I had four things I wanted to accomplish today.  I’ve done three and can’t remember the fourth, so I’m going to call the day a success.

   

        I did apply two coats of Deks Olje to the tiller.

        Generally I tie the tiller down at the dock, but conditions here are so calm that I’ve just left it vertical since my sail on Sunday, and it has moved only a quarter turn with the passing wake of a commercial fishing boat.

        I removed GANNET’s Great Cabin sole, which as you may recall consists of two pieces of teak, 4’ long and 7” wide with a 2 ¼” gap between them through which I can reach into her bilge.   Remove three screws each, lift the boards into the cockpit, and the bilge is even more accessible.

        I did this in order to spray paint the narrow aft edge of the bilge which I could not reach with a brush and has remained dark.

        Kent, the self-proclaimed moveable ballast and trailer mechanic for Audrey’s Drascombe Lugger, became the inspiration for this when he emailed about using Rustoleum as boat paint.  I thought, ‘Why not?’, and bicycled yesterday to a Home Depot where a full time employee stands guard over cans of spray paint, apparently a requirement of California law to protect children from themselves.  I satisfied him that I was going to paint, not sniff, and he let me buy a can.

        After cleaning the bilge, I sprayed.  A definite improvement, with the added advantage that the fiberglass won’t rust.

        I removed various sail bags, my carryon flight bag, and the Porta Potti from the port pipe berth, slithered aft and pulled the paddle from the stern.

        In moving objects, I noticed the two part Avon oars and removed one of them as well.

        With slack in the dock lines and calm conditions, I easily moved GANNET forward and back with the 4 ½’ paddle.  I also moved her using one of the 5 ½’ dinghy oars.  Then I used a hose clamp to join the two together and established that rowing with two 8’ oars will work.  9’ might be better.  And 10’ is too long.  The limiting factor is clearing the mainsheet with the inboard ends of the oars.

        I never rowed CHIDIOCK TICHBORNE very far, and I don’t intend ever to row GANNET very far either.  But I think that I will soon have a low mileage Torqeedo for sale.

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        I am intruding on the above bird’s territory.

        Almost every day, and usually more than once, I stand up in the companionway and find him/her nearby.  Momentarily the bird freezes.  A little big to be invisible, but the coloring isn’t bad.  And then, having decided I’m a harmless nuisance, he/she goes about his/her business, which consists of scratching, preening, and peering over the side of the dock, perhaps narcissistically, but more likely  in search of dinner.