Evolution on Hold

Due to circumstances beyond my control, my time on Evolution has been suspended. (He got custody of the boat.) I will not be posting to this blog for a while, until my sailing resumes.

Please visit my other blog site "Hoootyhoot".

http://lovinglifeinlalaland.blogspot.com/

The Sherman Tank of Sewing Machines

I’m doing a lot of sewing for Evolution. All the cushions need replaced, and I need to make some heavy duty, durable covers for the engine and some of the hardware. A few equipment bags for storage would be nice to.

Working with canvas and other heavy fabrics, can be a nightmare. After breaking several needles and smoking the motor on the ol’ Singer, trying to sew through four layers of canvas, one might be tempted to think it can’t be done and just give up.

Enter the Sailrite Ultrafeed LSZ-1, the sherman tank of sewing machines. This is the coolest machine I have ever owned, and I’ve been sewing since I was 7 years old. (And NO! We won’t say how long that’s been!) Granted, it can’t embroider a tulip design on my tea towels, but it can sew through eight layers of heavy canvas, and then with a quick needle change, I can whip up a little satin evening dress!

My Sailrite is small, portable, and it's all metal, unlike most sewing machines that are plastic. It’s meant to be used in the damp, rugged, rough and tumble environment of a sailboat. It has a very heavy duty case to protect it. This baby could fly across the cabin during heavy seas, and not sustain a scratch. It might go right on through the hull,… but it wouldn’t get hurt in the process! Come to think of it, it could probably even double as an anchor!

The best part of my machine is,… for a fancy plastic machine that could do this, I’d have spent well over $1,000, and it would still burn out and/or break after a year or two of that treatment, but my Sailrite was under $800 and will travel the world with us, fixing sails and repairing cushions for many, many years!

P.S. I also do repairs and custom sewing. Got a project that needs done? Just whistle!

I joined a sailing club!

I just joined the Oregon Women’s Sailing Association, (OWSA). Being new to the Portland area, and new to sailing, I thought it might be a great group to check out. I figured I could learn more about sailing, meet new people and maybe make some “girl friends” to do the lunch or drinks kind of things. You know, kill 3 birds with one stone!

Yesterday was OWSA’s summer picnic at Tamahawk Bay Marina from 4pm to 9pm. I was flying in from out of town, and my plane landed at 5:10pm, so Bob took me straight to the marina from the airport. He made himself scarce, thinking it was women only, but it looked like most of the women had their husbands with them.

I’m not sure the size of their membership, but there appeared to be a good turnout. As I met one or two women, they would take me around and introduce me to more, who then introduced me to even more! What a great group! I met a woman who has her boat moored just a few slips down from Evolution! Wow, neighbors! I also signed up to help with “Sail for the Cure”. (See the pink ribbon on the ‘port’ side of my blog here. Feel free to click on the link and make a donation!) :o)

‘Wednesday Night Sail’
Once a week, OWSA has a ‘Wednesday Night Sail’, and I am really eager to try it! Basically, they just all get together and take several boats out for an evening cruise on the river. It’s a great opportunity for me to crew on someone else’s boat, and to watch other experienced sailors in action. Maybe I can even get over my fear of heeling! I’m going to have to be super brave, because I’d be REALLY embarrassed if I screamed and peed my pants the first time the boat heeled over a little. I can see it now, these poor women trying to talk me, (in my soggy pants), down off the mast. I’m willing to bet I’d be asked to forgo any future participation in the Wednesday Night Sails! Or worse yet, maybe they’d use me as punishment. “Yea, Sue forgot to bring her famous jello salad last week, so next week,… she has to have Kay on her boat!” Hmm,… yeah, I think I’d better take a few precautions; maybe a little nip o’ rum and a nice absorbent ‘Depends’ and I should be good to go!

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aarrrgg... all sailin' vessels need a parrot, matey!

We spent the weekend at the boat just fixing a few more things and doing more cleaning. We didn’t take her out, we just fiddle-farted around there in the slip. Since we weren’t going out, I thought it might be a good time to introduce Grace to Evolution.

Let me take a moment here to tell you about Grace. Gracie is our African Gray parrot. Like most highly intelligent parrots, Grays tend to be one person birds, meaning she loves me dearly, and is a poop to everyone else. She puts up with Bob because he isn’t intimidated by her, but if she can intimidate you - she will, and she uses it for all it’s worth. What all this means really is that when we take off to sail for long periods of time, we can’t leave Grace with a friend or family member, because everyone except us is afraid of her. So guess who else is going sailing!!!

Also, like most parrots, African Grays live to be about 70 years old. Gracie is currently about 6, so I’ve told my two daughters that when I finally kick the bucket, one of them is going to inherit her. They both stare at me wide eyed and say, "Not me!" So I can see it now,… at my funeral, as they slowly lower my casket into the ground, from inside there will be a little voice saying, "Hello? Hellooo? Good Morning! Hello???" And Lisa and Andrea will look at each other, smile, and shrug innocently.

Gracie has a huge vocabulary, can identify family members and pets by name, asks for what she wants, and let us know when she’s bored. She’s incredibly kicked back and very little seems to upset her. She has a great sense of humor and is overall content with life. She constantly reminds us that life is all about having a good time, as she swings from the ceiling of her cage by one foot, her wings all splayed out, and yells, "SUPERRRR CHICKENNN!!!"

She did fine at the boat. I didn’t take her travel cage because, even though it is much smaller than her home cage, it’s still pretty large. So she just rode on my shoulder or sat on her portable perch. She didn’t seem to mind being on the boat. The saloon is small enough that she probably just thought, "So this is a ‘people cage’, huh?" It did cloud up for a while, and got a little chilly. She shivered a bit, but did fine. We don’t have fuel in the little saloon stove, so we couldn’t heat it up for her. But it was still in the 60’s so I knew she wouldn’t freeze. She dealt with worse than that when we lived in the cabin up in the hills.

Grace has learned to enthusiastically call out ,"Ahoy, Mate!" But she needs to learn a lot more sailing phrases to become a REAL ship’s parrot.

Another rat jumps ship...

We went over to Rocky Point to work on the boat the other day. Before going, we stopped and bought a telescoping broom handle and special brush head that was stiff for scrubbing the hull below the waterline. The handle cost $40, but because it extended to 12 feet verses the 7 feet of most handles, we sprung for it. Same with the $10 brush head.

Our $50 ‘broom’ worked great. Evolution got her bottom scrubbed, and I’m sure she enjoyed every minute of it! However, it’s the last time she’ll enjoy it, because like the bolt off the tiller handle, the broom decided to jump ship. Yep, it’s laying at the bottom of a 25 foot deep marina.

Bob laid it down on the dock while we walked over to the restroom, and upon our return, it was gone. Now either a band of renegade cliff swallows made off with it, or it went in the drink. We highly suspect the latter. We stood there and tried to figure out how to retrieve it. I offered to hold Bob by his ankles, and dangle him over the edge until he found it. But he still wouldn’t be able to reach it, and he didn’t like that idea anyway. Go figure! He thought of lowering a strong magnet on a rope, but I reminded him that the handle is aluminum, and the head was plastic, so that wouldn't work. He even considered snorkeling down to get it, but 25 feet is pretty deep. So I guess the broom stays below.

I’m glad I didn’t drop the darn thing down there. I’d have NEVER heard the end of it. But since it was him, well you know, accidents happen, it’s no big deal.

Hey! I'm needing some advise over here....

The search for sailing lessons has begun, and there seems to be plenty around. Again, I’m faced with an amazing amount of choices. I can have a skipper work with me on my boat for $50 hr. or I can take private lessons on someone else’s boat for $33 an hour, or I can take a really in-depth class for two to three days for $350. That seems like a lot of money,... Bob never took lessons, he learned to sail by working on a boat, so he’s not offering much input in helping me decide what to do. But he is also from the old school of, "The best way to learn to ski is to stand at the top of the mountain, point your tips downhill and push off." To which my reaction would be, "Aaaaaaaahhhhh!" WHUMP! Tree. ...silence...

You know, I just don’t think this is an area to scrimp. If we’re really going to go out on the ocean, for months or years at a time, I think I should spring for the best I can find. Actually, I’m thinking of one of the full classes for $350, AND having someone come work with me, (us), on Evolution. I know Evolution is not the boat we will be on for years at a time when we are out crossing oceans. We’ll get a larger one for that. But we are planning on taking her up to Seattle and the San Juans, and depending on how she handles, we may even take her up the Inside Passage, which will take a few months. So I think having someone come on board and work with me on our boat is a good idea too. Hmmm, any suggestions? Do any of you local sailors have preferences or experience with any of these local sailing schools?

Evolution on the Move

The slip at Tomahawk Bay where Evolution had been moored for the past 20+ years, was a long way from where Bob and I live, 32.4 miles give or take a foot, so we decided to move her a bit closer to home.

For our purposes, we were looking for something a bit further west. I was amazed at the number of marinas in this area. Do you realize that there are over 80 marinas on the Columbia and Willamette? And about 50 of them within a 15 mile area? There are not only a large number of marinas, but the amenities, services and prices vary greatly too. We found slips in our size range from $90 to $195. (If you'd like to know more about area marinas, you can email me, and I will share my reasearch with you.)

One marina, which shall remain nameless, after quoting us a price of $100 a month, suddenly realized he’d quoted us an incorrect price - after learning that our boat was old and still needing work. Yes, the stuffy ol’ gent ‘remembered’ the correct price was $195 a month! Well! (Humpphh!) We didn’t want to moor there anyway! Crusty ol’ fart!!! (Dang, there goes that small town hick sneaking out again!)

We did find a nice little marina, with power, water, fuel, and even a little store. Rocky Point Marina, on the Willamette channel, had it all at a great price, and it’s run by very pleasant people!

So last weekend Evolution packed her bags and said goodbye to the only home she’d ever known. She sailed quickly and easily down the river, as if she knew she was bound for exciting new adventures at last.