Trick…or the best treat ever!

Listening to "The Commander Thinks Aloud" by The Long Winters

I was sitting at the airport the other day waiting for my flight to be called when I heard a final boarding call for Springfield.  Suddenly, I had the most incredible urge to grab a group of friends, dress up like the Simpsons, and show up at that gate.  I imagine they must get that a lot…

Yes, that is a cemetery behind the ghost.

Last night was Halloween and I suppose I have the Simpsons on the brain because I downloaded their Halloween special and watched "Treehouse of Horror" which is about as scary as I can tolerate.  Oh, that and Sleepy Hollow.  I mean, what is this time of year without a Tim Burton film, right?  Anyway, I am a total wimp when it comes to scary things in general.  Guess who was sooooo scared by 'House on Haunted Hill' (not even the original, but the remake) that she spent the entire time peeking through her fingers and desperately trying not to hear what was going on in various scenes.  I'll give you a hint.  It was NOT my friend's ten year old daughter who didn't realize there would be two shows that evening.  The "lame" movie (her words, not mine.  I favoured terrifying) and her mother's wimpy friend.  I blame this on an extremely active imagination coupled with a prolific story teller for a mother.  While other children were getting Sesame Street and Fat Albert, I was regaled with wild tales of Ali Baba, The Brother's Grimm, and the various haunted houses my mother was forced to live in as a child.  Punctuate this with frequent family picnics at the cemetery (a long story) and perhaps you can empathize.  

I spent the rest of the evening hanging out with friends in town while they gave out infinitely more treats than tricks and admired the various costumes.  Riding my bike home with a pocketful of candy for Drake I gave the little cemetery a piercing glance as I passed, everything appeared to be in order, and arrived at Paragon to find the best treat ever.  Drake informed me that after four long months we are *drum roll please* GOING BACK IN THE WATER!  

Yes, my friends, we are finally getting Paragon back into the water.  Now comes the interesting part.  We will be put in the travel lift tomorrow later in the afternoon, but instead of being lowered right into the water we are going to stay in the lift over the weekend.  Why, you might ask? 

These areas concealed by the wood will be painted this weekend.

Paragon has many jack stands supporting the hull on both sides, but on the bottom she is resting on wooden logs in two different places.  We were able to paint the hull and switch out jack stands to paint the areas that were covered by the old stands, but we haven't been able to scrape and paint those areas concealed by the wood.  This way, while hanging in the travel lift over the weekend, we will be able to scrape those areas and put three coats of bottom paint on those last sections of the keel.

So, when people ask what I plan to do this weekend, I can honestly say:

"Oh, ya know.  Just hangin'..."

When the bow is in the trees...

Listening to "Bump & Sway" by Deep Banana Blackout

The other day a wise man said to us, "When the bow is in the trees, you're running out of seas".  Well...

looking towards the marina slips from Paragon's bow

Have we taken a wrong turn?  Perhaps zigged when we should have zagged?  No, we have simply, in our infinite wisdom and good timing, chosen to be hauled out in the hottest part of the year.  *sigh*

This has been a delightful summer thus far, with temperatures hovering in the mid-seventies to low eighties, cool breezes in abundance, and nights that require a light hoodie.  No longer.  The thermometer will be pushing 100˚F/38˚C this weekend with a heat watch advisory from the weather service.  (hey!  look at that heat!)

Fortunately for us the cruising community is an amazing group of people.  A cruiser stopped by earlier today and lent us a window air conditioning unit to use while we are on the hard.

HALLELUJAH!  

Thank you, thank you, a million times thank you.  Thanks to this kind gentleman, I am now writing to you from the chilled confines of the boat.  

Getting hauled out was certainly an adventure.  Doubly so since we not only removed Paragon from the water, but stepped the mast as well.  No longer are we the slowest, saddest little trawler in the marina....we're a SAILBOAT once again!

We maneuvered into the working slip at Sailcraft Boatyard, tied off, and began preparations.

Paragon in the Sailcraft slip

We did a final examination of the mast, secured the rigging, then prepared to move her.  I'm not sure how I thought we would move this massive structure from point A (on the grass) to point B (by the boat), but I was certain it would involve all sorts of high tech procedures and equipment.  Nope.  Instead we loaded it onto this little trolley and rolled it right on over to the crane.  Space age technology, I tell you...

bracing the mast on the rolling cart

Of course, every bit of our work was carefully observed by the official quality control and safety expert, Bo.  He is Mark the rigger's dog, and is always ready to offer an ear...that is, if you're willing to scratch.

Quality control overseen by Bo

Wires were tied and, lo and behold, the mast was lifted.

I seriously hope this holds!

After some minor adjustments, the mast was set down...

Stepping the mast

 And voila.  Shrouds and Stays were attached (these are cables that run from the mast to various points on the deck and keep the mast from pulling a Humpty Dumpty and tumbling down), and some light tuning was done.


Next, Paragon was hauled out and the hull was blasted by a pressure washer to get over two years of crud off.  Much to our *happy* surprise, the bottom was mainly free of barnacles and other vermin...that means less scraping for yours truly.  *grin*

The power washing begins

Paragon is rather massive when seen from this angle

The last time Paragon had her hull scrubbed was just before Drake sailed from Sint Maarten to Oriental in 2010.  You can check out that voyage below.

So here we are...sitting on the hard and forming our plan of attack.  There is much work to be done, but since it is mosty toasty outside I believe we will sit back, enjoy the cool air conditioning, and perhaps share a toast to the newly restored mast. 


Cheers!