LAUNCHING YOUR MOM

St. Augustine

As reported earlier, we gave the dinghy, aka Your Mom, a complete makeover. We seriously thought she was beyond repair, but after filling her with sealant and slathering her with paint, she's like a teenager again. And one month later, she's still holding air. Amazing.

Chip, with help from Dale, gave new meaning to "launching the dinghy." Karen and I pushed them off the top of the slide and, whoosh! The dinghy was launched.

Our next mission-critical step before setting off: try out the new motor, a Tohatsu 6HP (a big upgrade from the old 3.5). Check!

Getting the dinghy onboard always comes with a sense of expectation, nervous excitement, like having the car packed for vacation. A n t i c i p a t i o n.

who are these people? me | chip | cara mia | our very long timeline

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A SAILOR'S WORK

St. Augustine, FL

Who came up with this idea of changing the oil in the kitchen?

We've been a regular chain gang, trying to get Cara Mia into shape for a season in the Bahamas. I talk a lot about a sailor's play, but our chores sometimes get overlooked. In addition to the ongoing battle against the elements, we have routine maintenance that demands our attention.

The engine enjoyed a spa day -- oil change (my first time to do it by myself), transmission fluid change and coolant flush (Chip's first time to do that). She's purring and ready to go. Now I need a spa day.

Instead, I attended my own version of CrossFit, hauling around 280 feet of chain. I'd been meaning to pull it all out and have a look and being at the dock offered a perfect opportunity. You can tell from the photo which end we've been using. As with most things on a boat, regular use actually keeps equipment in better condition than disuse (or misuse). The first 100 feet on the left gets regular "cleaning" from friction between the links, passing through the windlass and dragging through sand.

The other end sits idle in the bottom of the anchor locker getting a daily salting from the working chain.

Originally, I thought I would clean the whole thing and flip it. Big ideas, big plans. I got all the chain out of the dock, and the dock chatter began. Sailors are an opinionated bunch. Lots of theories were bandied about, products recommended, products tested, jokes made, beers consumed. I measured and rearranged it several times.

In the end, we had to leave town on short notice, so I deferred the entire chain dilemma to next season. Chip cut off about 10 feet of the good end with a Dremel, because it was showing some wear. I marked it every 20 feet (so we know how much chain we have out) and then we just heave-hoed the whole thing back into the chain locker the same way it was before all the ballyhoo.

I did clean out the chain locker while it was empty and get the secondary anchor, a CQR, into deployable condition (good thing we never had an emergency requiring a backup anchor). Chip serviced the swivel and put a new shackle on the Delta, so progress was made, muscles were used, future chore lists were written.

There was some sweat, some cursing, some bruises, but soon enough we'll be looking down at that chain happily dangling in crystalline turquoise water.

who are these people? me | chip | cara mia | our very long timeline

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CLASSIC YACHT: MY LATEST COLUMN

According to my latest column in Classic Yacht magazine, we are in Warderick Wells in the Exumas. Never believe what you read.

In fact, Cara Mia is in Florida, and we are in New Jersey where Chip is finishing up his wine consulting job here with a major supermarket chain. He's training staff, overseeing a chain-wide wine reset and helping with the grand re-opening of a store that was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy.

We will be back on Cara Mia the second week of February, ready (so ready) to hop to the Bahamas as soon as the weather allows.

In the meantime, I'll be updating you on what we've been up to the last few weeks -- working too hard on boat chores to get any blogging done!

HAVE A DREAMY 2013!

who are these people? me | chip | cara mia | our very long timeline

my column | my pre-cruising blog | contact us | blog log | resources