We're Back!!!!

We're back to sailing after a short hiatus

After a 2 year hiatus we are finally back in the water! I’ve been looking forward to contributing to the blog now that I have things to write about again. I was thinking about where to start last night and remembering how easy it was to write a blog post when I was doing it regularly on our last trip down to the Bahamas. I could probably whip up one in under an hour. I hope to get back into the groove as I find it a great way to collect memories and I still reference our old blog when I need to remember a place or time on our Bahamas trip.

It has been about 3 years since we returned on the trip down to the Bahamas and back. I’ve only done a tiny bit of sailing 2 years ago when we did a small test voyage on Senta in Lake Champlain. Since then she has been on a trailer in various locations, most recently in the front yard of our new house. I have been slowly plugging away on various tasks. It took about a summer to complete all the outdoor teak work, scraping, sanding and various coats of Cetol. That was a busy summer though with moving into our first house, getting married, and being away on our honeymoon. I didn’t have a lot of extra time for much else. This summer I was a lot more productive as I had a deadline. This boat was GOING to go in the water this year, and I was going sailing. I sanded and applied a satin varnish to all the interior teak work, changed the name from Senta to Nymeria, painted a new water line, added a raw water foot pump, ran new VHF wire, installed a holding tank, painted all the lockers, and did a few smaller projects. Looking back now it was quite a feat but I felt I was progressing very slowly.

Boat on the trailer ready to go

Following behind in the rain

Originally I had wanted the launch date to be the 4^th of August, but of course delays in receiving some parts and myself having to work a few more shifts before my vacation started, we settled for August 19^th, which turned quickly into August 21^st because my membership approval for the yacht club where I would be launching and hauling out the boat would not be voted on until the 20^th of August. It was all very stressful as there were a few projects not finished, most importantly the holding tank was not installed and I was waiting for a few fittings and hosing to be delivered. But there’s always something, and without further delay we secured the boat to the trailer and moved her from her parking spot on a rainy Thursday morning. I followed as my dad pulled her down the road to Brockville. The drive went very smoothly and we arrived in Brockville as the skies were clearing. Up and into the water she went and up the mast went without a hitch. A bit of difficulty figuring out and adjusting the turnbuckles to the stays but with a bit of help from the passerby’s at the Yacht Club we eventually sorted everything out. Sal headed to Kingston as our sanitation hose had come in and I sorted out a few things on the boat. Phil (our sailing mentor and guide) came by to have a look at the engine. It started up right away but a horrible discovery of our fuel tank leaking led to total destruction of the starboard locker as we removed the bilge pump and eventually the fuel tank. I was more than a little dejected but it just so happened that Phil had a spare diesel tank that just might work! It had been a long but exciting day. Tomorrow would also be another long day as the new tank got installed, finding out the engine worked PERFECTLY, installing most of the holding tank, and setting sail with my mom for a 3 day trail. Sal had 3 more shifts of work before his vacation began.