First Time Anchoring

Yesterday we took Spray over to Frenchy's Cove at Anacapa Island to practice anchoring.  Shari, a childhood friend of LeeAnne's, was visiting from out of town and we figured that this would be a nice way to spend the day catching up. On the way over, about 1/4 mile past oil platform Gina, we spotted a couple of very large Mola Mola fish.  These are very unusual looking fish and it was a real treat to see them sun bathing at the surface.

Since we got a late start, we powered all the way over to Frenchy's Cove.  Although there was only one other boat anchored, there was a lot of activity at Frenchy's since it was being used a a turning mark for a sailboat race.  We dropped our anchor in 21' of water and laid out 100' of chain and 20' of rope.  The anchor set and held nicely.  We watched the racers turn the mark while we ate lunch and enjoyed the beautiful surroundings.  So far so good.

Our luck took a turn for the worse when we got ready to leave.  First of all, the engine wouldn't start!  We couldn't get any juice through the ignition switch and starter.  Charlie tried to diagnose the problem but couldn't find the root cause of the short.  There was good wind, so we decided to raise the sail, raise the anchor, and sail back to Channel Islands Harbor.  While using the windlass to raise the anchor, the chain kept binding as it fell into the anchor locker below the gypsy.  Charlie had LeeAnne pull the anchor rode into the anchor locker while he worked the windlass.  It was a real hassle and we need to figure out a better way to organize the rode in the lockers below the windlass!

As Charlie stowed the anchor, LeeAnne turned Spray around under the power of the main sail, and headed home. We unfurled the Genoa and had a great sail back at 6.5-7.5 knots.  As we approached Channel Islands Harbor, we were faced with a few options.  We could request a tow back to our slip from Vessel Assist, attempt to sail back into our slip, or sail back to our marina at an end tie.  It had been over 20 years since Charlie sailed a 36' sailboat into a slip without power, and he was a bit nervous about doing it.  Consequently, we decided to use the end tie on D dock.  We furled the Genoa as we approached the marina.  As we neared the dock, Charlie lowered the Main while LeeAnne steered her to the end tie.  Fortunately, our buddies from D dock were present and lended a hand for a nice smooth landing!  Even better, they had a pot of hot beef stew and refreshing drinks waiting for us.  What a great community!

After relaxing a bit, Charlie and Tom attempted to diagnose the problem with the ignition.  They determined that the switch was not getting power.  They then pulled the floor boards to trace the wires back to the battery and engine.  Charlie found a circuit breaker next to the starter solenoid, pressed the re-set button, and restored power to the ignition switch with ran the alarm and fans.  The engine started right up and we moved Spray back to her slip.  Although we now know how to re-set the circuit breaker, we still need to figure out what caused it to short.

All in all, it turned out to be a wonderful day.  We saw some large Mola Mola, practiced anchoring, watched a local race up close at beautiful Frenchy's Cove, exercised our sailing skills to sail back without axillary power, learned more about the engine electronics, and got to spend some quality time with our friends.

Replaced Portlights

This past Memorial Day weekend we were planning to make our first trip to Santa Cruz Island.  Unfortunately, the weather was bad and LeeAnne was recovering from a nasty cold.  Charlie decided to take the opportunity to complete Spray's portlight replacement project.  The six original plastic opening portlights had opaque lenses, cracked frames, broken screens, mismatched hardware, leaked, and had some frozen knobs.  We decided to replace them with six new stainless steel 4x14" opening port lights from New Found Metals complete with varnished teak trim rings and stainless steel bug screens.  Charlie replace the three on the port side a couple of months ago and finished the starboard side this weekend.  They took a lot more time and effort to install than we imagined (~5 hours each), but were well worth it!  The port lights open and close easily and can be left cracked open for ventilation.  The teak trim rings were varnished and coated with AwlBrite... so they look great and should hold up well.

 Original plastic portlights.








Of course, the hardest part of the job was working on the boat while the rest of D dock was partying.  The musicians were sounding particularly awesome this weekend.  I especially enjoyed the beach beat rendition of Neil Young's "Like a Hurricane" led by the birthday girl Donna..  I was blown away!

We also had Mike from Boatyard Electric replace the underpowered Guest 5/5 amp battery charger with a new Xantrex 40 amp TrueCharge2 charger and separate circuit breakers for overcurrent protection.  Mike did a great job with the installation and the new charger will do a better job of maintaining our house and starter batteries..