September was all about sprucing up Che Figata before we begin our trip down South. During our summer cruise around New England we only stayed at a dock once and that dock had no water (it was located on peninsula of solid rock and there was no way to drill a well) so it was difficult to give Che Figata the stem to stern cleaning she so desperately needed. Being at a dock with an abundance of free water gave us the opportunity to polish all the stainless, take down and thoroughly scrub (and re-waterproof) all of the canvas on the bimini (getting rid of some nasty mildew on the red trim and the last stubborn remnants of a party thrown by some osprey a few seasons ago — don’t even ask about that one) and wash the hull, really scrubbing along the water line to return the cream colored stripe to its original vibrant white. (We should add the the “we” here is the royal we and Captain Zack gets the credit for most — though not quite all — of the exterior cleaning.). Of course, the interior of Che Figata also got special attention with the cabinets emptied for a thorough cleaning and all of the nonskid liners replaced. We lead a very glamorous life!
In addition to cleaning, we invested in some much needed repairs and upgrades. Many cosmetic but some functional as well. When you live on your boat full time you start to notice knicks and dings that didn’t bother you before and you discover that 7 year old cockpit cushions have lost all their sponginess and add absolutely no comfort to the seating area. (Imagine sitting on a wooden park bench for hours at a time.). So we replaced our cockpit cushions (they are now somewhat nautical, very clean and oh so comfy!), revarnished the cockpit table as well as the teak around the companionway and stairs leading down to the saloon, repaired the gel coat where we had some chips and straightened out the stanchions that got bent during an unfortunate encounter with a power boat.
We also got rid of our trash compactor and replaced it was an elegant teak pull out trash receptacle with a built in drawer for extra storage. The new teak facade is truly a work of art and looks as through at was part of the original interior craftsmanship that Hylas is known for. This may sound like a little thing but the trash compactor — which we never used as a trash compactor in 4 years — was hideous. It was not really built for a marine application so, over time, the cheap faux stainless facade showed significant corrosion from the moist salty air. No matter how much we cleaned it, it always looked dirty. Those of you who have any familiarity with Jill (and her standards for cleanliness, verging on OCD some might say) understand how that trash compactor became an anathema to her. Though Zack’s standards are not quite as high he, too, is very glad to have replaced the corroded trash compactor with a standard pull out trash bin hidden by a stunning piece of teak. Kudos to Charlie Newcomb for craftsmanship. He is a true artist!
Importantly, we also commissioned a small painting from Jonathan the Painter! You can read about Jonathan in our blog entry entitled “We made it to Maine – July 15 through August 16 (subtitle: fog, lobster buoys and endless beauty).” We now have a beautiful piece of original artwork in our master cabin which also serves as a wonderful reminder of our very special encounter with Jonathan and his mom. We are so thrilled with our new artwork that we have chosen to use it as the feature photo of this blog entry.
If we don’t say so ourselves, Che Figata looks quite spiffy! Better than when she first became ours. And that brings us to our subtitle for today’s post. As we cleaned, repaired and upgraded Che Figata we couldn’t get that Wizard of Oz song out of our minds. You know the one. It’s where Dorothy and her companions get cleaned up before their first meeting with the great wizard. It became an earworm! For those of you who don’t remember the song, we are sharing the pertinent lyrics so you, too, can experience the unrelenting experience of this tune being stuck in your head (we are truly evil!):
Pat pat here
Pat pat there
And a couple of brand new straws
That’s how we keep you young and fair
In the Merry Old Land of Oz
Rub rub here
Rub rub there
Whether you’re tin or brass
That’s how we keep you in repair
In the Merry Old Land of Oz
[MANICURIST]
We can make a dimple smile out of a frown
[DOROTHY]
Can you even dye my eyes to match my gown?
[MANICURIST]
Uh-huh!
[DOROTHY]
Jolly old town!
Clip-clip here
Clip-clip there
We give the roughest claws
That certain air of savoir faire
In the Merry Old Land of Oz
But, as we mentioned, not all the work that was part of our September punch list was cosmetic. Importantly, we installed an electric furler for our genoa. This was a really key upgrade and we are going to attempt to explain why for our non-sailor family and friends. The genoa is the large sail on the bow of our boat. It has a sheet (which is a line) that is used to tighten the genoa when the genoa is unfurled. Because the genoa can be on either side of the boat depending on wind direction, there are sheets on both sides and we use the power winches on both sides of the boat to tighten the genoa and get the right sail shape for the wind direction. There is also a furling line that, as the name implies, furls and unfurls the genoa. The furling line is on the port side of the boat. When are are on a port tack — meaning that the wind is coming from the port side of the boat and the genoa is on the starboard side — all is good with the world. We can place the furling line on the power winch on the port side of the boat to bring in the genoa when we want to shorten (reef) the sail or bring it in entirely.
If we are on a starboard tack — meaning that the wind is coming from the starboard side of the boat and the genoa is on the port side — things are not so simple. This is because now the sheet and the furling line are on the same side of the boat. The genoa sheet is on the power winch and we need to use our secondary winch — which is not powered — to manually crank in the furling line. Of course, we recognize that this is a first world problem — hopefully, no old salty dawgs are reading this entry — because we are fortunate that most of our winches do have power. That said, without a power winch, it was hard for Jill (despite all of her pushups!) to crank in the genoa. Generally, with the two of us, this is not an issue but during long passages, when Jill is on watch and Zack is asleep, it was hard for Jill to manage the genoa alone. Now, with the electric furler, Jill can furl the genoa with a push of a button — no winch required — allowing Zack to remain blissfully asleep when he is not on watch. Definitely a luxury but one that will add safety and ease to our passages. (BTW, if you ever visit us on Che Figata there will be a test on this one.)
We also installed our YB3i tracker. This device connects to satellites and will allow family and friends to hop onto a website and track us when we are on a passage anywhere in the world.
And, last but not least, we had rings welded on to the top of our dinghy davits so we could secure our new paddle boards. Yes, we must really be cruisers because we are loading up with water toys. First complete scuba gear, then noodles and now stand up paddle boards. Next is the inflatable slide and floating hot tub!
September wasn’t all about Che Figata cleaning, repairs and upgrades. We also began the process of provisioning for our passage to Antigua and our 6+ months in the Caribbean. We learned so much from last year’s passage down to the USVI and then our stay in the islands. We better understand how to plan meals for a long passage (what’s easy to prepare and eat during an active ocean state), what is not readily available in the Caribbean and what’s available but prohibitively expensive on the islands (that 5 oz bottle of extra virgin olive oil for $25 really got us!). So though we haven’t fully provisioned, we made a really good dent on our non-perishables.
We also found a crew member to join us on the passage from Hampton VA to Antigua. (We are doing double back flips.) We mentioned (in the same blog post we referred to above) that we met a lovely couple from VA – Eric and Danelle – who sail a Hylas 46, Santosha. They had been planning to participate in the Salty Dawg rally but decided they weren’t ready this year and Eric reached out and asked us if we needed additional crew. Though he is an experienced sailor he hasn’t done many long passages and is eager for experience. It took us less than a nanosecond to respond to his outreach with a resounding YES. We are so thrilled to have an experienced sailor — and incredibly nice person — joining us for this passage. We are looking forward to sharing watch among three people which means being able to sleep for more than 4 hours at a time!
While Che Figata got primped this month, life continued to happen. We welcomed a healthy and beautiful new granddaughter early in September (we are already madly in love) and our niece got married at the end of the month. Her wedding in Michigan was lovely and gave us the opportunity to spend time with Zack’s family and our growing nuclear family! While we love living on Che Figata and cruising full time, we really cherish these opportunities to have everyone together. They are few and far between. FaceTime is wonderful but there is no replacement for a physical hug!
Our current plan is to leave Westbrook on October 2 and head towards Annapolis where we will spend a few weeks (enjoying the Annapolis boat show and attending a Hylas rendezvous) before heading on to Hampton VA for our Antigua departure. As always, there is one itty bitty glitch. That malfunctioning refrigerator/freezer we have mentioned in the past is still not repaired. In fact, it was removed from Che Figata at the beginning of the month so our galley has a gaping hole where our two drawer fridge/freezer unit used to be. We actually ordered a new refrigerator in May that was supposed to arrive in September but, like many manufacturers, Vitrifrigo — the Italian manufacturer of our two drawer unit — has experienced delays due to Covid. That is why we had the unit removed for repairs — we just weren’t confident that the new unit would, in fact, arrive in September. Of course, our hunch was correct (latest update is that it won’t arrive for another 2 – 3 weeks) and we were getting nervous because, until this morning (September 30th), it looked like the repair option (plan B) wasn’t working out so well. Fortunately, we just received a call from Matt (aka the wizard) who shared the good news that he got the unit working. He is coming by to install our refrigerator/freezer tomorrow morning. Following that we will be touching up some of the varnish and, if all goes according to plan (fingers and toes crossed), we leave the next day (October 2). Living on a boat is full of suspense!
Off we (hopefully) go to Annapolis! We will publish our next entry when we have safely arrived in Annapolis — one of our favorite sailing destinations!
