First trip to Gibson's this year

Finally set sail into the open waters (sort of speak). Sailed to Gibson, to visit my friend Robert McDonald. Going over was OK, with only light winds and we had to motor back due to no wind. The temperature was very cold, but with the right amount of clothes and coffee made it just OK. Lunch with Robert was great, he is doing very well. :)

Motored all the way home... a bit boring and cold... maybe next time Hank can fly the chute!

Til then.....

W.V.Y.C. Snowflake Awards - Winter racing

Guess what! I sent Hank to the Awards Dinner to receive my award for being 3rd (again) in my division. I'm in division 5 at the moment; there are 5 Divisions in our Yacht Club, division 5 being the slowest sailboats. This Division has the highest handicap due to age, sail configuration, weight, etc. and do not fly any sails. I only race with working sails, no spinnaker, chutes, kites, etc.). I do have a  beautiful cruising chute, but Hank is not experienced enough to fly this sail in a racing situation. I'm sure Hank will get a lot more experience this cruising season.
Yup, I'm old and over weight, but I can still get out there and kick some stern. Wait until this season starts! No more thirds Hank! push me to the limits!!

I really pleased to hear that they presented Hank with a beautiful picture of "me" at the awards. I'm under full sails, running with the wind. I'm sure he will hang this award under my other award I won last fall. :)

Anchor Roller repairs

Got my anchor roller repaired today! My brass roller was seized (again). Hank needed to pound the shaft out and re grease the bearing. I guess with all that sailing last year, the salt must of got into the sleeve bearing. When Hank put the bearing back into place, he repainted the entire anchor roller mount - from silver to gray (of course) :)
At the same time, Hank installed a new s/s deck anchor for my stay sail. Maybe one day, I will get a new (or used) stay sail. I haven't flown one in years, would be nice to see it flying again.

March 23 2011 - Spinnaker mast pully replacement

I glad that Hank noticed that my spinnaker halyard was getting really beat up last year. It was a new halyard, and now it is all frayed. There is something wrong with the pulleys at the top of the mast, they were not following the movement with the spinnaker causing the halyard to jump out of the pulley. After a talk with Stewart, from Pro-Tech, it was found that the pulleys were mounted in the wrong spot on the mast. They needed to be moved and replaced! I'm always surprised why my previous owner(s) never made repairs. I am 38 years old!!

To make these repairs, Hank will have to get to the top of my mast... 60 ft high. That means that I would be going to the Club House to use the mast tower. To make a story short... once Hank was on top of the mast, he found the new shackles were too large to fit the mounting slots. Unfortunately, due to the falling tide and wrong fittings, He had abandon the repairs for another day.

Oh well, Richard  Grass Hank's sailing friend) and Hank had a great lunch at the Club. :) and a great motor home. We came across a sea otter and a harbor dolphin merrily swimming by.

First trip of the season - Snug Cove

Finally! the weather broke... sunny and somewhat warm (10c). I was wonder why Hank was cleaning up the cabin. In the past while, my insides was completely turn up... tools and "crap" all over the place...installing new additional water tank, new blower in my engine compartment, new bulkhead mounting plates for my second depth-sounder, painting here and there etc. Well I found out that we were heading for Snug Cove, one of my favorite marinas, only an hour away. Begin a sailboat, I was disappointed that we only motored over. I guess Hank was being over worried, as he just changed all the diesel filters, oil filter and water strainers. We arrived safe and sound... met up with some good friends from Stamps Landing Yacht Club. All in all a good time.

Deck mounted eyehooks - had rechroming done.

March 19, 2011
It took Richard Grass and Hank almost two hours to remove the last remaining bolt on the one of the deck fittings. They had to drill the bolt top off, and pry of the fitting, then use vise grips on the bolt head. Well they broke off the bolt top... now to drill a hole through the middle to use an easy-out,,, well the drill bit broke; so much for that idea. The fitting was the anchor for the boom-vang. They now have to make modifications to the mast, to install the boom-vang anchor.
Hank spent the following day modifying the mast base to take the anchor. It works well and looks good too!
Oh ya... :) Hank found out the other day that a new s/s mounting eye hook cost $15.00, but the re chroming cost $20.each... go figure eh!

some more past pictures....

At West Vancouver Yacht Club - elevator lift.

She

Working

Work done today...

• replaced the well worn out mattress in the main galley.
• Started on making the cover plates for the cockpit bulkhead - will improve the looks and also will provide a mounting plates for future electronics.

More past pictures

I guess I should start the blog with a few more pictures of Tarka.

Our plan is to post pictures of each new adventure Tarka takes us on.

Photographs of Tarka - March 2011

Tarka at West Vancouver Yacht Club