Name Delay
Had another great weekend getting some small chores done on A Cenoura. Saturday I was touching up the teak with a little more oil in some places, just as I’m admiring the nice look of my teak and deck, and giving myself credit for maintaining my boat, I knocked over a full cup of coffee which poured dark-staining-coffee down from the very top-center of the deck, onto some teak, under some more teak, down over a window, and splashing down the sides. After that mess was cleaned up I did some more cleaning and sat back to admire everything once more. The 2nd photo is exactly where coffee was flowing a moment earlier.
We set out on Sunday to remove the existing name, “kona Kai - Balboa, CA” and replace it with the new name, “A Cenoura - Cambria, California” and it was clear after a couple minutes that it was not going to be easy, or possible, without a professional tool.
With a heat -gun and sharp object, you can usually peel off vinyl lettering. Unfortunately this stuff really wants to stay on, because the sharp tool to lift the letter immediately grazed into the gel-coat, so we stopped. We tried some other harsher liquids - like a surfboard wax/sticker remover that I own - but to no avail, we had to give up. There is apparently a special tool that very non-abrasively scrapes off letters, so I’m working on contacting someone to come out and use that.
Luckily my dad and I were in high spirits anyways, it was early on a sunday and I asked him to help me with anchoring (something I have never actually done). I know, I know, it seems easy, “Just kick the anchor off the bow and you’re done.” But I know that there are techniques and things to do and not to do. I’m thankful to have a resource like my dad to show me ‘the ropes’ so that I don’t have to make common errors and learn from those mistakes myself. Anyway, so we walked through Redondo King Harbor and chowed down some chowder in breadbowls, walked to a nearby mini mart and picked up a few brewskis and then set out to practice anchoring.
It went well the first try so we kicked back to wait it out and reward ourselves with a beer, and get a feel for the way my sailboat bobs around. Unlike a relatively-flat-bottom power boat -which just float there and let the wind sway it back and forth- a sailboat’s keel never stops making the boat want to sail forward. So as the gently breeze pushes on one side of the hull more than the other, the keel fights back on the push by sailing the boat forward. It means sailboats constantly skip forward then drift backward all the time when they’re “on the hook”. Always learning.
Met with some locals at the pump-out dock. Check out that mustache/mohawk combo.
Then it was time to clean a little. There was a build up of black dirt and gunk in the wells of the cockpit storage lockers, for probably 27 years, but they are now clean. Then I cleaned the dodger windows so they will be sparkling next weekend.
