Weather forecast for March 6, 2017:
Turner Marine, Dog River, Mobile, Alabama
Mostly cloudy, low 61 high 75.
Southeast winds 13 to 18 knots.
Choppy, slight chance of showers.
Captain’s Log: February 1 – March 5, 2017
I am amazed that it has been over one month since our last post. Where has the time gone???
Were we so focused on getting the boat in the water that we lost track of time??? Were we so driven, so consumed by our desire to set sail that we nonchalantly cast aside all communication with family and friends???
Actually, no. The truth be told, we have been doing a LOT of partying since we returned from the cold and dreary north.
Please; before you cast judgment Mon Ami; before you disparage our good name Mon Cher, remember that we currently live in Mobile, Alabama and it has been Mardi Gras Season!!!
Mardi Gras is the oldest annual Carnival celebration in the United States, started by Frenchman Nicholas Langlois in 1703, in Mobile (at that time the capital of French Louisiana), fifteen years before New Orleans was even founded. The festival began as a French Catholic celebration beginning on the Christian feast of the Epiphany (Three Kings Day) and culminating on the day before Ash Wednesday (Fat Tuesday). Mardi Gras has evolved into a mainstream, multi-week celebration across the spectrum of cultures and religions and is celebrated with vigor across the gulf coast from western Florida to eastern Texas.
Mobile has deep traditions of exclusive or ‘secret/mystic’ societies dating back to the 1700s. The societies are basically men’s organizations that, among other things, host formal masked balls during Mardi Gras season. The balls, with the society members dressed in elegant costumes and the invitees in formal attire (the women in beautiful gowns and the men in the traditional ‘costume de rigueur’) are extremely popular. We were very fortunate to have scored a couple of tickets to the Mystic Mobile Society Ball, thanks to our good friends Christy and Roger Turner (owners of the marina). Needless to say, Shirley was stunning in her lovely gown and I was quite dashing in my tails.
The mystic societies also participate in public parades where members, often masked, riding on floats or on horseback, toss gifts (known as throws) to the general public. Throws include necklaces of plastic beads, doubloon coins, decorated plastic cups, candy, wrapped cakes known as ‘moonpies’, stuffed animals, and small toys. We attended several parades and Shirley was ruthless in her pursuit of throws. She pushed and shoved and tackled; fists flying, hair pulling, biting and kicking to claim what was rightfully hers. We now have bags full of beads, doubloons and stuffed animals, all of which will be sent north to our grand children (or will be used as ballast).
The two biggest parades are held on Joe Cain Day (the Sunday before Fat Tuesday) and on Fat Tuesday. Of course, we had to attend both and we were not disappointed with the colorful display of humanity that we encountered. The Joe Cain parade started at 2:00pm and, wanting to beat the traffic and find a decent parking spot, Shirley and I left for downtown at 9:00am. We like to walk so we decided to kill some time and do a little exploring; Mobile really is a lovely little town with a lot of history. While walking we discovered The Dauphin restaurant and, having skipped breakfast, we decided to give it a try. We were not disappointed, and the view was fantastic!
After enjoying the last parade of the season in downtown Mobile, we fought our way through the crowds back to Turner Marine where we joined Christy and Roger and friends for an afternoon/evening of shrimp, mud bugs (crawfish), sausage, potatoes and beer.
We had a large time during Mardi Gras 2017 but I must admit that we were both glad to see Ash Wednesday finally arrive.
The boat??? We did make some progress towards getting her in the water, but it has been two steps forward and one step back.
For example:
Upon my return from Dallas (I am currently engaged in an IT consulting gig in the Big D) I found that Wigfield Marine, the company that we hired to build our pulpits, davits and cockpit hardtop supports, had made little progress. Wigfield was already three weeks behind schedule and Jerry, the owner, had given me his ‘word’ that the lost time would be made up while I was away. To add insult to injury, the little work that had been completed was sub-par and unacceptable. Jerry was immediately terminated and instructed to remove the monstrosity he called davits from the stern of my boat. This little misadventure cost us $1,000 in wasted materials and has delayed our launch by about 30 days. We are now giving serious consideration to launching the boat, without the pulpits and davits, and moving to Pensacola where we would have more options for the steel work.
We had originally intended to use an outfit called ‘Island Canvas’ to make our dodger and bimini top and to upholster our deck box and cooler cushions. We delivered all of the materials to Island Canvas and were expecting to have the cushions completed within one week. Two weeks later and still no cushions; we subsequently found out that the two skilled workers at Island Canvas had a falling out with the manager and had walked off the job. Way too much drama for us! We subsequently retrieved our materials and are currently looking for an alternative upholsterer.
On a brighter note:
The veneer for our flooring has arrived and will be installed within the next week. Once the veneer is down the interior of the boat, with the exception of functioning heads, will be complete.
We got an outrageous deal on two RTIC 65-gallon coolers. The RTIC compares very favorably to the YETI (in published tests the RTIC actually outperforms the YETI). We had been investigating coolers online and out of the blue an advertisement popped up on FaceBook offering the RTIC at a deep discount. We bought two RTICs for less than one 65-gallon YETI. So, we’ve got that going for us!
Our masts were taken off of the storage racks and placed on horses near the boat. These spars were built by JSI in St. Pete and have sat in storage for over five years; they were very dirty. After a thorough cleaning with mineral spirits and denatured alcohol they now look fantastic. I have installed all of the standing rigging and am in the process of mounting the winches, rope clutches, radar dome, radar reflector, various antennas, masthead light and running rigging. Once this work is complete we will be ready to step the masts and install the sails.
I constructed a cardboard template for the main head black water holding tank. After settling on the final dimensions and the proper locations for the various fittings, the actual tank is now ready to be fabricated out of stainless steel. The sheet of stainless has been procured and work will begin this coming week.
The boat will be placed in the water on March 14th and we are attempting to schedule the mast stepping for March 21st. Anticipating a departure from Turner in April, we have started investigating possible stops along the ICW between Mobile and Pensacola. This past weekend we visited The Wharf in Orange Beach and Holiday Harbor on Perdido Key. We have two more visits scheduled for next weekend. Needless to say, we are extremely anxious to get underway.
If s/v Perfect Love does hit the water on the 14th we will have spent four full months on the hard, climbing a 12-foot ladder multiple times per day, in the winter, for the majority of that time without heat, running water and functioning toilets. I can remember telling Shirley that we would only be on the hard for one or two weeks!
Shirley has muscled through this ordeal like a champ and I am pleased to say that we are still very happily married. I am a lucky guy to have such a beautiful, tough, reliable and funny XO by my side to share this adventure.
May your tomorrow bring fair winds and following seas!