NANJO Chronicals - August in Windy Lane

Date: Sat, 18 Sep 1999

Ahoy,

We have not sunk - we have not purged you from the directory. We have been away from computers, libraries, and internet cafes. We HAVE been cruising around Anacapa, Santa Cruz and Santa Rosa Islands. We HAVE been in the boat yard working on Nanjo. We HAVE been entertaining Michael and Carolyn Flynn (family) in the islands. So now some of the details.

We picked a full moon to depart Dana Point for Oxnard, via Smugglers Cove. The voyage began much differently than the last time: No wind until mid-day, then about 10kts until after midnight. The swell was smaller as well. It was quite enjoyable. The next day we pulled into Smugglers shortly after noon. The next day we completed the 17 miles to Oxnard.

We made contact with Michael and Judith Thompson, neighbors from Emery Cove, who are living aboard at Anacapa Isle Marina, preparing for their cruising. Judith had checked out the Anacapa Boat Yard and felt it might be what we were looking for. It sure was. The rates were substantially lower than in Dana Point, the yard prices were slightly lower or competitive with West's for paint, etc, and they were very friendly. We decided to go in immediately. We located a surveyor to inspect the boat as our insurance company required and hauled out 2 days later.

First a note on the insurance we were being surveyed for: For an additional $250/yr, we are getting coverage throughout Mexico during the entire year (no Hurricane or "Named-storm" exclusion) with only an increase of deductible from 1% to 3%. Mexican liability insurance with hurricane season rider is $350.

The haulout didn't go as smoothly as we had expected . . . does it ever? We discovered that the portion of the hull between the old waterline and the new waterline had blisters. We had the previous yard put antifouling paint up higher since the Nanjo was sitting lower in the water with the additional weight she was carrying. We should have had a barrier coat put on first. It took 2 days for me to dig out and prepare the blisters for filling. In the meantime Nancy was removing some major fouling from the hull, sanding and clearing the thru-hulls of old antifouling and marine growth. We worked from sunup to sunset and were exhausted each day. The yard loaned us a grinder which shortened the finishing work. The shipwrights and painters gave us many suggestions and loaned us tools and airhoses. We partially coated the prop with antifouling, removed a zinc from the shaft (had 2 before) and added one to the strut (which didn't have one before). I rolled on 2.5 coats (a 3rd coat from the waterline down half way) of antifouling on the hull. We went in on Monday and came out on Saturday.

My bloodsugar readings had dropped over 100 points from the

"exercise",