March 28th and 29th 2014

On the LONG drive down the coast Captain Steve and I discussed the final few projects that need to be completed in order for “Pablo” to be moved up to Santa Cruz. As we pondered the list (which seemed very short) our conversation moved to the possibility of throwing a sail into the weekend. What could it hurt? A few hours out on the water would be lovely. After all, we haven’t really had a good sea trial. The first two trips out left us a bit less than satisfied (one day of NO wind and the second with thick, soupy fog). So we made up our minds to take a few hours on Friday to go sailing before we got to work.

We woke early and had our usual Pablo scramble (eggs, spinach, sausage, and mushrooms). Steve decided he really wanted to get the router connected to the VHF/AIS before leaving dock. This will be very important to our navigation in the coming weeks, months, and years. After an hour or so and a few failed attempts he got it up and running. We can now use the iPad as our primary navigation tool. We are using iSailor as our chart plotter with the AIS connection that displays other boats in relationship to ourselves. I make it all sound so simple. Steve has spent hours and several weeks getting the system set up. This was just the culmination of a lot of hard work. Yay for Captain Steve!

While Steve worked on the router connection, I got the sails ready, ran the sheets, and got the boat ready for leaving the dock. This process, which seemed so daunting at one time is getting easier each time I do it. As it is with all things “Pablo”. We were off the dock by 11:30. A quick stop at the pump out station and we were soon heading out of the harbor. We had a most wonderful day with a light 5-8 knots SSW. We were quite pleased with the fact that our big heavy boat was able to maintain 2.5-3 knots in such light conditions.Perhaps that new feathering prop was worth it!

After spending about three hours sailing we decided it was best to head back in. After all, we had that list of work items to attend to. Truth is, that once we got back to the dock, got the sails put away, sail covers on, and everything stowed it was too late to get any real work done this day. Oops! Maybe we should have completed our chores first. Nah! I would not have traded this day of sailing for anything. It was exactly what we needed. We needed to remember why we were working so hard.

Saturday came and work we did. From sunrise to sunset we spent the day completing one task after another. Fuel tanks filled, water tanks filled, Pilot berth cleared, Permanent stowage for items randomly placed around the boat, cotter pins installed in rigging and on and on….. By the end of the day we realized that there was still a few necessary items that needed to be completed. Steve will come next week to get them done. We are now ready to set a moving date. We will contact our skipper and friendly crew to see if we can get a date put onto the calendar and then pray the weather cooperates.

Soon, soon, soon our boat will be home!