Sunrise
I’d fallen asleep quickly last night after the big dinner, so I woke up early, and I’ve just finished my first cup of coffee. The winds are light, so I’m going to remove the genoa and see if I can flake it on the dock and tie it into a compact package.
Although it looked like there was little breeze, a 130% genoa is a big sail on my boat, and the wind kept on pushing the loose sail over the lifelines.
It took many trips forward to push the sail back, then back to the winch to release a bit more line, before the whole sail was safely on deck. It is only around 7 AM, so nothing is moving on the dock except for two small spectators.
Flaking the sail
The wind started picking up as I went to work flaking the sail. I used some weights on the windward leading edge to keep it from unfolding while I worked. It took almost 2 hours to get the big genoa flaked and rolled up, but at least I did a respectable job this time. I’m below at the moment, drinking my second coffee and enjoying the cooled air in the main cabin.
The dinghy growth doesn’t look dry enough yet. I’ll wait until later this afternoon or perhaps even tomorrow before continuing with that project. Removing the bimini and dodger won’t take more than 2 hours, and I’ll wait until the last possible moment to do so, since without their shade, it gets extremely hot in the cockpit and belowdecks.
I’m going to get the outboard removed and set it on Zanshin’s deck, then shift the dinghy onto the dock so I can turn it upside-down and scrape the growth off the bottom.
The first scraping session using a paint scraper went well; the growth was still green but quite dry and stiff. The barnacle-ettes came off easily, and now I’ll give it another scrape with some sudsy water and a brush. That should be sufficient to prevent my decks from getting dirty and contaminated with sharp-edged barnacle shells.
I’m not impressed by the crew of Hanuman. This morning, they were on deck (and watching) for the 2 hours it took for me to remove and flake my big genoa, running back and forth to prevent the wind from catching the leading edge. And just as I’d finished rolling up the sail, one of the crew came by and asked if she could help. I initially thought she was taking the piss out of me, so I was curt and said that I was doing alright. In retrospect, I think she’d just come out on deck and, truthfully, wanted to help. If I see her again, I’ll apologize for my rude behavior this morning.
Brushing with a Joy-infused solution and scrubbing off did the trick; the dinghy is now as clean as it will get and is ready to go on deck and get tied down in preparation for the hurricane season.
I’ve got the dinghy on the deck after a mishap that left it in the water. Luckily, it wasn’t in there long enough to gather any new growth. Once again, some of the crew of Hanuman watched my antics and made no effort to offer assistance. I think some megayacht crew take on attitudes as if they own the boats they work on and look down upon cruisers with smaller boats than the ones they are employed on.
Full Moon
Tonight was the full moon. I used the Photographer’s Ephemeris site to determine that the perfect spot to get both the rising full moon and Shirley Heights is right here at the end of the dock. I’ve set up my camera (manual mode, where I choose the ISO value, aperture, and shutter speed) to get the perfect shot. Unfortunately, high clouds obscured the moon tonight. I’ll give it another shot tomorrow.