The title of this article is an intentional double entendre. It is the month of March and the beginning of the endgame that will culminate in shoving off and becoming full time adventurers. It is also time to reawaken our vessel and get her sailing again after a frigid but reasonably peaceful winter snooze in our Back Creek slip.
The first meaning of the title is subtle but most the important. The clock has finally started for shoving off. The event that started the clock is that the sailing master (Judy) is now working full time on preparing Makara for the adventure ahead. Yes, she is finally retired from the rat race and now is on Neptune’s team.
The Universe has a way of nudging one in the proper direction. Our most recent plans called for me to be retiring at the end of March to prepare for a fall get away, but about a month or so ago we had talked of delaying my retirement a bit due to the economic times (401k’s and such not being what they were six months ago). In a serendipitous nudge (actually a shove) my employer, reacting to the economic times decided, quite unexpectedly, to close down the entire facility where I worked. It only took about a two days to recover from the shock until I realized what a blessing this was – I am now free to pursue our original plan with severance. That’s a pretty big hint and a very good deal.
It is not an understatement that it takes full focus to get all the work, procurement (think spares), preparations, administrative arrangements and so on accomplished before jumping off the dock for the last time. These things are nearly impossible to do working full time and being a weekend sailor. There is also time to work on physical conditioning, which is very important as well, especially given the old sea hags age! As the pirate say “crunches argggg!”. Let us say that through one means or another, the planets are aligning and the time is getting near.
The second meaning of the title is the most straightforward, but nevertheless tactically important. The cocktail of pink glycol to prevent freezing will shortly be flushed from Makara’s veins, her iron heart (engine in less colorful terms) will be reanimated and here wings (that is sails) reinstalled. All the dirt and grime from winter will be washed off and she will be lovingly buffed and polished for the season. We are also setting up to have a little cosmetic surgery on her bow pulpit, a “nose job” so to speak, to reposition and upgrade her forward navigation lights. This is a consequence of the Rochna anchor roll bar being way to close to the dual navigation lights at the tip of her bow. The navigation light has already been banged pretty bad (in a nasty blow last November), so we will go with separate port and starboard LED lights away from the anchor and clear that area of stainless steel. We also have new permanent registration numbers for the dinghy and will systematically go through all onboard systems.
There are many tasks put on hold last fall due to falling temperatures and Nancy’s demanding work schedule. It was a cold winter and it came early. First priority is getting the custom dinghy mount on the cabin top and our jack line installation. Lots of pad eyes to place in key positions. Safety is our number one priority and many days out on the ocean has taught us the importance of jack lines. The water maker installation will be finished this spring as well. Ah, and the “barbie” needs to be installed. No, not the doll, rather the barbecue. I love grilling and the best boat grills come from Australia. While that may sound frivolous it does get the heat out of the galley for summer cooking and we like grilled fish! These are just a few of many tasks, but the main one is sailing her. That part we are very much looking forward to. We will need to get to know her a good deal better in order to understand the finishing touches that must be applied to make her deep water ready.
Add to this the extensive get ready list which currently has over 150 individual tasks on it, and mounting, and you can see we have a busy summer planned. The good thing is that I am now free to spend as much time as possible working on the list. Gee, doesn’t sound so bad when you have the perk of spending many days and nights on a boat like Makara in beautiful Back Creek in Annapolis. The skipper is jealous already!