Ana Mae Nordhavn 62

Meet the O'Mearas our travel partners. We met during the 2011 Mexico Rally and clicked immediately. We have so many things in common, a perfect combination for traveling side by side. Two intense mechanical minds and two sweet wives, we once considered building one boat for all four, but
decided instead on upgrading our boats.  Thor 57 became Ana Mae 62 and Lilipad 55 became SpringDay 76.

Sharing experiences, life stories, and the beauty around us just trying to "live an urgent life as slow as possible".

               

Friends we can count on - five miles off the coast past Monterey I heard a banging noise coming from the starboard stabilizer, we suspected kelp but we wondered why kelp would make that much noise, so Bill offered to suit up swim to SpringDay knife in hand to cut away what indeed was kelp. 

THANKS Bill!

Friday Oct 25 / San Diego

Departure from Long Beach CA at 5 am, seas are 2 foot swells maybe 15 seconds apart, perfect! 

After

Calm and dark water flanked for a while by oil rigs that look like "sea" Christmas trees.  It's amazing to think that five eights of this earth is covered with water, surely the water creatures don't need that much space, so why would our Creator put that much salt water on earth I wonder.   I think back a few days ago when He sent a couple of humpback whales directly into our path, we put the engine in neutral and watched this giant of the sea diving in slow motion under our port bow, no time to grab the camera, just enjoy, my neck fully stretched over the slanted window in the pilot house, until the last part of shiny dark skin disappeared. So I dismiss the question sit back and I thank Him for the gift.

Before

We should arrive in San Diego around 4pm. At sunrise I took a picture of all the instruments dressed up in their best colors, the skipper seems very happy with the choice of electronics.  The credit goes to Aaron Smith, this bright, hard working always happy under 40 young man. He is flying in tonight and will have to work relentlessly until he leaves Sunday.  AIS antenna replacement, monitor replacement, satellite compass replacement, No 2 auto pilot replacement, these are the last of the big "stuff".  SpringDay! I beg you…

                                                                                                                                                                                                                         Don is so enthralled with his Maratron.  This is a monitoring  system that displays info on engine, tanks, pumps, wind, temperatures and a gazillion more pieces of data. He put a screen in the pilot house, one in the salon and one right by the bed. Exhausted he often falls asleep while looking at the Maratron, notice the touch-screen finger.... I had to snap a picture!

Multiple personality disorder

Sitting across Jeff Merrill tonight for dinner in Long Beach, I asked him to give me details about our Nordhavn 76; it was built in 2005 and was the very first 76 Aft Pilot house with bulbous bow and wide body. She was a stock boat and was sold and delivered to Dana Point, she became "Aurora". The  owners then asked that she be delivered to their home ground in Vancouver. Unfortunately in the middle of the night by San Francisco, in a very foggy July night, whoever was at the helm (or not at the helm) ran into a freighter.

 Her anchors mangled, her port side scratched and bruised, she was looked at in San Francisco but it was decided that she continue on to B.C. where she would get repaired. When Aurora regained her dignity she was put up for sale, but even though she was better than new the stigma of the shameful accident left her unwanted for a couple of years before she was sold and then became "Inside Passage".  The Washington owners took her to Alaska, after that  I venture to guess that it was around 2008 when "Inside Passage" failed to impress her owners, and she sat in Lake Washington, for sale one more time, until we came along... March 21st 2013.

We had our eyes on another 76 but we were the backup offer, so Inside Passage was second best. By now this boat had to be feeling (if it could have feelings) like an orphan or a bad foster child tossed around between homes. But a slow and studious walk-through revealed her heart, body and soul to us. The aches and pains from lack of use since its birth had all indications for a slow and expensive recovery, but we were determined to adopt and love her. And so she became "SpringDay" for when things are made new again, and because just one year ago on March 21st we purchased an outdated orchard that Don transformed into a beautiful and happy and productive orchard and named it SpringDay.

Today she has a chance at life again, to forget the past and live in the moment, with her skipper and first mate. Dolphins seem to welcome her back by racing along her imposing yet amiable bulbous bow, they peer up at us between the shiny anchors she wears like heirloom jewelry around her neck. She belongs. SpringDay will do what she was born to do, to sail and journey through waters and keep us safe. She carries around 1200 gallons of fresh water, 4100 gallons of fuel and weighs 270,000 lbs. Thank You SpringDay.                                                                                                Don is home overseeing projects and paperwork, home is where Uma the cat stayed behind with Nancy our house sitter, but with Nancy came Dolly the cockatoo.  Uma is confused.
SpringDay sees that the skipper she so proudly carries has a bird on his head. SpringDay is confused.



Thinking of you...

New to blogging!

Hi! I don't know how loyal I am going to be to this blog adventure, but I will try to keep friends and family posted on SpringDay's travels.  My type is one who would rather watch and observe a sunset, a pod of whales or dolphins rather than pick up my camera, I guess I am more of a contemplator rather than a photographer or a writer... And I would rather pick up a book and sit in a quiet corner rather than struggle to understand computer vernacular and chase the elusive internet or click precious contemplative minutes right out of my day... so we'll see, if anything maybe blogging at retirement age is the new anti-aging exercise in my life.

My hopes for this blog is to be able to delve into the beauty, the joy and the thankfulness while making  a little room for the occasional fear, bad luck or challenging problems. But mostly, I want to look at inspiration, awe and humanity. At times, a picture might be enough and say enough for the day, other times, a sentence or two without a picture might be enough or say enough about the day and the current state of mind. We'll see... When I come back I will tell you about who SpringDay was, is and is to come.

Thinking of you.