___________ ENGAGING WITH THE MYSTERY OF CREATION ____________

 L. Francis Herreshoff  designed 'Meadow Lark' shoal draft ketch.

"It was a Sunday morning and Goddard gave thanks that there were still places where one could worship in temples not made by human hands." -- L. Francis  Herreshoff  (The Complete Cruiser)

__________________________ DIVE BOMBED __________________________

Yes, yes, yes shipmates, I know what you are thinking - "What's the silly old bugger doing now? " Well, hold that thought and I shall explain.

I decided to launch my new cruising dinghy 'Scout' and take a look at how the Pohutakawa trees that I am keeping an eye on for my conservationist friend Gerry are faring. Since I last took a look there has been a number of king tides which can wash across the little island and some pretty vicious winter storms.

As I haven't yet constructed a sailing rig for 'Scout' it was a long row against an outgoing tide and a 15 - 20 knot wind to the now familiar island beach on Whangarei harbour. As I approached I could see a small breeding colony of birds on the grass berm just above the high tide mark.

As I got nearer, the birds became very agitated and began to dive bomb me. I got out of the dinghy and walked as far away down the beach from the nesting site as I could, then headed inland to inspect the Pohutakawa trees.  A squadron of birds followed my every move, so as soon as I reached some vegetation I pulled a clump of old dead growth out of the ground and used it as protection for my head as the dive bombing continued.

Any idea I had that perhaps the birds might mistake the vegetation above my head for the plumage of a miraculously surviving Dodo or a geographically challenged Emperor Penguin were quickly extinguished as the aerial onslaught continued. These protective little seabird dive bombers weren't going to be fooled for a second by the great waddling Alden pretend bird as he crashed through the undergrowth.

Of the 17 trees that were planted 8 are thriving and looking very healthy indeed. Two trees are dead and the rest have simply vanished. I wonder if they haven't been pulled out of the ground and stolen.

I spent a bit of time pulling weeds away from around the remaining trees and then returned to 'Scout' and headed home. It was an easy return to the launching ramp at the Onerahi Yacht Club as the wind and tide were now favourable and we were pushed along at a fast clip.

I am very happy with the way 'Scout' performs. She rows well and although a heavy dinghy I found this an advantage in the rough water and fresh head wind as the heft of her weight helps her to push solidly through head seas. I can't wait to get a rig on her and see how she sails!

___________________ THE LOOM OF LAUNCHING DAY ___________________

I must admit I am not much good at painting. Goodness knows why as I have done more than my allotted painting tasks. The first brushed on finishing coat was full of runs and the second coat with a roller was full of lint and fluff from the fast disintegrating roller - sigh. In the end I have managed to save the day with a light sanding, a cut and polish and a buff up with turtle wax. The result is a satisfactory smooth, muted, matte finish which you don't have to wear sun glasses to look at.

Leaning on the wall by the stern of the dinghy are a couple of lengths of Tasmanian Oak. I will use this timber to make a mast, boom and gaff for the dinghy. I will be looking at a sail area of around 65 - 70 square feet which should be enough to push the little packet along nicely.

The dinghy is sitting on a new beach trailer that I purchased from Reid Trailers in Auckland. It took a few days to make and fit the cross pieces to the boats shape and glue on the cushioning foam but this job is now complete. The wheel span of the beach trolley is exactly the same as my Zephyr yachts beach trolley, so the whole outfit fits snugly on the road trailer without having to make any complicated alterations. The last big job on the dinghy was to fit the rubbing strake; its stark white colour contrasts boldly with the newly painted black hull.

Yesterday I thought about a name, and instantly the word 'Scout' popped into my mind - I like that name and I have made a nice little wooden name plate to carve this name onto. I can see in my minds eye 'Scout' and I working our way up little channels and scouting out where to sail to next.

So with only spars, sail, rudder, tiller and dagger board to be constructed - we shall soon be sailing.

_______________________ A WHITE CHRISTMAS (3) _____________________

Huge social unrest in the United Kingdom. Mad March Hares in November? Some would blame global warming; but it's snowing! The world is getting very complicated.

____________________ A WHITE CHRISTMAS (2) _______________________

Charlotte: " Don't believe anything Nathan says, this is a sculpture of HIM. " 

Salem: "Thanks grandad for knitting me this nice warm blanket." [ You're more than welcome little fella. ] " Do you like the sculpture of my daddy? [ Yes I do Salem, it's a remarkable likeness ].

Snowman: "Hey guys where's MY hat? I'm freeeeeezing! "

 

Nathan: "Now Alden, we used a photo of you as a guide and think we have sculpted a reasonable likeness, what do you think? " [ What do I think? 'Cogito ergo sum' is what I think my young philosopher, or should that be: ' Cogito ergo sum frigore conficiatur? ] 

_____________________ A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVE ____________________

This evening I completed the second week in a row of duty on the Onerahi Yacht Clubs start / finish boat. It is a busy and interesting time setting out the course with buoys and setting up the start / finish line with as little bias as possible.

 

A 'Slow' and a 'Fast' fleet race three or four, back to back races on separate courses. The number of laps depends on the wind strength.

The start / finish boat (A large RIB with a powerful outboard motor) is always crewed by two people. It involves a lot of work launching,  setting out courses, race starting, taking each boats time, retrieving buoys, hauling out and washing down the RIB. I think it is a good system the club runs whereby each sailor gets to do a couple or more 'Start' boat duties. It enables you to understand the amount of work involved 'behind the scenes' and not to take all the race organisation for granted.

The other great benefit is just to be on the water on a warm evening watching small boats sailing. For some of us (apart from actually sailing your own boat) it doesn't get a lot better than that.

_______________________ A WHITE CHRISTMAS ? _______________________

Our daughter sent us this photograph today from Cambridge England. This view is so familiar to us (minus the snow) as we looked out every morning onto it during our recent two month sojourn there. Now it looks like the UK may be in for a white Christmas. Whatever the weather, one thing I know is that England has central heating and double glazing sussed! Any sortie outside to make snowballs and snowmen will be greeted on return with ample warmth and good cheer.

For some reason this photograph reminded me of a story written by the late Maurice Griffiths, yacht designer and long time editor of the UK magazine 'Yachting Monthly'. He had harboured for a number of years an ambition to spend Christmas day on board his small cruising yacht, which he did; in conditions not dissimilar to the above photograph. I must dig out the story - I can't remember whether or not he rowed out to his boat or simply walked across the ice - yikes!!

________________________ BLACK PAINT ___________________________

Today I painted my little cruising dinghy its new colour: 'Pirate Black'; a most appropriate colour. This coat is the first of two. It is 'two pot' paint (i.e. epoxy paint and hardener) and I painted it on with a high quality bristle brush. Despite this brushing strategy I have ended up with a few runs in the paint (I blame gravity). So instead of painting 'wet on wet' (within the three day cure time), I am going to let this coat go off until it is fully cured, then sand and apply the second coat with a roller. I am not after a perfect finish but I don't like runs in the paint.

The other job that occupied my time was drilling and fitting the new self bailers to 'Slipstream'. To get good access to both sides of the hull I had to lean the boat on her side vertically. All that is required now is a couple of coats of 'Everdure' preservative around the oblong holes in the bottom of the boat and I will fit the new venturi self bailers. I will then be able to join the Tuesday night racing series - something I have missed while being overseas for a couple of months.

My good mate and fellow Zephyr skipper Bernie came around today to see what I was up to and offered to machine up some new cedar floor battens and cockpit trim which will then tick the outstanding issues on 'Slipstreams' measurement certificate; leaving no obstacles in my way come registration and measuring day in February 2018 at the Zephyr Nationals at Worser Bay Wellington. The 'things to do' list continues to sort itself out in a timely manner.

__________________________ BACK TO JOY ___________________________

I was going to call this blog post 'BACK TO WORK' but as the retirement projects I undertake are a great joy ......  then 'BACK TO JOY' it is.

Despite the fact that spending time in one of my favourite countries was an interesting and engaging time, as we returned from eight weeks of late autumn and approaching winter in the UK I could feel and almost hear the promise of a great New Zealand summer as the plane landed.

One of the first jobs I undertook was to give three coats of anti-fouling paint to 'Mariners' little work horse dinghy. This small six footer is permanently tethered to a pontoon and gets a lot of hard knocks and in the past has not had the protection of any bottom paint. With a bit of a scrub every couple of months the dinghy should stay barnacle free until the next round of painting.

The second job I am tackling is replacing the two 'Supersucker' brand self bailers / venturis. These two little beasts have been a nightmare and have leaked copious quantities of water into my Zephyr 'Slipstream' ever since I purchased the boat. I have two new Anderson self bailers on order. The good news is that the new bailers will fit exactly into the holes exited by the old bailers without any modifications. I will be pleased when they are fitted as staring at a couple of oblong holes in the bottom of my boat is a little bit counter intuitive and unnerving.

The third job is to paint 'Mariners' old 8 foot work horse tender that I converted into a traditional sailing dinghy a while ago. This conversion has been one of a few jobs that went on hold when I was dealing to 'Mariners' diesel engine. The colour I have chosen for the hull is 'Pirate Black'.

'Mariner' herself is pretty much in sailable condition although there are a bevy of peripheral reconditioning issues to deal with - bilge pumps, compass, stove being the main ones.

With a very sailable Northland summer on the way, the Zephyr Nationals early next year and my desire to get the traditional 8 footer up and sailing, there is plenty to be going on with.

_____________________ STICKING TO YOUR KNITTING __________________

The idiom "Stick to your knitting" means to concentrate on what you are good at and familiar with rather than get involved with things you know absolutely nothing about. I have to say this advice is not something that I intuitively follow with the result that I sometimes get involved with things I am not familiar with and always have strong opinions about things I often know absolutely nothing about. Such is life, and I can tell by the sage like nodding of various shipmates heads as they read this that my approach rings a bell in that great book of ubiquitous human behaviour.

Anyway shipmates, recently while in the UK awaiting the birth of our second grand child I happily fulfilled the request of our daughter to use up a couple of large skeins of wool she had on hand and knitted a blanket for the wee sailor who was about to be born.

 Little Salem (above) cooed his approval as he tried out his new blanket.

I have now knitted three articles of clothing. A scarf in the 1960s (When my mother taught me how to do those rudimentary purls and plains - A woollen jersey in the 1990s (yes really, and a pretty good job I did of it too he said modestly) - and now this triumph of large fat knitting needles and chunky wool in 2017. 

With an average interval between knits of about thirty years I will probably be ready to knit something again in 2047 when I will be 96 years old - I can't wait, it's interesting what you can achieve when once begun, you stick to your knitting.

________________________ A GREAT BLESSING ______________________

Salem John Elliot Hawkins was born in Cambridge UK on the 13th of October 2017. 

All new life is special and in Salems' case this is especially so because the road to his arrival has been a six year journey. His arrival was not without drama as he spent the first six days of his life in intensive care. But all is now well. He is the apple of his parents eyes, a wonder and a great joy. He is all this too for his grandparents who add the observation that: " There's only one thing better than having a grandson and that is, now, having two of them! "

The name Salem means; Peace, Wholeness and Completion. Salem is also reputed to be the original name for Jerusalem - JeruSALEM. His arrival has certainly encapsulated this meaning for all involved. Salems' grandparents will return to NZ feeling ... well.... Blessed!

________________________ SPACESHIP EARTH ________________________

Whenever I see photographs from space that show the curvature of the earth I am reminded again of two things. First that we live on a giant spaceship that is thundering around the sun at 30 kilometers per second, or 67,000 miles per hour and second; how fragile it all looks. We really do need to look after our only home - spaceship earth.

_______________________ RUMOURS OF SPRING _______________________

Despite the current stormy blustery weather a few of our Iris bulbs have sprung up out of their winter seclusion deep within the soil and begun to spread rumours of spring.

______________________ BACK ON THE MOORING ______________________

'Mariner' had been out of the water for about three months, so it was with a great feeling of relief that I motor back to the piles earlier this week. I had the help of my good mate David whose help was indispensable. We towed Riverside Drive Marinas very fat flat bottomed work with us and had to row back to our cars at the Marina against the wind and tide. It was Fathers Day and what better way to for the old bugger to celebrate by putting his little ship safely back on her mooring.

Today after having spent a couple of days completing some fiber glassing repairs on my own little dinghy I lifted it onto my roof rack (bloody near killed me), transported it down to the pontoon and rowed out to 'Mariner'. I ran the engine for an hour to fully charge the battery and stowed the rest of the boat gear.

One of the little jobs I completed was the installation of a 12volt car charging socket directly to the boat battery so that I could plug in my new small battery maintenance solar cell. This should ensure no more flat batteries after longish periods of inactivity.

When I had completed the work I turned the motor off and sat in the small cabin, glad that the big back breaking work and all the worry and expensive was over. I have a longish list of small jobs to complete but this is manageable and will be easy and pleasant work to complete over time.

So I sat in my little cabin and listened to the sound of the water chuckling against the hull, the thrum of the wind in the rigging and felt the gentle rocking of the boat as she pulled on her mooring ropes.

There are some favourite lines from W. B. Yeats:

"And I shall have some peace there, for peace comes dropping slow, 

Dropping from the veils of the morning to where the cricket sings

    There midnight's all a-glimmer, and noon a purple glow, 

And evening full of the linnet's wings"
                                   

It wasn't morning; I couldn't hear any crickets or see any linnets; but I think you might get my drift.

AMERICAS CUP CEO GRANT DALTON SUPPORTS MY OLD YACHT CLUB

My old yacht club - Pleasant Point Yacht Club - sited on the Christchurch estuary in the South Island of New Zealand found a high profile supporter this year in Grant Dalton who is the CEO of Emirates Team New Zealand who recently won the Americas Cup and bought it back home to New Zealand.

I really hope things go well for the PPYC and a new club is built on their new site. One of my goals for the future is to take my Zephyr class yacht 'Slipstream' back to the sailing ground of my youth and race again on those unique tidal waters.

_______________________ BACK INTO THE WATER _____________________

Today 'Mariner' was lifted with great care by Mo the Trav-lift operator and placed gently back into her natural element. We ran the newly restored engine and found that that the water pump wasn't working. After pulling it apart the consensus was that a new pump is required. So 'Mariner' will be lying here at the Riverside Driver Marina until I can purchase a new pump and fit it to the engine.
Shipmates, I can hear some of you murmuring that God sent me a diesel engine of a particular character to help me to develop patience and you are quite right.....  quite right.

Despite all this drama, it was good to see the boat back in the water and see her floating in her characteristically buoyant manner. A well designed small yacht is like a flower - beautiful.

____________________ THE CADENCE OF FLOWERS ____________________

Christine chose and arranged these flowers in a small vase. She's clever like that. This little apparition sat on the table with the light shining through it and looked so beautiful I decided to take a photo of it.

I have always liked flowers, but in the last few years I have noticed their impossible beauty with increasing interest.

______________________ A BRIGHT SHINING LINE _______________________

The area on the side of the hull just above the anti fouling paint is a high corrosion area. The constant wetting and drying stresses the paint making it vulnerable to erosion of the surface, pitting and staining. There were a few small areas of paint close to the waterline that were a little worse for wear, but rather than paint all the white paint (which is in reasonable condition) I decided instead to sand back the trouble areas and paint on a 'boot top' stripe.

After transferring a line vertically approximately 50mm above the waterline on both sides of the boat I sanded, undercoated and painted on a bright blue boot top. I am happy with the result. We should be back in the water some time next week.

______________________ TALKING TO THE RIVER ______________________

The morning began with oil and temperatures gauges and their respective sender units - the verdict: they don't work; yet. Tomorrow an auto electrician will arrive to hopefully sort all of this. The afternoon was full of the high octane fragrance of anti fouling paint and the full on frisking buzz of my paint roller as the first coat of below the waterline paint was applied. All the time I could hear 'Mariner' talking to the river. "Soon" she said ...... "Soon".

_________________________ WORK CONTINUES _______________________

I had thought that the penultimate step on this long voyage ashore was going to be the painting of the newly fiber glassed area around the keel with a two pot undercoat, but this step required a 'wet on wet' coat of anti fouling paint straight afterwards. Instead I painted with the two pot undercoat but not the anti fouling paint because the uneven curing after the two pot coat (one side of the boat faces all day sun, the other side mostly in shadow) would have resulted in an unsatisfactory bonding of the anti fouling paint. So the solution has been to coat the area of two pot undercoat with a few coats of single pot undercoat; wait for this to cure and dry; then paint the anti fouling paint 'wet on dry'. I will do this step tomorrow if the weather is reasonable.

The back seats, front passenger seat  and the boot of my car are all loaded to the gunwales with boat renovation gear. I think it is time I seriously considered purchasing a ute, a truck or possibly a 747 cargo aeroplane.