Day 144 Overcast all over again.

I've talked about boats getting growth on their bottoms as they sit for sometimes years between haul outs.   Here is a perfect example of what can happen when maintenance is neglected and the sea takes over.  This is a propeller on a boat that came out just over a week ago.  It needed a good cleaning and having the bottom painted so it won't grow things on her hull as it has done here.  They were out for a week, painting, scraping and polishing their hull.  The propeller and drive shaft had to be removed so it could be cleaned and fixed.  The sea can reek havoc with anything that is submerged in it.   We've seen worse than this on boats.  Entire hulls encrusted with marine life.  The sea gulls love munching on it after it gets removed during the pressure wash.

It's overcast again this morning.  I guess Mother Nature is preparing us for what may be coming if we do stay here over the Winter.  While the cold hasn't settled in yet(it's 52 degrees as I write this) the clammy has.  Having spent the last many years in Colorado, we're just not used to the dampness that permeates everything.  This will take some time to get used to and we need to as from here on out we will always be surrounded by water where ever we go.  

Yesterday was a nothing day.  No workmen, no riggers, no nobody.  Nothing happened.  It was an all around lazy day.  I sat and read and dozed away the day.  The most exciting thing that happened was the boat yard almost had a trimaran(boat with a main hull and an extra hull on each side) fall off its stands.  They were trying to fold the extra hulls back in(they collapse against the main hull to make it possible to tow the boat behind a truck) and it almost took a dive.  It took some fast foot work to get it steady and properly supported.  

We have come to a halt with getting work done.  With Jack--the electrician still gone, no one comes to work on Zephyr.  With the riggers teaching the class on inspecting the rigging on boats still going on--ends today, they can't come.  We just sit and wait.  It is teaching us the patience we will need as we sail around the world.  It's a tough lesson for us having been used to the "push" all the time that owning a business calls for.  Time was always the most precious thing.  There was never enough of it and now, that is all we have.  As time goes by, I'm sure we will adjust.  

Well, that's about it for the week.  Just about everything stopped on Tuesday evening when everyone went home for the night.  I know I have complained in earlier posts about workers constantly in and out of the boat and wanting some quiet time on Zephyr but just sitting here waiting for what may or may not happen as to getting work done is tough.  We want to be out there sailing and not feeling stuck here at the mercy of the boatyard.  The three week job is now at seven and still counting.  At least with no one working on Zephyr, the bills for last week will be at a minimum(bright side). 

There is an old tradition(dating back to the Romans)of placing a coin under the mast as it is stepped in place.  We placed two items under ours.  I have carried this Canadian silver dollar as a good luck piece in my pocket since 1970 when I picked it up at the mint in Canada.  It has taken me through many good times and a few bad.  Now it will be here to protect Zephyr. 

The second is a Saint Brendan's medal a friend of ours in Colorado gave us before we came to Zephyr earlier this year.  Saint Brendan is the Patron Saint of sailors.  We had originally hung it from the mast, but the chain become so corroded by the salt air that we felt it necessary to find a more permanent place for it.   One good luck piece was good, two is better as far as I'm concerned.