MOVING ON BOARD

It has been a few days since the last post. Let me catch you up.

Luna was spayed on Monday, don't want my girl to go into heat, while we are on the trip north, and all that entails. I am concerned that she may have an infection, her belly feels hot and she has been panting a lot. A quick trip to the vet and a clean bill of health. Ed has loaded the dog food on the boat. 200 pounds of dry dog food in various containers. I have heard stories of the dog food being confiscated and I hope it is not the case. On our last trip to Canada, we took food for one dog for two weeks and the Canadian Customs and immigrations didn't inquire. The last thing I need is to get rid of 200 pounds of dog food and switch my dogs to a new food suddenly. I purchased Purina Pro Plan Forti-Flora to give them if that is the case.

With the pets supplies essentially loaded on, it is time for this human to get loaded on. In our family, Ed is the planner, I am more the wait to the last minute rush and forget something important. So in an effort to not be that guy, I have been creating list of things to do, things to pack and making sure I had enough of my medications to last the entire trip. I have been dutifully crossing items of my list and just have a few more items to load on and I will be ready to go. I have packed my back pack and a large canvas bag and taken them to the boat. Where the heck am I going to put all this stuff? Am I carrying too much? Is there something I might have forgotten? Today I took my clothing and supplies to the boat and was able to put it all away with space left over. Space for those last minute items that I am forgetting at this moment.

Yesterday one of our Club member who is also a Club member of the IPBA came over to give a one on one tutorial on putting together the Log for the Predicted Log Contest. This took much longer than he anticipated and he was very patients with us noobs. We will be using Costal Explore, Garmin Chart Plotter and Paper Charts (that is sailor for water way maps). Why do I mention maps in that particular way? Charts can have different meanings for people in different professions or experience. Years ago when our friend Tolly was in a nursing home, the nurse asked him if he knew where was. he told her "give me a chart and I'll show you." He meant a nautical chart.

The boat finally got her two coats of paint. The props are back and we are waiting for the Prop Speed to dry before reinstalling them. At present we are slated to be lifted off the pads and have those areas sanded and painted on May 13th. A concern is manuevering the boat out of the fairway between the two marinas,t hat lay at the foot of the boat yard, with a swift current. The tide has a big exchange and will be flooding at the time we are being launched. The low tide is at about noon with a minus 1.5 feet depth below mean low water and a 10.3 feet depth at 5 17 pm. by the time we launch. Will there be a swift current in the harbor and crosswise to the fairway? I guess we will find out!

Gig Harbor Aerial view from Google Earth. The boat yard is located to the east side of Harborview Dr. Where Pioneer Rd intersects. The tide will be coming through the narrow entrance where we are headed shortly after we are launched.