Le Petit Canard Sailing

After a crazy route across the country (we thought that the boat would travel across on 80 since it practically went doorstep to doorstep, but permits routed it a whole different way), the boat arrived to de Rouville’s Boat Shop on Tom’s River on Tuesday May 19^th.  The hull seams had seen better days and the stem fitting had pulled loose, but she could have been much worse off.  The permit route had forced the driver to go through Arizona during a heat wave which forced the boat to endure 100+ temperatures for a couple of days.  And now that we’ve had some rain, we’re experiencing the effects of that heat, and the drive, on the decks.  Several of the seams on the deck pulled loose so now we’re chasing leaks with pots and towels.  Better now than in the middle of the Atlantic, right?

We’re still on the hard (out of the water) while we address the seams and stem fitting and do various jobs.  We both got sick, though, so our first few days in Jersey were like trudging through molasses; jobs that should be minor chores felt laborious and never ending.  We’ve perked up a bit now and are finally seeing the light (occasionally) at the end of all of this.  The last couple of days, while it’s been raining, we’ve been trying to stow everything.  I had done most of the provisioning while we were still in Berkeley, but we still had to secure books and gear, check the anchor rode, fasten some canvas storage slings that I had made, stash and stuff everything in plastic bags to do our best at keeping everything dry.  We’d get one part of the boat looking great with everything stowed – “wow, we made some progress” – and then we’d turn around and come face to face with the huge pile that was now blocking any possibility of moving through the boat…

New Chain Plates

During all of the boat work, we’re also trying to endure life in Jersey; it’s a challenge!  We’re both severely suffering from ethnic diversity withdrawal.  Driving around, the landscape is strip-mall after strip-mall after strip-mall.  Each strip-mall is 6-10 businesses with each mall kind of reading like this: subs, other, pizza, other, fitness, Italian pastry, pizza – pass a road and next strip mall: Mexican, pizza, other, subs, subs and pizza, other – pass a road and next strip mall: subs and pizza, Italian catering, other, Chinese takeout, fitness, deli and subs.  I haven’t seen a single Thai, Vietnamese, Pakistani or (until last night) Indian restaurant since we arrived.  Joey found an Indian restaurant, through a recommendation from Sherri at the boat shop, for my birthday.  It was delicious!  It’s funny to think that that kind of meal is what makes us feel at home – mmmm, comfort food.  But, guess what, there was “Indian Pizza” on the menu!

We’ve also had some interesting encounters with Jersey natives.  Overall it’s been a pleasant experience.  People say “excuse me” if they bump into you or think that they’re in your way; you don’t get that too often in the Bay Area.  I was working inside of the boat one afternoon as a neighboring boat owner talked to Joey.  “Which way you guys headin’ out of the river?”  “We’re not sure if we’re going to go south through Barnegat Bay or go out North.”  “You’re headin’ South, right?”  “No, we’re ultimately going North”  Long pause and then with slight scepticism: “Rumor has it you’re sailing to France.”  “Yeah, that’s right” …

We are really enjoying the yard.  It’s quiet and peaceful, surrounded by trees, everyone that works here is friendly and helpful and they are primarily focused on wooden boats!  Yeah!  And there are some really gorgeous ones here.

Cat Boats Being Launched

Hopefully we’ll actually be in the water next week and we can finally put up our new rig and be reminded of why we have gone through all of this work.

Launching of High Tea