Happy Holidays

On Wednesday, 12/22, we took Sarah down to Fisherman's Wharf to have a belated celebration dinner for her birthday that was 12/15. We went to Torentino's and had delicious seafood. Afterwards we walked around the Wharf and up to Ghirardelli Square. We even saw some folks swimming in the bay. The water was way too cold for me to go swimming!

Friday morning we got up early and took BART to the San Francisco airport to meet Jess Dennis, Sarah's roommate. She will be spending part of the holiday with us.

After dropping them off at Windarra, Rich and I continued up to Napa. Bill, who has a classic wooden powerboat and shares our finger pier at the marina, took his boat up to the marina to have the bottom painted. We drove up to meet him for lunch and bring him back to Emeryville so he could pick up his car, a 1992 Bentley. Bill is a native of this area, growing up in Berkeley and we are enjoying getting to know him.

Our Xmas celebration on Saturday followed our usual laid back style. We all slept in, had a little breakfast, exchanged gifts and watched a movie. The selection for this year was the movie, Dune, the newer version with John Hurt playing Duke Leto. Late in the afternoon we dined on ham and cabbage salad. We talked with Jesse and Rae as they are spending the holiday with Rae's family in La Canada.

Sunday we went to Chinatown. Even though it was Sunday, the streets were full of cars and the sidewalks full of people and not just tourists like us. Rich and I kept watching for Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones to come flying out of some window or doorway but no such luck. Sarah and Jess each bought a dress, while Rich and I just window shopped. We stopped at one place with a gallery of silk rugs and pictures made from silk embroidery. All were very beautiful and very expensive. Luckily we live on a boat and have no room for such things.

Today, Amanda Quan visited us. She is in the area to spend the holidays with her family and visiting friends like us. We went to the Hong Kong East Ocean Seafood Restaurant for lunch, a short walk from the marina. It was fun to catch up on how she is doing and some of the goings on at the labs. While I miss some of the people I worked with, I definitely do not miss 'work'. I have adjusted to the cruising lifestyle.

Jess, Sarah, Amanda and Rich in front of Windarra

Speaking of the cruising lifestyle, not sure what we will do tomorrow, it depends on the weather or whether.

No worries,
Elaine and Rich

Sarah arrives

Sarah flew in from Portland on Monday afternoon. She is decompressing from a busy semester at Reed College. Her roommate, Jess, will join us on Christmas Eve if her flights go well.

Today we went to Costco to stock up on supplies. It was very crowded with people buying gifts and food. Manuvering your shopping cart was a challenge with all of the people plus the folks demonstrating food items at almost every aisle. From Tobblerone Chocolates to Sausages, one could graze through the shopping experience. I saw someone purchasing a 55 inch LED TV. Luckily we could never fit one of those on Windarra and still move around in the salon.

We hope that everyone has a safe and merry holiday.

No worries,

Elaine, Rich and Sarah

Windarra is back at Emery Cove

On Saturday the weather was nice so we did some outside work. I polished the stainless stem cutter while Rich cleaned the engine coupler and mounted the new zincs on the prop, shaft, strut and skeg.

Sunday morning we looked for a place to have breakfast instead of our usual trip to the Starbucks in Point Richmond. After some searching we found a place called the Embers in Pinole. After breakfast we returned to the boat for a few more chores. Rich painted the prop and shaft with anti-barnacle coating while I cleaned our fenders. Since we had the topsides polished we don't want to get it dirty with dirty fenders.

In the afternoon we decided to explore Point Richmond. The Richmond Municipal Natatorium beckoned but we were not properly attired. Instead we went to the Golden State Model Railroad Museum. It is run by the East Bay Model Engineers Society. The society has enjoyed over 77 years of continuous operation and is one of the oldest model railroad museums in the United States. On Sundays they have the trains running in a 10,000 square foot room. Trains gauges include HO, O and N. Layouts include Donner Pass, Tehachapi loop as well as from Oakland over the summit of the Sierra Nevada Mountains to Truckee. As you walk pass you can see details such a barnyards complete with cows, pigs, geese and chicken, train stations with hanging chandeliers and waiting passengers, a mountain pass road where a semi truck has missed the curve and there are fire trucks, police cars and ambulances there to assist. Of course if you look carefully one of the cows has been attacked by a lion and a giraffe is wandering nearby. Rich and I watched the children run up and down looking through the glass as the trains went by. It was a great way to spend the afternoon.


Monday Rich connected the galley sink drain hoses. He also installed new LED lights for inside the engine compartment and in the closet in the aft stateroom where the refrigeration compressors are located as well as the main salt water input thruhulls as well as the shaft to the prop. We like having easy access to these items and the LED lights will make it easier to inspect.

Rodolfo completed painting the bottom as well as touch up on the rudder.

Tuesday we took the Subaru back to Emery Cove Yacht Harbor and rode BART to El Cerrito Del Norte and got a ride back to the boat yard. The hoist, named William Randolph Hoist, lifted Windarra and Rodolfo painted where the stands were and under where the keel sat on blocks of wood. Windarra was back on the water at 3:30pm. Hooray.

Today we returned to Emery Cove. After a stop to fuel up and pump out the holding tank, we arrived back at our slip. After lunch we cleaned the boat yard dust off the deck. Hopefully the rain will hold off tomorrow so we can put the headsails back on.

No worries,

Elaine and Rich

Day 5 in the boatyard

Today is Friday, the fifth day in the boat yard.

Yesterday Roberto came to do preventative maintenance on our PYI folding propeller. He found that the prop was loose and could be moved slightly fore and aft on the shaft. This is not good. He removed the prop and checked the shaft for faults or cracks. The shaft is good, no problems (big sigh of relief) but the prop attachment needed to be fixed to remove the play. This involved cutting a quarter inch off the end of the shaft and reinstalling the prop (ka'ching). Now the prop is installed, greased and ready for anti-barnacle coating to be applied.

Rodolfo compounded and waxed the topsides including the transom. Windarra looks very shiny. It was another ka'ching but worth it.

Rich removed the galley sink drains and tried to get replacements at Home Depot. Unfortunately our sinks are not standard so the replacements did not fit. Rich was returning the replacement back to the store when he was rear ended while waiting at a stop light. The errant driver of the van that hit him was apparently distracted and did not even try to stop before hitting Rich in the Subaru which was pushed into the car in front about 5 feet away and that car hit yet another car in front of it. Rich is okay but we can not longer open the rear hatch of the Subaru. Luckily everyone has insurance. After we finish with the boat yard we will have to deal with getting the car fixed but at least someone else will be paying for it.

Last night we had dinner at a small Thai restaurant in Point Richmond. The food was great and we almost had the place to ourselves.

Today I cleaned the section of the shaft inside the engine compartment also known as getting up close and personal with your engine. I don't want to do this very often. Rich got new zincs and painted the holes with fingernail polish, Racy Red. This is to limit the sacrificial zincs near the mounting holes so they do not fall off. Rodolfo was able to roll on bottom paint on the starboard side of Windarra and put a barrier coat on the shoe and strut.

Life in the boat yard goes on....

Elaine and Rich

Day 3 in the boat yard

Yesterday the weather sunny so I cleaned the stainless on the transom. Rich cleaned the shaft and PYI seal in the aft stateroom closet.

Meanwhile they are cleaning off the old paint on the hull. It appears that the hull was not sanded sufficiently when we had bottom paint put on in Seattle. As a result the paint is flaking and peeling off. We have decided that the best course of action is to have all of the paint removed to up the barrier layer. Today there were two fellows sanding the paint off. What a job, especially in the rain.

Today Rich and I removed the existing galley sink drain plumbing. Rich cut the replacement hose and fitted it together while I cleaned the gunk out of the fitting and the sink drain. Since our drains in the galley are not perfectly vertical to the thruhull, there is a tendency for stuff to collect. So now was a good time with the boat out of the water to replace them. We will finish the job tomorrow.

We are hoping that the rain will clear up so they can paint. In the meantime we will do more boat chores.

Life in the boat yard goes on.

Windarra is on the hard

This morning we motored from Emeryville to Point Richmond. Windarra is now on the hard at the KKMI boatyard. Our plan is to have the bottom painted, the prop, shaft and rudder shoe painted as well, with new zincs attached. The last time we had this done was 2 years ago, so it is time again. While the boat is being painted, Rich and I will do other boat chores such as replacing the galley sink drain hoses and cleaning the shaft inside. At this point we are not sure how long this will take as it is weather dependent as well as time.

Our spot in the yard is next to SV Pura Vida. Greg and Melissa are friends of Peter and Ginger of SV Marcy. Ginger put us in touch with them and we have joined them for a few of the music nights at the Berkeley Yacht Club. SV Pura Vida is a Hylas 47, commissioned in 1986 in the same boat yard in Taiwan where Windarra was build in 1984. It is basically the same design as Windarra with a few differences. For one, they don't have all of the stuff mounted on the boat like we do. :)

We will stay on board Windarra while we are in the yard. The refrigeration and heater are functional and we are plugged into power. We have to remember NOT to use the sinks. The boat yard has bathrooms and showers available. It is a little spooky when the wind comes up and the boat seems to rock a little and we are high in the air instead of being in the water.

Our project manager gave us a ride over to the BART station at El Norte and we went back to Emeryville and hopped on the Emery-Go-Round, a free bus service to a short distance from the marina. A quick walk later and we picked up our car and drove back. A much longer trip as we hit rush hour traffic.

We will know more tomorrow how long we might be in the yard.

No worries, yet,

Elaine and Rich

Thanksgiving in Philly

We just returned from a week long trip to the Philadelphia area over the Thanksgiving holiday. It was a combination of visiting family, friends and seeing a few sites in between.

We spent Thanksgiving with Rich's cousin, Alyce, her husband, Michael and their daughter, Megan. In addition was Rich's brother, Jim, his wife, Jeanne and Rich's mother, Mary, who recently celebrated her 90th birthday! We also drove to northern New Jersey to visit my cousin Steph, her husband, Bill, their daughter, Anneliese and my aunt, Bert.

Besides family, we planned to attend Rich's 45th high school reunion on Saturday night. Unfortunately on Saturday afternoon, during a visit with Mary, Rich checked Facebook on his IPhone to verify the time and location of the reunion. He emitted the F-word, the queen mother of bad words when he saw the reunion pictures on Facebook. The reunion had been on Friday night and we missed it while we had gone out to dinner with Rich's friend, Alan and his wife Cherie. Luckily we were able to visit with some of his high school friends before we left including Joann, Wilda and her husband, Jim.

While of the crowds were out shopping on Black Friday, we instead drove the other way and went to Cape May for lunch. Cape May is a bedroom community and a popular summer destination on the New Jersey shore. It has many large older homes, some which are now bed and breakfast inns.

Before leaving we spent the day in Philadelphia. We took the high speed train into the city and stopped at Macy's and watched the light show on one wall of the interior atrium along with a short concert on the historic pipe organ. They clear the floor of the atrium and lay down a carpet so many folks, especially with children may lie on the floor and watch the light show.

Tuesday we caught our plane back to San Francisco. Our 2:05pm flight did not depart until after 5:00pm due to: late arrival from Charlotte, NC due to weather, an arriving passenger had a medical emergency, maintenance issues with the air conditioning, maintenance issues on the exterior of the plane (not sure what this was, someone mentioned holes on the wing !?!), late push back, being first in line to depart on the wrong runway, then being 20th in line to depart on the correct runway. Me thinks the thrill of flying is gone.

Now that we are back, we are preparing to have the boat hauled out on Monday, Dec. 6 to have the bottom painted.

We hope that everyone had a good Thanksgiving holiday. Happy Channukah to all.

No worries,
Elaine and Rich