Day 181 The stress is gone. Now the recovery.

The stress we have felt over the past 6 months of not being able to sail Zephyr is now over.  We've had her out in the winds and seen how she performs with us at the wheel.  Saturdays sail was just the thing we needed.  Now we have sailed our boat!!! 

We moved on board almost exactly 6 month ago and it took us that long to finally get to sail Zephyr.  It seemed that no matter what we did, either there was no wind or it was against us or it just wasn't safe to take her out, something kept us from getting her out.  Now that the standing rigging(holds the mast up) and most of the running rigging(controls the sails) have been replaced and the electrical system has been overhauled, she was ready for us to take her out without the fear of something happening.  

There are few words to describe the feelings Tracy and I felt as we flowed through the water.  We had even taken the ferry just to get water under our feet.  We have dreamed of cruising for the past 20+ years and now we are getting to that point.  There are a few more tasks that need to be attended to as there always will be on board a boat, but the hard, time consuming jobs are now over and we can try and plan for the future.

Yesterday, when we got up, you could just feel that the pressure we had felt was gone.  Tracy was exhausted and I sure wasn't up to my best.  We had finally sailed.  With that being said, we took a day and rested and tried to rebuild our energy.  We took the ferry again to Whidbey Island to drive up to Anacortes to see what it was like.  It is one of the places we know we will be sailing to shortly and wanted to see first hand what the marina was like.  Unfortunately, we cut our time a bit short as we missed the 1pm ferry and had to take the 2:15 which get you there at 2:45.  We made reservations for the 6pm and took off North.  We stopped for lunch at Wendy's.  It's not haute cuisine but it filled our stomaches.  On the road again till we got to Anacortes.  Quite the boating town though since it was Sunday, just about everything was closed.  By the time we got there, we had to turn around and head back or we would miss the ferry.  

Whidbey Island is a lovely combination of farming and urban with both taking a strong hold on the island.  We passed through lots of farmland and then were amazed at all the big box store we came upon in the city.  Gas is cheaper on the island than it is here in Port Townsend.  I would have thought the opposite.

Today, more projects.  I need to move the crane that helps lift the outboard motor down to the dingy and back up.  At 87 pounds, I sure can't do it myself.  The crane is on the port side and the motor is on the starboard side.  The crane is getting moved as the new wind electric generator will be on the port side.  I'll be dismantling the forward head as water is still seeping back into the head from the hose that leads to the sewage tank.  A valve appears to have malfunctioned.  And you thought cruising was all fun and no work?  Hah!!!

I'll be practicing the sewing I learned at Carol Hasse's class a few weeks ago.  I have to attach nylon straps to the sails so that we can reef them when the wind comes up.  After the rigging was done, the sails sit too high to allow the existing grommets (metal rings in the sails)to fit onto the reefing hooks that they are supposed to go on to make the sail smaller.  With the nylon straps and big stainless steel rings, it will work just fine.  I've got three sets to do.

The weather is supposed to be perfect over the next few days so we will bet as much accomplished as we can.  We can't quite take off yet as the yard has to replace the ductwork for our diesel heater that got crushed when they removed the alternators.  Until that is done(we like a nice warm boat at night) we're not going anywhere.