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Heading for the Yard

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Good morning everyone. Well as you can see by the time stamp on this one it is actually Sunday evening. I am writing this now because I will be getting up in 8 hours to take Mary Day to the shipyard for her annual haul out and will not have time to do it in the morning. The crew has been absolutely amazing working through the weekend to get as much painting done as possible while the sun is shining. You just can’t imagine how much energy they are putting out to make this schooner shine.

The cover came off this week and Mary Day felt her first rays of direct sunshine and, yes, a little bit of rain as well, in many months under the cover. We had a chance to do a little rigging on Tuesday. It felt good to get aloft where all good sailors are most at home. On Wednesday we got under way and dropped the centerboard out of the schooner at the local boatyard. She looks to be in great shape so will need just a coat of paint and some new sacrificial zinc anodes. The diagonal line visible in the picture from the lower right corner up to the upper left defines the extent to which the board is lowered while sailing. The lifting rod is not seen here because it is threaded in to a coupling (not visible here) that is at the upper left hand corner. The rod is off getting the thread renewed. I have seen those threads get tired and hope never to see that again. Having the centerboard out gives us a chance to paint the inside of the trunk. Thanks goodness for really skinny deckhands!

In this last picture First mate Drew and deckhand Ali are towing the anchor from the seawall to the schooner dock. Well, wish us luck this week and pray for good weather. The forecasters are not so optimistic but we will pull it off as we always do and Mary Day will come out in better shape than when she arrived. The Coast Guard will be stopping by to perform a hull inspection and we will be proud to show them one fine schooner.

Have a great day. Be well. Do good. Stop by to help scrape the bottom if you happen to be in town.
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Anonymous said…
Perhaps a short identification... if you have any time: In the 'sitting at the dock' photo, the starboard bow planks seem to have something akin to red stripes that look like they disappear amidships. Is the 'color' caulk, fancy packing or racing stripes done in the cold, cold rain at the end of an 18 hour day?

Apart from the 'stripes', the rest of the paint job looks too good to get wet... but then, to what common sense end would keeping a schooner out of its element serve?

Thanks, and great sailing!
POC
May 8, 2009 at 8:23 PM
Captains Barry and Jen said…
Thanks for your comment and keen sense of observation. The red stripes are a special marine red (actually bright orange) primer that we use on bare wood. That gets painted over with a white primer and ultimately our pearl gray. We never seem to have enough time to do all the painting we wish. Fitting out a schooner in the outdoors is very different than painting under cover. We work the sunny days... no matter how few we get. This past week was a real challenge. We are off the railway and back in Camden.

Have a great day. Be well. Do good.
May 9, 2009 at 4:28 AM
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