Day 167 More class & clean laundry

While I spent another day in class, Tracy was off to do laundry at the marina and clean "house".  It's been awhile since it was done and both of us were down to the last of our clean clothes.  One of my classmates asked to see Zephyr at lunch break as she had only ever seen pictures of Liberties on websites.  She and her husband are currently looking for a cruiser so they can do the same thing we hope to be doing soon--go cruising.

Tracy hanked on the forestaysail this morning.  Yeah, I know,  another nautical term.  This is the sail we had called the "jib".  Since it isn't raised all the way at the bow but is actually the second sail  back from the bow, it is actually called the "forestaysail".  Ah--the lessons we learn in class.  I saw her raising it as I was sitting in class.  I had done the same while she was gone just to check it out and attach new sheets(lines that control the sail).

Class today consisted of doing more hand stitching in the morning.  We attached leather to the edge of a sail.  This is for chafe protection as you are out sailing.  One of the biggest problems while sailing is chafe on sails.  It can destroy the edge of a sail quickly.  We learned several stitches that can be used to repair seams and patch tears in sails.  The afternoon session consisted of learning how to use sewing machines and how to apply patches and sew parts of a sail together in case you want to make your own.  The first machine I used was obviously made for power boaters.  It was either "let's go as fast as we can(and frustrate Bill)" or stop.  There was no "let's got slow so Bill can learn" the machine.  It made for some really bad seams.  I tried other machines and it came out much better.  We bought a sewing machine from Sailrite about two years ago.  We've used it to make a new canvas cover for Sloop to Nuts but nothing for Zephyr yet.  It is specially made for use on multilayer canvas like sails.

Strangely, I found it quite relaxing to just sit and stitch away on the sails.  Maybe there is hope for me doing cross stitch in the future.

Class lasted till 5:30 and then we had a wonderful dinner of cheese fondue and steamed asparagus with chocolate tapioca for desert and a nice bottle of wine.

We have had an electrical problem since we were put back in the water.  We've blown the circuits on the boat twice.  Jack wired us to be able to handle a 30 amp circuit but we have been blowing it at about 20 amps.  When we were in the yard, we only had access to 15 amps so we thought we were in heaven having 30.  With that much power, we could actually have heat in both the main cabin and in the rear stateroom.  Ah,  what luxury!!!  

With the circuit blowing like that, I will be talking to Mark, the yard foreman about getting it fixed again.  Jack has rewired most of the circuits so I don't expect this to be on our bill.  The bad thing is that Jack is off to another conference on solar panels this week and then is on vacation for the next two.  As we have found, each electrician is an artist on how they do their wiring and with Jack gone, another electrician will have to check and see how Jack wired the boat and see what it will take to correct the problem. 

After having lunch at the local Chinese restaurant(Shanghai), I got a fortune cookie with the fortune in it saying "You will have a happy adventure soon".  Sure hope they are right.

It's blowing quite well outside and Zephyr is just sitting here letting it pass her by.  Rain is in the forecast over the next few days so I guess Winter is setting in for good.  Oh well, it was a nice Summer even though we spent it in a boat yard.