Tag: nila girl (Page 2 of 2)

Any Last Words?

December 1, 2011 / renchapman / 0 Comments

“But what shall I do with my furniture?” My gay butterfly is tangled in a spider’s web then. Even those who seem for a long while not to have any, if you inquire more narrowly you will find have some stored in somebody’s barn.”
-Thoreau

We cast off the dock around 11:00pm on Wednesday, November 23. Already exhausted from three days of all work, no sleep (it’s more work than you may think to get your affairs in order, get a boat in order, and provision a boat for a seven month tour!) we had to take advantage of the weather window. Down the dark northeast Cape Fear we went, on our way to downtown Wilmington. It was cold as ice and a bit windy, what can you do? We put on more clothes and tried to get excited about our adventure. The moment I was hoping for, the elation after leaving the dock, was pretty understated. It turns out I wouldn’t feel that ‘moment’ for another three days.

Ren taking the opportunity for a little nap.

I tried not to let doubt creep in as I patiently waited for something to happen. Anything really. Anything sign to justify our decision to quit our jobs, sell our stuff (all of our stuff), move on a boat, and leave our families behind. I waited, not so patiently, for a white dove to land on our bimini top, a shooting star to spell out my name in the sky, Oreo to get up and start dancing a jig, or even Ren to just tell me everything is going to be alright. In his exhausted state, he was not in a position to offer support to a needy wife. I shouldn’t have been in the position to feel so needy. I mean come on, how many people take a chance like we were taking? How lucky are we to not be paralyzed by fear. Fear stopping us from our dreams! But I was paralyzed, not literally of course, but with fear. That too would pass, but it is still taking time.

Ashley keeping warm in nice sailing conditions.

As we approached downtown Wilmington I called my brother, at 3;00am, half hoping he would still be out and about ready to meet us for a beer. I knew that even if he answered we wouldn’t be stopping for that beer. It’s kind of like taking off a band-aid. You gotta rip it off, you can’t slowly pull, one arm hair at a time, until the thing is off. We had to keep on going. We had already said our goodbyes.

We left the Cape Fear river behind us around 7:00 am on Thanksgiving Day. Our first ocean passage was narrowing in on us. Once you leap from the precipice, there is no turning back. The leap off our edge was painless, we landed in water. The sailing on the first day was good. The wind was up, and we were able to sail at a nice beam reach.

Let me digress. Ren has worked extremely hard to learn all systems on the boat. Since we do not have the option of throwing and endless supply of money every one of Nila Girl’s whims one of us had to learn to be resourceful so that most every repair could be made by us. Two words, “Not it!”. Because of Ren’s capabilities as primary captain, engineer, mechanic, husband, etc. he decided to engineer a wheel adapter for our self steering wind vane. A manufactured wheel adapter, $500.00. Ren’s wheel adapter, $50.00. Knowing ahead of time when to buy the real thing, Priceless. As we were getting ready to settle in, on the same side of the cockpit of course, and let our trusty Windpilot take over for us for a while, we learned that the wheel adapter Ren created just wouldn’t work quite right. Damn! I guess that’s what you get when you are rushing the boat for a weather window, not to mention, you quit your job and have to dodge town ASAP in order to stop spending money out of your newly fixed income.

The lee cloth keeping Ren snuggled up on the starboard side of Nila Girl.

Back to sailing down a nice beam reach. So we were steering down a nice beam reach and decided that hand steering all night just wouldn’t do. Ren taught me something valuable at that moment. Something to store in the vault of Sailing Information in my brain. Not to be immediately discarded with other sailing lectures from him such as, “trim this sail like this blah, blah blah”, “…then release the switch, then push this button here, blah, blah, blah”, or “winch this here and tie the so and so knot to cinch blah, blah blah”. No, this advice was something I could immediately start practicing. You can actually let the boat sail itself, if you’re not downwind, and you set the sails perfect and lock the wheel in place. Holy crap! You would’ve thought I won the lottery. I was going to be able to read, in 15 minute intervals, while on watch. This was going to be A-Ok.

The wind blew all day and into the night. We kept watch in 3 hour intervals, which worked great. Ren sewed us a couple of lee cloths (I told you he was sickeningly resourceful…lucky me!) which I couldn’t imagine spending a night in the ocean without. They turned our downtime between watches from fitfully tossing around on a settee cushion that’s already a bit too small into a decent little nap. I actually became so fond of the lee cloths that when we later anchored in the ICWW I preferred to sleep on the settee cushion that still had the lee cloth up. Sleeping next to one is like being cradled in your mother’s arms. I may have just been homesick.

We survived our first day and night at sea. We didn’t kill ourselves or each other. Oreo faired well too. At first, all three of us felt a bout of sea sickness. No chunks, just nausea. Ren and I ate Gin Gins, in part because they are supposed to ease the nausea of motion sickness, in part because they are freaking delicious. Oreo tried one but didn’t like it so he fought the sickness by panting a lot.

Lee cloth on the starboard side, handmade by Ren.

Moving In

November 30, 2011 / renchapman / 0 Comments

“All endeavor calls for the ability to tramp the last mile, shape the last plan, endure the last hours toil. The fight to the finish spirit it the one…characteristic we must posses if we are to face the future as finishers.”
-Thoreau

We’re going to jump ahead for a minute now in order to inform you of our current status. We have successfully moved onto Nila Girl!! Our official move in date was July 1, 2011. If you’ve never tried it before, I DARE you to pack up years of your life in a house, make that two lives in a house, and move onto a 35’ boat. It is harder than it sounds (tongue in cheek).

A view of the port side of Nila Girl’s salon.

Our landlubbing home was full of years of belongings that had to go somewhere. We either had to move our stuff onto the boat, move our stuff to our parents’ houses or sell up. We decided to do all three, oh yeah, and keep a bunch of our stuff in limbo, on a trailer at Ren’s Grandmother’s house. The transitioning of our stuff was/is a huge pain in the neck. I’m getting a little tinge of anxiety right now just thinking about it.

Breathe, breathe, breathe…ok, I can continue.

A couple of days before “the move” my parents came into town to pick up some of our “precious” items. The things we cannot replace. I learned that we have more precious items than I originally thought, or we were completely unable to get rid of everything right away. They took a lot of stuff off of our hands. We also ditched a lot of things with Ren’s parents too. Believe it or not, family is great for taking the things you just can’t stand to sell to a stranger. Man, family is wonderful!!

I stayed those first few nights before “the move” on the boat alone since Ren was out of town for work. This gave me a chance or organize the boat and put my plan into action.

The bow pulpit.

Plan= Writing a list of items on a copy of the boat’s blueprint. I use the blueprint to locate items on the boat. Thanks for the organizing tips from Jeanette Pucella on Puff! I can’t wait to see the inside of her boat someday…and realize how unorganized mine is I’m sure.

When I had reasonably organized the boat Ren was already on his way back into town. The day after he returned, it was Go(h) time (We miss you Goh and Laura!). We spent the day, with help from our wonderful, beautiful, caring, giving, selfless families moving. I Hate moving! Let me say that again, I Hate moving! And yes, I used the “H” word. The thought of moving gives me the same sensation as falling asleep at the wheel when you still have 80 miles to drive. For the academics:

satan:evil::moving:torture

I’m probably being a little dramatic here but I find relief in the thought that if we ever move back on land, we will not have anything to move except a 35’ boat full of stuff.

We spent the day moving and we got it all done. Of course, moving onto a boat and getting her into ship-shape for a November departure is dynamic. We have a list tacked onto a cork board that we see every day. The list includes all of the things we still have to do to the boat. Ren is doing a great job of pecking away at the list. As of day 1 on the boat there were 28 things on the list. As of today, just a few days over one month, there are 13 things crossed off of the list. This may not seem like a lot of crossing off to some of you but bear in mind, we still have full time jobs right now, and are teaching a full summer of dive classes. 28 is my new favorite number!! The boat is looking better every day and even resembles a home. We have throw pillows and Oreo even has his own little private sleeping nook.

1st Emergency And A Night Sail-By Ren and Ash

November 28, 2011 / renchapman / 0 Comments

It only took 6 years!

Well we were finally on our way and we were approaching our first obstacle, the 42 foot tall bridge. We had already leaned the mast back so all that was required was to pull the engine back and ease her through. So we did. And as soon as we pulled it back the engine went dead! Luckily the wind was behind us and we drifted under the bridge and dropped anchor on the other side to assess the problem. I bled the engine several times and tried time after time to restart. After throwing the wrench at it we decided to reset the mast and then come back to the engine. If all else fails we could sail downwind to a marina at Dragon Point, which is where the Banana river meets the Indian river at the Intracoastal Waterway (ICWW). So we got the mast back in place and started back on the engine to no avail.

This is where I first realized how helpless sailing can make you feel. Ren is wrenching on the engine and cussing for me to bring him tools. I’m cussing for him to hurry up! Losing your cool makes engine wrenching in rough weather pretty difficult. In the meantime, it’s raining outside. I understand, even at this early moment in our cruising careers, that this emergency is probably a level 1 on a scale of 1 to 10. This reality check makes me think we need more practice, at least communicating effectively under pressure.

As I’m contemplating our situation I realize that we are drifting back towards the bridge. My default reaction is to trust that Ren knows exactly what’s going on all the time. I watch the sweat drip down his butt crack and think, nah, he has no clue that we’re drifting. I dramatically scream out, “The anchor is slipping!” We both rush on deck. Ren begins pulling the anchor up until the rusty end of the anchor chain slips past the bow pulpit. Where’s the anchor you ask? Hell if we know! It’s about 30 feet on the south side of that 42’ bridge we mentioned. Probably creating an artificial reef for some pinfish. Good thing the boat was already equipped with two anchors up front and one in the back. We quickly dropped a second hook and continued arguing.

We contacted the closest marina and the draw bridge, both to our south and informed them of our predicament. For the first time we were under sail in our new boat! Just as if we were back home sailing our 18’ Hobie Cat, we maneuvered our 35 footer perfectly into the slip under sail, dousing the main and then the jib at the perfect moment to the amazement of the dockmaster who had been awaiting our arrival.

Back in our comfort zone, the arguing subsides and we are immediately in love again. At this moment, during our first sail in our new boat, I remember that I want to marry Ren more than anything else in the world and this new adventure we are dreaming about has become the ONLY option. No more sitting in traffic on my way home from the office. No more Ren working in the heat, coming home with bloody knuckles from manual labor (or so I think). No more paying bills! We are going to be cruisers and every day of our lives will be like this moment, a moonrise (full moon at that), a perfect downwind breeze, warm beers and a huge stretch of water between us and everything else we are responsible for. A naive perspective, yes, but the Polyanna rose colored life perspective I had hoped sailing would bring.

We tied up and I immediately began working on the Westerbeke 4-108. Actually the engine was manufactured for Westerbeke by Perkins so in fact it is a Perkins 4-108. Westerbeke buys engines from numerous manufacturers, paints them red and does the marketing and sales under their name. Anyway, within about 30 minutes I had the thing running again.

By now it was getting dark but to stay on schedule we had to make Titusville, FL which was 35 miles to our north. The adventure had just begun and we were already sailing at night and loving it! Throughout the entire trip to North Carolina I can count on one hand the opportunities where the wind wasn’t in our faces and we could actually sail. This first night was one of them. We were on our way!

We made it that night to Titusville and woke to a gorgeous morning on the space coast. After a calm night at anchor we motored into the Titusville municipal marina and had a huge breakfast at a local diner and were back under way by 9am. We really had no idea how far we were going but we knew we wanted to try and at least do 120 miles each day.

Making The Decision-By Ren And Ash

October 31, 2011 / renchapman / 0 Comments

“Do not worry if you have built your castles in the air. They are where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.”
-Thoreau

We can’t thank Eric enough for all of the help he gave us getting things moving.

For two weeks after the first inspection of Nila Girl we combed the web for information on buying a sailboat. What should we look for? We asked questions and asked more questions. We spoke with everyone that we knew that either owned a sailboat or had previously owned a sailboat. And then we had to find the money to buy the thing. Big problem! We thought of everything. We had a good idea the banks wouldn’t loan us any money and we were right, so we had to get creative. We had a yard sale and sold my 1982 Toyota pickup, which I didn’t drive anymore. I sold my half restored 1964 Simmon’s Sea Skiff, a really neat wooden fishing boat built by a Southeastern North Carolinian and craftsman. I had a little money in the bank to make up the difference.

After negotiating for several weeks with the broker, I drove back down to Merritt Island, FL in November of 2010 and took ownership of a 1968 Pearson 35. Polonez was now registered in Ashley’s name and from day one the work began for me. When we purchased her, the engine was not running. It worked out that the day after I got to Florida our friend Eric.

An extremely talented diesel mechanic, was headed to the Keys to visit his parents and stopped in to lend a hand. Within an hour we had the engine running and I was one happy camper! I stayed on the boat another night and left Her in Merritt Island with the intentions of returning with Ash the following weekend to bring her the first leg of the journey back to North Carolina.

A sweet little card from our first sailing buddies.

Merrit Island is about an eight hour drive from Wilmington so our goal was to finish the delivery in a few weeks doing 200 mile legs each visit south, shortening our road trips by at least 3 hours each time. We left the weekend before Thanksgiving for our first leg. The plan was to leave our car in Merritt Island, make it up to Jacksonville, FL with the boat and then rent a car in order to drive south and retrieve our car. Sounds logical enough! So after several days of prepping the boat for departure, which included the laying back of the mast, we left Merritt Island. Why would we lay the mast back you ask? Well, the only way out of the Banana River was either under a 35 foot bridge or a 42 foot bridge. The problem with this is our mast is 44 feet from the waterline. So we spent a day deriving the plan and it all worked out.

I will interject here! It wasn’t until we actually showed up at the dock that we realized we were “trapped” in the Banana River by a bridge that happened to be shorter than our mast. We had two things going for us upon assessing our condition;

1. Ms. Maria had successfully sailed Polonez over the course of 15 years, and we knew she went further than the Banana River.

2. Ren happens to be one of the most resourceful people on the planet. Nicknamed, MacGyver in high school, the man can build a 747 out of tin foil and rubber bands (not really just tin foil and rubber bands, he would require a paper clip too). So, armed with this information we did what any anxious new boat owning couple would do…we scampered back to Ms. Maria and asked for advice.

Polonez…but not for long.

We spent several hours catching up with the Ciechanskis. They told us stories, offered us some Polish cookies and went to explaining how we would accomplish getting Polonez through the bridge. As Mr. Alexander drew diagrams for Ren, explaining the feat all the while in broken English, Mrs. Maria also explained, at the same time as Mr. Alexander, over his shoulder, in better English. Confusing…yes. It became obvious that we would need to lean the mast back as opposed to de-masting the boat. The Chiechanskis, innovative immigrants as they are, constructed a special tool to aid in the process. The tool is made of two 2x2x12 pieces of pine formed like a “V” with a metal plate at either end of the “V”. The metal plates connected to either site of the boat at the chainplates. The main sheet and vang is connected to the bottom of the forestay and the top of the “V” of the tool, to the bottom of the main sheet. Using the main sheet, we slowly laid back the mast and forestay.

As Ren and our temporary neighbors, Mike and Dana (we talk more about them in a minute), worked on the project, my job was to document the process through pictures and film. The laying back of the mast was a success!

Oh, before I forget, we met some really terrific people at the Banana River Marina. Dana and Ricky and Mike. They were big help to us with preparing the boat and just filling us with the confidence to pursue our goals. Thanks a bunch guys. And Mike, thank you for the care package!

Again, I feel it is necessary to make proper mention of our new friends. Dana and Ricky are a couple who have spent most of their married lives together living on the water. The managed to raise two little girls traveling and sailing all the while. While they live on a powerboat now, an old Hatteras, they talk of finding a sailboat to take them wherever the winds might blow once again. One of their daughters actually grew up to live on a boat too with her husband, a few boats down the dock from Dana and Ricky. During their sailing years they’ve lived all over in the Caribbean including Jamaica. It was only until their daughters reached their teenage years that they flirted with the idea of moving to land. They lived this way, topside I mean, for ten years before the ocean called them back home.

While preparing our boat for travel, Ren and I frequently became agitated with each other. As we are usually team mates, partners, contemporaries in every aspect of our relationship I soon was faced with the realization that Nila Girl needed Ren MUCH more than she needed me. My feelings of uselessness were frustrating and causing me to lash out at Ren, who took no issue shouting orders at me. He thinks, I need a screwdriver. I’m curled up in the engine room like a pretzel right now and Ashley is just sitting there. I’ll ask her for a screwdriver. He says, “Ash, get me a screwdriver!” I think, I’m right in the middle of something right now. Get your own screwdriver. I don’t want to negotiate the companionway for the tenth time in the last 5 minutes. I say, “Ugh, fine! Here!” And so it begins….

Ricky provided me with a little woman to woman advise. “First rate, first mate.” Meaning, my jobs are just as necessary as his jobs, even if his jobs determine wether or not we’re leaving the dock. The work wouldn’t get done if a first rate, first mate wasn’t there to hand over screwdrivers, provide lunch, and steer the boat while the captain is down below, cussing at stuff. This is how I reassured myself anyway.

Mike was our “next door neighbor” while docked at Banana River. Mike, a long time surf friend of Dana’s from their formative years, spends his weekends aboard Tater. Yes, his dinghy’s name is Tater’s Tot! The three of them just sit back on the water, playing some guitar, drinking some beers and talk. The good life! Mike was nice enough to leave Ren and I a little care package on our “doorstep” while we were out provisioning for the upcoming haul. Who knew velcro sticky pads could be so useful! We now have them everywhere.

back to the story later….

Tag: nila girl (Page 2 of 2)

Any Last Words?

Moving In

1st Emergency And A Night Sail-By Ren and Ash

Making The Decision-By Ren And Ash

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