Splashing Saturday Shakedown Sail and Fun on Angel Island!

Splashing Saturday Shakedown Sail and Fun on Angel Island!
(For more photos check here!)

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Hard work to get ready.

Sailing out of the gate

Big seas

Back to Angel Island

Getting ready for a big send off party this weekend!

Hello readers! We've been working hard to refit and tune our boat's systems to get  ready for our trip south! Everyone's been working hard on our rig, splicing Spectra running backstays, triatic line, Kevlar running forestays, and changing many of the lines and blocks for easier sailing. (Thanks to everyone (richard!)who's donated blocks and lines!) Additionally, we've improved our boat with new shelves, drawers, new oars, mizzen mastboot, cockpit seats, classic deck bucket, new VHF antenna, fixed the oven and stove, rebuilt the starter and raw water pump on the engine, painted and tuned the engine, new head (thanks again papa Steve), rebuilt our awesome windlass!, new manual bilge pump, and much more! Phew! we've been busy!

Big Waves and Bright Sunshine!

Out of the gate and back!

To celebrate, we planned a shakedown with some friends to the Farallon Islands last Saturday to test our many new fixes and improvements. 

Crystal's first day sailing out of the gate

Weather was beautiful in the bay and weather reports seemed favorable, but as soon as we got out of the gate we were right in the middle of big waves and the big ocean feeling! It was great to be out in big rolling seas, but the conditions were really tough, with tall, short period waves making for a queasy feeling among much of the group. However, the Libertatia herself was undaunted, and performed great with lots of new rigging and a crew of new and experienced sailors.

With brilliant sunshine in our face, but rough waves under our keel, we decided to return back to the bay. We were lucky to see some friends in the "Clipper Around the world race" reaching south to panama! Good Luck to Uncle Terry, Captain Richard and the rest of the Gold Coast crew! We are rooting for you! 

Back to Angel Island

Louie and the Vectis

Our Friend Bob and Angel Island

It was amazing to feel the wind die down and swell retreat as we entered the protection of the bay and we had a wonderful time anchoring off the NE tip of Angel Island. Most of the crew slipped off to sleep while some stayed up late in to the night enjoying the beautiful skies and good company of our friends. The next day found many exploring angel island and lots of rowing through swirling eddies and currents. Our afternoon took us on a brisk downwind sail back to Berkeley Marina. On the way, we spotted a good friend, Louie Richard at the helm of another classic wooden boat, the Vectis. Built in 1929, Vectis looked fast and beautiful in the fair wind and light swell. 

Getting ready for Upcoming trip!

Now, back at our home base in the bay at Berkely Marine Center, continuing to tune things up and dig in to the last big stretch of work. We are planning our departure at the end of April south to LA, Mexico and beyond. To celebrate, we are having a Bon Voyage party Saturday Evening April 21 at Berkeley Marina! To all our friends; please come!


(For more photos check here!)

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Getting Crafty and Action on the Internet

Ahoy good people! Seasons greeting from Berkeley where the season has finally changed! The last week has brought us drizzle and rain as well as the first good blow we've had since being here. Exciting! We've taken a break from painting and other outside boat projects but have been busy indoors.

We've been having a lot of fun with rubber stamps and silk-screens, making prints, posters, t-shirts and business cards for the boat. It's been great to take a relaxing break from epoxy and head repair to delve into more artistic pursuits, a part of life that is sometimes eclipsed by boat maintenance. We hope that this is the beginning of a new era of creativity aboard our good ship. We also hope to make t-shirts, patches, and posters available for purchase in the near future. Keep your eyes out!


We've also spent a bit of time organizing on the old computer, organizing and making many of our photos from the last few years available for viewing online. It's about time! For anyone that is interested, you can see the photos at https://picasaweb.google.com/103461058936929561161?feat=email


Stay tuned as we update the picasa and blog with more photos from the archive as well improve the content on the pages of the blog. We hope you're warm and happy wherever you may be and don't forget to have a surfalicious day!

Happy New Year from Bezerkeley

Light wind off Treasure Island

Hello all! January finds us at the dock in Berkeley, living the East Bay dream. Although our lives aboard have not been nearly as focused as they were when we were on the hard, we've kept quite busy earning money, singing and pickin', hanging out with friends, and, as always, chipping away at the Libertatia project list...

I heard recently that one should spend the first day of the new year doing what one wishes to be doing in the coming year and, unknowingly at the time, we did a great job of this. On New Year's Eve, we cast off the docklines from the fuel dock and headed out into the bay bound for our favorite SF bay hunt, Aquatic Park, just down the hill from Ghiradelli Square. We had made plans to see our friends perform in the city (The Range of Light Wilderness) and after some discussion about how to get to and from the show, decided that we should take advantage of our mobile home and sail on over. We were graced with the presence of our good friend Kat, who we met in Hawaii, and had a delightful run across the bay, dropping the hook as darkness fell. Shortly thereafter we loaded the bikes in the dinghy and rode off towards the Mission to celebrate the new year with a long night of dancing and fun. 

Part of our inspiration to take the boat out that weekend was the annual  New Year's Day regatta and chili potluck, hosted by the Master Mariners Association. We made the acquaintance of several wooden boat enthusiasts while out in the yard who invited join in the fun. Despite the condition of the boat (splotches of primer, piles of wood on the half-painted deck, missing boomkin bobstays and lifeline stanchions, etc.), we were seriously encouraged to come out by our friends from the yard and so we tightened the running backstays and met everyone in Clipper Cove for the sail to Richmond. Often you can't wait for everything to be ready, you just have to go! The race (more of a fun rendezvous than anything else) was quite fun, with a steady breeze picking up in the afternoon, and we poked along to a last-place finish and grand entrance at the Point San Pablo Yacht Club. We had a very fun night of whooping it up with our friends, old and new, playing music, and talking about boats. Truly a great group of people.

The following weekend we again made our way back out onto the bay for an awesome daysail, out under the bridge and ending up again on the hook in Aquatic Park. As with the previous weekend, it was great fun to be out as well as quite important for get out there and remember why we are working so hard. Sometimes it's easy to forget...


We were joined by a great group of friends from the bay area and were accompanied by many at the monthly chantey sing, aboard the Balclutha at the Hyde Street Pier. If we thought that we had a lot of boat on our hands with the Libertatia, it was sure an eye-opening experience to be aboard the big square-rigger. It was very fun just to be aboard to marvel at the scale of the whole operation and imagine the energy it once took (and continues to take) to maintain and operate the sophisticated ship. Truly incredible. The chantey sing was just as amazing: loosely led by a core group of singers, over one hundred enthusiastic people filled the ship's topmost cabin with beautiful and spirited songs of the sea. Many different people (including Lowell and Vincent) led chanteys over the four hours which the sing spanned, punctuated only by the hourly hot cider breaks. All and all a great night. The next day we spent the morning in the city before hauling anchor. For us, one of the best parts about being in Aquatic Park is the no-engine policy which gets us practicing our maneuvers and seamanship without the old iron spinnaker. On the way in the previous night, Vincent towed us in the dinghy and Lowell provided the assist as we ghosted out the next day. That we experienced our first grounding in the mid-channel silt on our way into the Berkeley harbor on a big tide but we took advantage of the situation to have a group meeting free from distraction before floating off and back to the dock.

Vincent's valiant yet unsuccessful attempt to heel the boat and unstick us

We all have spent a good part of the past few weekdays off the boat earning money but we've had time to get a few things done. We are almost done with a fresh coat of paint on the trim, cabin , deck, and spars and we've gotten started on a few large projects. Vincent has begun to tackle the engine maintenance and I've been up in the rig addressing the soft eye thumbs which seem to unfortunately be migrating down the mast as the stays pull down on them - a good thing the address before doing any serious sailing again!

All and all, things are well aboard and spirits are high. Special thanks goes out to the Master Mariners for including us in their festivities, to all our friends who brighten our life (and sometimes help on the boat) and especially to the Berkeley Marine Center for being such excellent hosts. We'll be in touch as things progress. Don't forget to have a surfalicious day and happy new year!



For more pictures of our past few weeks click here. For a handful of pictures from our adventures and exploits in SF before the haul-out click here. Thanks!   

Haul-Out in the East Bay

On the way to Berkeley

Before

After

Aloha from the Berkeley Marine Center, where the Libertatia sits back in the water at the gas dock. The last few weeks have been busy as we worked everyday to rejuvenate the old gal after nearly 17 months of living aboard and over 5,000 miles at sea. We are all a little worn from our blast of work on the hard and boatyard living but we are quite pleased with the result of our efforts. The remain a multitude of above-the-water projects to address now that we are back afloat but below the waterline we did quite well.

The old look

The new look

As you can see from the pictures, the most striking change to the boat is the topside color. Although we loved our original black paint job, the Pettit polyurethane paint that we so very carefully applied a year and half ago was just blistering off because of the heat generated by the dark color. In places on the hull in the shade of the boomkin or the toerails, the paint was still in great condtition and it was obvious that the hot color was the issue. We spent a few days sanding off the remaining black paint, with great difficulty in some places, and decided on a cream color to replace it. Aside from the hull, we are going to stick with the same color scheme and hope to touch up everything (toe rails, rub, rails, cabin, trim, and spars) in the coming days. Even though we have been extraordinarily lucky when it come to the unseasonably great weather we've had while in Berkeley, it's still been difficult to find nice windows in which to paint. Between foggy mornings, dew, cold temperatures and early sunsets it's been a trick to apply paint and get it to skin over before the moisture settles in the afternoon. Despite the difficulty, we've been careful and have been generally successful in getting the paint to look good.

Seaworm damage

When we pulled here out we were pleasantly surprised to find no big surprises below the waterline. We knew of most all of the issues as we dove on the boat extensively while still in the warm waters of Hawaii. The one small surprise, however, was teredo worm damage on the leading edge of the rudder. While in Seattle we constructed a replacement for the old oak rudder, which was badly warped, and it was a bit of a shock to see the first inch of the year-old sapele wood riddled with small holes and tunnels. Of all the things that we had read about when it comes to operating and maintaining a wooden boat, seaworms were definitely the scariest and most mysterious of the issues that we had yet to encounter and it was actually kind of cool to get some experience dealing with the little buggers. Our fix consisted of carving out and opening up as much of the tunneled area as we could, filling with penetrating and then thickened epoxy, and finally covering the entire rudder with a thin layer of thickened epoxy in hopes of keeping out the worms in the future. This is definitely an area we will keep an eye on as time goes by...


Aside from the rudder, our other under-the-water projects included a few small spots on the deadwoods where we excised some punky wood and replaced it with new graving pieces, a fill and a scarf on the sternpost where our former boomkin bobstay chainplate had ripped out (it was lagged in, unfortunately, to avoid the rudder post), the move of the two remain boomkin bobstay chainplates to provide a better angle of support for the boomkin, and the replacement of the old cutlass bearing. 

Of anything during the haul-out, we spent the most time prepping and painting the bottom. We removed the remaining ablative paint with the yard's vaccuum sanders and scraped off the pooched-out seam sealer that had squeezed out a touch as the planks swelled up. Before painting the old cast iron keel we put a lot of energy into cleaning the metal with a pneumatic "needler," hitting it with a wire cup on an angle grinder, and wiping it down before applying two coats of a Rustlok primer and the bottom paint. We were very generously given over five gallons of Trinidad hard anti-fouling paint which we applied before slopping on the ablative paint we had purchased for the job. In Hawaii we had been frustrated by the bottom job we had and it will be exciting to see how our careful prep and paint holds up in the coming years. 

Aside from the paint it was very cool to see how well the boat has held up since we launched her in July of 2010: a testament to the quality of materials and craftsmanship that went into her when she was built. There is no doubt that many people have given her a lot of love over the years and really it's not much of surprise that she remains pretty sound for yet another year.

Our experience in the yard in Berkeley has been great. Cree and the team have been very good to us and it's been a real pleasure to be here. It's been nice to be in a yard with other do-it-yourselfers as well as watching the pros at work. One of the highlights for all of us has been watching Steve Hutchison doing a number of extensive repairs to a couple of old wooden fishboats. I think that we've always been intimidated by the prospect of larger repairs but to see guys blazing through serious projects gives us a new perspective. Hopefully we'll never have to do them though...

As usual, our time in the yard was brightened by many friends, old and new, who came to visit, help-out, serenade us, or just to hang out. We definitely couldn't have accomplished what we did with such ease or in the time we spent out of the water without the encouragement and hard work of a number of people. Although our boat-yard scene was still a far cry from the wildness of our time in South Park, it was fun to be back camping in the yard and reminiscing about our restoration. Although living in a boatyard is not what we want to do, it sure can be fun in small doses. When we were ready for a break all we had to do was walk out of the yard and we were in Cesar Chavez Park, looking out across the bay at the city and the golden gate to the west.

Now that we are back in the water we are shifting gears out of full-on work mode. After a break for the holidays, we hope to settle into a routine of chipping away at our project list, working and saving money, planning our coming adventures aboard the Libertatia, and having a lot of fun! Happy Holidays to all of you who are reading this and thanks for your interest and support. Our big thanks go out to everyone who helped out on the boat or given us materials this time around. We couldn't do it without you. Feel free to contact us and until next time...


For more pictures of our haul out click here

Aloha San Francisco!

Aloha to all of our friends from beautiful San Francisco Bay! We passed under the Golden Gate on the morning of September 27th, eating sushi in the sunshine, after a 37-day passage from Kalalau Valley on the island of Kauai.

Jenine enjoys a calm sunset

Our trip was a long one but a good one and was characterized by very light winds throughout the passage, from the day after leaving Hawaii to just before hitting the West Coast. This gave us plenty of time for reading, writing, playing music, talking, swimming, eating, relaxing, thinking, and just sitting still. Sleeping was easy in gentle seas and the weather was generally quite pleasant: days were generally bright and without rain and nights were more often than not clear and starry. The heaviest weather we saw was about 30kt winds and 10ft seas but it lasted for less than 24 hours.

Duskin at the helm

Our stores were plentiful enough to get us through the passage, which was longer than we expected, and when we arrived in the Bay, we probably still had enough water and provisions to turn around and sail back to Hawaii. The early days in the passage were actually mostly a race to consume all of the fresh produce that was generously bestowed upon us by our friends on Kauai. By the end, however, we were on the rice and bean diet (and quite happy with it!).

Loaded with food and leaving Kauai

The boat did well along the way: our main issue was sail chafe in light airs as the swell moved us about. We had a few minor mishaps and gear mess-ups but for the most part Libertatia did quite well. She is not quite a light-wind speedster and it was nice that the long passage was peppered with days of decent breeze.

After a victory lap around the bay we returned to Aquatic Park off Ghiradelli square, where we had been one year ago, and spent the afternoon on the beach playing, swimming, and relaxing with friends old and new. A touch colder than Hanalei but the same idea...

Now we plan on being in the bay for a spell in order to attack the long list of boat projects while spending time with friends, saving up money, regrouping, and refining the vision for our group and our future together. 

The crew

Stay tuned as we will be updating the blog with more content including a more detailed log of our passage. Our apologies for the delays in blog posts. For more pictures click here

Mahalo nui (many thanks) to all of you who have helped us and had us in your thoughts during this last passage. See you out there...

Lahaina and a Quick Trip to Moloka'i - June 2011

Sunset over Moloka'i

Ahoy everyone! I am writing from the comfort of our very own Libertatia, living large with wi-fi internet at anchor.  We are currently anchored in the mooring field off downtown Lahaina, on the west side of Maui, enjoying relatively calm conditions. There is a bit of a swell that keeps us moving at anchor but it's minor compared with some of the places we've visited over the past few weeks. Plus, a swell in Lahaina means waves on the beach on both sides of the entrance to the harbor. The waves here, mostly small during the summer, were surfed by Hawaiian royalty. The water gets a little crowded during the day, as Lahaina is something of a local surf spot as well as be a tourist metropolis, but the early morning is manageable. The moon, now just past full, has also provided enough light for some night-time surfing. We have all the waves to ourselves and the experience is something like a dream, sliding down peeling, curling moonlit glass. Just take a moment to ask permission and give thanks to Uncle Mano (shark) before you hop in.

Downhill through the Pailolo Channel, on our way to Lahaina

Once again, our apologies go out to everyone for failing to keep everyone abreast of our current whereabouts and latest adventures. Much has come to pass and since we last wrote, so keep checking as I do some back-logging to record and share the complete story of our travels. Unfortunately, the blog program does not allow me to rearrange the order of the blogs posts so things will be a little out of order. Also, Jenine has been posting pictures on here personal blog at: http://jenineadam.blogspot.com. Check it out!

Honolua Bay

We arrived in Lahaina on the 10th of June after a great passage from the Big Island and a short stay in Honolua Bay to the north. Honolua Bay, was serene and peaceful when we arrived in the evening, just in the lee of the northernmost tip of Maui. We were surprised in the morning, when, after a much needed lengthy sleep, we awoke to see the beach covered with people and multiple large charter catamarans coming into the bay. We soon learned that the bay is a preserve of sorts and that it is one of Maui's premier snorkel destinations. The healthy reef and lack of fishing pressure really made for some cool underwater explorations: large ulua only several feet away, huge balls of aholehole, puffers, manta rays and more. Through talking to the landowners on shore, we found out that the bay (after which a hawaiian surf brand is named) is one of the world best surf breaks when it receives a big north swell in the winter. The folks on shore had a nice little garden with kahlo (taro), banana, edible hibiscus, coconut palms, manioc, and sweet potato, continuing the tradition of people living in the little valley back from the beach. Verdant and lush tucked between the dry, thorny surrounding hills, the valley had been a village site up until the valley was hit by a tsunami in the mid 1900's. The cement steps of the church are still in place under a mango tree along the path and the remnants of stone walls and terraces that formed the lo'is along the stream are still in places (lo'i is the name for a flooded garden area where Hawaiian people cultivated wetland varieties of kahlo). Seems like it would have been a nice place to live.

Unlike last time we arrived in Lahaina, when we dropped the hook to the north of town in Mala Bay, we came hot off our downwind blast from Honolua and cruised right for the main mooring field just off the downtown. We had hopes of picking up a Lahaina Yacht Club mooring, but all were taken, either by visiting cruisers or by dead, mast-less boats which have been sitting for who knows how long. We were advised by our neighbor Rick, aboard his boat "Lazy Days," that there was some decent holding right amidst the moorings so we dropped the anchor, backed down on it, and called it good. 

We quickly began to take advantage of what town has to offer: Jenine took a fresh-water shower, we bought a few vegetables, and we all got on the internet. As Jenine and Lowell will tell you, Lahaina as a town is not my favorite. The main drag is a bit like Kona on steroids: a true American consumer vacation world, but the land is great. Lowell told me that he learned the other day that it is one of, if not the, sunniest places in the Hawaiian Island (the average annual rainfall is 13"!). As an anchorage, it is exposed to the southwest but is really in the lee of the prevailing easterly trades. The strong winds blasting down through the Pailolo Channel in between Maui and Molok'a'i seem to peter out just north of town and the average day breeze from the south never gets too strong. The fact that it was home to the Hawaiian royalty, before and after being taken by Kamehameha, goes to show how nice it is. A few fishponds, more coconut trees, some lo'is full of kahlo, and you'd really have something... Just towards the south end of town there is a small park with a thatched hale (house) and something of a canoe and cultural center. It's nice to find a small oasis of culture and learning amidst the chaos and hopefully we'll come to know the folks that hang around there. They are just putting the finishing touches on a new voyaging canoe (fabricating spars, wooden hardware, steering oars, etc.) with aspirations of serious ocean travel. No bolts, all lashing. Quite phenomenal. We'll try to get some pictures to show you all.

We spent our first days in Lahaina continuing the never-ending process of cleaning and organizing the boat and getting in touch with the world. We had been brainstorming and thinking about money-making possibilities on Maui on our way here but on our third day here, Lowell unexpectedly received a reply from someone who had posted a salmon fishing job in Alaska on Craigslist. After a short discussion, a phone call, and an hour on the internet, Lowell had himself a two-month job and a plane ticket to Hawaii. What an insane and incredible world we live in! 

South coast of Moloka'i

After taking an evening to adjust to the sudden change in our collective future, we woke up in the morning and, upon discovering that the water tanks were empty, decided to sail to Moloka'i. Last time we filled up the the tanks in Kaunakai Harbor, we were delighted by the water quality and ease of tying up to the pier in the sleepy little harbor. We ended up pulling up the anchor around midday, riding the southerly breeze until it faded in the face of 20-25 knots coming down the channel. It was a delightful downwind run through the Kalohi Channel, averaging around seven knots under a reefed mizzen, stays'l, and jib (eventually reducing to only the jib). We caught an aku for dinner and before we knew it were entering the harbor and easing into the lee of the pier. Although it is always thrilling to arrive in a new place, there is something very comforting about dropping anchor in a familiar port. We filled the tanks at the pier, dropped the hook in between some cruising friends aboard their boat the S/V Sequoia and Kaunakakai's very own Stretch, aboard his 50 foot-ish Ed Monk designed schooner, Doubloon.  

Moloka'i bond

We ended up spending two nights in the harbor, did some laundry at Hawaii's most marine-accessible laundromat, cruised around the peaceful little town, and checked out the excellent library. The highlight of our short stay was, however, making the acquaintance of Iruka the morning after our arrival. I was stretching on the pier's only patch of grass, just outside the bathrooms, when Iruka asked if I was off the black boat in the harbor. From there we quickly launched deep into a somewhat frenetic conversation about the boat, largely fueled by Iruca's intractable zeal for square-rigged vessels. The talk soon jumped to the future of sailing to Iruca's birth and life at sea to the future of sailing to the youth of Moloka'i to the possibility of inter-island sail-based trade to possible rig alterations for Libertatia to surfing   and soon enough we were continuing our conversation onboard around the settee. We spent several hours talking and brainstorming and left with much to think about. Since then we've been talking up the idea of sail transport to and from Moloka'i and it seems like we are drumming up some excitement. We'll see if it can become a reality but, as I wrote in an email to the folks involved in "Sustainable Moloka'i," even a couple of exploratory trips would teach us a lot and provide an example of what sustainable inter-island transport might look like in the future. We'll keep you all posted. 

Early morning calm outside Kaunakakai

The next morning we split early, sailing off the anchor and then out of the harbor with a little auxiliary assist from one of the dinghies.  We had the engine in neutral just in case but we've been getting better and better at diesel-free maneuvering in tight spaces. We've just got to keep practicing and we'll be pretty good.

Before we knew it we were beating up the reef on the south side of Moloka'i in 25 to 30 knots with loads of spray coming over the deck. We then headed off into the channel towards the center of Lanai and we were lifted slowly and steadily until we were laying Lahaina. Nothing like the joy at being lifted through 90 degrees before you're pointed right at your destination!

The trip back to Lahaina from Kaunakakai ended up taking just over six hours while the trip there took just over five. Pretty good: the steady trades in this part of the world are quite a blessing. Just as with the strong, consistent winds in the San Francisco Bay, it's easy to see how sailboats could be used very efficiently to move cargo and travel around. What a dream!


Back in Lahaina, we continued work on the boat while Lowell got himself ready for the frozen north. As always, we have a list of projects to do, whether they are critical, are a good idea, or would just be nice to have done. Our friend Ed, who lives on his catamaran Quixotic, told us that it took him a few years to get his boat dialed in and I think it'll take that long for us too. Slow and steady....

Life and death on the beach near Paia

The night before Lowell left we had a sunset picnic near the Mala wharf to celebrate our birthdays and commemorate Lowell's departure. The next morning we took the bus to the town of Paia before dropping Lowell off at the Kahalui airport. 

Asleep in Paia

Paia was a nice town with more of our flavor than Lahaina. It still had the same built-up, commercialized feel but felt closer to the earthy, down-home Maui that must exist somewhere. We are excited to explore and meet kindred spirits further east, out towards Hana.

For now it's just Jenine and I, taking care of the boat in Lahaina and contemplating our next move: cargo runs to Molokai, landscaping in Haiku, sunday beach party at Makena beach, Hanalei bay on Kauai ... we'll see! It's all possible.