Lately - Here and Now

boat work bucket

Sept 29th 2017

So much has happened lately.  I know I still need to finish out this past cruising season, however that will have to wait.  I am just going to jump in now with the latest.  Ready?

In June we left the boat in Trinidad again for hurricane season.  As I have mentioned before, it is technically out of the "hurricane zone" but there are no guarantees in life.  WELL....this hurricane season the African wave train fired up WAY too early.  Normally it fires up in September.   Nope, not this year.  Mid June waves started rolling off Africa.  Weird, but we all just assumed they would curve north like they usually do.  However, we did stay vigilant, checking National Hurricane Center every morning.

Sure enough.....one stayed straight, not curving but heading west, heading right for Trinidad.  And it kept coming, and kept coming.  Argh!  So one week before we were set to fly back stateside, we were not only prepping the boat to leave but also prepping for a tropical storm or worse.  And while many of the activities of prepping for leaving the boat and prepping for an actual storm are the same, this storm also took away time from additional things we like to do to prep and getting a jump start on boat projects.  Argh!  For added fun, Tom re-injured his back and was out of commission.  I wasn't even sure if he could get on the plane in a week.  Big fun!  But I kept him medicated aka doped up aka sleeping 23 hrs a day so he wouldn't move around and make it worse and so his muscles could rest/heal.  It worked.  We made the plane and he didn't suffer too bad.  The tropical storm did hit but we were prepared, in part thanks to dock friends ( thank you Mark and Terry) and luckily it wasn't too bad where we are berthed.  Of course it hit at night.  I saw sustained winds of 35 knots with a high gust to 39 knots.  I know, I know.....that is nothing.  But for a girl from Kansas who is used to tornadoes and knows nothing of hurricanes, it was still a tad nerve wracking.  The best part was that the potential damaging westerly swell never arrived.  YAY!  The storm went away, we flew stateside.  HUGE thanks to fellow Caliber 40 owner Super Bill for playing Sherpa and taking Tom's carry-on bag for him.

Stateside hurricane apartment we rented

We spent June 22nd to Sept 20th stateside.  Work and fun.

Hurricanes in 2017 so far have really sucked so far.  Harvey hit Texas.  Irma grew to cat 5 and wiped Barbuda clean as well as smashing St Barths, Saint Martin/St Maarten, BVI's, USVI and then Florida Keys and parts of mainland Florida.  Right behind was hurricane Maria.  She slammed into Dominica as a cat 5, then on to St Croix and Puerto Rico - two places that were staging much needed relief supplies for the USVI and BVI's after Irma.  So much devastation and destruction.  Homes, businesses, boats, lives lost.  It is truly heartbreaking.  Relief efforts are happening but too slowly and resources are stretched thin.  More to come in another posting on this.

Alive and Well - Life is What Happens

Sunrise in le Marin Martinique

July 6th 2017
No, we are not dead.  Yes, we are still cruising.  Well....not at this exact moment but in general.  Why hasn't the blog been updated?  Lazy?  Yes.  Writers block?  Yes.  Life?  Yes.  What is the worn out phrase...."Life is what happens while you are busy making other plans."?  While that is not our normal mode of operation, we did get caught a bit in that this season.  But more later on that.

I personally blame social media.  When we closed up land life in May 2013, I caved and joined social media in the form of Facebook - ugh!  I very much have a love / hate relationship with it.  It has allowed me to stay connected with cruising friends carried around the globe on the winds of adventure and exploration, as well as re-discovering friends from years and years ago.  It also let's me check in with land peeps and even chat over coffee.  All good....for the most part.  *I personally find it weird how everyone is a "Friend" now but in reality we don't truly know many.  And whatever happened to the term "acquaintance"?  I like that term.  But I digress......The down side of social media for me is distraction and the nearly complete zapping of clear and often creative thoughts.  At least for me.  I do much of my initial writing on the blog early morning or even in the middle of the night.  However, no matter the time, someone I know is ALWAYS on Facebook, or has posted fun pics of the days adventures, or there is some interesting posts in various groups I follow, or funny jokes, or political (fake or not) topics.  SO much.... info/stuff/nonsense/crap that catches and distracts my attention.  I try to focus on writing but I get side tracked with a quick question to a cruising friend about anchoring where they are (and we are headed) or a hike later that morning or whatever, then BOOM....time has past by and all thoughts for a blogging are gone.

We are currently stateside for a visit.  While that usually means crazy, hectic and COLD (every retailer or public indoor space in the USA is 60 degrees which is Arctic cold to our Caribbean thinned blood!), I plan to re-focus, buckle down and get you all caught up on our adventures.  I miss blogging aka communicating (one sided) with you.

SO....please tune back in and always, thanks for following along.

Dinghy Seat Cover and Storage Solution

Oddjob does not have a forward storage compartment.  Nick Nack did.  Many dinghies don't.

Inside OddJob - bow

Instead, they have seat covers with built-in storage.  A good, alternative idea.

Big pocket in front

I have been keeping my eye out at all the dinghy docks for design ideas so I could make one for OddJob.
I took pics of designs I liked and then hit the web.  There is a Facebook Group called Sewing On Boats - SOB.  Seriously, that is the nickname.  Ha!  I searched there for good ideas.  Sure enough, my fellow SOB's had designed and sewn some of their own.  I found one I really liked.  Jan had done a terrific job on hers.  I commented and asked a few questions.

Smaller pocket, long, skinny pocket and two drink holders

Soon we were chatting on FB Messenger - me in Martinique and she in The Bahamas.  She answered all my questions, sent more detailed pics and guidance and gave me encouragement.  "Keep me posted on how it goes."

Design, layout and cutting phase

I wanted to use up some of the leftover fabric pieces I have.  However, I wanted it to look nice as well - not too hodgepodge.  I THOUGHT I had enough fabric.  It turned out I really didn't for my type of sewing...."D-oh!  Damn it!  I cut it too small.  Argh Sabrina!" 

Not much leftover

However, I pieced and patched, using the same two fabric colors - grey and black as well as good amount of webbing and was just able to pull it off.

Expansion when needed

Velcro'd when extra space is not needed

I had some old, used zippers from our old dodger/bimini but I decided not to use them.  I didn't think they would hold up in the harsh environment that the dinghy has to take.  Additionally, I simply didn't have ANY spare fabric to make zipper covers and such.  Plus.....honest truth is....zipper are not my forte.  They intimidate me.  Instead, I decided to go with Velcro.  I love Velcro.  I am the princess of Velcro.  

What is in here?  

As with ALL canvas boat projects, the size is weird, odd shaped and not symmetrical.  But that is standard by now....that all canvas projects will not be standard.  Does that make sense?  Anyway, I used a plastic drop cloth to design the pattern and check it before I started cutting on canvas.  This doesn't mean I still didn't do some swearing when I cut the fabric wrong/too short.  But, I was developing it as I went, working with the spare fabric I had.  Really quite tough doing it that way.

Drink holder

Additionally, I was doing all this on the water.  Oddjob is in the water working as our dinghy.  I could have hauled him to the beach but it wasn't really necessary for just the seat.  However, it still wasn't easy.  I sometimes feel bad when I see all the beautiful, perfect canvas projects that fellow SOB's create.  Why can't mine have more of a finished looked?  Then I noticed in the pics from fellow SOB that whatever they are sewing it is sitting in someone's garage/basement/dinning room aka they created it on land....where stuff doesn't move....where there is room to spread out yards of fabric absolutely FLAT.....where the wind doesn't blow your pattern/material around as you try to fit it!  Mind you not all, but many, many are created on solid land.

Long, skinny pocket for say.....a bamboo outboard handle.  Note the drain hole

Anyway, I used our bed, the cabin sole and our main table in the salon to design, pattern, cut and sew my dinghy seat cover.  It turned out pretty good.  Anyway, good enough for us as I always say.

One last look - webbing with quick release clips under the seat keep it all place