The End OF July! ! ! ! !

SHIP'S LOG:

The rain finally quite and took with it the humidity! Hallelujah! The weather for the Friday OPTI Regatta, of which I was the Chairman - how I got that job I really don't know - was perfect. Winds less that 10mph, bright, partly cloudy skies, and just about everything else you could want , weather-wise. The Regatta went off without a hitch and all was right with the world.

I had to motor into the dock in the early morning to both perform my morning "ablutions" as well as the help with getting all squared away for the start of the regatta. Now ABISHAG is not what you would call a "spritely" maneuvering boat by any means and even less so at slow speeds. It took three passes to approach the dock correctly and even then I didn't quite do it. I had a slight altercation with a piling, whacking it with my bow rail. After a few choice words, and after having tied up to the dock, I found that the stanchion for the bow rail on the port side, where I took the hit, had sheared. The bow rail is a stainless steel tube, welded to a disc, to which is weld a stud. The stud goes through the deck, the disc sits on the deck, and a washer and nut are screwed on the stud anchoring the rail to the deck and the boat. The stud sheared off at deck level just below the disc. Actually, it broke. looking at the stud, it didn't snap off, it broke for it was coroded all the way through. I am not sure why. There didn't seem to be any dissimilar metals, all was stainleess steel. The is not galvanic activity there. The miniscule amoung to bedding compound precluded water being trapped. Whatever the cause, all it took was a glancing blow for it to break.

The fix was easy enough. Brush the area with a five-minute epoxy to seal the deck and eliminate any cracks. Drill three holes in the ss disc and three corresponding holes through the deck. Insert three ss bolts and affix them with washers and nuts, after first caulking them to a fare-thee-well. Then crank it all down nice and secure. As I said, a easy fix and for once I had everything I needed on board.

One other thing I noticed was that that cap-rail that runs around the boat is not made of teak. Teak you can leave untreated, unpainted, unvarnished, unseal and it developes a silver color and is the best non-skid surface anywhere. The cap rail, well it ain't teak and I have let it slide and now I am going to pay the price. There were two cracks in it and one of these happened to be right where one of the lines from the fenders cross the cap rail. By the end of a day of bumping and sawing, a three inch piece had been cut out. I had to spend part of Sunday gluing it back in place, filling the cracks with wood putty and fairing compound and then sanding it. Today, I will fix any mistakes, do more sanding and stain the fix. Then I will go over the whole rail, sanding and making any repairs. I will purchase a can of stain and some sealer and get the cap rail looking Bristol!

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

Boy has the sailing been great! Winds 10 - 15 knots every day. ABISHAG sails great under reduced sails, loosing most of her heel but little of her speed. That is the great thing about a ketch. It evens out the sail area and keeps the center of effort low allowing for good speed and not a lot of heel, once you get to understand the right sail combinations. Went out and around and through the Race and Race Rock Light on Saturday and went off to Montauk on Sunday. And since I live aboard, there is no rush to get back by any specific time which makes it even more relaxing!