Thank you, Prince Rupert, it's been a wonderful visit!

Brigadoon at the Breakwater dock at Cow Bay Marina in Price Rupert

Written by: Kerry

So we've been here for almost three weeks and it's been a lovely visit.  We've enjoyed a few restaurants, a couple of movies, some library time, four visits to the local aquatic center, a few museum trips, some good ice cream, and a good deal of much needed relaxation.  Cow Bay Marina has been nothing but lovely - great staff, great location, and superb facilities.

Donn got a few projects completed while here, including: installation of our tiller (auto) pilot, replacement of running backstay shackles half way up the mast with lower profile pins, replacement and redesign of the staysail sheets for a 2-1 purchase, installation and testing of the lifeboat canopy for our dinghy, and various boat maintenance/chores.  We also both worked on editing Donn's novel and are getting very close to publication - hoping to do this when we get back to Port Townsend in August.

Speaking of Port Townsend... tomorrow, Saturday, July 22nd, we begin our return trip southward towards our home waters of Puget Sound.  This past Wednesday, our friend David, an experienced sailor in his own right, flew in from Seattle to join us as a third crew member for our foray into offshore sailing.  He's settled in nicely, we managed to make room for him, and we think it's going to be a great trip back.

Our plan:

Tomorrow we leave the dock, head out into the Prince Rupert Bay and commission our tiller pilot, work the sails and hydrovane a bit and acclimate David to our boat.  We'll anchor in a nearby bay on Saturday evening.  Sunday we'll retrace our steps back towards Borrowman Bay on Aristazabal Island - including anchorages in Newcombe Harbour, Patterson Inlet, and Weinberg Inlet.  From Borrowman, the current plan is to head directly south into Queen Charlotte Sound making a beeline for the outside of Vancouver Island and arcing out into the western offshore waters and down to the Strait of Juan De Fuca.  We hope to do this last part non-stop, 24/7, keeping a watch schedule and experiencing night sailing for the first time.  We have all agreed that we'll head into one of the harbours on the west coast of Vancouver Island if we need/want to or are having any weather issues, etc.  If we do manage to do it non-stop, it'll be a 3-4 day trip from Aristazabal to Port Angeles.  If you want to follow along, you're welcome to check our progress here:  Brigadoon Tracker.

We'll be away from wi-fi starting tomorrow, so we'll be going internet silent until we get home.  We'll catch you up on all the adventures then!

During our last visit to the Aquatic Center, I had the fun opportunity to test one of our older life vests, which we needed to re-arm and update for David.  Here is the video of how that went:

And here are some photos from our time here - Enjoy!  

Dead Rockfish found in the middle of the street - photo by David Cohen

New tiller pilot - photo by Donn Christianson

Storm windows installed on the pilot house - photo by Donn Christianson

Ruins at Historical Northwest Cannery - Photo by Donn Christianson

Historical Northwest Cannery - Photo by Donn Christianson

The Sunken Gardens in Prince Rupert - Photo by David Cohen

Otter mural on the outside of the Earl Mah Aquatic Center - Photo by David Cohen

Stone carving outside totem carving hall in Prince Rupert - Photo by Donn Christianson

So much going on

So much going on on Brigadoon.

• new winches
• new bimini
• bedding stanchions
• went to the Perry Rendezvous
• had a great sail back, with a reefed main, at 6.2 knots
• Kerry drove the boat better than I ever have
• things are good, plans made, plans executed, debt being paid off, and visions of the oceans of the world in our heads...

and more...

This boat, my home, is wonderful.

And Miles to Go Before We Sleep...

Brigadoon underway with her new sails.

Upgrades, upgrades and more upgrades.

Captain Fatty Goodlander, one of the penultimate sea-gypsies of our time, speaks frequently about building boats that are safe and strong.  It's our goal that Brigadoon will be as safe and as strong as Bob Perry originally designed her to be, along with anything we can do to enhance the already excellent design.

It's said, by Beth Leonard, I think, that buying a cruising boat more than ten years old means you are going to end up committing to a set of upgrades.  The estimated cost of those upgrades is likely to approximate half the value of the boat.  

You got me right.  If you buy a used yacht for $100,000.00 you will end up spending another $50,000.00 on necessary upgrades and maintenance.  Why so much?

It's unlikely the sails on your yacht are new, or even in very good condition.  The cooking range is years old.  The batteries in the house bank and to support engine starting are a few years old.  The wiring to support the current house bank may not be up to snuff.  Hoses get old.  Faucets corrode. The cushions are likely old and shot. Stainless steel standing rigging gets brittle with age. Running rigging does not last forever and, especially if you live in the Northwest, do you really want sheets and halyards that are green from mold and mildew over the winter?

We've had Brigadoon since November 1, 2010.  We are over two and a half years into ownership. When I heard this number I started thinking about all the projects we have tackled in that two and a half years.  I talked this over with Kerry, my wonderful first mate. 

We added up the following changes to Brigadoon:

• Brand new hand made sails from Carol Hassee and crew of Port Townsend Sails.
• Haul-out and new bottom paint completed at CSR Marine, in Seattle.
• Removal of old head/hoses and the installation of a Nature's Head composting toilet.
• Fuel polishing to clean up the fuel system so we don't have yet another engine outage while under sail, like what happened on our first big vacation.
• Replacement of every single piece of running rigging; all the sheets and halyards.  Every.  Single.  Piece.
• Installation of a NMEA 2000 network, along with new hull fittings and mast instruments, including three Garmin GMI10 displays.
• Brand new interior cushions, all custom made by Pam at Vashon Portage Canvas.
• Brand new PFDs (6).
• Two new memory foam mattresses.
• Dyneema-based lazy jacks, designed, made and installed by yours truly.
• Jack lines, designed, made and installed by yours truly.
• Topping lift for the boom, designed, made and installed by yours truly.
• Dyneema-based lifelines designed, made and installed by yours truly.
• Dingy motor by Electric Paddle along with a new 35 amp/hour battery.
• Ground tackle upgrade with the installation of our shiny, new and very functional Ultra Anchor.
• A new faucet for the galley.  The old one was clogging and difficult to use.
• A new range for the galley. The old brown porcelain Hiller range was literally rusting out on it's mounts, didn't cook very well, was untrustworthy and ugly.  We replaced it with a beautiful, brand new stainless steel Dickenson Caribbean two burner stove.
• Bimini frame, free-sourced and installed.  I still have to hand-sew the cover. 
• This does not count the numerous tools, shackles, pad-eyes, screws, nuts, bolts, and sundries to allow us to complete small repairs and maintenance.

We added this up.  When we got to the number, I watched in amusement as Kerry's eyes got wiiiiiddddeeee.  It was really funny.  But it made sense.  This was all necessary.

This all cost real money and, we are not, in any sense of the word, rich, or made of money.  But we had a plan.  The costs are not being piled on credit cards.  We paid for most of this with cash;that we saved and planned to spend.  Most of these were not surprises in any way.  The ones that were -- well, we paid that purchase off quickly.  It's the whole idea of making her better, but not going into debt to do it.  The Freedom Project is about, at the end, owning a safe and strong boat and not owing anyone any money -- anymore -- ever.

And we are not even done.  We still have to:

• Replace all the stainless steel standing rigging.
• Replace every single hose on the engine and all the belts (possibly upgrade to a serpentine belt.)
• Replace the alternator with a more powerful unit.
• Replace Wee Brigadoon, our beautiful little lapstrake dingy with an active rescue Portland Pudgy dingy/lifeboat.
• Remove all the old and blistering bright-work (varnish) and decide how to finish the boat.
• Reseal the decks before it's too late to do so.
• Rebed and reseal every single stanchion to stop leaks into the boat.
• Install a new, heavier duty, bimini frame that can stand up to offshore conditions.
• Solar power.
• Wind power.
• Windvane steering.
• New digital Radar.
• and so on as we discover what we can do to...

Make Brigadoon as safe and strong as we can, making her as capable as she can be, so the only weakness is us; our skills, our knowledge, our commitment to the Freedom Project and our goals.  That we are working on too.

There lots to do and still time in our plans to do it.  Brigadoon can take us far -- and she will.   We only have to prepare her and ourselves and the world will eventually be ours.

How to buy a new mainsail -- step one, buy a new car.

We have have had plans for new sails for Brigadoon for a while.  Back in August of 2011, we visited Port Townsend, where our friends were having their boat measured for new sails.  I've always loved the thought of having my sails made by Carol Hasse and her crew at Port Townsend Sails.  Sure, you can get good sails at a lower price but, as I have written before, the thought of supporting a local business, putting my money here, in this country, while having my sails made here, in one place, really appealed to me.

The fact that Carol Hasse makes some of the best cruising sails in the world was just icing on the cake.

So we walked into her place back in August.  After a bit of a tour, we agreed to get a quote.  It wasn't cheap but, we could make the plan work and, with that, we put down our deposit.  A personal visit by Carol a short while later for the measurement, some back and forth on when the sails would be made, and we had a schedule.

The plan was to have the sails (mainsail, staysail, and genoa) made in stages.  This way we could pay cash for each sail.  It was important to us to not buy our sails on credit.  This worked out great.

So the main came due.  Since the sail is a full batten main, it can't be folded up into a small package.  It's in a fifteen foot long bag o'sail.  This presented a problem.  We have a small car.  We call her Smarty.

Smarty is only nine feet long. Smarty has no roof rack, nor any way of mounting one.  While Smarty always wins the parking lottery in Seattle, she has only two seats and a limited cargo carrying capacity.  But, we have had her for two years and like her for many reasons.  She's fun to drive, and you can enjoy roaring around town while people point, smile (sometimes laugh) at the car.  However, as I mentioned, Smarty has no roof rack.

So the plan was to get a Zipcar, specifically a Ford Escape with a roof rack.  I was going to lash a 19' long windsurfer mast to the rack and the sail bag to that.

We wake up Saturday morning to a nail in the rear tire of Smarty.  This requires a trip to the dealer for a repair as Smarty has odd tires and my warranty is with the dealer.  I get there and the dealer is not open for about 45 minutes.  This frustrates me.  I ask the kindly Acura employee if we can get some coffee in their shop next door while we wait.

So, step one to getting a new mainsail for Brigadoon involved getting a new car.

Witness the new Acura TSX Special Edition.  Smarty is on to a new home and we have a new ride, with a roof rack, that compares favorably with my old BMW Z4 in performance and comfort.  I think we will be very happy with it.  

Today we finished installing the Strongtrack on the mast for the new sail, along with completing a rig tune.  There is still some fine tuning to do on the rig (the mast has a small "wiggle" in it) but we were ready to go, so, time to bend on the new main.

And here it is: a Carol Hasse designed and Port Townsend Sails built, cruising mainsail, complete with deep reefing, cunningnam, full battens and a host of other really awesome hand done features.

I'm so far, very happy with how absolutely beautiful this sail is. It fits the boat wonderfully.  I bet it sails as well too.

In a month, we get the genoa, then June the staysail.

I can't wait to see how well Brigadoon performs with the new suit of sails.

Her Bones are Good

It's been quiet of late, with all the lousy weather, and other plans afoot.  One of the plans we have been working on is getting Brion Toss to come out and complete a rigging survey on Brigadoon.  Brion is a well known and respected rigger, who we saw speak at the Seattle Boat Show.  I have also read his book "The Riggers Apprentice" years ago.  Brion is a wealth of information wrapped up in a pragmatic and jovial presentation.

The tough part about this is that I invited an expert in yacht rigging to tell me about the condition of the rig.  The news would be the news and, on a 30 year old boat, I had to be prepared for anything.  Basically, he could have told me my rig was bad, that I could/should not sail her.  I had to be prepared for that.

He arrived late yesterday.  Brion was more than welcome to have me along as he inspected the running and standing rigging on Brigadoon. This is crucial, because, the regular survey, as good as it was, did not really cover the rigging.

Aside from Brion inspecting the rigging and providing me feedback on her condition, he also offered up quite a few suggestions how to improve various aspects of the rig, in order to make it more effective and make my life easier.

I'm looking forward to his detailed report in a week or so.  It will be a useful tool approach improvements on Brigadoon.

The one thing he said, when all was said and done, was good.  As Brion stood there, looking up at her, he turned to me and said, "Her bones are good.  You've got a good boat."

That couldn't have made me happier.