Announcing 2012 Cruise plans

Okay -- this is the year. We're going to circumnavigate Vancouver Island. I am reactivating this blog and inviting folks to sign on with comments, requests, ideas, and the like. I'm hoping to leave Olympia at the end of May, arrive in Port Townsend the first week of June. Then head west to Barkley Sound. Spend the a month poking around the west side of the island. Round Cape Scott sometime during the first half of July. Then a leisurely trip south, ending in Port Townsend for the Wooden Boat Festival. Let me know if you're interested in sharing part of the ride. I'll be working up a calendar with proposed crew-change sites during the next few weeks. Keep checking.

Progress Report

Here is a picture from the yard that is working on Swirl.




As you can see, this is a serious and extensive bit of work. This is only the beginning. The chalked X's below the portlights mark planks that will also have to be replaced. And, then there's the starboard side. I'm nagging them to get her ready for launch early in July, but there are no guarantees.

They won't be doing anything to the keel bolts this haul out. They're having trouble removing the bolts. They're going to have to cut off the nut on the lower end of the bolt (the part in the keel) and then try to pull it out from inside the cabin. If that doesn't work and they've cut off the lower nut, they'll have to drop the keel, remove the bolts and replace them before she can sail again. If they don't do anything they assure me (as do a number of other folks who should know) that her keel is in no danger of falling off for as long as I will be sailing her. So anyway, the long and short of it is, no keel bolt check this haul out. In addition, the plank repairs are going to cost enough that I don't think I could afford to do anything with the keel bolts right now.

So that's the sad, bad news about Swirl.

I'll be going up there to see how things are coming along next week -- probably Thursday. Will post more info then.

Blog me no blogs

Looks to me like most of you can barely manage one blog, so I'm abandoning the Swirl blog as a blog. I will try to make timely posts about me, my family, my pets, and Swirl on my personal blog (http://sohneronne.blogspot.com) and, as I get time and inclination, I will post excerpts from Swirl's log and photos to this site. If you're interested, you can tell your computer to alert you when I post to one or the other blog. I'm not sure how to do this, but I don't think it's difficult. In the meantime, please sign up and post if you so desire.

Some adventures from 2007

Last summer I posted a couple of entries about Swirl to my personal blog. I'm hoping to post more like this from the logs as I review them, but in the meantime, here's a taste of some Swirl adventures from the past. On July 5, I moved Swirl from Swantown in Olympia to a buoy on Boston Harbor. The tale is told in Swirl Sagas. On July 7, 2007, Abi fell overboard. Swirl set out for the 2007 cruising season on July 11. It was a hectic day. And the rest of the week wasn't much better.

So, what do you think? Should I go through the logs and summarize happenings from the past?

What about transcribing the logs into a Google Document file? Anybody think that's a good idea? Remember, many log entries are incredibly boring. Things like:

12 July 2006 -- Boston Harbor
1740 - Batteries 12.12 & 12.73
Engine checked and running
Bilges pumped
Clock wound and reset
1800 - tied at float for night
1855 - finally succeeded in changing bulb in port running light. What a cockamamie set up! We will change that during this haul out! Put more green paint on starboard lens.
Engine off.
or
15 July 2006 - Kingston
1045 - Fueled up, very smooth landing with crew @ fuel dock. Underway with motor. Emptied holding tank.
1200 - Pt No Pt
1230 - Foul Weather Bluff
1320 - Pt Townsend canal bridge
1437 - Moored at registration dock at Port Townsend
1715 - Moored in Slip 123 @ commercial dock

Finally, what about photos. I have lots. You probably have some, too. Should they be posted directly to the blog, or to Flickr or Picasa with links in the blog?

On-going prognosis

The news is not all bad -- but it's not all good either. Here's what she looked like on her port side.


The next photo shows some earlier patches and, if you enlarge the photo, you can see some dark spots in the bare planking. Some of those are soft spots that will have to be routed out and patched.


They haven't started on the starboard side yet, but you can see the cracking of the paint that was the impetus for stripping her to bare wood in the first place. That white, peeling section was freshly painted in 2006.


And, finally, nobody's even looked to see what causes these rusty spots on the keel.


Nobody can give me an estimate of either the time or the cost yet. I doubt either will be good though. I can fairly confidently predict that I won't be adding any fancy electronics this year, though. Bummer!

My 1st outing on Swirl...

I was trying to remember when the 1st time I went out on Swirl was?! I am not sure what month it was, but it was in the year 2000. I met & fell in love with Dylan & then found out his Mom had a boat. I was terrified of the water & not so impressed by this. There are so many memories of the boat that I am not sure which is the very 1st time I lay eyes on her, but she was a beautiful site out on her mooring in Boston Harbor. Don & Willa were always so welcoming & I simply fell in love with the family, dock, boat & even the water. I had never been on a sail boat & finding out that you had to row out in an even smaller boat to board her was a shock. I was mortified of getting off the dock into a little boat & then back out & onto Swirl. Jo & everyone did this with such skill, I was soon put me at ease. It only took one day out sailing & I was in love. The 1st time bendexing, hanging on for dear life, & then everything was right again was something of an awaking for me. I had the opportunity to go out on Swirl with Don & his love of the boat & water was infectious. I hope that Swirl recovery is quick! I look forward to sailing on her again soon.

Haul-out 2008

Right now Swirl is in Port Townsend at SeaMarine (formerly FleetMarine) being stripped down to bare wood to see what's happening with her planking. A few years ago some of the planks along her aft top quarter started to separate -- to the point that you could actually see daylight between them. And, of course, water could also come in that way. She has been caulked inside and out, and the planks continue to work apart. So now she's being stripped bare so we can figure out what's happening. Here's a picture of her tucked into the shed where she'll be worked on:


And here are a couple of pictures to give you an idea of what this entails:


It breaks my heart to do this to her (not to mention my bank account), but it's the only way to keep her seaworthy (and insurable).

I promise I'll post some happier pictures and memories soon.

Jo and Abi