Over The Weekend

Sorry I have missed a few days of blogging, i will get everyone up to date.

Friday

Lets see, Friday was a good day. Mike Rush got into town and came down to the boat, he got to work right away cleaning the head, thank you Mike, he also fixed the leak at the Y valve connected to the head. It was a minor leak but it was getting on my nerves. Then he saddled up on to the boom to run the check stays. Once that was finished he prepped the forward hatch for the grip tape.

At about mid day a few of my moms cousins, and my cousins, and my grandma, and my uncle Gary came down to the boat to have a look around. It was my cousin Olivia and here children's first time on a boat, so we took a ton of pictures, then headed over to the Yard House for lunch. I have to say that I'm glad to be sailing home as it will give me a chance to lose some of these lbs. i have put on since being here.

Earlier in the week i had contacted a man named Steve that owns a company called Captain Glass, they do fiberglass repair. He came down to the boat to check out the damage and gave me a great estimate. He came back latter with his two employees Vince (i think that's his name) and his son Louise (both pictured). They got to work digging out the fractured fiberglass and laying some new stuff down, as to set over the weekend. Let me tell you these guys are artist! So far they are doing an amazing job. If you are ever in Long Beach and you need some repairers of this nature done give Captain Glass a call. I am stoked!

Toward the end of the day my Transpac host Debbie (pictured) came by to say hi and drop off my skippers package. It was not the first time i had meet Debbie. In 2007 while delivering Cirrus up from Hawaii we ran out of flue right out side of Angles Gate, with out a lick of wind in sight and just a few days left till our start, we called Warren Wolf to see if we could get a tow. With in a half an hour Debbie pulls up in her boat and tows us all the way to our slip. It is great to get to spend some time with her again, she is a super cool woman. Thank you for all of your help.

Saturday

Okay, let me think. Ah yes, Richard came in at the crack of dawn. Mom and i got up really early, rushed down to the boat, i hulled up the battle flag, then went to Starbucks for a tea. Richard caught a shuttle from LAX to the Haytt in Long Beach. He called from the lobby to tell us just how tickled he was to be able to see his boat from that far away. We picked him up, drove down to the boat so he could have a look around. I shit you not, the first words out of his mouth were, Wow she looks dirty. First of all, anybody that has sailed on Addiction knows that not once has that boat been rinsed off after a sail, or a single stanchion been polished, and the head is lucky to get a quick wipe down once a month. Not to mention when we took possession of Addiction after being shipped from Hawaii, it literally looked like it had been sitting down wind from an oil fire for a month. The black soot and grime was impressive. So I had to just chock it up to jet lag, I'm sure that when he said dirty he really meant, super spectacular!

We fussed around for a bit, then tried to sink the boat. What happened was we decided to flush to water tank. The tank got full, and the bilge did too. We ran the bilge pump while looking for the breather, but could not find it anywhere. Then we thought we must have cracked the tank, but that wasn't the case. After awhile i found the breather, witch by the way is not near the tank, is in the oddest place, and empties right in to the bilge. So now i am better informed, its not a problem, it is what it is. All and all the tank is flushed and the bilge pumps work great!

We decided to take a brake from trashing the boat. Richard and I tried to find Club Transpac, we even used a map, but with no luck. I guess it has not been set up yet. We ran around town buying crap for the boat. We called it a day pretty early and headed back to Chateau Relaxeau. Chef Grandma had prepared a lovely welcome meal for Richard, we dinned on BBQ ribs, backed bean and her famous home made potato salad. It was tasty.

Sunday HAPPY FATHERS DAY

Today was a very enjoyable day. We slept in all the way till 8. Mom and i took Richard to breakfast at place called R&D, kind of like Richard & Donna, in Fashion Island. It was nice. After that we headed out to the boat. We have been driving down PCH daily, passing by a bathing suit shop called Beach Bunny, we had some time so i stopped in. Now in my mind a place called Beach Bunny seems like a heaven on earth, a Utopia, right there on Pacific Coast Highway. Not so much. There wasn't one suit in there that didn't have lace or chains on it. I don't even know if you could call it a swim suit, these suits seemed more like outdoor lingerie. Now i have owned some pretty out there swim suits, even some that i would never get wet, but not even i could get behind that swimwear. Maybe I'm getting old.

OK getting back to fathers day. We got to the boat and got it together to go out for a sail. I guess a few other people had the same idea, we had to wait for like ten minutes for it to be clear to back out of the slip, the channel was as busy as the 405. We set sail in about 20 knots of wind. That seems like a lot of wind for out here. Other then all the tankers on moorings, the green water, and the occasional seal it felt like we were home in Hawaii. There was ever type of boat on the water today, from Hobbie cats to the tall ship Lynx. Addiction sailed great, the rig and the tune seemed well, and all the lines were ran correctly. Once all the crew is in we will take her out for good ol' shake down.

After we got back into the harbor, and yes the boat got rinsed, mom and i took Richard to one of our favorite restaurants in CA. Its a place called Gorges. We went to the one on 2nd street, but there is also one on Pine Ave. Gorges severs authentic Greek food. We had a wonderful meal. Its a must try when in the Long Beach area, i would recommend the the flaming cheese appetiser.

You cant eat on 2nd street without taking a walk and doing a little window shopping. I don't know were my parents went but due to my very unsatisfying bathing suit experience earlier in the day I found myself elated at the sight of a bathing suit shop. I walked in and i was surrounded by VIX, Salinas and even CIA Maritim. It was total over load, you will be schooked to learn that i did not buy a thing. I told myself that once the boat is total ready to go, and if i still have any money left the weekend before the race, i would buy one, maybe two suits. It feels good just to know i have some place to go.

Moving on, i think that brings us up to speed. We have a busy week ahead so i promise not to miss a day of blogging and i will stick to the topic of Transpac and sailing. No more bathing suit talk. Also, i am glad to see some test comments, thank you to those for the instructions.

LA