Live Aboard

Is this a Saint Francis Yacht Club burgee up there?

Big mac and cheese

A friend happens to be a broker for this particular association...coincidence :)

France opening up its wings

A Monet-like photo

Reverie

On Thanksgiving week, Nathan and I decided to sail Elise for a few days. We had a triple goal. 1) have fun, 2) test out the work the boat yard did and 3) experience living onboard Elise and the challenges that are associated with that!

On 1), we didn't do too badly. Absolutely no wind the first day and light but nice breeze on the second day. Sun on the first day, no sun on the second day. Still, it was great to hang out the first day. We had nice and light food, white wine for the evening, a beautiful starry night, high quality books and magazine. It was nice to be away from email, phone, etc...

2) Mixed results there: the authohelm seemed to be working, although at times it seemed to be losing track of where it was going. We tried it only in compass mode (not in wind mode since there was no wind the day we tested it). We are not sure that the boat yard re-sealed the attachment point of the shrouds to the deck and it looks like there is a bit of moisture coming in that way. Not hard to fix but it was supposed to be done. We are missing a turning block now on the outhaul which used to be there, the boom bail has a funky look now as well, it's seriously bent in one direction, not quite sure how that happened. It definitely was straight when we took the boat to the yard. The 3-way switch for the tricolor is not installed so we don't have the option to use the anchor light or the strobe, just a really bright set of nav lights, plenty enough to illuminate the masthead fly which is very helpful. Nathan rigged something to get power to the NKE instrument panel. It looks very cool. Well, not very exciting to notice that you are doing 5 knots under engine, but cool anyway. We had a big non-flexible solar panel and it managed to charge the battery faster than the autohelm and instruments would drain it during the day. Plenty of power left at night to run the lights and communication equipment. We are planning on having an even bigger one for the Pac Cup.

We had one extra gas can to make sure we could survive in no wind for a little while. The engine is still a pain. It's really hard to start, I managed to start it three times over the weekend, had to give up once and Nathan rescued me. However, we have to unscrew the cap, lean over the stern and pour gas directly from the can into the tank. It is unstable, polluting, inefficient and sometimes ineffective. So we have decided to buy a new engine, with a fueling tube that we can connect directly to the can. It should pump gas as required. Safer, greener and we are less likely to lose the cap or run out of gas. We will probably sell this engine as soon as we have a replacement.

3) on the last front, Elise was actually a really nice hotel, much more comfortable than a tent. Entertainment options were limited to reading and looking at the stars (wine is not entertainment, it's a biological necessity). We will bring music on the Pac Cup so that will be another option! Sleeping on lifejackets spread over the bow area was comfortable and cold. We have two portable-battery based lights and 2 boat-battery-powered lights. We used only the former two on that occasion and had to cram ourselves close to the entrance to get enough light to read. On the Pac Cup, there will most likely be only one of us below at any given time so there should be plenty of space. Also, we will use the quarter berth only for sleeping so no moving of life jacket, sleeping bags, etc...The ceiling is so low on Elise that standing up with our back against it is a good way to keep your balance. We also spend some time trying to figure out where the food and water would go, and frankly, I am not convinced we have a solution yet. We took care of the most important item though. The bottle of wine will live under the floorboard. No risk of stepping on it, breaking it, losing the wine. Also, it will be red, that way, it's OK if it gets a little warm...

And then of course, there is the bucket...we took it outside at night to get some privacy (we were moored in a rather deserted area of the Bay) and below deck during the day for the same reason. Remember to empty the bucket on the leeward side...Elise and the rest of the crew will appreciate not being sprayed by the result of your performance.

There is a mirror on Elise which turned out to be very useful. There is no running water but we will have water bladders so that'll help. In any case, we'll have to accept that showers will have to be improvised in a squall as rain is the only source of running water we will have available during the race!
Baby wipes baby wipes baby wipes. Light and ooooooooooooooooh so pleasant.

I can't wait to install the stove. During that cold night, a hot cup of tea would have been the perfect ornament for my reading apparel.