companionway ladder...so much more than for the companionway!

Sailors are a creative bunch, and if you plan to go cruising for a while, that creativity will go a long way. Sure, in our final weeks of prep, I did call our dear friend and ask if we could borrow a regular 6 feet ladder, but as luck had it (or not) she did not have one. And it's wide base would not have worked for our purpose anyway. Our neighbor suggested we use an companionway ladder (the ladder that you use to climb in/out of boat), and with some more thinking and setting up many secure lines.....we had the companionway ladder tied outside on the stern. For what reason? Dada, check it out, Tod installing the blades on our 10 feet stainless steel Marine Kinetics 450 wind generator pole (yes, 10 feet, more than average, as Tod is married to a more than average height Dutch woman)!

Yoho, it's silent, and it's providing lots of amps/energy!

On a complete different topic: either I have already reached the age where one does need less sleep, or it's the excitement/adrenaline of our final weeks before departure that keeps me going. It's all good!

Oh, that waterline....

No, we are not sinking, but boy is Bliss riding low in the water with all her new cruising gear aboard. Today we ordered  200' of chain and 200' of multi brait nylon, so that's still coming aboard (and for the time being we are keeping our "old anchor chain/rode" deeply stored far up in the bow). Maybe raising the boot strip would have not been a bad idea when we were in the yard......

Ah well, Tod bought a dive compressor to clean our bottom.  Tessa likes to make everything into a party lately ("mama, we are having a cereal party" at breakfast), and she knows how to float/swim, so let the boat dive party begin!  We promise you a future picture of that boat cleaning party, and you are invited to join!

Bliss at the Petaluma  before our cruising upgrades

Letting go....

So close now to giving our 30 day notice to the marina. The Berkeley marina is located in a state park, a gorgeous setting, and our dock, the smallest dock in this very large marina, is in high demand. New tenants for our boat slip will be found through a lottery system (no, I kid you not). Knowing that we are aiming for an open-ended adventure, with no idea where we settle down, it's time to let go of this prime slip...

A few weeks ago we sold Tod's car, a Mazda Miata. The sportscar he loved driving, and apparently he wasn't the only one who was slightly attached to this car. Although she never got to drive in it, it was just plain fun for Tessa to sit in his car in the parking lot. 

hooray/hoera for a classic plastic boat!

You gotta love your boat when you in the process of replacing all your though-hulls, you discover that the hull near the keel is 1" thick fiberglass! Our Pearson 385 was built in 1984, and Pearson did know a thing or two of fiberglass.

The hooray (or hoera in Dutch) stops there, as it's quite time and energy consuming to replace 30 yr old through-hulls. Before our haul-out Tod, with excellent help of his dad (thanks, opa, and thanks oma for all the baby sitting!) had concentrated his efforts on a project that was not on our short list.....engine repair. Nope, not engine maintenance, engine repair, as in repair it now or you don't have a working iron lady. About 7 to 8 boat bucks later, we added, and then crossed that project of our priority list.

Of course, during haul-out we had more items to add to our priority list. We will spare you the details, let's just say that our 30 yr old boat is almost brand new below the waterline.

2 months to go....I think we are starting to see the end of the tunnel, or the beginning of finally having to spend some time with us 3 by Labor Day. Thanks to our friends from the Berkeley Yacht Club, we have a wonderful place to stay while we are doing all the work on the boat, and Tessa gets to enjoy a bit of living in a house. It did melt my heart the other day when she said that she wanted to go home, to Bliss (yes, I do realize that this comes from a 2 yr old).