may 3, 2003

hi guys --

wonderland is back in florida with a long list of chores to be
done before the next adventure -- crossing the atlantic and hanging
out in the mediterranian for a year or so.

after being super crowded at christmas time, we went back to just
two of us on the boat, tobi and me.  sailed from eleuthra back to
the abacos on the outside (open atlantic instead of the sea of
abaco) and were fishing with a hand line along the way.  i wrap
the line backwards around a winch so that it spins the winch when
a fish hits and makes a ticking noise.  a big fish hit, the winch
spun, i grabbed the line to tug on it and set the hook and the fish
tugged harder and whacked my hand into a cleat nearby.  ouch.  got
out my gloves and about 20 minutes later had this giant fish at the
back of the boat ready to come aboard.  dont have a gaff to get it
into the boat.  tried the boat hook, no luck.  then hauled on the
fishing line and was able to slide him up the transom and into the
boat.  it was big.  went from my shoulder to my knee when i held him
up.  i thought it was a yellow fin tuna, but folks who know fish tell
me it was a jack.  either way it was great eating.

tobi was watching me fight the fish and then trying not to watch as i
cleaned it and cut it up.  she went from a vegetarian who eats fish
to a more strict vegie; said the fish was staring at her and looking
her in the eye and she couldnt eat something she couldnt harvest.

after getting back to the abacos, tobi went home and i was single 
handing for a couple of months.  it was scary at first, but got easier
each time i did it.  i didnt do any really hard or long sails alone.
you have to be so organized, thinking of everything ahead of time, 
not forgetting things, having everything prepared in advance, etc.
doesnt sound like me, does it.

entered wonderland in her first race, at the hopetown sailing club.
got crew from the other boats in marsh harbour and raced around the
buoys, an equilateral triangle (well almost), twice around.  we had
a bad start (last over the start line in both races) but finished
3rd in the first race and 4th in the second race.  pretty good for
no practice and very light air.  after they adjusted our score for
our handicap we were in the middle of the pack.  the party after the
race was the best part, very yummy munchies.

tried to go to cuba with peter, a single hander i met who was planning
to sail with me to the azores and wanted to test out me and the boat.
we left too late, missed the favorable winds, and so were beating
into 25 knot winds on the nose (a nautical term for wind directly
from the direction you want to go) and 5-10 ft seas also on the nose.
got to the north end of eleuthra and hove-to (hoving-to is a way of
stopping the boat, with one sail set on one side and the other opposing
it on the other side, so you sit still, or so the theory goes) as the
winds increased to the 30s.  my mainsail needs a 3rd reef point so i
can make it really little for high winds. after a couple of days of this,
and frustration at not being able to handle the jib in hard wind
(we didnt know the trick of turning away from the wind till the
main sail blocks it before trying to adjust the jib), we gave up
and turned around and sailed to the berry islands and then on to
florida.  a day or two later the wind turned around, but we were
too impatient to wait it out.  too bad, i was really looking forward
to seeing cuba and sailing along its north coast.

peter's test of the boat added a few things to my todo list, like making
it possible for mere mortals to handle the jib when the wind is strong
and to do the traveler lines when there is lots of force on the mainsail.
he went from hating the boat (while wrestling with the jib) to saying it
was the best sailing boat he had been on.  and his test of me decided
that i was too messy and sloppy for his taste and needed to get things
organized better.

my evaluation of him was that he is pretty macho and opinionated and
seemed to think that i dont know anything (he knows more about sailing
than i did).  maybe tight speedo bathing suits are a sign of macho guys
and are not compatible with easy going, and fun. live and learn.

now am working through my todo list, fixing things like my wind generator
that while brand new, generated a nice 12 volts and put half into the
battery via the cables and another half across my railing and life lines.
this caused everyone coming up the swim ladder to get shocked and a lot
of metal to electrolyze away.  also getting that 3rd reef in the main
and some better mechanical advantage over my jib and traveller. also
getting my transmission leak really fixed.  last fix in the fall of
2001 slowed it down temporarily, but didnt fix it.

changed oil and filter in my engine, feul filter too.  still to go
are 2 more feul filters, one of them the hard one where you have to
bleed the air out of the system.  and changing the impellor for the
water pump.  i discovered that the list of tools needed to change
oil seems to include 1.5 rolls of paper towels, a pair of old shorts
that you never want to wear again, likewise an expendible tshirt.
you are supposed to run the engine to warm up the oil so it flows
out better; also makes the engine dastardly hot so you cant touch
the oil filter you need to unscrew or the hose from the sump that
you need to pump out.  so wearing the old clothes and a pair of
oven mits i attacked the engine and won.  also discovered (after
the fact) that oil runs out better if you open the cap where you
pour the oil in.

after all the chores are done or rationalized away ...
plan to leave in late may for bermuda (with crew of 3), and then on to
the azores (with 1 + 2 maybe's for crew) where i will spend the summer.
then in the fall, late august or early september, will go to portugal
and wander down the coast of portugal and spain and into the mediterranian.
have two nieces (libby and susha) joining me for the med adventure.

i finally did a sailing web page with a few pictures, its at
www.cs.colorado.edu/~evi/sailing.html.  still dont have a picture of
wonderland under sail, but do have a digital camera so there is not
much excuse for no pictures.

hugs.

-evi