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The Black Pearl received her black paint today. Looks awesome! By the time we splash, we'll have spent less than $20000 on nearly a total rebuild. Unfortunately, no matter how how happy I am that the project is coming to an end, I'm nagged by the feeling that the cost was far higher than I had ever thought it would be. Given then choice, would I do it the same way again? I can't really say I could, if doing it would again would contribute to what I've been forced to give up.
I guess there's a reason why Cap'n Jack's never got the lady in his life in the movie. Seems like I'm joining that club as well.
Eriks
Skipper - The Black Pearl |
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Well... day after Pirates started and the Black Pearl still isn't ready... Oh well, the white went on today, and the black will go on tomorrow. After that I'll bring her home to do the final deck setup and rigging, and then hopefully down to ABYC by mid week.
On another note, and to a person who knows who she is... I'm sorry... there are things in the past two things I wish I'd done, and given the chance again I would. For the time being, though, I guess I'm going have to live with it and hope for the best. Hopefully I'll be able to keep myself doing anything exceedingly stupid, but at this point I'm not gonna make any promises.
Eriks
Skipper - The Black Pearl. |
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Well, I have now filled all the dings and scratches in the boom, primed it, and given it its first coat of black paint. All went well, until cleanup time came, at which point my hand turned black from the brush, and I had to use a ton of varsol to get it clean, which is now stinking up the house... argh... other occupants are not too impressed. Oh well. 2 hours 'till it can be touched, 15 to the next coat. Only two more coats to do. |
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Well, after a long time I've finally got the Black Pearl out of the water and on a trailer. And not a moment too soon. Minutes after we got the boat out of the water and the trailer parked and blocked, a 200mx100m sheet of ice floated out of the end of the bay and filled the ice, passing very close to where the boat had been not 20 minutes ago. Only minor point of concern is that there was water in the boat in one of the rear lockers, so I'll have to check that out, hopefully only water that came in when the previous snow melted and the ton of rain that came down.
Got a price for keel fairing and to get the hull finished. Looks like we'll be don't the work ourselves and leaving the keel fairing until we know the crew's serious... unless a lot of people come forward and want to contribute to the boat fund...
Actually, there's a thought, everyone contribute $1, and find 8000 friends to contribute $1 each, and we'll be good!... ( could this really work?)
More work to be done wednesday night to secure it for the winter... but the boat is out of the water, so winter can begin :)
-Eriks
Helmsman, Black Pearl - CAN4136 |
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After getting home, we derigged and counted our loot.
Here's the recount of the sails, things to do, and parts I'm looking for. If anyone knows anyone who has J/24 parts for sail, please let me know!
What looked off like a pile of crap sails turns out to be a not bad haul:
4 Jibs (2x 1995's, 1x1998, 1x2002), 2 Genoas (1x1998, 1x2002), 2 Mains (1x1998, 1x2002), 1 brand new white spinnaker.
Things to do:
1. Install some kind of lock.
2. Assemble a lifting strap and harness assembly.
3. Refinish all interior teak.
4. Strip hull of blue antifouling crap.
5. Strip rudder of blue antifouling crap.
6. Apply and sand VC Underwater Performance Epoxy.
7. Remove unnecessary hardware from deck, seal holes.
8. Figure out what needs to be replaced, add to list.
9. Try to repair traveller car.
10. Launch boat, sail, enjoy.
Shopping list:
1. Windward sheeting traveller car adapter.
2. Mount for Main sheet cleat swivel and footrest for traveller crossbar.
3. Main Cunningham.
4. Forestay Cunningham.
5. Lopez Blocks (x2)
6. Spinnaker bag and mounting lines.
7. Tiller extension.
8. Tacktick.
9. Hull Epoxy.
10. New V-Berth boards.
11. Engine Mount
12. Engine
13. Assorted blocks.
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| » Boat Pick up |
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Well, since I don't actually use this for anything else, I might as well make it a log for all the stuff I'm doing on the boat... and the occasional travel updates when I'm out of town. So... here we go!
Trip down to Annapolis to pick her up was good... Left Toronto at 3:30pm on thursday and got caught in some rush hour traffic in Oakville. Rest of the drive to the border was pretty uneventful, stopping only briefly to remove one of the boat support pads that was looking wobbly and stow it away safely. Crossed the border and made it to Williamsport at around 11pm, where we found a couple of hotels and went for beers. $2.80 US for two beers in the local Tavern. Pretty much the typical small town American bar: country playin' on the juke box, bud and coors light on tap, drunk locals hangin' off the bar, etc.
Next morning, got up around 6:30 and after enjoying our free breakfast, set out for Annapolis. Made it there in another 3 hours, plus another stop for gas. Only 2 miles from the US Naval Academy, a lady pulls up beside us and tells us she thinks we're missing a support on the trailer. We look back and confidently tell her that we took one off. Not one mile down the road, I look back again: "Oh shit! We're missing 2!" One was the one we'd removed, the other was just gone. Kind of amazing, since these things each go 6" into the post that they're in, and then were also bolted down. Spent the next 2 hours driving around trying to find it or buy a new one, but to no avail, eventually resigning ourselves to bringing the boat back on only five pads.
Drove to the US Naval Academy, and after being confronted by armed guards and sent to the naval station, were allowed in after showing out passports and drove in to try and find out boat. Another 10 minutes of being lost in the naval station, and we found where they keep the boats.... along with thousands of boat supports. Got permission to borrow one, and loaded the boat up, killing 2 hours in the process by the time we were ready to leave, at 4pm.
This departure landed us right in the middle of rush hour, where we lost 2 hours, then went and got a pizza for dinner to let traffic subside.
Following our meal, we set out for our long journey home... driving through the mountains of Pennsylvania in pouring rain in the dark is tons of fun! Unless you have a 3100lbs boat behind you... then you get a bit nervous. Made it through that ok, and got home around 4AM.
Totals for the trip:
Time out of country: 36 hours
Distance Driven: approx 2000km
Gas cost: $500USD
Trailer parts lost: 1
Trailer parts borrowed: 1
Boats returned to Canada: 1
More boat updates will follow, as we do the work on her and get her ready to sail in the spring.
Oct. 13th, 2005 @ 10:38 pm
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| » J/24 Pickup |
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I'm going on Thursday night to pick up the boat!!!!
-E
Sep. 30th, 2005 @ 03:27 pm
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| » J/24 |
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I got the email this morning from the guy I've been talking to in the US. My bid is one of the winners, and as such, I get to lay claim to one of 12 J/24s the US Naval Academy was auctioning off!
Now I just need to get a trailer and arrange a vehicle to tow it, and then I'll be going in two weeks to pick up my boat!!!!
Sep. 26th, 2005 @ 02:47 pm
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| » today v2 |
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Well, nice to know that I have internet access in my room. This is so much more conveniant than having to wander over to the main building.
Spent half the day in the pool today, then went for a round of golf. Great rental clubs, 4 week old Nike set. Almost made you want to forfeit the $750 deposit and just wander off with them.... And abscond with the golf cart in the process. Even better, they gave use each 6 free balls, so 18 total... of course we lost 14 of them, plus finding about 8 or so, which were also lost. Definitely way more than the 12 that we bought.
Probably heading over to disney tomorrow, either magic kingdom or a water park. will figure that part out later.
-Eriks
Mar. 19th, 2005 @ 10:03 pm
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| » Clean cars? yeah right. |
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Finally, not too sick any more!
To celebrate we (me, my mom and Graham) went to the self serve car wash to wash our cars... huge line, but we got in relatively quick.
Quite a work out washing two cars while they stood there trying to avoid the spray. Afterwards we each went to run around and do some stuff, and somehow pulled back into the driveway at the same time. Surprise surprise, neither one of us is capable of keeping our cars clean very long... the merc has spray on the lower sides of the doors, and mine has it all over the doors, grille and windsheild... oh well, it was fun while it lasted.
Hopefully that 649 ticket will work out.
-E
Mar. 5th, 2005 @ 03:31 pm
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| » this sucks |
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well, being sick is fun...no, wait, that's sarcasm... this sucks.
I'm not talking to anyone today.... mostly 'cause I can't
sore throat, fever, can't speak... at least it gives me reason not to answer the phone... so if anyone wants to try communicating with me, do so by sms, email or msn.
ok, back to couch now.
hmmm... I love how the "sick" icon looks more like dead... though I guess its not far off.
Mar. 2nd, 2005 @ 04:17 pm
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| » It's Alive! |
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My USB 2.0 card works with my external hard drive! 90GB of accessible space now! time to buy more random USB 2.0 stuff...
Feb. 26th, 2005 @ 07:17 pm
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| » Snow! |
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Ok, so I havn't made a post lately. Time to rant about snow and stupid drivers.
Since my mom had to be at work early today, I got to wake up at 6am, to the sign of 20cm of fresh powder on the roads. Went outside, shoveled half my driveway and all that fun, and drove her down.
The roads weren't bad, with the biggest hazard being, surprise, surprise: stupid people. Right before my eyes, a person in an SUV drove out of her driveway in front of me, proceeding to get stuck in the same snow I was making my way through.
No surprise there though, 'cause I did here that the major problem of snow plows wasn't the snow, but stuck SUVs getting in their way from plowing things like off-ramps.
Lets see: me in a Volvo V40 - low ground clearance + no snow tires = no problem.
SUV drivers - high ground clearance + possibility of snow tires + overinflated sense of security derived by advertising that their SUVs can go anywhere = stuck at the end of their driveways.
Oh, and then there was the honda civic trying to make it through a 1 1/2' high ridge of snow left behind by a snow plow. Instead of going forward, then pulling back a bit and going for it again, this one was just gonna ram straight through. Fortunately after 5 minutes of spinning her wheels she managed to punch her way through. At least it was 5 minutes of entertainment for me, after which I proceeded to blast through said snow bank with very little effort.... I love my car.
But seriously, maybe its really time that we started doing driving tests only in winter, or making a snow driving component to them, and making SUVs require some kind of truck specific licensing. That way, we could at least establish some kind of standard of driving in a condition which exists in Toronto for at least 4 months of the year, if not more.
At least the stupidity of Toronto drivers can provide us who know what we're doing with some much needed entertainment on those long, snowy drives. Oh well, back to doing donuts on the sidestreets!
Feb. 21st, 2005 @ 08:22 am
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| » Riga Post #2 |
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Ok, so here's the second of my posts from Latvia...
Here's what I've been doing recently:
Monday: Wandered the old part of down, visited the Bralu Kapi (Brother's Cemetary - honouring Latvian's who died fighting for freedom in 1918-1920) then that evening went to play squash. Rammed a wall with the shoulder I messed up two years ago and aggrevated that injury. Returning to normal now, though I don't want to go play squash before the next sailing regatta in Toronto, lest I do some real damage.
Tuesday: Received the rental car in the morning. Few small details lead me to believe that it was obtained less than legally, but it ran fine. Drove up to Valmiera and introduced my sister to my grandfather's sisters and their families. Dropped in at the village where he came from as well and showed her all the sites there. The hotel we stayed in was nice, but its a real change when their isn't internet OR TV in the room. Still caught a bit of the Olympics, though.
Wednesday: Drove down to Ligatne, a small city on the river Gauja, only river crossing without a bridge, so you take a raft. Lots of fun. Then visted with more relatives for a bit there, before heading off to Sigulda and Turaides pils (castle) and the caves nearby. Did the tourist thing, then went for lunch. At the place we stopped to eat at, by chance met up with a few Canadians. Saw them again on thursday wandering around Riga. Might meet up later for a beer. That night met up with one of my cousins in Riga and went for dinner and a few beers.
Thursday: Wandered around vec-Riga again... went up in St. Peter's church, one of the highest church towers in Riga, nice view over the city. Went in the evening to my dad's place by the sea for dinner. Planned to go swimming, but it was getting dark, and the water was cold, so just went in about knee deep in the Baltic sea... Try that swimming thing again in a few days.
Friday: Went to see Rundales Pils today. That's the palace where the President's inauguration ceremony is done, among being a really old landmark that is in the process of restoration. Afterwards went to another castle for lunch. Saw some sheep grazing in the field for a good photo op. Then went to do some bowling.
That's what's happened up to now. Not sure of what we're doing tomorrow, but I'll probably update again before I leave on tuesday.
-E
Aug. 20th, 2004 @ 11:50 pm
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| » Riga update #1 |
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Well, I've arrived in Riga, actually, arrived on friday, but decided to only post now, and things are good. Met my dad at the airport, as well as a few other relatives, and arranged what the family will be doing, then got dropped off at his condo near the old city, which I have commandeered for my use during my stay here.
Spent most of the past two days visiting relatives, introducing my sister to them, and watching the olympics... including all the heavy eating and drinking that goes along with that.
Also re-affirmed my belief in a few of the judgements that I made last time I was here:
1. The average Canadian driver wouldn't survive 30 seconds driving Europe. So glad I'm not the average Canadian driver.
2. Russians piss me off. They just do. Lets make one thing clear: THE OCCUPATION IS OVER! GET OUT!
3. Even though half the people here are Latvian, most people, as in the rest of the world, as dumb. Though it could be all the Latvians that are smart, and the rest are Russians... for more on that, see #2.
4. Latvian supermarkets rock. You can buy beer, booze, and traditional latvian foods there, that we could only dream of buying in our supermarkets, or would have to go to small specialty shops.
5. Cell phone coverage: I got a Pay as you go plan for 3 Lats. About $9 Canadian. For the same amount of service, I would have to pay something like $50 on my Rogers account back home.
That's all I can think of so far, probably more to come.
-E
Aug. 15th, 2004 @ 11:11 pm
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| » Awesome! |
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After weeks of fine tuning, the J/24 Laiva has finally posted a respectable 2nd. Time to move on to winning regattas now!
Frequently heard phrases on the boat:
"That's what she said last night!"
"You're not doing it right"
and sometimes
"You're not doing it right" followed by "That's what she said last night!"
-E
Aug. 5th, 2004 @ 09:41 pm
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| » Stuff... |
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Well, first update in a few months!
First off, Dziesmu Svetki went awesome. Kept on wanting to post something about it, but couldn't figure out what to say. Very little sleep and having to be in different places at once was tiring, but a blast. Seju Veju, my jaundeja, (new choreography for the non LVs) took the audience favourite prize and 3rd place for its category.
Prize money that was promptly spent on a new lens for my camera: Canon 28-105mm f/3.5-2.4 II USM. Awesome piece of glass... focuses super fast...great blur for portraits, etc.
In other developments, I'm now helping one of my uncles build a house. Quite a different experience from the cottage last summer. Then it was "get it up as fast as possible." This time its "get it up as fast as possible, but only on weekends." Kinda maddening to see a structure going up so slow, but its cash, so I won't complain, and its fun. I get to hit things really hard with my hammer.
Speaking of which, I'm working today... just got a call to go help install windows... Guess I won't be able to smash stuff as much as I'd like. No, wait. Old one's have to come out! :)
And now... end of school is near! Two more classes next week, and I'm off to Latvia! Now taking any requests for jewelry people would like me to pick up for them. Include how much you'd like me to spend on it, and sizing info, and I'll see what I can find. (For those who don't know, Latvia is a great place to get really cool folkloric jewelry, extremely cheap).
Work today, sail tonight, ride tomorrow. Sounds like a plan.
-E
Aug. 5th, 2004 @ 08:12 am
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| » why not... |
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well, time for a post of some kind...
first off: don't run over skunks. they will go off on contact with your tire, and even after a car wash, it takes about half a week for the smell to fade away.
Song fest preparation's goin along as planned. Gonna be an awesome weekend!
Had my Shakespeare in class performance on monday, went pretty good, takes care of 25% of the mark... now just a couple of essays to write before the song fest, and its all good.
made a great new discovery that my lighting gel sample pack can double as a set of colour filters for my digital camera! this saves me a few $100 on not having to buy coloured filters, so I'm pretty happy about that. Too bad they won't work for me when I get a dSLR, but I'll deal with that when it comes to it.
In other news, probably going to Latvia from the 12th to 22nd or 24th of August. It'll be nice to skip town again... especially a day after the end of my classes... then get back in time to begin again.
Jun. 9th, 2004 @ 10:15 pm
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| » nice weather... |
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Just got home from bartending a confirmation. Awesome party, even the rain was fun, thought hopefully it'll end in time to get some volleyball in at the beaches tomorrow and catch some awesome pictures of fireworks, which will appear on the new version of my website within a few days... well, that's the plan anyways... we'll see how severly that get's blown to shit soon enough.
May. 23rd, 2004 @ 11:11 pm
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| » (No Subject) |
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Brrr! You're a WINTER STORM.
You get very quiet when you're angry.
Most people would call you heartless and cold,
but that's only because you don't tell them what's
really on your mind.
What DIRE WEATHER FORECAST do you turn into when you're angry?
brought to you by Quizilla
May. 17th, 2004 @ 10:53 pm
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