Shaken, stirred, and on the rocks.

I have the worst luck taking people sailing.  I don't know why it is, but for some reason I can sail the boat perfectly fine on my own; but when I try and bring people along there's some kind of catastrophe. 
My friend, Dani, is home for a couple weeks visiting from Alaska.  The plan was to go sailing after church on Sunday.  It all seemed like a good idea.  There was a fair breeze coming out of the west.  I had learned my lesson last time to just go out using the jib in this type of wind.  Dani brought along her two brothers and two sisters to enjoy the beautiful sunny day out sailing.  So far so good.  My neighbors had left and sailed on down to Racine for the rest of the season, so there was plenty of room to turn my boat around in the slip and head out forward.  It should have been the easiest time ever.  AS we were shoving off, we all hopped on board except for Dani's older brother; he hesitated slightly and with each passing second the boat got further and further from land.  I had the dinghy behind, but he didn't jump into that one either.  He also had some electronics with him, so he couldn't very well jump in and swim.  I'm not one to leave anyone behind, so I sailed down to the end of the dock and tried to spin around.  This was much harder than anticipated, and we only just made it back to a slip at the very end of the dock.  Once again we were close to Chance a Santa Cruz 70...very expensive boat.  I was a bit nervous of shoving off so close to this other boat, but we made it around ok, and just as I turned the boat to head up into the wind more and trim the sails in a bit, my boat started to head for the rocks.  I tried counter steering as much as I could, but in the end had to flip the tiller to avoid the breakwater.  We did a 360 degree turn and tried it again.  the same thing happened this time again.  In hindsight I should have just eased the jib out all the way and let that carry us out of the harbor.  I'm pretty sure I did, and it didn't work, but it was so stressful that the details are a bit blurry right now.  The second time we were headed straight for the rocks again, and even though I spilled the sail completely, we were still drifting sideways towards them.  Once again I flipped the tiller over in hopes that we could swing around and miss the rocks.  No such luck.  I called for people to be on the fore-deck to kick off the rocks if anything were to happen, but I forget that most people don't know how heavy the boat is, how deep the rocks are.  I'm sure if it was my first time on a boat I wouldn't want to run the risk of getting crushed. 
In the end I had to run foreward and try to stop the boat.  I jumped onto the rocks and braced myself against the bow pulpit, but we were already moving too fast.  there was a loud CRUNCH! as the bow slammed into a submerged rock.  I had run aground before, but that was slowly, and against sand.  There was no telling the damage that had just been done.  I pushed the boat back and tried to head out again, but the wind resisted my best efforts at even getting back to the slip.  In the end some concerned citizens in rigid inflatable boats came over and pulled me back to safety.  Reputation: gone.  Confidence: shattered.  Boat: battered.
We tied up at the slip and thanked our rescuers.  The siblings left and Dani stayed behind to make sure I didn't die of shame.  For some reason she blamed herself, but this wouldn't have happened if I had my engine working, or possibly if I had my mainsail up.  It was to blustery for both sails in the harbor.  I wish I had been able to learn what I needed to do and still gone sailing, but after an attempt like that I feel much better just sitting at the dock and not risking it again.  Sailing is a risk, and I guess this is my "practice boat", I just wish I could sail whenever and wherever I want.
I put on my snorkel mask and dove down to assess the damage.  Luckily I did but such a sturdy boat.  I know she can take quite a beating, but that doesn't mean I like inflicting injuries.  There was a small chunk of fiberglass below the waterline.  It looked like a little divot.  There was no hole, and no water coming into the boat, it's just one more thing I'll have to repair when I pull her out in October.  We went for a walk, I was able to clear my mind a bit, but then we sat on the boat chatting for the rest of the day.  I really wanted to go sailing.
Today we were planning on sailing as well, but the weather called for damaging winds, hail, thunderstorms, and possibly tornadoes.  It's probably wise that we didn't go today.

A brief ray of sunshine

It's my day off.  And it was tolerable weather.  Sound unlikely for me......yeah.  OK although the afore mentioned statements are true, it wasn't exactly perfect.  Despite being my day off I had to go in to work (twice) in order to keep appointments with clients.  (If in the future after I am an amazingly successful cruising sailor and I have to get a job on land I hope that they will read this and see my awesome work ethic).  I only stayed at work a total of 3 1/2 hours, but I sold 2 cars, so it's ok.  As for the weather, it's been kinda depressing.  A couple Sundays ago it was up in the 70's, and then this last weekend we got 3 inches of snow!  It just came out of nowhere, and covered everything in slush.  I had hoped that I would be able to start varnishing, but with all the changing weather and moisture in the air I've decided to hold off for a bit.

I completed a few tasks on the boat though.  I taped off and repainted the waterline, I put on the boat registration stickers, and finished sanding the woodwork. I took pictures of all this today, but forgot to bring it over here so I could upload them.  I'll do that tomorrow.

I checked out the slot that had been cut to drain any excess water in the keel, it was pretty much dry.  I decided it'd be a good idea to make sure there was no water next to the ballast on the other side of the keel. So although when you think of boat maintenance you usually think of patching holes, not drilling new ones, that's exactly what I had to do.
I drilled into the side of the keel and a bit of gritty black goop came out followed by some water.  I drilled 8 other holes along the keel to drain any moisture I could.  I'm still a bit worried about all this water that has been in there for who knows how long, but I'm pretty confident in the structural integrity of the Bristol.

I found out that the rig I have (from a Columbia 26) has a roller reefing boom, so I don't need to add reefing point to the sail if I need to make the sail smaller in a storm.  It's gonna be nice to just wrap it around the boom and not have to worry about folding it.  I've heard that the roller reefing systems weren't that good, and that's why no one does it anymore.....I guess we'll see.

After sunset I went to Home Depot to get some Frog Tape (way better than the blue painter's tape most people get), some more sanding blocks, some gloves so I don't ruin my skin with the anti-fouling paint, and some tack cloth so I can varnish properly.  Then I bought some rubbing compound and wax to make the boat's hull all slippery and shiny.

It's gratifying to see things coming together over the last couple of weeks.  I've had a list of things to buy, and things to do which wasn't changing at all over the winter months.  I had to get insurance, pay for the slip, get anti-fouling paint ($126/gallon).  Now all I have to do is buy some sails.

An old guy came up to me today and told me about some sailing stuff he was selling.  He had a new sail that didn't fit his boat he was gonna sell for $400, and a roller furling unit for the Jib.  It might not fit, but I'll see how cheap I can buy it off him.

I've recently joined a www.cruisersforum.com which has been great!  The combined knowledge of hundreds of sailors from all over the world helping me trouble shoot my way has been invaluable.  It's also nice to see that I'm not the only one who's starting small and trying to make due with as little as possible.  I know I seem naive to many, but I feel like I could get to Europe just on will power at this point.

The Marina

I went down to the harbor center marina here in beautiful Sheboygan and spoke to the guys there about getting a slip for the upcoming season.  At first I thought I was going to have to get an efficiency dock.  This arrangement would put me all the way back in the sandy shallow area that would be difficult to get out of, and I would have no storage attached to my dock.  Because of a fortunate turn of events and some lucky timing I was able to get a much nicer dock designed for a 35 foot boat over on the outer edge of one of the main docks.  Clear deep water.  Also I'll be over in the neighborhood of the other sailors.  It'll be nice to exchange information and get advice, but on the other hand it might be embarrassing if anything goes wrong while I'm over there.  (It's my first boat people, gimme a break!)  But the dock is going to be cheaper than the efficiency dock and it comes with electricity, water hook ups, and the port for a cable TV. 
I will have access to the pool, the hot tub, the barbecues, the showers, bathrooms, laundry room, and kitchen.  I'm seriously thinking I'll just move out of my apartment and live on my boat for the summer.  It would be the equivalent of paying $165 a month for rent as opposed to $315 (plus utilities).  I'm really not seeing a downside here.  I'll be able to save more for my trip to Europe, and I'll be able to get used to living aboard my boat.