Late Entry | Three Sheets Northwest

Heading for Outer Space

by Scott Wilson on 22/11/09 at 9:35 am

I always feel a bit embarrassed for boats out on the hard. I’ve been driving by a lot of boatyards lately so this thought has struck me more often than is usual. Propped up on their stands, all their indelicate machinery and unsightly undersides exposed, it’s as if they are standing out there, exposed, with all the world looking up their skirts.

We’re going to be subjecting Insegrevious to this indelicacy early next month, and I’ve reached that point in the preparations where it feels a bit as if we are instead scheduled to lift off not simply into the boat yard, but rather into orbit, or perhaps for the moon, and someone has left me, who barely passed algebra, in charge of Mission Control. I imagine this is the sort of nightmare new astronauts have, as high school students dream of being called up to the board when they haven’t quite worked out their homework yet.

While hauling out is a far cry from a trip to orbit, it sometimes assumes that degree of intensity for new boaters such as ourselves. I suppose it’s old hat to all those old duffers we meet working on their own boats around the yard, who have done it every year or two for most of their lives. I’ve been on the water for the better part of my life, but the boats I grew up on and around were almost entirely of the sort that either came out on their trailer at the end of the day, or simply were run up on the beach if one needed them dried out for a bit. The prospect of putting a seven-ton sailboat on a Travel-Lift and not only yanking it out of the ocean, but then trundling around a dusty boat yard with it, was completely foreign to me.

We’ve only had Insegrevious out twice, or three times if you count the survey, and I still worry about it slipping out of the slings, or tipping off the blocks, and so forth. Our modern, total-information access society is no help in this regard.  It helps that we are going back to Port Townsend Boat Haven again this year; their professionalism and expertise impressed us the last time we were there, and the price is right. Which also explains the timing; those of you familiar with the weather we’ve been having here have to be wondering why on earth we would be doing this in December, but the Port of Port Townsend is running a half-price special through the end of the year. Boat yards are hurting in this economy… we know of two others that are running similar specials trying to get some business moving.

So, it’s time to scrape and paint again, and for almost two years we have had a small but persistent leak from the rudder tube, and we’ve been looking for an opportunity to repack it. We’re also hoping to buff and wax the hull above the waterline, which has become dirty and stained in our travels and embarrases us when we have to moor with a port-side tie anywhere. It’s not a lot of work, really, on a 33 foot boat at least, but I’m still getting nervous that we’ll be missing something important during that critical window when she’s out of the water, or worse, that we’ll break something important and won’t be able to put her back in the water at the appointed hour. I’ve sent off my Defender order and crossed my fingers and there’s not much else to do until the day arrives.

One thing I am looking forward too, though, is getting out and going somewhere again. Although the weather has been frightful, I’ve been envious of those souls we have spotted through gaps in the curtains of rain coming down who have been out sailing despite it. Deluged by real life, the simplicity of a few hours out on Puget Sound has been increasingly appealing.

The weather doesn’t come without its own set of concerns, of course. While, like all Pacific Northwest sailors, we know that the magic words “Small Craft Advisory” mean “Good Sailing Weather”, but a gale while rounding Point No Point or going through Admiralty Inlet can be bad news. The boat is in Seattle and the yard is in Port Townsend, and our schedule for getting everything together in the same spot is a little tight. So, I worry about the weather too, even though I know from experience that it probably won’t be so bad and there won’t be anything I can do about it, anyway.

Either way, there are two weeks until lift-off. I need to make sure we stock up with some Tang!