Friday May 30. Running into old Tacoma and Gig Harbor friends.

Written by Jack van Ommen on May 30th, 2014

Work is progressing well on the “Fleetwood” successor. The hull finish was in excellent shape and only needed sanding. The iron keel turned out to add a few days of work I had not anticipated. The original epoxy coating came right off the iron. And there has been an electrolysis problem. I have never had anything of that order on the old “Fleetwood”. Every piece of metal is bonded, including the bronze through hulls to the main grounding system. Years ago I had done the same on the old boat and then decided to cut the wires to the through hulls and engine. And I will do the same on the new boat. There are also areas around the thru hulls where the electrolysis has affected the anti fouling finish. The below picture shows a trick I use to take the  weight off the heavy sander, I hang it with a shock cord from the main halyard. The rub rail I sanded by hanging the sander from the upper life line.

I am scheduled to go back in the water and to my new home at Arabella Landing in Gig Harbor this Wednesday morning, June 4th. That is also the day of my presentation at the Gig Harbor Yacht Club. ( see my below blog). There is going to be a good turnout from the responses I am getting.

Last night Pete Clement, of “Shinola” a fast Benneteau 36 (?), invited me to crew for the last of the May in the harbor races. The criteria for this race was to have a crew member over 70 on board. We had a bad start but made up later. We finished third but with all “bullets” in the three earlier races Pete won the May series  in the big boat class. With the fluky  winds of the harbor and a strong incoming tide it is always a challenge. We went from barely moving to screaming. I had a blast and am looking forward to participating in the next Thursday evening series wit the new boat. In the after race get together at Spiros I ran into a number of familiar faces I had not seen in the last 10 years. I believe I have come home, at least for a while.

Yesterday morning I ran into three of the regular crew members of Roger Rue’s “Grand Central” with whom we used to go out for a Wednesday evening sail on Commencement Bay. Bruce Ellingson is bottom painting his Ericson 41 and Keith Jangard is doing the same on “Rival” a Cal 40 in the yard where I am working. Tom Saddler also stopped by.

 

Pete Clement, skipper and Tom on the head sail trim

Pete Clement, skipper and Tom on the head sail trim

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A freighter is towed out with a load of scrap metal.

My sanding trick.

My sanding trick.

 

 

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