Again we delayed our departure; we just hadn't had enough experience sailing together as a team, and it didn't seem to make sense to leave without testing ourselves and the boat in heavy weather. Luckily San Francisco Bay is the ideal location for heavy-weather sailing!
With Mike onboard, we decided to delay our departure another day to catch the Fleet Week airshow and military boat parade on the San Francisco Bay. We did this last year on Velella, our Ericson 27, and it was boating carnage. This year was more of the same!
On October 4th, 2006, just before 4PM on a gray drizzly day, we left our slip at Loch Lomond Marina. We left without a dock party, without shaking hands, without promising to write. We wove to a few friends as we motored out into the channel, found a little wind, raised the sails, and were off. It was awesome.
On October 5th, 2006, just before 4PM on a gray drizzly day, we left our slip at Loch Lomond Marina. It was surreal, we had been clandestinely living there (the term is 'sneakaboard' rather than 'liveaboard') for almost a month. Our schedule had slipped by a precious three days with last-minute projects.
In the end we snuck off without a dock party, without shaking hands, without promising to write. We motored out in the channel, found a little wind, raised the sails, and were off. It was awesome.
With the end of September came the end of our gainful employment. Sara's senator, Wes Chesbro, was being termed out of office, so it worked out nicely for her to depart. Although the Senator's term ends in the beginning of December, Sara was so excited to get sailing she managed to escape a little early.
My job situation was a little different. When I first moved to California, I joined a little technology startup named "Centellax". Centellax and I grew together, and I moved from a design engineer to the Director of Sales. Leaving was very hard.
Farewell cake
Laundry day!
Sean arrived, we christened Wanderlust with some champagne, and even had the boat blessed by a wizard.
William with champagne
Wizard blesser
The weekend came way too fast. Everything turned out to be a blur, but one thing kept us going: we were going to go for our first test sail on Monday September 18th. All the work, the drama, the late nights and expensive stainless marine parts - they were all going to be worth it.
Saturday we were up early on a mission. As soon as we got to the boat we had to put the cushions down. The patterns we picked are great, the covers Sara's mother sewed for us are amazing, and you can barely see where we screwed up with the foam cutting! Everything looks just top notch.
Loading up the cushions
Sara installing the dri-deck
This week was completely and absolutely exhausting. Moving out of our small rental turned out to be an epic project. Sara's sister Amy came and helped, plus we finished building the cushions.
Messy living room!
Cushions off the assembly line
The short week after the long weekend was a nice rest from boatwork, and we got a lot done! During the week I managed to tear apart the two main Genoa winches, which very obviously have never been maintained. Never. The grease must have been the original grease placed in the winches in the 1970s.
I used the technique that Jim, the Mechanical Engineer at Centellax, recommended, and a tool from my motorcycle racing buddy Ray. Sorry Ray, it's not that sharp anymore.
Petroleum solvent cleaner
Winch disassembly with Ray's tool
It was a long four day weekend. Sara left Thursday afternoon for Colorado for a week with her family, leaving me behind to do glorious wonderful boat work. Ahh, joy!