On my morning walk I thought I saw a goldfinch, the first I have seen this year. A hint of the coming spring. Trees are starting to bud out. I can see the light at the end of the tunnel called winter.
Which means I need to get to work on Spartina. I did a light sanding on the bunk flat, cockpit sole and seats this morning. They should be ready for painting this weekend when the temperature is forecast to be in the 50's. If weather cooperates I could be sailing in four weeks.
Another sign of the coming sailing season is the fast approaching Everglades Challenge and Ultimate Florida Challenge. I'm glad to see that both Dawn and Kristen are posting about their preparations for the events. I have followed the two of them on their adventures for years now.
That is Dawn, above, working on a 33' carbon fiber (how high tech can you get??) mast for the Mosquito, a trimaran that she and her son Alan will use for most of the Ultimate Florida Challenge. Alan designed Mosquito and I suspect it will be a very competitive boat. The build sounds like it will be in progress right up until they are at the starting line - par for the course with this family.
And below is Kristen's kayak that is getting some alterations for a new sail, work being done courtesy of Dawn's husband Paul and son Alan (it is always nice to see the EC crowd helping each other out.
(Is that Sponge Bob in the photo? I didn't know he was involved with the race...)
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So I will get to work on Spartina, and enjoy watching the EC'ers working on their boats. Spring....it is not too far away.
steve
2 comments:
"I can see the light at the end of the tunnel called winter."
It wasn't a very long or difficult tunnel this time around, though. Temps dropped over the weekend down to the 20s, and I'm pretty sure that was the first time it did that this winter!
I'm hoping to be back in the water by March myself, after more than a year on the hard. Still lots to be done on the boat, though - which seems it shall ever be thus...
March/April issue of WoodenBoat magazine came yesterday. Very nice article on John Welsford. Most interesting thing to me was his statement that boat design is all about the numbers. "They manage the drawing," he says in the article. "All I have to do is translate those numbers into the form." Says that doing the construction drawings is boring; the creative part has already been done.
I keep reading about small sailboats -- must mean something. Right now I'm a paddler through and through.
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