October 31, 2011

    
     Every Halloween weekend, Provision Company in Southport, NC sponsors the annual Stede Bonnet Regatta, and there were 37 boats signed up this year, including Pieridae.  This past weekend makes the third time we have attempted the course, but the first time with her.  The crew included Don, Aaron, Elsa, Allison, Adam, Sue, Ed, Doug and me.  

     The race featured a pursuit start based on assigned PHRF ratings. The race committee assigned each boat a starting time before the conclusion of the Captains meeting.  The committee assigned a 120 rating to Pieridae, so they gave us a 13:28:00 start time.   After the meeting, we moved the boat to Southport Marina where we picked up two of our crew, Ed and Sue, and then we motored around the ICW waiting for our start time with other boats.

Adam's phone takes a great picture!

     The past 2 regattas offered blue skies and warmth, but no wind, so we chose to either start our motor or just forget the other marks, because it would've taken us all night to finish the race.  This weekend, however??  It started out foggy and cold, but perfect on the wind.  Nor'easters are not pleasant this early in the year, but before we started, the fog lifted and the sun warmed us up considerably.  It was still windy enough, and we were excited to have it because of the past.  So, we started!

Great pictures from our friends, Jeff and Tammy Karnes.  Thanks guys!

     We were all on our way, when the wind decided to kick itself up a notch.  You can see in the pictures that there weren't any white caps on the water, but before we made it to the first mark, the Deep Point Marina wind meter was reading 28-30 mph gusts.  We had decided before the race to keep the genoa on instead of changing to a jib, because they were forecasting 10-20 mph winds.  Perfect for a genoa as it is bigger than the jib, so in lower winds it would give us more power.  Not so perfect for gusts that high!  Doug handled her very nicely though as Don would adjust the main, and I would adjust the genoa to accommodate our ever-loving weather helms. 

   The course started at the yacht basin to R22 to R16 to G15 and back to the yacht basin.  We did the start and first two markers with no big mistakes (to us anyway), but we saw some potential problems when we reached G15.  There were three boats aground on the shoals already, and we all soon found out why.  The current was going out so strong and the wind was coming at such an angle that we and about 25 other boats couldn't make it around the mark.  At one point, the crew of one of the grounded boats were yelling that we were too close and would be stuck too.  The only thing that kept us from running aground as well?  I couldn't tell you...we by all rights should of been.  At any rate, we decided to forego the mark after 4 tiring attempts and sail back in for the free food.  However, we couldn't make any distance again with the wind and current, so we tacked back and forth in the same area for about 15 minutes and then decided to turn the motor on.  I felt so sorry for the crew on the rails.  They did a great job and were back and forth more times than I could count.  I can't imagine what their knees are looking like today!  So, we made back to Southport Marina and relaxed for a bit before heading over for some great food.

     I hate that I forgot my camera for the after-race party, because it is always fun.  So, we ate, played the ringer game at American Fish Co., watched the awards ceremony and came back to the boat.  Maybe next year, I will be the photographer from the dinghy and just follow them around taking pictures. LOL!

October 24, 2011

     Well...this is the very first of hopefully many posts.  If you haven't already, you can read in the "About Us" section to catch up on how we have arrived here, and this post will probably be the longest as I try to fill you in.  So, I think I will start with a picture...

     This is our 1988 40' O'Day, Pieridae.  We bought her in August 2011 and have been very excited about the places to which she can take us (I can't believe Doug's genderization has become a part of my vocabulary as well...HAHAHAHA -is that a word?).  Anyway, since we live 5-6 hours from Southport, we originally started sailing with a fractional sailboat down there.  It worked great for us, because we didn't know if we would like sailing or not...but OF COURSE we did.  We love it! 

    Doug and I first met the owners in 2010.  On top of enjoying their boat, they were wonderful to talk with and were dedicated to the sailing lifestyle.  This boat had taken them to places we wanted to visit, and we knew she could take us there as well.  We weren't completely decided, though, upon which boat we wanted, so we looked at about 20 other boats while they were back in the Bahamas this past season.  We did decide that this was the boat for us, hoped they would still want to sell her when they returned, and they did. 

     We made the trip to Florida for the survey, they accepted our offer and we started getting ready to bring her up to Southport.  Our first investment...new rigging.  That was completed nicely before we arrived.  We drove to Florida on August 26th and picked up two of our friends, Don and Aaron, who flew in the next day.  Don is an incredible captain that we met along with his wife Erin during our fractional sailboat experience, and Aaron works with Doug at UPS.  He owns a sailboat that he keeps on Lake Norman in NC. 

     Regretfully, I can't find the pictures that we took of the three day preparation period, but no problem.  Hopefully you will enjoy a couple of stories, and you can use your imagination about our reaction.  Wish you could have been there...hilarious and great memories right from the beginning! 

     For starters, Doug brush-cleaned the outside of the boat the very first day we were there, and it looked so good.  Well, it started raining about mid-day on the second day, so we went for lunch.  When we returned, we had water everywhere in the cabin.  I mean...on the cushions, in the floor, on the nav station, on the wood under three windows, etc...  We were aware of two little leaks, but we think that Doug's brushing knocked alot of the caulking out in the other places.  So, our solution?  More caulking, of course.  Nope, didn't handle the problem completely.  So, we resorted to gorilla tape application during the first day of the trip.  We now have the driest windows in the marina...that tape is incredible.  Funny!!!

      Another one for you...the day before we left, we decided to put some water purification tablets into the tanks.  Someone (not to mention any names) didn't exactly read the package completely.  We filled the tanks, dropped the recommended amount in each one and threw the package away.  Well, we found out that they weren't really purification tabs...they were winterization tablets.  Don't ever do that!  It foamed so badly that we ended up at West Marine buying another water pump, because we thought we ruined ours during the three-hour process of draining and filling our now toxic tanks; but that wasn't before I drank some because I thought that was normal for these types of tablets.  Well, it didn't taste all that normal, so I had Doug taste it and ended up calling the poison control number that I found on the online material safety data sheet.  Thankfully we didn't drink too much and lived to tell about it.  So, after we bought a new water pump, our old one cooled off and started working again.  We now have a spare...can't have too many spare parts, right? 

    Well, there were interesting things like that for the entire three days...like when we absolutely couldn't get the engine started after using the tricks for the engine stop button.  We finally developed the touch, but I began to wonder if I should just fly home and let the boys bring it up.  I am glad I didn't...and the boat did wonderfully!

     So, with new rigging, soon-to-be dry windows, clean water tanks, and the engine-stop touch, we took off.  Here are some pictures from the trip up...

Securing the boat in the lock

 Through the draw bridge

Aaron and a visitor who stayed with us the first night

Sunrise on the second day

Our accomodations

Our next visitor that stayed with

us the second night

Pulling into Charleston Harbor

for a gas stop

Captain Don

The only thing we caught

the entire trip

Our wonderful chef, Doug

Sunset on the last night

And our boat docked

at Deep Point Marina, Southport NC.

(If you could zoom in,  you could see

the gorilla tape around our windows)

The Crew

Don, Doug, Tina and Aaron

     That was an incredible first trip for us, and definitely not the last.  Doug stayed down for the rest of the week as I had to return to work, and he and Don changed out four of the head hoses and the Y-valve.  It was his first "project," and they did great!   Also, we wanted a blue color on the cushions in the cabin, so we hired a lady to redo them.  We went back to Asheville, bought the fabric, and brought it and Mizzen down on our next trip.  She made herself at home...

     So, the fabric and the cushions went with Amy on that Saturday and were scheduled to be ready by our next visit, which was this past weekend.  Thank you, Don, for patching the dinghy during that in between week!   In addition to picking up our cushions, our plans included working on the stuffing box, so we decided to leave curious Mizzen in Asheville for this one. 

     We had a steady 27-30 drops of water per minute coming out of the stuffing box; the normal is 1-3, but the fix was much easier than we anticipated (thank you, God and Dirk), so after that Doug and Don polished the outside rails, and I cleaned up inside.

    

    

     And I decided to try a trip up the mast...too fun!!

     And then we got the cushsions.

     Oh, and how can I forget the renaming!   There wasn't a big ceremony, it just involved the graphics man placing the name on the boat and us placing a check in his hand.  He did a great job!

So, here is the story of the name...

    Pieridae are a large family of butterflies with about 76 genre and approx 1100 species.  I can't tell you which one exactly that hangs out in Southport, so all I know is that they are little and yellow. When we were on our anniversary week the first year that we started sailing, they would come flying around the boat even when we would be more than 5 miles off shore. I thought they were insane for being so small and so far from land and then thought about us.  Hopefully, we will be able to go that far, proportionally speaking, and further.  We can't wait to be out there, visit new places, meet the people, etc....

     I think that is quite enough for now, and I don't think we can possibly or properly express our excitment for being able to do all of this.  We are greatful to have an opportunity to work, play, and one day sail away on such a great boat.  Whew...I should've started this blog a little earlier.  Thanks for hanging in there, and I promise to write more often and keep it much shorter!