Baja Naval Astillero in Ensenada Mexico
Our boat was launched yesterday after thanking the 30 boatyard employees with a Pizza Lunch. Traversay III looks brand-new, with her gleaming white paint and renewed navy stripes. We estimate it will take several weeks to reach Victoria. At least, we have enough provisions aboard in case we are in for a 'Long Haul'.
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| 'Matterhorn White' top coat |
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| L & M.A with Bianca & Gabrielle |
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| Traversay III with 'Flag Blue' stripes & Lettering |
We got here to have our boat painted on May 13 after a 10-day passage. It was a rough trip along the coast until we came abreast of Cape Mendocino California. We had several equipment failures. Fortunately, Larry had purchased a spare starter motor in 2008 and it worked perfectly. Unfortunately, when the auto-pilot failed, 1 of our 2 spares also failed.
We are happy to be getting the painting done here for the second time. We got here exactly 10 years after our last visit because our steel boat needs to be re-painted regularly. Mexico is terrific because normally it doesn't rain, the mast doesn't need to be taken off and you don't need to rent a shed. We need new paint ... once the paint gets 'thin'sea water can creep under the paint and start rusting.
Painting Traversay is a lengthy process because there are 7 coats of paint. She has 2 grey primer coats and 3 of glossy 'Matterhorn White'. In between some coats, everything around that you don't want painted gets masked (including all nearby boats who might not like Matterhorn White). Between many of the coats there's sanding and vacuuming. The work stops for rain and we're now stopped. The boat still needs it's navy (Flag Blue) stripes, lettering and 2 coats of black anti-fouling bottom paint.
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| Primer Coat |
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| Glossy Top Coat |
We’re in position to leave tomorrow. The weather is looking good for the first few days of the trip and we’re mentally prepared for the onslaught.
I’ll be putting on a scopolamine patch … a medication that has various unfortunate side effects (like a dry mouth and extreme tiredness) but keeps actual sea-sickness at bay. We are fully provisioned for the trip. The cranky autopilot seems to have been cajoled into working again.
Even with our finances, our wills and our meds in order, I always have the same Leave-taking emotions and those are harder to quell than mere sea-sickness. I miss my daughters … they both loved sailing as kids. Of course, Alice has been gone (dead at 25 of a brain tumor) for over 18 years now, and Hope is ‘locked in’ at her home in rural Ontario. She and her husband Darin are caring for 4 children, 3 cats, 2 aged female horses, 4 ageing chickens and a psychologically-challenged Doberman. Hope’s oldest daughter (age 18) is working and living away from home, but the youngest child is only 6.
I still ardently wish Hope could come on this trip as it’s likely to be our very last offshore trip. I can envision how much she would love looking at the birds, looking at the sunrises or sunsets, seeing the differences in the wave patterns, and doing the actual sail-changes and physical work of sailing during her watches.
This photo of Darin and Hope on a calm day at sea says it all.
We plan to leave for Mexico once the winds and weather are favourable ... we hope to leave around May 1st.
Before leaving, we want everyone who reads this to learn something important about Traversay III and our treatement of the Sea. Traversay was built with two tanks ... one for sink waste and the original tank for toilet waste was replaced with an oversized tank. This tank is known as the blackwater tank. While we're in port and here in Victoria, we pay to have our toilet tank emptied on a weekly basis. Every civilized country has rules about waste and Traversay follows them.
Once we're far awy from land, we empty our blackwater tank into the Sea.We are not reaponsible for much black-water waste in the ocean.
WHO IS THE GREATEST DEFECATOR INTO THE OCEAN?
To find the answer click here
