2016 was an interesting year? My mom took ill and turned up in the ER in June, ICU next and Lung Rehab for the month of July, As usual, she’s a trooper/fighter and is back on the mend.
The main project while home was the refurbish…
I guess, better late than never????
2016 was an interesting year? My mom took ill and turned up in the ER in June, ICU next and Lung Rehab for the month of July, As usual, she’s a trooper/fighter and is back on the mend. Of course, both my mom and dad have decided to stay in …
Baggywrinkles.
Noun:
Protective covering made from old rope yarns wound around parts of a ships rigging to prevent chafe.
I am about to stretch the above metaphor possibly beyond usefulness. But left to my own devices and looking for something diverting to occupy me during xmas I hit upon the idea of doing something more or less pointless, fairly domestic and utterly distracting. I know, the gangplank is still fucked but shhh, never mind that for a minute.
The deckhead in our wheelhouse cabin has been unfinished plywood for some years, and inspired by Mark’s escapades wallpapering his kitchen with OS maps, Becky and I thought we were going to paper our ceiling in maps or charts. Discussions ensued regarding where these maps should represent, you choose, no, go on, you choose…Oh, who wants a map of bloody Lowestoft on their ceiling anyway. So without an accord the whole thing was ignored for a long time, and then for good measure we ignored it for a fair bit longer.
Whilst having a fight with a bookshelf two weeks before christmas, I found a large manilla envelope containing old blueprint positives that I’ve had since I was twelve years old. I was a fucking weird kid. And I had a thing for boats even then, or at least the idea of them, and looking over the drawings again I found myself just as pleased by their aesthetic complexity as when I was younger. How I’ve managed to hold on to them for so long is just one of life’s little mysteries I suppose.
The only problem was that there were not enough drawings to cover all nine panels on the deckhead. As we shall see, this led to a project-saving decision, completely by accident. I took the drawings to a well known branch of copy shop, luckily the man operating the machinery was a super geek type of guy, so was pleased to engage in a task that was well outside his normal duties. After some farting around with printer settings and a bit of swearing at the giant scanner whilst cleaning it I left the shop with a full set of A1 reproductions, plus the necessary couple of spares.
Back at the boat I mused on the how to of gluing it all down. I tuned in to YouTube for advice. Several videos involving crafty ‘merican ‘moms’ doing crafty stuff with crafty glue later I had two conflicting strands of advice. Essentially these were as follows: 1) keep everything dry, or 2) keep everything wet. The paper will swell up if it gets wet, and it will want to cause wrinkles.
I tested various methods on scraps of plywood and discovered that spraymount seems like a good idea, until the solvent in spray varnish dissolves it all and the paper just peels off on its own. Spraymount also has an interesting effect on cats who decide to try walking across the workspace. Then I tried sealing the paper with spray varnish, before gluing it down with watered down PVA. Disaster, even with paper at A4 size it curls over itself and sets immediately to form a sort of glued together cone of uselessness, attempts at preventing the curling action lead to wallpapering your own hands, and ending up with a crumpled ball of uselessness. I never even got it near the scrap of plywood..
Coming to the conclusion that ‘merican moms are full of shit I decided the only way for it was to embrace a wet gluing process. Tested it, got wrinkles, tested it again, got smears on the ink as I tried brushing it out. Decided I had run out of stuff to test on so it was time to throw caution to the wind and just go for it. Well. The first two small panels went ok. and dried flat enough. So I sealed the results with acrylic varnish and, lulled into a false sense of security attacked the first two big panels. In the morning they were dry, and really fucking wrinkly.
I went back to the copy shop for replacement reproductions.
Home again, the only thing I could think of was pre wetting the paper to persuade it to get the whole ‘I’m gonna expand ‘cos I’m wet’ thing over with, and then glue it down carefully before it turned to mush. Obviously this wasn’t going to work with a large sheet of paper flapping about. But noticing that the wrinkles always ran one way I decided that if the paper was rolled up along that direction I could wet, stretch and unroll, wet, stretch and unroll. I used a plant mister for the wetting bit.
So, the results look a bit ‘boys own’, and betray the onset of the New Year, there are several small wrinkles in the resulting ceiling covering. But I’m surprised at how little it really matters, and I’ve still got the originals. So if the sight of these imperfections ever starts to really chafe, I can always have another go.
And here is a weird gem. One of the drawings shows examples of different types of the same vessel, and lists when and where they were built. Look at this. This one was built HERE. Wendy Ann 2 is moored at the old William Osborne’s boatyard in Littlehampton. And I didn’t even notice until I was putting the finished panel up.
Here’s to a New Year folks, I wish you a year of getting somewhere whatever direction you point yourself in. Even if this life is far from perfect at the best of times, we can only do the best we can in the time we’ve got, and I guess everyone has to live with a few baggywrinkles here and there. Let’s do it.
Baggywrinkles.
Noun:
Protective covering made from old rope yarns wound around parts of a ships rigging to prevent chafe.
I am about to stretch the above metaphor possibly beyond usefulness. But left to my own devices and looking for something diverting to occupy me during xmas I hit upon the idea of doing something more or less pointless, fairly domestic and utterly distracting. I know, the gangplank is still fucked but shhh, never mind that for a minute.
The deckhead in our wheelhouse cabin has been unfinished plywood for some years, and inspired by Mark’s escapades wallpapering his kitchen with OS maps, Becky and I thought we were going to paper our ceiling in maps or charts. Discussions ensued regarding where these maps should represent, you choose, no, go on, you choose…Oh, who wants a map of bloody Lowestoft on their ceiling anyway. So without an accord the whole thing was ignored for a long time, and then for good measure we ignored it for a fair bit longer.
Whilst having a fight with a bookshelf two weeks before christmas, I found a large manilla envelope containing old blueprint positives that I’ve had since I was twelve years old. I was a fucking weird kid. And I had a thing for boats even then, or at least the idea of them, and looking over the drawings again I found myself just as pleased by their aesthetic complexity as when I was younger. How I’ve managed to hold on to them for so long is just one of life’s little mysteries I suppose.
The only problem was that there were not enough drawings to cover all nine panels on the deckhead. As we shall see, this led to a project-saving decision, completely by accident. I took the drawings to a well known branch of copy shop, luckily the man operating the machinery was a super geek type of guy, so was pleased to engage in a task that was well outside his normal duties. After some farting around with printer settings and a bit of swearing at the giant scanner whilst cleaning it I left the shop with a full set of A1 reproductions, plus the necessary couple of spares.
Back at the boat I mused on the how to of gluing it all down. I tuned in to YouTube for advice. Several videos involving crafty ‘merican ‘moms’ doing crafty stuff with crafty glue later I had two conflicting strands of advice. Essentially these were as follows: 1) keep everything dry, or 2) keep everything wet. The paper will swell up if it gets wet, and it will want to cause wrinkles.
I tested various methods on scraps of plywood and discovered that spraymount seems like a good idea, until the solvent in spray varnish dissolves it all and the paper just peels off on its own. Spraymount also has an interesting effect on cats who decide to try walking across the workspace. Then I tried sealing the paper with spray varnish, before gluing it down with watered down PVA. Disaster, even with paper at A4 size it curls over itself and sets immediately to form a sort of glued together cone of uselessness, attempts at preventing the curling action lead to wallpapering your own hands, and ending up with a crumpled ball of uselessness. I never even got it near the scrap of plywood..
Coming to the conclusion that ‘merican moms are full of shit I decided the only way for it was to embrace a wet gluing process. Tested it, got wrinkles, tested it again, got smears on the ink as I tried brushing it out. Decided I had run out of stuff to test on so it was time to throw caution to the wind and just go for it. Well. The first two small panels went ok. and dried flat enough. So I sealed the results with acrylic varnish and, lulled into a false sense of security attacked the first two big panels. In the morning they were dry, and really fucking wrinkly.
I went back to the copy shop for replacement reproductions.
Home again, the only thing I could think of was pre wetting the paper to persuade it to get the whole ‘I’m gonna expand ‘cos I’m wet’ thing over with, and then glue it down carefully before it turned to mush. Obviously this wasn’t going to work with a large sheet of paper flapping about. But noticing that the wrinkles always ran one way I decided that if the paper was rolled up along that direction I could wet, stretch and unroll, wet, stretch and unroll. I used a plant mister for the wetting bit.
So, the results look a bit ‘boys own’, and betray the onset of the New Year, there are several small wrinkles in the resulting ceiling covering. But I’m surprised at how little it really matters, and I’ve still got the originals. So if the sight of these imperfections ever starts to really chafe, I can always have another go.
And here is a weird gem. One of the drawings shows examples of different types of the same vessel, and lists when and where they were built. Look at this. This one was built HERE. Wendy Ann 2 is moored at the old William Osborne’s boatyard in Littlehampton. And I didn’t even notice until I was putting the finished panel up.
Here’s to a New Year folks, I wish you a year of getting somewhere whatever direction you point yourself in. Even if this life is far from perfect at the best of times, we can only do the best we can in the time we’ve got, and I guess everyone has to live with a few baggywrinkles here and there. Let’s do it.
Cruising New Caledonia
CRUISING NEW CALEDONIA
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| DOMINO and the CNC Fleet in Lifou |
January 11, 2017 – Whangarei, NZ
It’s been months since I’ve posted any report on this blog. Last you heard from me, we were through with cruising, were going to become landlubber again, spend time with the grandchildren, and—of course— sell DOMINO.
Six months have past and DOMINO is still looking for a new owner. Meanwhile, what can we do? Not abandon her in a marina, that would be too sad. The only thing we can do is keep on cruising, taking more time off the boat to satisfy our family needs, and… eventually… bring the boat back to the North American continent.
As a first installment on that new plan, we spent the last few months cruising New Caledonia, then back to New Zealand for a haul-out and some small improvements (I keep some surprises under my vest!)
Six months have past and DOMINO is still looking for a new owner. Meanwhile, what can we do? Not abandon her in a marina, that would be too sad. The only thing we can do is keep on cruising, taking more time off the boat to satisfy our family needs, and… eventually… bring the boat back to the North American continent.
As a first installment on that new plan, we spent the last few months cruising New Caledonia, then back to New Zealand for a haul-out and some small improvements (I keep some surprises under my vest!)
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| The New Cal coast is dotted with Columnar Pines |
NEW CALEDONIA — Well, I didn’t expect much, really. I had heard of muddy waters, rivers, nothing very positive. But what a surprise! NEW CAL is one of the best cruising and fishing grounds we’ve experienced, pristine lagoons and an extensive and stunningly varied reef system. Yes, we did circumnavigate the “Caillou” , discovered The Loyalty Islands, and had a great time at it.
(Fixing lunch during crossing, JP asleep, no problem!)
NOUMEA — We left Fiji in late September, not willing to arrive too early in New Cal: October is spring time, when the air gets warmer and the water starts feeling good. What a lovely ride we had, winds staying below 5 Kts, absolutely glassy seas until we arrived within 20 NM of the ‘Caillou.” (70 hours for 700 NM, nice and easy!)
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| Noumea: No easy anchorage, packed marina, full mooring fields. |
We arrived Noumea with 15kts @WSW, smack dab amid hundreds of boats of all sizes! “Whoa! Those Caledonians really love their boats,” we thought, while hundreds of people lined the shore to watch a dozen yachts duking it out. Suddenly, the Committee boat was on us, pushing us out of the way. For sure! I turned around, and there was GROUPAMA barreling down on us! “OH! This is the “Round New Cal” race,” we realized, a race in which our friend Claude on “MOEMITI” was participating. Yup! Clumsy as we are, we had stumbled on the start of the biggest yacht race in the country. What a sight (and DEFINITELY NOT the time to snap pictures)! To appease the irate on-lookers, I innocently raised our “Q” flag and admitted to be a very “ignoRrrrant damn-ed AmeRrrrican.”
NOUMEA ANCHORAGE AND ENTRY PROCESS – The main problems for visiting yachts are the lack of berth at Port Moselle (the main marina), the non-existence of a “Q” dock, the difficulty to find any anchorage available.
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| If you don’t want to pay for the dinghy dock at Port Moselle Marina, you can dock in town, in front of the market and watch the fishermen unload their catch |
The two “anchorage” areas outside of Port Moselle have been invaded by mooring balls, all private, placed haphazardly, and nobody seems to know whom to contact in order to grab a mooring. The Harbormaster continually watches the anchorage and —apologetically— asks any boat encroaching into the channel to re-anchor.
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| Spiny lobster: $24/lb |
Baie de l’Orphelinat offers a bit more room and less scrutiny from the harbormaster, yet, at the height of the season, it’s a struggle to find any room.
Baie des Citrons is a large bay, and there is plenty of room. But it is rolly and is very noisy as the shore is lined with bars and night clubs and the locals anchor in that bay to party. In a pinch, though, it’s a life-saver.
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| Another lovely sunset! |
The entry process is straightforward, though not as easy as in other French islands, as immigration and customs have not initiated an electronic process for all formalities. The Port Moselle Marina office staff is very helpful in directing cruisers: immigration, customs, phyto-sanitaire: if you start about 8 AM, you can be all cleared in by lunch time. Don’t try to start in the afternoon: the administrations close down at various times on different days: 1100, 1230, 1500… who knows?
Upon exiting the country, repeat the process (minus phyto-sanitaire) but don’t forget to visit the harbormaster office for final clearance… and a gorgeous view on the entire port of Noumea!
On shore, Le Bout du Monde is a must: coffee, lunch or dinner, this is THE rendez-vous for cruisers… and whom did we find there, but none other than our “Consuegro,” (our co-in-law), Michel, who is a world-traveler in his own right. His son and JP’s daughter must think that their dads are of another breed, the “Pied Leve” kind.
We caught up on a few movies (“L’ODYSSEE,” Cousteau’s story: we liked), shopped for French stuff (Croissants, cheese), splurged at the produce market (oh, those olives!) and were itching to go to sea again. Three days on shore were enough for us!
Where to now? The Loyalty Islands!
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| New Caledonia + Fiji Cowries |
Until next time…
dominomarie
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The post 2016 Birds – some of my fav’s from last year appeared first on Moosetique.
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