HOW could we forget?!?!?

So yesterday I was going through some pictures and came across our wedding photos. Such a wonderful day ( just wish it hadn't gone by so quickly!).  As I was going through them I realized that we failed to share, on our sailing blog, what we felt was one of the coolest parts of our wedding - the cake!!!! For those familiar with The Food Network you'll recognize the name "Charm City Cakes".  The show on Food network is Ace of Cakes. We went back and forth about this during our wedding planning but seeing as how we're relatively close to Baltimore, where their cake shop is, and we had some extra money in our budget from other cost savings we decided to go for it. We were not disappointed!  We wanted a 3D replica of our Tango, underway, complete with all the details, and with J and I at the helm. It was crazy how accurate it was!! 

They captured detail on our mainsail, our solar and radar, the dorades.... 

While J has a bit more gray here than he actually has (hehe) they did a really good job capturing everything even down to our attire. 

It was very hard to cut the cake as you can see by J's expression in this pic, and mine in the next photo. 

It was SO good!!! It was a blueberry and lemon curd cake - absolutely delicious! We had expected approx 75 people at the wedding but asked for a cake to feed 100 (hey, we like cake and it was so good during our tasting, we knew we'd want leftovers). Well we had 67 people show up and there were no leftovers!!! Guess it wasn't only us that thought it was so good ;) 

Sailboat Show - The Booty

So an update from our visit to the Annapolis boat show...

It was a LONG couple of days at the boat show but as usual, we really enjoyed attending. 

This year there seemed to be less vendors which was upsetting, especially since some of them we had planned on visiting. We heard from the M's, who attended the Newport Show, that the same has happened there as well.  Hopefully this year was just a fluke...

We made some progress on our list, did lots of research and price comparison, and even walked away with a few items not on the list (shocking, that never happens). Here's where we stand:

• New Screens for the Port Lights
• FX-37 Fortress Anchor - DONE
• Offshore Foul Weather Gear - DONE (and they rock! So much better than our current gear. They are breathable and super comfy)
• Boom Vang (we have one but not sure if we are going to replace it or repair it)
• Replacement Reading Light for the Saloon
• Breeze Booster (we have one for the port light and LOVE it! We want another)
• Solar Panels (we want two more to add to our existing two)
• Blue Sky Solar Regulator
• Wall Thermometer
• P4 Dragon Pactor Modem
• Sea Anchor
• Drogue
• Wind Generator
• New Batteries
• Hatch Refurbishment
• Filter Boss Commander
• Swim Ladder
• Piston Arm for Main Hatch
• Handheld VHF - DONE
• Chain Stopper

J in his new offshore gear (please ignore the mess - this was taken just as we got home and were unpacking from our weekend at the show.)

The items which we left with that were not on our original list:

• ATN Mast climber (just the ascenders, we already have a bosuns chair)
• Chain markers for our anchor rode (we tried using rescue tape to mark the chain in 25ft increments.  While it withstands being in the water, when it is deployed/brought in the windlass tears it apart. Time to look for alternatives, maybe what we got at the show will work).
• Snatch Block for Sea Anchor (we LOVE Garhauer.  If you ever need any sort of block, tackle or stainless work done, definitely check them out.  
• Lifeproof waterproof iPad cover 
• SSCA membership

We had a wonderful time meeting with other Mason owners. We met 4 other couples and had an opportunity to share storeies about our cruising adventures, future plans and of course boat projects.  Turns out two of the couples are in the same area as we are!   We look forward to seeing them out on the water in the coming years.  

Volunteering was a blast - the folks at Good Old Boat are awesome, nuff said!  We had the last shift of the day so the boat show traffic had started to die down a bit (the rain didn't help either) but that didn't stop us from bringing in some renewals as well as new subscribers.  It really is a great magazine.  We're planning to volunteer again next year as well.  

One of our favorite weekends of the year!

Birthday??  Christmas??  Beer Festival?? (That's a close one!)

No, it's the Annapolis Sailboat Show! 

Unfortunately this year the weather is not cooperating with us.  Looks like it will be in the mid-to-lower 60's (loving the temps!) but will be raining for the two days we'll be there. 

This year we are heading up with a longer list than in previous years.  Some must buys, some hope to buys and some things we need to research. 

Here goes:

• New Screens for the Port Lights
• FX-37 Fortress Anchor
• Offshore Foul Weather Gear
• Boom Vang (we have one but not sure if we are going to replace it or repair it)
• Replacement Reading Light for the Saloon
• Breeze Booster (we have one for the port light and LOVE it! We want another)
• Solar Panels (we want two more to add to our existing two)
• Blue Sky Solar Regulator
• Wall Thermometer
• P4 Dragon Pactor Modem
• Sea Anchor
• Drogue
• Wind Generator
• New Batteries
• Hatch Refurbishment
• Filter Boss Commander
• Swim Ladder
• Piston Arm for Main Hatch
• Handheld VHF
• Chain Stopper

So yah, it's a SERIOUS list!!

To make this year even better we've got two exciting events.  First we are going to be volunteering with Good Old Boat on Saturday.  This magazine is awesome and more than once we've been able to use their articles to help us with our own projects.  We always look forward to getting our copy in the mailbox!  Second, we'll be meeting up with 4 other couples who are also Mason owners.  We've met one couple (the M's) but are very excited to meet others!  Can't wait to share stories, lessons learned, cruising plans and future adventures with them!

While the weather has been less than ideal the last couple of days, the sunsets at the dock have been spectacular! 

Wednesday Evening

Tuesday Evening

Brain Break... Sort Of

Things have been busy aboard S/V Last Tango since our last post.  We're continuing to make progress on our refit/offshore/long term cruising prep (more detailed posts on those projects to follow) and I think we've got a good 6 or 7 lists in work: things to buy at the boat show, projects to complete now, projects in work, must do before we leave the dock, must do before we cross an ocean, things to do when we have time, aka the nice to haves and so on...

But between life (read: schoolwork and work-work) and some fun landlubber trips to play tourist and visit family we've been trying to get away from the dock when we can.  It can't be all work and no play!  

A few weeks ago we threw off the lines and headed to one our favorite spots up the St. Mary's River and anchored out for a night.  We got there early enough on Friday that we got some down time but sadly had to head back the next day.    Our dock mates and very good friends aboard S/V Doggie Paddle joined us.  It was a wonderful weekend, but as usual, all to short!  This is a pic, captured by A aboard Doggie Paddle - Thanks A!

 

Then the following weekend, with the weather working in our favor, we headed back to St. Mary's but this time we'd have a couple of nights on the hook - yay!  A few hours after dropping the hook, our friends on Doggie Paddle (unexpectedly) pulled into the creek as well - a great surprise!  That night we met for sundowners and decided to meet up again in the morning for a potluck breakfast.   This is one of the things we love about boat life - impromptu gatherings.

S/V Doggie Paddle in the background and the S's on their way over for breakfast!

J took the dink over to the college to pick up our friend P for breakfast. Love that we can pick up our land friends while we're on the hook!

 

The weather couldn't have been better, cool temps and a light breeze. We had two days in the river and while it was a much needed brain break from "normal life" it was a rather productive break.  J did some work on our electrical system and battery charger (more from him on that, I'm sure), he troubleshot and fixed our solar (seemed as though they were not working but turns out it was just a bad connection).  We've applied a Band-Aid for now until we can find better electrical connectors for them.   WM only carries one brand, the same ones that we currently (which we don't like, they broke after a few short years) so more researching on those will be needed before we can fully be done with that project.  We are swapping out our mast (post will be done soon on that topic) and were able to find a great deal on a used winch (we needed one more) on eBay so I spent a couple of hours servicing the "new to us" winch.  Also I knocked out some polishing and rust/corrosion treatment and was able to finish a couple of school projects.

I don't know if other boaters feel this way but boat work for us always feels cathartic, especially when being done on the hook.  You're outside, away from it all - just you, the water slapping on the hull and the project at hand...  

The Mast - revisited, again...

So we've posted about this before.  Last year we stopped in Connecticut on our way home from visiting family in Maine to check out a fellow Mason owners used mast.  The M's decided to swap theirs a few years ago and their used mast is in great shape.  At the time we were seriously considering buying it, see post here but since we hadn't had many opportunities to sail Tango with her in mast furling, we felt we needed to give it a chance and see if we really wanted to swap them out (not an inexpensive endeavor).

We had an in mast furling main on our previous boat and never had an issue.  It was super simple and we really liked it.  However, the system on Tango never seemed to work as well.  Over the last year we've done research, talked with other Mason owners with in mast furling mains, tried every scenario (seems all things need to be just right in order for it to come out/in smoothly) and still have issues on a more often than not basis.  After many discussions and back and forth we've decided that we don't want to take off on our extended cruising with an in mast furling system.  We've chosen to swap over to a traditional rig.  

So we've purchased the mast from the M's, it's been shipped down from CT to MD where the swap and work will be done.  We've got a lot to do in order to transition it over.   Everything on our current mast needs to be removed and placed on the new one, the wiring needs to be modified, the boom will need to be modified and we'll have to install the reef points.  We also bought the mainsail from the M's which we'll use until such time we get our new sail. So a lot of work left to do with regards to the mast but we're definitely looking forward to having them swapped out!

 

 

Badass Ground Tackle

Once we take off cruising we don't plan on spending nights on the dock.  We won't have the money to be able to and we prefer being on the hook anyway.  Since we'll be spending so much time on the hook, our anchor and ground tackle is our life insurance policy.  When rough weather hits we need to know we can hunker down and ride it out. We like to call it, "The Shiznit"...

We replaced our primary anchor with a Rocna 44....

 

Our chain was replaced with 300ft of 3/8" high test chain...

 

 

Then we added an additional 200ft of 1" three strand line...

 

And this, friends, is why we call it "The Shiznit"...

P.S. With this new setup J no longer wakes up every couple of hours to check our position.  We sleep like babies!

Long Time, No Blog

Okay...time to revive this blog as it was beginning to appear DOA. Much has happened in our lives, and aboard Last Tango, since our last post...where to begin? We've gotten married (to each other even!), had a wonderful sailing honeymoon completing a leisurely DelMarVA circumnavigation aboard our girl, and have done a metric crap-ton of work continuing to make Tango our home and getting her ready to leave the proverbial "safe harbor". Instead of picking up where we left off, I'll just give some voyage prep highlights.

 

Wedding Day Bliss...He may kiss the bride!

Notice the ball and chain...

At the Waterside Marina in Norfolk, VA

Have you ever had to move 400' of 3/8" HT chain weighing 600lbs onto the dock, put 200' of 1" 3-strand nylon line in a 2 cubic-foot box that rode home in the front of a Porsche Boxster (not a practical SUV), or man-handle a 40 kg Rocna anchor that would look at home on the bow of a ferry? If not, you may have never outfitted the ground tackle for a Mason 44 headed on an indefinite period, world-wide voyage. Some might consider this extreme overkill, but we consider it life/boat insurance. We decided to invest heavily (literally) into a primary bower that could handle a blow in less than ideal conditions. While it will take a week to raise should the windlass fail, we'll sleep well knowing we have ground tackle that will keep us firmly attached to said ground. Thanks to Bob and Linda Hargreaves aboard S/V Bright Angel, currently cruising the Pacific, for confirming that we are not crazy, that this tackle is not excessive, and it actually fits quite nicely aboard their Mason 44. Now comes the weekend fun of splicing and installing the lot. More to come on that in future blogs...

400' of 3/8" HT Chain - 300' for primary, 100' for secondary

200' of 1" three-strand line

Rocna 40... well over half the size of Kelly

How many out there have used a spoon to remove excrement from clogged lines in their head? If you live on a boat, and have a "normal" marine head, this will eventually happen to you too. Ahhh, the joys of boat life. We lucked out and this happened to us while securely fastened to the dock, but it would have been a far worse mess had it happened halfway across the Pacific in a churning sea. For this reason, and our disgust with the smelly lines associated with Tango's bowels, we took the plunge and ordered an Air Head. Yep, you may have heard of these composting gems before, and now Tango has this throne perched high in her head. While it does take some getting used to (it is really tall), and neither of us take pleasure in having to empty the liquids container every day or two, it is far better than the smell of malodorous hoses or the joys of having to clean a clogged line. We were both a bit concerned with the smell that it would generate, but are happy to find that the odor, which is only noticeable if you stick your face up to it (of course we had to...we wanted to know if it stunk), is that of moist earth with a hint of coconut. The coconut aroma is likely because we use coconut coir in it. Much better than what we smelled when cleaning out the clogged line...can you say gag reflex fully initiated?

Who here has hand steered a course through rolling seas for 31 hours straight? On a starless night, staring at the red ball of death (i.e., compass) turned Tango into a bit of a vomit comet for one crew member, who shall remain nameless. In those rolling and windy conditions, the auto-pilot doesn't do such a great job (and it uses way too much precious battery power), so hand steering was the solution. Not anymore. May I introduce the newest full time crew member aboard S/V Last Tango...Her name, with thanks to Paul Hofmann, is ASSWOP (Automatic Self Steering WithOut Power) and she is a lovely new Monitor windvane. Though it took a couple days of measuring, drilling, filling, remeasuring, cursing, redrilling, mounting, and finally fully installing, she is now worth her weight in grog. ASSWOP uses wind and water to steer the boat, both normally available to a sailing vessel, and with our limited experience using her, she has demonstrated she can keep Tango on course within about +/- 5 degrees, making her better than many helms-folk. 

This was a vital part of her refit and in making her lean and green and ready to sail the world. We do have an electric autopilot, but there are several drawbacks to relying on these. The first being that it isn't really a question of if it will fail, but more a question of when. With a full time crew of two, hand steering for 31 hours is fine, if not a bit uncomfortable, but for 15 days it would be Miserable (notice that was with a capital M?). Secondly, they just don't sail that well when broad reaching or running, they tend to want to over correct for every little roll, which is unavoidable on certain points of sail. I've seen times on our previous boat sailing a broad reach where hand steering was quite comfortable, but the autopilot had us rolling from gunnel to gunnel. Talk about testing ones stomach. Finally, they are amp-hogs. They can burn through a battery bank faster than Congress can bury a bill. As we mentioned earlier, we are attempting to sail green. We have no generator and prefer not to burn dinosaurs to keep our batteries charged, and a greedy autopilot chomping away can quickly deplete the stored amp hours...until it gets finicky and breaks anyway. ASSWOP is our choice for long distance voyaging.

These are but a few of our upgrades over the last several months of silence, along with a new stove, new backstay adjuster, new fans, new interior LED lighting, etc., etc., etc...For now, suffice to say we've been keeping busy with regular maintenance, rebuilds, and upgrades, but those will have to wait for another day. There are many more "to-dos" on the list. Some that will get done before we depart, and others that will wait until we reach Someday Isle.  For now, we just focus on the shining light at the end of the tunnel, growing brighter with each passing day, until the day comes that we can jump off the merry-go-round and head to sea for points unknown. It will get here before we know it, and yet not soon enough.

New Curtains

It's been a while since we've posted and hope to get caught up soon but here is a little preview of one of the things we've done - NEW CURTAINS!! I'm so happy with the way they came out!

I'll post a before picture in our next post!

The Mast, revisited…

After hundreds of back and forth over what we should do – do we get the mast, do we not – we have decided to wait a year.  The mast in RI is in great shape and the M’s are offering a great deal however, the deal isn’t exactly cheap when you factor in transportation costs, the mainsail, modifying our boom to be able to work with the new mast, reconditioning the boom (may as well when its being modified), destepping/stepping the mast, and installing an additional winch.  This change would not be inexpensive by any means.  All those costs, on top of the money currently and unexpectedly being shelled out on a rental property J still owns in Pensacola, FL (he secretly hopes for a well-placed and freakishly isolated tornado), make the new-to-us mast not very feasible at this time.

While we have reservations about taking an in-mast furling mainsail offshore, we haven’t even given it a chance yet. While we had sailed Knotty (with a Selden in-mast furler) without so much as a hiccup, we’ve sailed Tango (with an older Forespar in-mast furler) only once and feel it is a bit impulsive if we jump into this without at least giving it a try.  After all, Tango has had this mast for 17yrs and she’s been across the pond and back at least once, that we know of, so it can’t be all bad. Plus, many boats nowadays do offshore work with in mast furlers, including S/V Bright Angel, one of Tango’s sister ships that is currently cruising the South Pacific with in-mast furling.  Seems silly to make such an investment at a time when the kitty is being depleted and in something that we may not need.

We have other projects that require the savings that we are certain we want to do with Tango, such as a new composting toilet and a Monitor wind vane – both of which we are planning to purchase at this year’s United States Sailboat Show in Annapolis.  So after much discussion and loss of sleep (more for J) we are going to wait until at least next season to determine if the in-mast furling is staying or going.  This should give us some time to get to know Tango a bit better, do some fall sailing in the Bay and hopefully some offshore cruising in the spring to get more comfortable with all her systems, but especially the anxiety inducing furling mainsail.  Maybe a small investment in replacing worn sheaves and bearings, instead of the larger one required replacing the mast, and some quality time with her out on the water will eliminate our hesitation and fears of taking her offshore with her current mast. More to follow… 

She's SOLD!!

After bringing Tango home we got serious with trying to sell Knotty.  We had her listed for a couple of months and had a couple of inquiries, but nothing really serious – at least we hadn’t had anyone come and look at her.  We were considering sailing her up to Annapolis, where we felt she would get more visibility from potential buyers. The only downside with that is that we’d have to list her with a broker and we were hoping to avoid doing that.  It would benefit the buyer more, as they could get  her for a better price than going through a broker, but it would also help us because then we wouldn’t have to sail her to Annapolis.  Logistically, it was just easier.  We finally got a call from a couple in PA, who, after a few emails/calls back and forth with J, said they wanted to come see her in person – YAY!! 

So a couple of weeks before the 4^th of July, J and I spend a few days getting the last few things moved off of Knotty and cleaning her up for her big day!  It was pretty bizarre, to see her go from being our home, to looking (and even smelling) like the day we bought her.  The weekend before the 4^th, S&C came to see Knotty.  Immediately, J and I both really liked them.  There was just something about them and after talking with them and showing them the boat, we felt like we had known them for years.  C is very much like me when it comes to sailing (don’t care for the 20 degree plus angle of heel) as well as a few other little idiosyncrasies (which was nice to find in someone else, hah!) and S is very much like J –  prefers to do his own maintenance, tracks it meticulously, and, when out sailing, won’t turn on the iron genny unless he absolutely has to J  The showing went very well and while we knew they would be looking at other boats that weekend as well, we really hoped we’d get a call back on Knotty. 

Now fast forward a week or so, J had touched base with S on our way up to Maine.  Just wanted to see how things went and let him know that we really enjoyed meeting them and if they were still interested, to let us know.  We really liked them and felt that if they bought Knotty that that she would be going to a really great home and, laugh all you want, but that was really important to us.  It’s funny sometimes to think how attached you can become to an inanimate object, but Knotty was our home and she kept us safe and, more so for me, if it wasn’t for this boat, I wouldn’t love this lifestyle and I wouldn’t be looking to sail around the world in a few years.  She was a great boat and part of my heartbreak of selling her was the uncertainty of who would be her new owners.  We wanted someone who would sail her like she should be sailed - not keep her in the slip solely for use as a floating condo and to have sundowners once in a while - and who would maintain her as she should be maintained. 

After a couple of weeks and emails back and forth, Knotty was at the top of their list, but her price was just a little too high for their budget. After some discussion, we decided J would offer S the same price as we would have given our friends, P&S (they too were considering buying her but it wasn’t the right time for them).  Funny, the email back said “you have a deal”.  Talk about a huge relief!!  Not only relief, but a sense of contentment – contentment in knowing she was going to a good home.  We had offered two prices, one to take her as she is or another for us to haul her, paint her bottom, wax and buff her sides, replace her zincs and install a replacement fan for her main salon.   They chose the latter, so after getting back from Maine, we had a busy week and weekend ahead of us.  

We hauled her out and were extremely pleased with the condition of her bottom. She had been in the water almost two years, and looking at the remaining paint and minimal growth – you’d have never guessed. 

22months and paint looked better than we expected!

We had some barnacles, but not nearly as bad as we thought they would be. The paint was still holding up well and we definitely could have gotten another year out of it.  Just goes to show that diving on her a couple of times a year really does make a difference.  The paint we used, and used on her again this time as well, was Interlux Micron Extra.  It is an ablative paint in order to stay “active”, old paint must slough off showing new copper rich paint underneath.  Sailing her helped, but we think the real difference in the condition of the paint was J diving on her.  Come time to paint Tango, depending on how well the Pettit Trinidad SR works out (a hard paint), we may go back to using the Interlux Micron Extra.  

We cleaned and prepped her bottom, then put on two coats of paint, J waxed and buffed her top sides. We treated her waterline with ON/OFF, which, while toxic stuff, definitely gets rid of the slime mustache.  It didn’t help as much on the areas with built up scum, so I had to go back and treat that with some bleach, but she looks great!! 

Knotty with a freshly painted bottom - we LOVED the dark blue!

The last few things to be done (install the new fan, change out zincs, pull and clean the prop, and replace the impeller) is all being done this week to get ready Knotty’s final departure from our Marina on Friday.  S & C will be down to finalize the paper work and then be back on Friday when they and J will sail Knotty up the Chesapeake to her new home in Rock Hall, MD.  I had to be in San Diego this week, so I’ll meet them on Sunday for a celebratory dinner and what I hope (for me) won’t be too hard of a goodbye.

Fast forward and this is J, with S&C sailing Knotty into the Severn River ...  This is when, standing on USNA grounds, that I said a tearful goodbye...  Later, they took the H2O taxi into Ego Alley where I met them for lunch.