It has been a hectic few weeks for us, which, unfortunately has meant radio silence on the blog. While we are now relaxing in Florida, soaking in the warm sun and gentle gulf breezes, just a few days ago it seemed as though we would never escape the cold temps and blustery breeze of the Midwest. I spent the last few weeks of the semester frantically grading portfolios, hosting critiques, and preparing two new bodies of work, including images from the Female Mariners Project, for exhibitions that will go up in January while we are out of town.
A few days after Christmas we will be heading back to the boat, which is dry docked in southern Georgia. We have a long list of projects and repairs that we plan to tackle, and document with both photos and video, to share with you including rebedding stations, building storage shelves in the v-berth, varnishing the teak, polishing the stainless, and a host of other delayed maintenance concerns. Our goal is to check off as many items on our to-do list as possible, so that we can get sailing in May sooner rather than later.
One project that we must tackle before doing any further long distance cruising is unstepping the mast. Based on our conversations with the previous owners, we know that the mast has not been taken down in the last eight years. This project alone could take a week or more as we learned from the folks on SV Esper. It took them 6 days just to remove all of the fittings. We are hoping to get this project started, at the very least, during our winter break.
Until next time, we wish you a happy holiday season and hope that Santa brings plenty of good boat gear your way!
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