out and about.

This week we are out of the Midwest! Tuesday we flew into Las Vegas for a weeklong birthday celebration/vacation with some people we love and adore. We rented a Mustang convertible and drove down LA Wednesday morning for a quick 24 hours as part of our adventure. We met up with my cousins and their adorable son and had lunch at a food truck meet up, ate donuts from Sidecar Donuts, and then drove up the PCH. We stopped at Huntington Beach for a quick dip of the toes in the ocean then headed further north to meet up with a long lost (ok, so not really lost, just out of touch as of late) friend of Josh's from his congressional page days for dinner. We ate at this very hip little place called Picca (you may have heard it referenced on the most recent episode of New Girl!) and then got donuts from Randy's Donuts (you know, the one from all the tv shows with the giant donut on top). We stayed in Culver City then drove back down to Irvine for brunch, meandering and beach time with Erin, Brian, and Nolen. That kid is the cutest, most inquisitive 3 1/2 year old I know. He's full of "whys?" and somehow I ended up trying to explain chemical bonds to him. So interested in the world around him, for sure!

We made it back to Vegas around 8 last night. Long 24 hours! We ate ramen out with Hannah and Chris, put gracious hosts then hit the hay! More later about the rest of our adventures to come. 

out of commission.

As you may have noticed, it's been radio silence around here for far too long. Oopsie. So much for my Sunday share project. BUT I promise to be better. I guess I just feel a bit like I'm by no means an expert on much of anything (boat related or otherwise) and sometimes it's just easier to ignore the blinking cursor at the top of the empty computer screen than try to come up with some clever "thing" we are doing on Interlude. So instead of feeling stuck, I'll just try to write about our life instead of just boat-y things. Sound good? Okay!

crafty mcgee and how I fill my time.

We've been up at the marina for a bit over two weeks and while I haven't had any freelance jobs to work on, somehow I still feel like there aren't enough hours in the day. I mean, I guess I could get up at 6 am but that kind of defeats the laid back, easy-does-it thing we've got going here. 

What fills my days, you ask? Craftiness and reading!

I'm reading the third book in the Game of Thrones series. Gah! Addictive! I'm also taking my sailing 101 requirements very seriously by brushing up with Basics of Keelboating and, of course being quizzed on a regular basis by Josh, AND I'm still reading The Care and Feeding of the Sailing Crew. That one is best digested in small chunks. 

The other part of my time is spent being crafty. I have been crocheting and teaching myself new stitches/patterns and have completed one blanket with two more in various states of completion (the other two have a ways to go, one is pictured above). I'm also gearing up to do a little art project on the very end of them bow spirit. There is a beam that has a flat 4 inch face and I'm going to do a drawing on the end of it with a good luck symbol. I'm doing some research and am planning on starting it this afternoon. Yay! 

There might also be a bit of gym time, pool time, and cooking that have also been taking up parts of each day too :-)

neighbors.

So THIS boat is our neighbor at the end of our t-docks. Um, hello. 70 feet of pure gorgeous speed. The owner, Rick is a great guy and sailing enthusiast who loves racing and from our understanding, has been at it for years. One of these days we've got to get out there on her. The boat manager, Jack (a junior at a local college), is always ready with a story of adventure, or quick with some product recommendation (we are currently battling spiders). Just a really cool boat and more great people we see in our day to day lives here at the dock.

on tossing your cookies

Monday was a first. We took Interlude out for a sail knowing it might be windy and did our best to account for that by reefing in the main so we wouldn't be over powered (read: tipped way, way over with the sails practically straining from the force of the wind). What we didn't account for was the 4-6 foot waves. At first it was fine. We motored out, me as the lookout on the bow, the bowspirit bobbing up and then landing with a white capped splash back down. Totally cool. I held on to the railing, flexed my knees to absorb the impact and was a-okay. Then we put the sails up and I was at the helm, which I find greatly improves any feelings of nausea as I am constantly scanning the horizon and generally occupied making sure we are on the right course, taking full advantage of the wind for optimum speed, etc. And I was fine until I wasn't. It crept up on me real slow like. And I chewed some ginger candy and maybe I was feeling okay? It was hard to tell. But then those 4-6 foot waves I mentioned, well they were coming at us crosswise, rolling us from port to starboard instead of bow to stern. So I changed our course and we headed back bow into them. Up and down, rolling from the top to the valley like on the roller coasters that make your stomach feel like its dropping out of the bottom of you abdomen. Over and over, so high I'd lose sight of the horizon and then so low all I could see was the azure water surrounding us and the sound of the hull cutting through them sounds more like slapping than the usual melodious fizzy bubbling. I let Josh steer and laid flat on my back with my eyes closed in the cockpit, breathing through the discomfort. It seemed like it was working one second and then the next I've got my head over the downwind rail tossing my cookies. Did I mention this is the very first time this has ever happened to me (unless my mom can recount some horrible car trip I've blocked from my mind?). I did feel better but as for my future as a sailor, I'd say I've got some serious sleuthing to do on how to nip this in the bud. 

new toy.

A

We got a kayak! 

When I graduated from college oh-so-many-years ago, my dad asked me what I wanted as a gift. Wise old 22 year old that I was, having NO idea where I'd be at the end of that year, let alone in the next 5 years, I proclaimed that I wanted a kayak. 

I can promise you that I was not a die hard kayaker (is that what they call themselves??). I wasn't even an intermediate. Honestly, I don't think I had ever attempted to kayak in. my. life. So why this new found obsession with water sports? Couldn't tell ya. My best guess is that I had dreams of seeing the world from a boat, which is not actually too far from the truth at this point. Oh, and also, then, as now, I am haunted by water. My life is never so fulfilled as when I am in or near water. I am not even kidding. I'm like that girl/mermaid in "Splash". I start to wither up and die (figuratively, of course) unless I get to submerge myself in water on a regular basis. That's why winter is so torturous as a midwestern dweller.  

Majorly off topic there for a minute, but I'm baaaack. Okay. Kayak. A few years ago Menards, of all places, had kayaks as part of their after Thanksgiving sale and I get this call from my dad. "Hey, they have these kayaks on sale. Do you still want one?" And foolishly, I said yes once again (what is wrong with me??). At this point, we do not have a boat, I don't have a roof rack to carry it on the mini to the lake or the river, or even a space in which to store it. Duh. You guys, I'm super smart, if you haven't figured it out. Luckily, I have the super coolest parents around that agreed to store it in the top of their garage for us. Every trip up to see us since that purchase has had some sort of mention about bringing the kayak up. Sort of a running joke. But it's ours at last! They brought it when the visited last weekend and now she's tied up in front of our bow at the dock. I just took her out this morning, as a matter of fact! Between the two of us, we take her out at least twice a week. It's allowed us to explore the marina (and scope out what other types of boats have their home here at Reef Point) as well as paddle up the Root River. I've seen lots of mallards and geese and today I even saw some sort of weasel trying to haul a dead fish from the water. What a wonderful tool to explore with and a great workout too!

sunday share.

This week's share was a joint effort requiring some patience AND some elbow grease. Josh is the Internet surfer of the two of us and looks around for inspiration from other Union 36 owners--how they've modified, DIY'd, or upgraded their vessel to suit their lifestyle. One thing he found while poking around was a few owners who stripped down the teak in their cockpits. Ours, as you can see from the photo was in need of at least a scrape down and new coat of varnish and sealant. We decided that in the name of better traction for wet days and for a nice visual contrast, the cockpit bench will stay unfinished. 

A heat gun, a paint scraper, a chisel (which turned out to be a better scraping tool), and plenty of hours to spend were the key ingredients. I started on Wednesday around noon and finished the cockpit around noon on Friday. Slow and steady, right? Actually, the process was pretty tedious. Blow this crazy hot air from the heat gun over the surface of the teak, and when it blisters, run the scraper or chisel over the surface to pull off the varnish and top coat. Small sections, over and over and over. Some places it would all come off in a swipe, but some places required me to scrape again and again. Also, you have to be very mindful not to leave the heat gun pointed in one place for too long. Oops. There may be a few scorches places that hopefully some sanding and sunbleaching will take care of. We also did some teak on the cabin top. There are some boards inlaid on the fiber glass near the mast and we decided they should be unvarnished/sealed so they would have more traction when you're hoisting the main.

Eventually, all the teak will get stripped and some of it revarnished. The floor grate in the cockpit will stay naked teak once it's stripped, as will the grab rails on the cabin top. For now the boards by the mast and the cockpit bench that were stripped are "aging" in the sun while we are away this week. Next step is sanding to hopefully completely rid the surfaces of any remaining varnish/top coat and then replacing the caulk between the boards on the bench. Looks like I've got my work cut out for me!

Fair winds, and happy Sunday!

Top photo is before and bottom is after.