Our new canvas arrived last week, surprising us by being delivered early.  The new items are side curtains and an overhead extension for the cockpit for more protection from the elements and a binnacle cover.

Our new seat cushions should ship and our new head sail should arrive this week.  I finished my bathroom painting project, which turned out pretty well (in my opinion).  We purchased the new plexiglass for the side windows and Ralph is cutting it to fit today.  We will be working on placing and sealing the windows this week – exciting!  We have a trip planned to Catalina this weekend (Isthmus harbor) with our yacht club, which will be fun and give us a chance to test out the new radar/chart plotter.  Our soft departure date is May 10th, so we are beginning to feel the excitement/pressure mounting – in a good way. 

This week I’ve been prepping and painting our bathroom at home. I got it into my head that this should be done before we leave. Ralph has decided to replace the side windows of Toga’s cabin. The plexiglass is permanently cloudy and two of the windows have slow leaks. So, we’re plugging away.

The radar/chart plotter is working great – we are quite relieved and happy that it wasn’t a hassle to get up and running.  Here is a shot of the split display:

Radar output on the left, chart on the right.

Earlier in the week we noticed that part of our electrical system wasn’t working, so part of the week as spent diagnosing that issue – turned out just to be a bad fuse, so not too much time spent there.  We also were finally able to fill the void space between the main salon and the quarter berth (aka the guest bedroom).  We always wondered why the boat was built with this open space that essentially takes away any privacy from this room.  A few years ago we almost had a stained glass piece commissioned, but decided on a piece of mounted plexiglass.  Amy (our daughter) provided the art work with oil-based permanent markers.

Ralph is now working on repairing/polishing or replacing our side windows – two of them have a slow leak and they are generally cloudy in appearance.  I am working on updating our chart information and some projects at home, trying to get things in good shape for our house-sitters.  Have a great week everyone!

Happy to report that we raised and connected the radar and ran the data line down the mast this morning. Now we need to run the data line back to the cockpit and connect it to the chart plotter. This will allow us to look at nautical charts, GPS and radar together on one screen. Yeah!

We’ve spent a lot of money in the last week.  We ordered a new set of cushions for the cockpit, a new forward sail (jib) and some additions to the canvas around the cockpit area to provide more shelter from sun and wind.  We are almost done installing the radar, I hope I can report that it’s all done soon.  Ralph has been up the mast several times this week – here is a panoramic photo.

I have been busy cleaning out the boat cupboards and being the assistant to the captain.  Amy and Jacob are going to be home this week for Spring Break and we are looking forward to some family time. 

At the suggestion of a friend, I took some photos around the galley (aka “kitchen” for you landlubbers) and bar area (no known natuical word for that) of Toga.  One of the things I really like about being aboard is that the use of space is so efficient.  And with limited space, you can only afford to have things with you that you really use and need.  The boat was built with an entire cabinet dedicated to liquor storage, so that says something about most boat owner’s priorities, I suppose.  Also included in the photos are the dry locker, where we keep our canned and dry food items; the refrigerator, which opens from the top; silverware and dish storage; spice drawer and our coffee maker, which is a simple french press. 

Another way to think of “boat living” is staying alive while on the boat.  This week we tried out our harness type inflatable life jackets and tethers, which attach either to the binnacle (we learned that work already, class!) or to Jack lines, which are straps attached to the boat deck.  When conditions are bad or one of us is in the cockpit or on deck alone while the other is sleeping, we will be tethered to the boat.  Falling overboard is always a bad idea – falling overboard while your mate is asleep is a disaster.  So we’re not going to do that.

We’ve made some good progress on our preparation tasks lately.  The new chart plotter is installed and working (you will see it here surrounded by the new binnacle guard) and we are almost ready to install the new radar equipment on the mast.  Today we accomplished the important task of road testing one of our folding bicycles, which works great!  Thanks to my awesome brother in law Tim, we now have 2 bikes to use while we are in port. 

Some of you have asked where we plan to stop on the way up the coast.  Here is a list of the places we will (most likely) stop for at least an overnight stay and possibly a longer rest.  The distances to each port are approximate and in nautical miles.  Just for reference, when motoring or sailing, you can assume that we will be traveling at an average of 5 mph.  Let me know if any of you have comments or suggestions!

  California- Depart from San Pedro

Catalina Island – Emerald Cove (20nm)

Marina del Rey (29.5nm)

Paradise Cove, Malibu (17.1nm)

Ventura Harbor (27.6nm)

Santa Barbara Harbor (22.4nm)

Cojo Anchorage (37.8nm)

Port San Luis (45.3nm)

Morro Bay (20nm)

San Simeon Bay (23nm)

Monterrey Bay (85nm)

Moss Landing (15nm)

Santa Cruz Harbor (18nm)

Half Moon Bay (46nm)

Drakes Bay (92.2nm)

Bodega Bay (25nm)

Noyo Anchorage, Fort Bragg (80nm)

Shelter Cove (37nm)

Humboldt Bay, Eureka (60nm)

Trinidad Head (18nm)

Crescent City (45nm)

   Oregon

Chetco River, Brookings (18nm)

Port Orford  (46nm)

Coquille River, Bandon (30nm)

Coos Bay (15nm)

Umpqua River (20nm)

Suislaw River, Florence (21nm)

Yaquina Bay, Newport (45nm)

Columbia River Entrance (95nm)

  Washington

Gray’s Harbor (40nm)

La Push (70nm)

Neah Bay (45nm)

Port Angeles (50nm) – destination for this part of the trip