sent an email with photos of said problems. No response. 

Fast forward to last Saturday. Our surveyor wanted to take a look at the work that had been done in order to get insurance all squared away and felt a boat in better condition would merit a lower insurance rate. Great. We like that idea. We still haven't heard any more from the service department but I think we both assume they'd seen the email and had taken action. Guess again. As of last Saturday, the boat's still not completely fixed. We are back to the drawing board and the next steps are to involve the salesman who sold us the boat and probably the owner of Larsen. It's a super big bummer because we were really hoping to have Interlude back in last week. Will keep you posted. 

in for the winter.

This post is oh, about a month overdue. Apologies for that! Life has been hectic, shall we say?

At the end of last month, we took the trek back down to Larsen Marine to have Interlude pulled for the winter. Why did we go alllll the way back down to Waukegan to have the boat pulled when there is a lovely facility for boat storage just across the marina, you ask? Well, Interlude is having some work done over the winter. When we had the survey done, the major issues were major, yes, but nothing to keep us from enjoying her for the remainder of the season, and after all the waiting we'd done to finally own her, we weren't exactly happy at the prospect of having to wait 6-7 months to get a feel for her. As part of our storage agreement, Larsen would pull her out, do all the engine winterizing and then have her repairs done, hopefully by year end, at which point, we'd be able to begin doing our little projects on her. Here's hoping January, February, and March are mild months!

Josh's mom and dad drove up on Thursday night so we could be aboard her bright and early Friday. We left a car at Larsen and one at the marina in Racine and sailed, or rather motored down all day Friday. I was down with some seasickness, which is the second time it's happened on Interlude and I think the trick is to have a full to the brim stomach. I'll do more experimenting in the spring, otherwise it could be an uncomfortable life :( We got to Larsen around 5:30 and docked with the greatest of ease (a skill we are working on. 36' is a whole lotta boat to dock!). Josh's mom and I drove up to Racine to get the second car while Josh and his dad unloaded the boat, took down the sails and got her a little closer to ready for winterizing. According to Paul, Josh's dad, taking down the sails was a pain, so we've got that to look forward to when we launch in the spring.

Saturday, Josh and his dad went back and winterized some of the systems. They drained the water tank and filled it with "pink stuff", basically antifreeze, emptied the sump and filled it with more pink stuff and did more work to get the other systems prepared for the cold. I should have been there, but Josh said it was tight quarters with the two of them, let alone four of us. And hopefully we'll only have to do the winterizing bit one more winter after this!

So Interlude is by now out of the water, her bottom cleaned, engine flushed, and she's probably in the shop. We haven't had any updates on the progress but once we do, we'll go up and check on the workmanship of the repairs and start planning our projects. 

a series of unfortunate events. well, really just the one.

I will start off with this: I am not a superstitious person. There, I said it. Now that I have, I am certain that ALL manner of bad juju will rain down over us. I do feel that at times we/I have suffered/benefitted from our fair share of bad/good luck. Oftentimes, it's good luck. Maybe we're just the type of people who make our own destiny and that's how it all falls into place, or maybe we are just exceptionally blessed.

This is how it all applies to this boat purchase: we had yet to have incident. It seemed that nothing was going to stand in our way. While I feel there has been a certain amount of foot dragging on the part of the brokerage, I never equated it to bad luck. We made an offer, it was accepted, no major snafus on the survey, etc. Imagine my surprise when we took her out for the sea trial on Tuesday and a major hiccup popped up. I may or may not have mentioned that this boat has a brand spanking new engine in it. To my knowledge, it has never been used for any length of time in the water. When they launched her on Monday they may have used it, but beyond that, it hasn't seen any major play.

Fast forward to returning to the marina from the lake: Josh and I were exceptionally pleased with the way she handled. She's cutter rigged and because of our time constraint we only put up the main and the staysail, not the jib. It was crazy windy so we reefed the main. Again, all was well. I was giddy with the gorgeous weather, indicative of the early fall here in our fair city, which is perfection when it comes to sailing.

We returned to the dock and all was well. The mechanic who was tasked with showing us how all the systems aboard her worked took the helm to dock her. To do this, you go forward slowly then throw it into reverse so your line handlers can jump over to the dock and use spring lines to pull her backward. It's all about iertia. What happened next was certainly inertia. When he tried to throw the engine into reverse, it wouldn't catch. Every time he tried, it went forward instead of reverse which increased our speed as we careened toward the dock. He was yelling, "It won't reverse!" over and over while this is all happening. By now I'm sure you've guessed it. Yup, we crashed. Right into a pylon. The bowsprit crunched and groaned as it twisted against the concrete column. Several boards splintered while doing so. I guess the bow hit too but it has nary a mark, thankfully. Beyond that, everyone was okay. All in all, it could have been worse. We both laughed and consoled the unfortunate pilot on this adventure. Sometimes you crash. It's life. And in this case it was certainly not his fault. I felt especially bad for him, as it was his birthday. Poor guy. After that he needed a cigarette.

We'll be closing on Friday once the issue with the engine has been resolved and the bowsprit has been looked over.