You are going to read this line very often in my blogs from now on- I am sorry I haven’t written in a long time. The fact is with the new job which means I am in Saint Paul, Minneapolis for two weeks a month. This might seem OK but with all the things going on, adds a lot of complexity.
I have many things happening on the boat side that have been affected by winter, my travel and corona-virus. But there have been things on the bright side- I launched a new website, finalized the color for Good Hope, ordered an engine and new batteries.
The Canadian winter has been weird. I did not plan any work with the amount of snow that falls every winter in Canada, but this winter has been mild. If only I knew this, I would have picked indoor storage and gotten the boat ready by now. The worst part of it was that the outdoor space for my boat was closest to the water which meant direct impact of high winds coming from the lakes. This led to the cover coming off and I did not realize that it had come off till days because the marina did not inform on time. What was worse was that the cover had a tear and I had to go with a plastic wrap for the boat- which means no access to the boat all winter. Luckily because there was a lucky break in the winter in November, I had the bottom sandblasted and the bottom has been drying out. Most of the boat now has readings which don’t make my moisture meter beep 😊
I ordered LiFePO4 batteries and a diesel engine from reputed companies which had their production in China- guess what? All logistics are inoperable till the Coronavirus epidemic in China, or maybe just my luck that it has stopped in the provinces where the factories of the products I ordered were originating from. On the other side, I am taking Canada Power & Sail Squadrons Boat Maintenance and Electrical Maintenance courses this winter so I will be able to do the installation of the engine myself and re-wire the entire boat. Other things this winter have been – running across a frozen Lake Minnetonka with sneakers and no protective gear in -20C
On the other hand, some good news. I have begun talks with some brands that want to get involved in the campaign. First contact came after the website were launched and they really liked the exclusive sponsor page on the website which you can only access after filling a form. They found it to be professional and wanted their brands to associate with the campaign to win the Golden Globe Race 2022. One contact happened from all the way in Philippines, so like the race even I have a Global Appeal.
Lastly, I am planning to take some time off social media. I will be active intermittently till the launch of the boat in the season. The plan is very simple concentrate on work and the boat till the end of winter and get the boat to launch. I plan to take 3 weeks off from work to get working on the boat full time.
Solo schedule for 2020 Summer:
1. June 2020 – 100 Mile – Lake Ontario Offshore Series Qualifier – solo course –
2. July 11 – Lake Ontario 600. 600-mile race across Lake Ontario
3. August 15- 100 Mile Race – Port Credit to Burlington via Toronto Islands, then to Niagara River entrance and back to PCYC
There will be other races that I plan to do over the summer, but they will mostly be with family and friends.
Why is the season so short? I will be concentrating on getting the boat up to shape, making changes as I need and finding out what systems I need on the boat.
WRT- Wind vane self-steering: The choice right now is between Cape Horn and Hydrovane. I know many people will jump on me with the entire Hydrovane is the best. Yes, it must be! But Cape Horn is very popular with many Baba and Tayana owners and they have all enjoyed their voyages with the Cape Horn and its Canadian and I personally want a servo pendulum WVSS. I don’t want to talk more about the creative ways in which JLVDH made it work. He even carried a dinghy to fix it if anything went wrong. So, I am going to see what works for me. Cape Horn has some circumnavigations under its belt, one in the Longue Route this year and twice with Donna Lange. There were other circumnavigations as well which you can find out on their website. I am not decided but I am looking, I don’t want to make choices on popularity of what some people made work and didn’t make work. I am going to try both out on like size boats and see where I land.
To finish this tired rant after a long week at work still sitting in the office rather than going to my hotel room to absolutely do nothing but just stare at the ceiling, I just want to thank all the supporters of my campaign. People who have invested their time and sweat into helping me with the boat. All of you keep me going. Oh, I forgot to mention, I am going to sell my house next week so I have more money for the boat.
Congratulations on collaborating with some brands!
I don’t know much (haha if anything) about boats so it was nice to learn something about them. Best of luck with your competitions too!