What's in a name?

Date: August 25, 2007
Location: Zimmerman Marine - Cardinal, VA
Position: 37 24.446 N 076 21.203 W

Cruisers will many times refer to other cruisers by boat name rather than by person name. For example, we are sometimes called "the Rachels". Likewise, we often refer to other couples as 'the Liberty's', 'the Hobnobs', 'the Gambles', etc. It's not that we don't all know each other's names (well not always); it's just that it's sometimes easier to think of one name (the boat's) than it is to think of each person's name. Or maybe it's because in a group some people may not know the names of a boat's owners, and if you say 'the Rachel's', everyone knows who you're discussing.

At Zimmerman's they assign a "service coordinator" to oversee each job. While it sounds like just another layer of overhead, we've actually found it to be (like so many other things here) well thought out and quite useful. The 'service coordinator' is a salaried position, so none of their time is charged to your job. They interface with the technical staff who do bill hourly, management, the scheduler, and the owner to keep things running smoothly and to make sure everyone is on the same page. We've found the level of communication here to be excellent - we all know what's going to happen when, and who's going to do what next - it's really been a great experience on that level.

The day Rachel was hauled, a gal walked by and said "Nice boat name." We thanked her, whereupon she said "That's my name, too." We told her we're usually pretty bad with names, but figured we wouldn't have too much trouble remembering hers.

Once our problems were diagnosed and everyone realized we were going to be here a while, Rachel was assigned to be our service coordinator. That was kind of cute - Rachel being Rachel's service coordinator.

A few days later, she was sitting in the cockpit with us discussing the work that will be done. We had a question to which she didn't have a quick answer, so she made a call. Here's how it went: "Hi, Steve. This is Rachel. I'm on Rachel with..." (a sudden, slightly pained expression appears as she realizes what she's about to say ) "... the Rachels."

The Rachels
s/v Rachel

Sometimes dreams really do come true!

Location: Zimmerman Marine - Cardinal, VA
Position: 37 24.446 N 076 21.203 W

The morning of the scheduled engine alignment:
"I had a dream last night." she says
"You never remember your dreams." he says.
"Well, I remembered this one." she says.
"What was it about?" he asks
"I dreamed we had to get a new engine." she says
"You're not allowed to dream any more." he says.

She tells The Crew about the dream at breakfast:
"You're not allowed to dream any more." says The Crew.
"See? Told you!" he says.

Later in the day she tells The Mechanic about the dream:
"You're not allowed to dream any more." says The Mechanic.
"See? Told you!" says The Crew.
"She never remembers her dreams." he says.
"Anyway, it was just a dream." she says.

Waiting for 'The Part' to arrive so that the Mechanic can determine if 'The Problem' really is in the transmission, they fill their days with busy work. The Crew goes home on Thursday. 'The Part' arrives the following Monday. The Mechanic dives into the basement and works his magic. The diagnosis is not good. The transmission's output shaft bearings are definitely shot and the output shaft itself is also worn and may be bent!?!

We rejoin our protagonists as The Mechanic tells them the news:
"$3,000 to rebuild the transmission?" he asks.
"And that's only IF they can find the parts?" she asks.
"You're not allowed to dream any more." he says.
"See? Told you!" says The Mechanic.

Assuming we can find an output shaft, we could do the rebuild. Unfortunately we'd still be stuck with an engine and transmission that are almost 30 years old and are pretty darned hard to find parts for. Not a good scenario if something were to break, especially somewhere "off the beaten path".

We think paying about 1/4 the cost of a repower to rebuild the transmission and get the drive train set up correctly is probably throwing good money after bad. So we've deciding that we should bite the bullet and get a new engine and transmission. Ouch.

Who said dreams never come true?? They are big fat liars and deserve a good WHACKing!! On the other hand, some dreams don't come true. This is the second year in a row that we've dreamed of going to Maine and the second year in a row that we aren't going. What a bummer. Very disappointing.

When we get down and out like this Mark likes to bring out his fake Scottish accent. "Och, aye, lass!" It always works - the 2 of us end up laughing and feeling 'no so bad!'. Last Saturday we went up to Deltaville to have dinner with friends at the "yacht club". After dinner we all went out for a cocktail cruise around the creek. Mark stood on the aft deck sipping Scotch ("Well, maybe 'sipping' is an understatement..." she says) reciting Lewis Carroll's "Jabberwocky" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jabberwocky ) in his bad fake Scots accent with his hair blowing wildly. We all laughed heartily - thank goodness we still both have a healthy sense of humor!!

Even though Zimmerman's is out in the middle of nowhere (from their web site: "Inconveniently located on the beautiful Mobjack Bay in Mathews, Virginia. We're not close to anything... except our customers.") and hot as blazes right now, we really like the people here and we are making new friends, despite Mark's bad fake accent.

It is SO hot and humid here. We borrowed the yard's loaner car and picked our van up last Monday after we realised we were going to be here for a while. A lovely but quick two-day trip to Blacksburg to visit our daughter Charlotte and her family and pick up the window air conditioning unit followed. Now we are at least a bit cool aboard Rachel.

The dinghy rebuild is progressing well. We've taken her out for a bit of "gunkholing" the past two days and she seems to be fine again. we're hoping to finish up the sail rig in the next day or so - at least then we'll be able to get out and do some sailing this summer!

Dreaming of being cooler ("No! Nononono! Remember? You're not allowed to dream any more!!" he exclaims)

Sigh....

Location: Zimmerman Marine, Inc. - near Matthews, VA
Position: 37 24.446 N 076 21.203

When you live on your boat, you have to become a bit philosophical about things. Patience is a virtue. All things come in time. Even sailing trips to Maine. Hopefully.

We stopped in here on Tuesday July 25th to have some drive train vibration we've had for a while diagnosed. The mechanic, Chris, came out to the boat on Wednesday morning and took a look. He couldn't be sure at anchor, so we took a spin up the East River during which time he diagnosed a fairly severe alignment problem and possibly a bad cutlass bearing. He decided we needed to haul so he could thoroughly inspect the drive train.

The yard is really busy and we couldn't get on the haulout schedule until Monday July 30th. Luckily, the anchorage is beautiful and there's usually a nice breeze. We made use of the downtime to begin repairs on the dinghy. It's coming along nicely with one more coat of paint required before we put the two halves back together and take her out for a sea trial.

Zimmerman's is not a "do-it-yourself" yard, but as they are really busy at the moment they've been letting Mark do as much of the work as he can. Mark's been relearning his old mechanic skills down in the "basement" in 90 degree humid heat. Chris will decide what needs doing, Mark does it and then Chris will return to test, diagnose, offer Mark advice and loan us the tools we don't have. It has turned out to be a win-win situation and Mark is learning a lot about our 30 year old engine and it's associated bits.

During the week we've eliminated several theories and now have the problem narrowed down to either a bent or worn coupling or a bent transmission output shaft or a bit of both. The coupling is the cheaper of the two options so, even though it will take a few days, we've decided to go ahead and order the parts and see how much that improves the problem.

That's where we are now. The coupling halves are due in next Monday, so we'll be here at least until then. If it's good news, we should be back in the water on Monday or Tuesday. If it's bad news, we'll then need to make a decision whether to buy a used transmission or have ours rebuilt.

Shep, our extra crew member for the trip, came aboard last Sunday. The poor guy got to spend one night on the water then left Thursday afternoon after spending most of his time here living in the heat on the hard and doing miscellaneous boat jobs. He was a real trooper, maintained a good attitude even during our frustration and disappointment, and will be welcomed aboard again.

Our experience here at Zimmerman's has been great. Everyone we've met has been courteous, helpful, and friendly. The yard is clean and the staff is very professional and willing to help. The workmanship we've seen has been top notch, too. Communication seems to be the watchword here - a valuable but, unfortunately in our experience, not all that common commodity.

Our awnings have been a Godsend. It's been really hot and humid and, being a working boatyard not a marina, there's no pool here. The haulout guys were nice enough to put us at the end of the yard near some trees, so we receive some good shade during the most brutal part of the afternoon. If we're going to be here much longer, though, we're going to have to go get an air conditioner. We should know whether that's going to be necessary on Monday.

We're in pretty good spirits given the circumstances, and are using our time here to take care of
some other boat jobs that hadn't made it up to the "A" list yet.

Dinghy Distress!!

Date: July 25, 2007
Location: East River, Mobjack Bay - near Matthews, VA
Position: 37 24.445 N 076 20.308 W

We got back from England at about 1:30 AM Sunday, slept a few hours, then spent the rest of the day running errands and doing some last minute boat jobs.

We left the dock right after high tide on Monday morning to take advantage of the tidal current to help get us out past our friend's boat. Everything went as smooth as butter (no bumps or scrapes, nothing broke, and nobody got hurt - the textbook definition of a successful arrival or departure from a dock) and we dropped anchor about 100 yards downstream. We dinghied back in so Julie could make one last run to Deltaville to pick up some parts we'd ordered and Mark went back to the boat to finish up a few "must do" chores before we could leave for our trip to Maine.

We raised anchor at about 6:30 pm Monday and, with a high tide at 8:30 pm at Smith Point and predicted Northerly winds of 10-15 mph, we looked forward to a nice downwind run to Mobjack Bay. Rachel has been having some drive train vibration issues, so we made an appointment to have her checked out at at a highly recommended boatyard here. Unfortunately, wind was from the south, not the predicted north, at 15-20, gusting to 25 making it dead on our nose the entire trip down the bay. The 66 mile trip ended up being 87 miles with all the tacking and ended up taking just over 19 hours to complete!

Before we left, we tried test hanging the new dinghy from the davits and think it'll work, but it's going to take some refining. We'd had great success towing it from Deltaville to the Coan and on a trip across the Potomac to St. Mary's, so we decided to tow it on this trip with plans to stow it on deck for the passage from Norfolk to Block Island. It was pretty choppy on our way down, especially from about 10pm through about 3 am - even Rachel was pounding on some of the bigger sets of waves. In the morning we noticed some water in the dinghy and decided to heave to and bail her out. Oh my.

There are two bulkheads that bolt together when the forward and aft parts of the dinghy are assembled. Apparently between the pounding and the tow line jerking, the plywood actually tore at these points allowing a couple of seams to open up. By the time we stopped to bail her the bow section was only hanging onto the stern section by the bottom two bolts - the top two were almost completely broken free from the forward section. We managed to tie it all together to stabilize it, bailed her out and finished the trip.

When we got here she was full of water again. Turns out the water wasn't splashed in - it was running in through cracks in the bulkheads created by the same pounding that split the plywood bulkheads. We hauled her up on deck and took her apart to assess the damage. It's all fixable, but will take time. So now, if we want to go to Maine this summer, we have to make arrangements to leave her here somewhere until we get back in September when we'll have time to make repairs. Sad to say, we're thinking she may not be tough enough to be a full-time cruising dinghy. We have a couple of months to cogitate and decide what we want to do with regard to a tender. Good thing we saved our little 8' inflatable when we sold Raven and brought it along "just in case"!

Back home on Rachel

Date: July 13, 2007
Location: Docked on the Coan River, Chesapeake
Position: 37 56.652 N 076 28.883 W

We arrived back to Rachel on July 7th. Wow has it just been a week we've been back?

After a lovely, albeit too quick visit with Mark's family in Maine, we were hoping to get Rachel ready and take off to points North for a month or two.

Unfortunately Julie's mum passed away on Monday after a short hospital stay. It is always distressing to lose a parent, but there is also a sense of relief that she will no longer be suffering from the debilitating Alzheimers with which she was afflicted. The funeral is next Friday, so we'll be flying to England and will be gone until Sunday, the 22nd of July. We are still getting Rachel ready to head North, it just won't happen until we return at the end of next week.

It's been so hot that the half finished awning job has bubbled up to the top of the priority list ! Julie has been down below sewing and up top measuring for a couple of days and the awning is now 3/4 finished - functional and creating a lot of much needed shade, but as always, there's more to go.

Mark is busily preparing Rachel for our next offshore adventure from Norfolk, Virginia to Block Island, Rhode Island and then on to Maine via the Cape Cod Canal. We're rustling up some crew so we won't have to do all the night shifts ourselves, although we are trying to make it sound more attractive than it actually will be .

Apart from that, we're having a great time taking dinghy rides, watching the osprey feed their babies in their nest across the river, watching a spider build it s web on our bimini supports, etc.

Wow! Are we really the same people who just quit our jobs and moved onto our lovely boat 3 months ago?

"No! Get off the computer, stop waffling on, and get back to work !"

"Ow!"

Mark & Julie
s/v Rachel

Farewell Azores!

Location: Air Sato, enroute to Boston
Position: High above the Atlantic

The highlight of the festival on Terciera for us was a parade re-enactment of a year in the life of a grape. During the day on Thursday, several sections of the parade route were dressed up with grape vines, leaves, low walls, etc. We couldn't figure out what the parade was going to be that night other than recognizing the word "vinho" in the program.

What a great parade! Locals dressed in traditional clothing sprayed, cultivated, propped up and finally harvested the grapes. The acting was great with old guys twisting kids ears, to make them work. Sitting and eating lunch in the fields and sharing grapes, olives, wine, and bread with the parade attendees. A fake fight, interupted be a "bystander", who was then made to drink more wine. An ox cart, a donkey cart - both left little surprises on the pavement for further entertainment as following parade members and attendees stepped in or barely missed them. A drunk sitting under a vine with his jug. We love this place, have we mentioned that?

The following afternoon we managed to catch up with one of the folk groups that performed in the parade a couple of nights earlier. They were playing music at a gazebo in the park. After their performance Mark bought a CD of their music and asked (in Portugese) if the vendor spoke English. This was followed by a request, in English this time, for an explanation of the costumes we'd been seeing. Much discussion ensued, ending with a "talk to her - she teaches English at our school". Once we established communication with the school teacher, we were in. They clustered around us and every question was answered. Those not understood were discussed and an answer was eventually forthcoming. You learn that, even though you don't need to know Portugese in the Azores, a little effort goes a very long way!

The last night of the festival we saw what was arguably the best firework display we have ever seen directly overhead. Ever. Really. And to top it off, we had ring side seats lying on Liberty's bow. It was synched to music similar to that played at "Cirque De Soleil". Mark, being a "fireworks purist", didn't think he'd like that at the beginning, but by the finale he was sold! It helped that the display was absolutely (in Mark's words) "fan-freaking-tastic". We have no idea how an island with a population of about 16,000 was able to afford it!

This morning, our last day, we sadly said goodbye to our wonderful hosts. We couldn't have asked for more welcoming, friendly, and supportive hosts for the trip.

We rented a car with another couple we'd befriended (the "Hobnobers" if you recall) for a last drive around the island and were not disappointed.

Cows in the road. Cow shit all over the car. Riotous hydrangea, lily, rose blooms. Biscoites ("Biscuits") bathing, lava, and grapes.

One of the most intriguing things we saw was a fountain in the shape of a lady with a duck on her head. We have no idea what the significance is, however. The guide book had a picture with a caption "famous duck fountain" or somesuch, but no explanation of what it represents or why it was built. The strangest part is that it's sort of in the middle of nowhere - a small picnic area has been built around it.

Our stay in the Azores ended when our friends finally dropped us at the airport for the flight to Boston. On arrival, we've rented a car and will drive up to Harpswell, Maine for a few days to visit with Mark's family.

Mark & Julie
s/v Rachel

A bunch of Bull!!!

Location: s/v Liberty, port of Angra Do Heroismo, Terciera, Azores
Position: 38 32.039 N 028 37.525 W

Back when we were getting ready to leave Flores for Faial, we mentioned to a local that were going on to Terciera for the festival. He said "Oh - Terciera - they love their bulls. They do everything with their bulls!"

We now know what he meant. During the 10 day festival of St John almost every day has an activity related to bulls, sometimes two! As well as the usual bullfights in the ring, we could not bring ourselves to attend any of these, they also have a 'sport' which involves a bull attached to about 100 feet of thick rope. At the other end are 7 or 8 men dressed in grey pants, white shirts, and black hats. It looks like the guys with the rope try to control the bull a bit, but it honestly seems like more of a "suggestion" than any kind of control!

An area of the town is blocked off by buildings, trucks and sheets of plywood and the bull runs around, being taunted with umbrellas, blankets and waving arms. Anyone macho enough to try it can run with the bull. The rope guys get dragged around while the bull goes after whoever he sets his sights on. Once in a while the bull turns, looks at the guys with the rope, and goes after them. They drop the rope and scatter, then when the bull gets distracted by someone else running across his field of view, they run back and grab the rope again.

During the festival there were 3 of these events, two of them were located on a town street that was blocked at both ends by trucks. We missed the first one involving adults. We translated the second one loosley from the festival program using our trusty Portugese - English dictionary to something like "Procession of the Bulls and Children". This turned out to be young bulls and adolescent boys. The macho culture here obviously doesn't approve of females participating in this sport.

Or, Julie interjects, "could it just be that females just have more sense?"

These events in the street are not too easy to view as the only way to see what's going on involves standing on the bed of the truck at either end or hanging from one of the balconies that line the streets here.

Yesterday, the third bull event was held right at the marina. When we arrived by water in our dinghy there was a solid wall of boats - these Tercierans really ARE crazy about their bulls. The walls were lined with spectators, the roofs of all the nearby buildings were covered, it was standing room only and really something to see. We didn't think we'd be able to see anything, but then two fishing boats right in the middle of the raft saw us and started yelling at us to join them. They grabbed poles, pushed their boats apart to make room for us, and we slid on in and had front row seats about 80 feet from shore!

Crowds of guys would come into the "ring" when the bull was at the other end, and as soon as he started toward them, would run away and climb the barricades. Some who were more brave (or more professional?) than others actually managed to get the bull running around in circles chasing them with one hand on his horn! Luckily no-one got badly hurt. The bull scuffed his knees, a man got bounced off the horns of the bull and over it's back, but he jumped up and ran off, and a dog got tossed up in the air.

We don't really understand the finer points of the "run in, then run away" theme or the role of the "string handlers", but the bulls put on a pretty good performance.
One local told us that last year a bull broke through the plywood barrier that had been erected in front of a butcher shop and totally trashed it before it was removed. Ironic, eh?
Mark & Julie
s/v Rachel

Festival

Location: s/v Liberty, port of Angra Do Heroismo, island of Terciera, Azores
Position: 38 32.039 N 028 37.525 W

We really like the Azores - at least what we've seen of them so far. They're not widely known to Americans (yet) as a "destination", but they're really high on our list of places to revisit!

We left Horta at 7 am yesterday and sailed and motored just over 60 miles to Terciera in light winds. We saw several more pods of dolphin and Julie spotted a small whale - we're not sure what kind it was yet, but we're going to do some more research. We anchored at the harbor in Angra Do Heroismo (Creek of Heroes), spent the night, and moved into the marina on Wednesday.

Angra has been designated by Unesco as a World Heritage City - here's a link if you'd like to learn more about this program: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Heritage_Site. It's a beautiful city with cobblestone streets, white and black stone sidewalks, and wonderful architecture. It was of great importance during the opening to the new world, and arguably the largest fortification ever built by Spain still stands from the 16th and 17th centuries. More on Angra: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angra_do_Hero%C3%ADsmo

It's been festival time here for the past week. The Sanjoaninas (celebrations in honor of St. John) start on the Friday closest to 24 June and run for 10 days through the second Sunday. It's full of historical and religious events, running the bulls, folk music, and lots of other events.

Friends we met in Flores were already here and stopped by in their dinghy Tuesday evening after we arrived to give us some pointers, tell us what they'd found and seen so far, and to talk us into going into town with them at 9:30 pm to see the parade. We were pretty tired from the trip over, but decided to suck it up and go. We are really glad we did.

Since none of us know Portugese, even though we had a copy of the schedule and a Portugese-English dictionary, we still didn't really know what to expect. It turned out that the parade consisted of several groups of folk singers and musicians in traditional garb all arranged in a similar order. First, a flower girl or two and a couple of boys with wooden thingys - we don't know what the significance of them are yet. Then came the peasants, the farmers, the rich people - landowners, merchants, etc., and most of them had a woman in black that looked a bit like Darth Vader - we discovered later the she was 'a woman in early settler costume'. The musicians brought up the rear of each group.

They all sang traditional songs - men one line, women another line, then all together. Many of the spectators sang along, too, the men and women singing their parts. They have wonderful voices, sang lovely harmonies, and gave us a wonderful welcome to this island. Apparently all the songs are the same but each village has their own troupe and the dances are all different, some dramatically so.

The parade was followed by individual performances by each group on one of several stages set up around town. They did some complex country dancing, much like contra dancing, to music provided by the group's musicians and singers. What a great evening's entertainment, we stumbled into bed around 2am.

Mark & Julies/v Rachel

Horta

Location: s/v Liberty, port of Horta, Faial, Azores
Position: 38 32.039 N 028 37.525 W

We had a nice, uneventful overnight sail from Flores to Faial and the port city of Horta. We've been here for just under a week and will leave for the island of Terciera tomorrow morning.

We just heard yesterday that, despite the cruising season being only a couple of months long here, Horta is one of the busiest yachting centers in the world. Seeing the number of boats that arrive and leave every day, we can believe it. It's a primary destination for West-to-East Atlantic crossings, and is also a very popular sailing destination for Europeans on vacation. When we first pulled in here we saw a boat we know from Deltaville! Unfortunately, they left before we had a chance to stop by and say hello.

Always on the lookout for new ideas, we've enjoyed walking the docks and looking at how other ocean cruising boats are set up. Invariably, we've been met with cheerful good will whenever we've knocked on a stranger's boat to ask questions. Most of the cruisers seem to speak at least some English, and we've met several very helpful folk who have given us some great ideas and even tipped us off to some local knowledge we hadn't heard yet.

Horta is quite different from Lajes, although still not as metropolitan as one might expect from reading the tourist guides. We had expected it to be quite touristy and were surprised that there were hardly any souvenir shops. Most of the businesses we've found so far occupy a single street, a block back from the sea. The sea front is mainly houses with a wide cobbled promenade.

We had to get a slip at the city marina because anchoring out is not allowed unless the marina is full. The harbor is fairly small so that is understandable. We're rafted up 4 deep (that means there are three other boats between us and the bulkhead and we have to cross all of them to get ashore). On the one hand it's a bit of a pain to have to walk across the other boats, but on the other hand, we don't have a bunch of strangers walking across our boat, either.

We had a nice walk yesterday. All the way around the harbor and then around a spit of land to a lovely beach and some old fortresses and an old whale processing works built into a cliff. We then walked back through the back streets of Horta.

There's a well-known international sailor's hang out named "Peter Cafe Sport" that's been in business here since the early 1900s. Some of the most famous boats in cruising history have stopped there and left a burgee or an ensign or some kind of memento tacked to the walls or ceiling. Of course we had to go and have a few drinks while checking out the decorations, an added bonus being free wireless internet access.

Another requirement when passing through Horta is to paint your boat name on the sea wall, to ensure a safe passage home. We have spent quite a lot of time walking around admiring some very artisitic and unusual paintings. we have seen an anchor, several T-shirts and other pieces of clothing, and some burgees epoxied to the stone and concrete. We also recognised the names of some boats we have met. John & Carter will add Liberty to the wall after we leave, but have assured us that they will add our names along with theirs (and send us photos to prove it ).

Mark & Julie

s/v Rachel

Lajes Redux

Date: June 20, 2007
Location: s/v Liberty, port of Lajes, Flores, Azores
Position: 39 22.9 N 031 10.0 W


We've spent a lovely few days in Flores (Portugese for "island of flowers"). We have been very impressed by the unassuming simplicity and friendliness of the island. Flores is covered in flowers, mainly hydrangias, cannas and lilies but many other varieties abound. Yesterday we went for a walk out into the countryside and today we rented a car from Paula, and drove around the whole island.

It's volcanic and is only 7km wide and 15km long. The scenery is spectacular and the roads very steep and wind around the volcanic masses. We saw huge waterfalls, volcanic craters filled with water creating beautiful lakes, and dramatic coastal cliffs. Tomorrow we leave this wonderful island and sail overnight to Horta on the island of Faial, 130 miles away.





Mark & Julies/v Rachel