Bad Planning

No good sailing for the past couple of weeks, but if I had planned better, this would have been a wonderful weekend and maybe the last one of the season. Unfortunately, I have a conference coming up in two and a half weeks, and I am no where need ready. I have several presentations. One is pretty much in hand and another is moving forward. There is a poster presentation, but a student is going to be taking care of that for the most part. The last one is the problem. I have a lot of background reading that I have barely started. Plus, I have a never-ending stream of student papers and projects to give feedback on. Since I do most of the feedback through audio files, I spend an awful lot of time in my office talking to myself.

Anyway, if I had planned all that better, I could have budgeted time to go up to the marina for the weekend. It would have been kinda chilly, especially overnight, but the sailing would have been great, just would have needed a sweatshirt. Sunny, some clouds, good winds.

Instead, I went up just for a while yesterday. I arrived just before one and left less than three hours later. In the interim, I removed the sails and boom and cleared out most of the equipment. I returned with the SUV just about full and with a kayak on the roof. There might be a few odds and ends still in the boat, but the big things I will have to go back for are the cabin and cockpit cushions. They are the bulkiest part of the fitting out and hauling out trips in Spring and Fall, so I decided to get them last. The boat can be hauled with them still there.

So, anyway, I told them they could haul her anytime they wanted from now on. I'm scheduled for 8-9 days from now, but they could do it earlier. At that point, I will have to get the cushions and anything else that can't stay there through the winter and cover her with tarps. I will check the cockpit drains this time to ensure that water stays out of the bilge and cabin.

I need to arrange for the boatyard to do a few things over the winter. With the mast down, they can fix the spreader lights, replace the flag halyards and topping lift, and maybe the roller furling halyard and messenger line. On the boat itself, the navigation lights still need to be fixed as well as the water pump. Eventually, I need to deal with the stanchions, as well. In the spring, I'll try to finish the varnishing topsides, hoping that this year's bottom paint will last another season.

But for now, sailing is done for this season. I'll probably go up once or twice to check over the winter, but I'll be back working on her in about six months, give or take a week.