Aboard Lady

Departure Countdown Begins

The week has been quite cold, but the promise of good weather over the weekend and into the next week enabled us to set a departure date:  Charlie's 61st birthday, January 27th.

Steve Fisher (Prime Time), who has a  great pick em up truck, helped Charlie take the dingy motor to Triad for the 10 hour service on Monday, and went with him yesterday (Friday) to bring it back. 

We ran out of propane while cooking dinner on Tuesday, so Charlie switched tanks, and we took the empty one across the bridge to Eagle Gas in Seabrook for a refill on Wednesday.  Our friends Robert and Kathy Taylor who live aboard another Catalina 470 Vixen here at Waterford took us out for a farewell dinner at the lovely Lakewood Yacht Club that night.  We sat in the bar next to a beautiful aquarium and had a great meal. Thanks, Kathy and Robert.  They are headed to Colorado for a ski-ing vacation.

Thursday Charlie cleaned the air conditioning filters and the bilge while I cleaned the heads, and did all the floors.  We shopped for provisions, planning on having food and supplies for three weeks aboard.

Friday was for the final loads of laundry. We also had to spend a lot of time trying to get Charlie's computer fixed when it came up with a "No SIM" message.  Eventually after lots of phone calls and running around, the problem went away on its own. We also returned library books and DVDs. 

Pier 7 friends Phil and Betty Bettis arrived and invited us aboard Texas Toast Too for a drink and snacks, and more Pier 7 friends Ken and Judee from Paradise Can Wait were also there.  Lots of fun and laughs hearing about a trip they had made to the Bahamas (via air, not boats though).  They like to go gambling together each month, and they also take a cruise via Royal Caribbean together each year.  These two couples have their boats backed up opposite each other we have become quite well acquainted with them over the past couple of years we have shared the dock.

We had another wonderful meal with Steve and Anneke, this time going to the Signature Bistro in Seabrook.

We have met loads of wonderful people here at Waterford.  As well as those already mentioned, we will miss Pier 6 residents Lonnie, Jennifer and Brennan Briggs (Tyee), Audrey and Brad (Seafari), Norm and Jan Odam (English ARK), and other Pier 7 friends James and Margaret Voss (Mystery), Steve and Bobbie (Aquaholic), John and Catherine LeBourhis (Caramba),  Russell (Sea Flight), Dino (Pandemonium), Joe Gullion and Mary Pesce (Anytime Baby), Mark Yuille (Cherokee), Gary and Linda March (March Winds), Capt. Gary Deason (Rock and Roll), Bill, Cheryl and Molly (Partner Ship).  We wish everyone all the best, and hope that our paths will cross again in the future!

Florida room

After over a week of cold and rainy weather, yesterday was warmer; warm enough to put on shorts and short-sleeved shirts for long enough to wash the jeans, turtle-necks and long-sleeved shirts.  We didn't bring much in the way of winter clothes with us, hoping to be going south soon.

As I walked down the dock, I realized that I was following two gentlemen carrying canvas.  Yeah, maybe at last our cockpit enclosure was here!  We had ordered the isinglass windows for the cockpit in November, and had been waiting for a warm day for them to be installed.

Chris and Larry got to work immediately, zipping the pieces together and installing the clips into the deck to attach them at the bottom.  This picture has the enclosure just partially installed.  They were very efficient.

We also had North Canvas build shade cloths that fit together the same way.  The enclosed cockpit will really make us much more comfortable afloat when it's raining and cool, and seems like it will become quite toasty if the sun is out...I was thinking that the cockpit seemed more like a conservatory, and the guys suggested that we should rename it the Florida room.

Other updates:  We had another trip in to Houston Monday night for a wonderful dinner with Marta and David Ross.  I used to work with David at ePartners, and Marta is another old-world girl, coming from Slovenia.  A wonderful Slovenian meal of cooked wine, goulash and polenta, and loads of fun catching up on each other's news and plans.

Sad news:  Phone calls from Tulsa have told us of the deaths of two of Charlie's contemporaries, friends from childhood, which further reinforces our comfort with the decision we have made to retire and go sailing.  We send our sympathy to the families of Jeanne Dillingham and Ray Grimshaw.

Shore Leave

Our Houston friends Susan and Steve Timms invited us to dinner Saturday night, and as it's about 45 minutes from Kemah to Humble (with a silent H, it sound like "Umble"),they suggested that we bring a bag and stay the night.

We left Sooty with plenty of food and water for one night, but before we left he was nowhere to be found.  We searched all lockers, called him, whistled for him, but no response.  We even searched outside the boat on the dock, but since he has yet to leave the cabin, we did not expect to find him there.  We figured he had found a  hiding place that we had yet to discover, and prepared to exit.  I pulled out the trash to take that up the dock with us, and heard a mew from under the kitchen sink.  No sign of him there, but finally I saw a yellow eye peering out from below - he was down in the bilge!  He did not object at all to being pulled out of there.  He might have used up one of his nine lives waiting in the dark for us to get back.

The iron dingy (aka Acura TL) took us across town and we found the Timms' beautiful

new home in the gorgeous Redstone Golf course area.  Hugs and greetings; it had been a couple of years, since Hurricane Rita when they stayed with us in Tulsa, and a lovely tour of the area, and a great dinner.

Sunday morning we took our time to read the paper and drink a cup of coffee before heading in to downtown (H)umble for breakfast.  I was amazed to see an old tree with ferns growing all over the limbs.  Reminded me of hiking in the rain forest of New Zealand.

At the Humble City Cafe we had a wonderful breakfast, and got the waitress to take a picture of all of us.  It was great to get together again with such good friends.  Maybe we'll be able to do it again before the ship sails.

Around Waterford

Charlie and the new Sirius weather.

Thursday January 17th was cool again.  The sun came out brifly, and we did get aother hour on the dingy's motor, just cruising around the Waterfor Harbor Marina.

There must be about over 500 boats that make their home here.  It's very safe from storms, as you can tell from the location: 29 32.639N  95 02.609W

I went for a walk around the homes in the afternoon, just a couple of miles through the

homes here, and as you can tell, winter is a great season for their gardens.  It does not freeze, and is not nearly as wet as it is in summer.  It's amazing to see not just the bedding plants, but poppies, roses and geraniums in January!

Weather

"I never knew rainwater could sink an inflatable." said the skipper to the first officer on his return from the showers. 

For a moment I had visions of a major disaster, then realized that he was teasing me again.  After getting the laundry started, I spent twenty minutes or so bailing.  Lesson learned - when it's raining we need to put the cover on the dingy!

Cesar Elizondo of Mobile Marine, Inc. arrived after lunch with his assistant Jason, and these two worked on installing our new Sirius Weather System that ties in to the Raymarine chart plotter. 

Jason got to be the lazarette rat and mount the unit's controller.  The antenna is mounted on the radar mast.  They had to string more cable to get power back to the main switch panel, and the project took all afternoon, and into the next morning.

Cesar has helped us out a lot on previous electronic projects aboard Lady and always does great work.

We hope that this system will provide us with weather information when we are far from internet and the National Weather Service.

JM

Errands and Friends

After a leisurely breakfast of Texas Ruby grapefruit, I spent a couple of hours on housework - cleaning heads, dusting, vacuuming - even afloat we are still shedding skin cells and hair and leaving hand prints behind us! As the weather forecast was for cool (50's), cloudy and rain later, we decided to do some errands together.  First, the (almost) daily visit to West Marine to purchase bolts for the lazarette and a tow-rope for the dingy.  Next, an exploration to find the Pet Smart store.  I had written the directions down a couple of days ago, but of course that notebook didn't get put in the bag, but I remembered exit 26 from I-45, and after a few zigs and zags, we found it and purchased supplies for Sooty.  Then, a stop at the Helen Hall Library in League City.  It's a great library, and has loads of DVD's available for check-out, and always seems to have the book I'm looking for on the shelf.  We exchanged DVD's and books, and then headed for the grocery store to pick up a few supplies.

It was mid-afternoon before we got back, which gave Charlie loads of time for a nap before getting ready to go to dinner.  I worked on the log for yesterday.

Anneke and Steve had phoned yesterday, inviting us for steaks.  I made some fingerling potatoes to go with it, and we set off in the rain for their beautiful home at Waterford Harbor. Here's a picture of Charlie and Steve.

The steaks were magnificent, and we all had a wonderful time, and drank some lovely wine. 

These two ladies are having entirely too much fun!

We returned home and listened to the rain falling all night.  No deck leaks in this boat. Yeah!

Work and Play

After celebrating Anneke's birthday last week, we had a play day Thursday, and as you may have read on Prime Time's web site, we went to the Houston Boat Show with the Fishers.

After we returned to Lady we were able to get in another hour on the little boat's motor before it got too cold.

Friday, we went different directions.  Charlie stayed aboard and met Glenn who arrived with all sorts of equipment and they cleaned the fuel and the diesel tank.  I knew it was a good morning to get out of their way, so after starting laundry in one of the marina's laundry rooms, I went shopping for supplies for Sooty and ourselves.  The grocery stores here in Kemah are amazing.  I always thought that Reasor's and Wild Oats were very nice grocery shops in Tulsa, but the Krogers, Randalls and HEB stores here are even better.  It was the first time I have been in an HEB store, and I ended up spending over an hour cruising the aisles and taking a lot of mental inventory of what they had.  The weather was glorious - cool morning and warm afternoon.  Lots of folks arrived at the marina for the weekend, and we had a lovely time visiting with friends on the dock.  And of course, we had the daily dingy ride.

Saturday morning we met Mary Pesce and Joe Gullion from Anytime Baby and all went out to Kelly's in League City for the most enormous breakfast.  It's a lovely family-owned restaurant that has great food.

It was a busy day of moving stuff around the boat.  I think that by the time we depart, some items will have been stowed in half a dozen different places.  Being a database developer in my former life, I have a database built that will (hopefully) enable us to  find where obscure items have been hidden.

Saturday night, Mary had planned a surprise birthday party for Joe.  So at the appointed time a number of friends met at Bailey's American Grill on Nasa Road.  We had not been there before, but we all met in the bar and then had a wonderful meal in the dining room.  I see from their web site that they offer cooking classes; I bet they are excellent, but they are rather more expensive than my dear friend NeMar Noulles' classes.

Don't Joe and Mary look like they are having a great time?

Thanks Mary, It was loads of fun!

Sunday we again moved stuff and organized.  The time the aft lazarettes.  They are so deep that when I stand in them, I cannot see out. Charlie had read on the Catalina 470 message board that one vessel had had some issues with the bolts attaching the plate for the Auto-Helm becoming loose, so first we had to empty everything out of the lazarettes,so that I could get in there and crawl around, find the bolts and check that they were secure.  They were.  I had noticed on a previous trip to the ship's dungeon that a couple of bolts coming through from the port stern pulpit did not have nuts on them. So, this trip I put new nuts on them.  It seemed prudent to check the bolts on the starboard side of the stern pulpit, and lo, they too were absent.  Two of the bolts were not even coming through far enough to have a nut put on them.  I attached nuts to the ones I could and we added the missing items to the list.

We eventually got loads of stuff stored in the lazarettes:  the spare propeller (actually, the old prop); the emergency tiller; two cases of bottled water for emergencies; a duffel bag containing all the canvas - hatch covers, wheel covers and cockpit table cover; another duffel bag containing the dingy's cover; three bags for shore power cables and jumper cables; the "ditch" bag; a plastic lidded box containing fuel accessories; three buckets, a manual water pump for the dingy.

After the daily dingy ride, Kathy and Robert Taylor from Vixen, another Catalina 470 here at Waterford, came by in their power boat and picked us up for a bird photo cruise (Kathy had the camera) We then went out to dinner by boat across Clear Lake to Valdo's  for another wonderful meal.

Monday, the boys from Bay Area Marine Services  came by to help Charlie with the Fischer Panda generator (which wouldn't start) and the air conditioner/heaters (two of the three were not performing well).  Linn and Shay did a great job, and after replacing the starting battery and rebuilding the water pump for the generator, and charging the AC system with freon, we are now toasty warm below.

A dingy ride and dinner aboard completed yet another great day.

It has been lovely to get responses and emails from family and friends reading this blog.  Thanks everyone!  I'll try to take more pictures and keep it updated regularly.

JM

 

Dingy launch

Yesterday (was it Wednesday?) was another great day aboard Lady.  The weather was much cooler (high of 63 - CM). and we worked on the list of projects, the biggest one being getting started on putting ten hours on the dingy's motor, so that we can take it in for service before we depart.

So, the first thing was to get the little boat launched.  It had been stored upside down on the foredeck since we purchased it in November.  Using a bridle connected to a spare halyard and the lovely power winch we were able to turn her over, and swing her into the water next to the mother ship. 

After we let her drift back to the stern, we used the lift we had purchased from Kato Marine and installed in November to raise the 15 hp Yamahahaha motor and lower it down and set it on the back of the dingy.

We motored around the Waterford Harbor Marina, then out though the cut to Clear Lake, and over to starboard to check out the canal that goes into the township of Clear Lake Shores.  There were a lot of boats needing some TLC back in these areas we have only seen from the road before.

After a cruise around the Watergate Yachting Center we were starting to get cold, so we headed back to Lady, after getting another hour on the little boat's motor.

The little boat needs a name.  The nominations are Little Lady and Tramp.  When I told Charlie that I was going to ask for votes from any readers, he informed me that I would be very disappointed when only one person responded. I guess we'll find out.  Let me know!

The day ended with a lovely meal at The Chart House at Kemah Boardwalk. Anneke Van Bastelaar was celebrating her birthday, and we were invited to join her and her husband Stephen Fisher.  We met them when we first move to Waterford Pier 7 over a year and a half ago, and they have become good friends.  They spent last winter cruising the Bahamas and the east coast of the US aboard their Selene 53 Trawler Prime Time. Reading about their adventures was the motivation for us to set up this web site.

Jenny

The voyage has begun!

(From Charlie)

First, we had to survive the GREAT TULSA ICE STORM. No 120 volt electricity. No refrigeration. Almost no gasoline. No heat. Great practice for a sailboat voyage.

We had great Christmas. Sons and daughters-in-law all home and electricity all the time.

(The girls are much cuter than the boys - JM)

Now I know how the executor of my estate will feel. Trying to arrange my financial and business affairs so that I could go cruising was stressful to say the least. But we did it (I think).

And special thanks to all our friends for their going away meals: Tom and Beverly, Tom and NeMar, Gary and Andrea, Ed and Patricia,

Bob and Libby,

Marcy and Bernard, and of course, IV and Olivia.

Sunday January 6^th, 2008, a day in infamy. We started our voyage by winterizing our house, fully loading the steel dingy (otherwise know as an Acura TL) and heading south into a 30 mph headwind. Jenny, Charlie and the former house cat now boat cat, Sooty.

For the first time Sooty had been more then a block away from home (that we know of), he did great.

Arrived at Waterford Harbor about sundown.

Monday: Started on pre launch punch list. Bottom job, wax hull, cockpit isinglass enclosure, check and service engine and generator, install Sirius weather system, run new dingy motor 8 more hours and take in for service, etc. etc.

(Actually, not too much of this got done today – the bottom was done before Christmas, the rest will happen in the next week or so, we did walk a couple of miles, enjoying the balmy Texas morning; beautiful flowers – spring flowers of azaleas, alyssum and snapdragons, and some late summer roses still blooming; we went to lunch at T-Bone Tom’s; we took a number of loads from the car to the boat and found places to store them; we did the daily trip to West Marine; we enjoyed being “retired”! – JM)