Hiding out tropical storm Isaac

'Tis the Season again...the Atlantic Hurricane Season that is and we have been very lucky so far! Tropical depression number nine came off the coast of Africa and soon developed into tropical storm Isaac, which was forecast to become a hurricane sometime during its journey. The track came pretty close to the south coast of Puerto Rico and any slight adjustment to the north would get us into big trouble...so we decided to move Orion to the safe mangrove area near Salinas and wait out the storm there. We have done this in past hurricane seasons and know what to do now.

Here we are all tucked in into one of the mangrove channels :) To wait out a storm in the mangroves we set both a front anchor and a stern (back) anchor and also tie several lines from both sides of the boat to the mangrove roots...it's kind of like a spider web with Orion in the middle of the net :) The mangrove roots act like a big suspension coil, keeping the boat safe during hurricane force winds...well...at least that's what we hope and pray for. Luckily we have not had to experience the real thing and don't mind if it stays that way :)

The graphics are courtesy of NOOA

Tropical storm Isaac thankfully turned slightly to the south when it passed beneath us, sparing us from the brunt of the storm...heavy winds and rain squalls hammered us for a few hours, but it could have been so much worse (!). Best of all...our newly fixed cockpit enclosure worked like a charm, giving us the added comfort of an "additional room"...waterproof and mosquitoproof :) Our stay in the mangroves was as comfortable as could be...we waited for Isaac's outer bands to diminish and emerged after three days to motor back to the marina. Good thing we are not on a schedule :)

 

Orion back at her slip at Marina de Salinas

Back at Marina de Salinas we docked Orion in her slip, cleaned her up, and washed all the lines we used in the mangroves...here she is spic and span...ready for new adventures :) We pray that everybody in Isaac's path will fare as well as we did! God bless!

 

Small stuff...

Whilst my captain has been working hard on the big stuff I have been busy finishing some small stuff:

British Red Ensign courtesy flag

First on the list was to finish my two British Red Ensign courtesy flags...so I did just that by sewing on the Union Jacks and putting in two spur grommets on each flag for hoisting...done :)

 

 

 

Cockpit sunshade

Next I finished making a sunshade for the cockpit...mounted on the inside. We use this only when the sun rises in the morning and sets in the evening. The shade is made of jersey nylon material (with lots of holes in it), which I cut to fit and then sewed a band on the bottom which attaches to the bimini tubes via snaps...for the top we just use wooden clothes pins and a line...very simple but extremely effective! The nylon material is great, because it doesn't fray when cut, so there is no need to sew the edges...best of all...I got it for a buck a yard (!) at Walmart. Of course I made another one for the front as well :)

Mosquito screen

Small stuff number three was making a mosquito screen for the salon hatch. I used Phiphertex (also called Textoline) material to which I sewed hook and loop tape...the frame on the hatch is made of wood on the inside of the cabin, so it was easy to attach the hook and loop tape with some glue and screws that were already in place there. Now I need to make some more of these screens for all the other hatches, which are currently covered with screen material that is attached with sticky gum (the one used for sticking pictures to the wall)...seriously...this works well, but is not a long term solution.

Last but not least I successfully tackled repairs to our Eisenglas (plastic) protective cockpit coverings. The panels are zipped in at the top and the sides (snapped in at the bottom) and form a complete enclosure...great for those really gusty rainy days at anchor (or at the dock)! Well...some of the side zippers were totally disintegrated from the sun and it seemed that the material had shrunk, because there was quite a gap, making it impossible to pull the sides together! What to do? My solution: I measured the gap (actually I eyeballed it, because I am not good at measuring), sewed a small sunbrella panel to fit and attached it with snaps...yap...snaps...works great :)

 

Snap on panel

We shall see how this will hold up in a gusty storm...I am pretty confident it will pass the test, keeping us dry inside :)

That's it for now...it feels good to get stuff done...now it's time to play for a little before embarking on the next project...

 

Just in case you are wondering about my method of putting in snaps...here is my very own snap tool called Pres'n'Snap...it is the greatest tool ever! Saw it in action at Marianne's (my sailmaker friend) shop and after she explained how it works I was hooked! It is expensive...but so worth it. I bought it on the internet from a company called Perfect Fit...they also sell all kinds of other useful stuff...I also got the hook and loop tape from them in big rolls for little money and the shipping was reasonable :)

Together with the Pres'n'Snap I bought all kinds of fasteners, which I store conveniently in a fishing box...of course I have a few of those fishing boxes for all the different fasteners. With this tool I also put in the spur grommets on the courtesy flags, which I talked about earlier. Everybody is behaving real careful around me these days, because I love this tool so much that I snap almost everything that is "snappable"...Just kidding :)

 

Catching the sun :)

There is sunshine in my life :)

We are slowly but steadily getting there! What a relief to have something else finished :) Rick designed the mount for our solar panel and then Pepin, the welder, fabricated the arches from stainless steel piping...then welded them to the existing dinghy davits on Orion's transom (back end of the boat)...then welded a swivel connection to each arch...and finally Rick mounted some flat crossbars to the back of the panel as well as a round ss pipe that fits into the swivel connectors...attached the whole "schmier" to the arches and voila...let the sunshine in :)

 

the two arches welded on top of the dinghy davits

 

The new solar panel will be connected to four new batteries after the new wind generator has been installed...Uff...two more "big" projects...but after that we should be self sufficient as far as power is concerned AND READY TO CUT THE DOCK LINES!!!!!!! Saludos to my sweetie, the captain, who tirelessly forges on :) There is not much I can do to help him, so I stay out of the way and attend to some smaller projects of my own (i.e. making courtesy flags, mosquito screens, sun shades, and fixing the rain enclosures for the cockpit)...in case you are wondering: we are still having fun and go and play with our friends whenever we can ;)

Here's the captain perusing the manual for the new wind generator...there is no time for the wicked, hahahahaha. All of this is very exciting for us and we are learning a lot! Thanks for following our adventures...stay tuned...there is lots more to come...

 

Hah! Making my own courtesy flags for the Caribbean!

Courtesy flags...what are courtesy flags? According to wikipedia...

Courtesy Flag

A courtesy flag (or courtesy ensign) is flown by a ship in foreign waters as a token of respect by a visiting vessel. It is often a small (that is, smaller than the ship's own national ensign) national maritime flag of the host country, although there are countries (such as Malta) where the national, rather than the maritime flag is correct. The flag is customarily worn at the foremasthead of multi-masted vessels, the starboard yardarm or crosstree of the mast of single-masted vessels, and from the jackstaff of vessels without masts.

There you have it! To put it simple...a courtesy flag is a small flag of the country you are visiting with your boat and you fly it to show respect for that country :) Further research taught me that there are three different sizes for courtesy flags: 12"x18" is the most common, followed by 10"x20", followed by 12"x20". Believe me I googled and yahooed for quite a while in order to gain more knowledge on the subject and alas my research was rewarded! I can just imagine what a wonderful project this would be for cruising kids...many thanks to my friend Debbie Verstoep who messaged me that her son Matheus was in charge of making the courtesy flags when they were cruisers...he made them out of scrap sail cloth (that sailmakers donated to him) and painted them with acrylic colors and markers...she told me that her son to this day knows every single flag he made and the country they honored with it :) Way to go Verstoep family! If Matheus can do it there is hope that I can do it also...thanks Debbie and Matheus for inspiring me :)

To be honest with you...I was going to purchase the courtesy flags needed for the Caribbean Islands...all 28 of them...until my eyes almost popped out of my head when they saw the price tag of almost threehundred US Dollars for the set...you are reading correctly...threehundred Dollars...US! Although I am sure it is a nice set...with all due respect...but threehundred bucks for a set of flags that will last for only a few weeks to maybe two months before the Caribbean sun has gobbled them up is entirely too much money for these two sweeties on Orion!

Thank God for others who have traveled this path before :) My research brought me to the sailrite website and the book "Make Your Own Courtesy Flags..." (yeah yeah...and signal flags, but I am not interested in those...) by Bonnie Ladell and Matthew Grant. I ordered the book and shortly after receiving it was on my new venture of flag making :) Not only does this book list all the courtesy flags of the Caribbean it also tells about their meanings, about flag ettiquette and best of all...it contains templates for the flag details! Hah...piece of cake! Or so I thought...

To make a long story short...I figured out a way to make my own templates for the three different sizes of courtesy flags...because this flag maker is not going to measure each and every flag she makes...oh no! The templates needed to be stiff yet flexible...my Phifertex material that I had on board would work perfectly...and it did :) Below you can see the three templates framed with blue tape, as well as two strips for seam allowances of 1" for top and bottom and 1.5" for each side...

three templates made of phifertex

Now off to making the flags! To simplify the process I decided to start with the three flags that each cover several of the Caribbean Islands:

1. The British Red Ensign flag is also used for Anguilla, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Island, Montserrat, and Turks and Caicos
2. Flag for France is also used for St. Martin, St. Barthelemy, Guadeloupe, and Martinique
3. Netherland Antilles flag is also used for Bonaire, Curacao, Saba, St. Eustatius, and St. Maarten

Note to self: Check out number three for accuracy, because some cruiser friends told me that just recently something has changed! No problem...I am starting with number one, which has not changed for sure. From the book I learned that the ratio of the British Red Ensign flag is 1:2 with a finished size of 10"x20"...out comes my 10x20 template and in very little time I have the thing pinned to my red nylon flag material, marked, cut, and prepared,for sewing :) Oh...I also decided to do two of the same flags at a time...this way I always have a spare :)

My very first set of British Red Ensign courtesy flags...ready to sew :)

Well...all that is left is the Union Jack in the left upper corner of the flag. I traced it from the book onto spinnaker cloth...next step is to paint the details...

Painting the details with acrylic fabric paint

Voila...the finished product...well...almost finished. Just need to sew around the Union Jack to reinforce it and put two grommets on the side for hoisting the flag...

Turned out quite okay :)

My British Red Ensign courtesy flags :)

By the way, I also learned that there is a right way and a wrong way to put up the Union Jack...admittedly I had no idea!

If you are interested in finding out more about this...here is a nice website:

http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/geography/unionjack7.html


That's it for now...more next time :)

 

Life is good :)

All smiles again!

Yes...we are all smiles again after the completion of the installation of all seven new chainplates on our Orion :)

We are very grateful to our rigger Efrain (Fraito) Lugo who got the job done despite a personal set back...our condolences to him and his family on the passing of his father a few weeks ago...God bless you all!

Orion's interior was quite a mess for a little over six weeks, but things are slowly getting back to normal :)

Okay...new chainplates are installed and ditto goes for new lifelines :) Next on the list is the new solar panel and the new wind generator. Buying them was the easy part...now off to installing! BUT WAIT A MINUTE...WHAT ABOUT SAILING? Well my friends...after the completion of the chainplates and the lifelines we just had to get away from the dock for a while! I mean, we had not sailed for almost half a year because of bad weather and family commitments and Rick's work schedule...of course in hindsight this was a good thing, because Orion's old chainplates could have snapped at any time given the state they were in!

Ahhh...relaxation time...

Work is of course a four letter word now that my captain has retired :) Freedom here we come...So off we went for a "shake down cruise" on Orion to our beloved Coffin Island...the weather was gorgeous as was the downwind journey under full sails...we stayed for 5 days and had a ball :)

We did not really want to go back, but in order to be completely self sufficient we need to get the solar panel and the wind generator and increase the battery bank! It is work also, but not the "four letter type word", hahahaha...

 

sunset at Coffin Island

With sunsets like these...who wants to leave? We are so blessed! Our sail back from Coffin Island was a wild one...with high wave action and angry seas...took us almost 5 hours with the wind on our nose constantly! We even got quite wet in the cockpit...but we still had a ball...did I mention that we love sailing?... :)

Back at the dock we gave Orion a good rinse and then we went to have a good rinse also :) We are very happy with our "shake down cruise"...nothing broke, refrigeration worked perfectly...we only had to run the motor once every 12 hours for an hour and even were able to make ice cubes for that sundowner by putting the trays right against the cold plate (!)...A big thank you to our friends Dick and Jane for giving us two vertical ice trays :)

Cheers!

What's up next? We will stay at Marina de Salinas, which we love by the way, until the end of this month (August). It is easier to have solar panel and wind genny installed whilst on the dock! My captain will also install four new batteries...the solar and wind combined with the increased battery bank should make us self sufficient in terms of energy! Hopefully things will be finished by the end of August...right now a welder is fabricating the fixture for the solar panel, which will be mounted on top of our dinghy davits (a stainless steel holding frame on the back of the boat where you can lift up the dinghy out of the water when underway...for my non-boating friends)...next will be the wind generator, which will be mounted on an aluminum pole anchored at the deck...and last but not least the new batteries! After everything is installed we will go for another shake down cruise to make sure things are working correctly...no problem, because of the hurricane season we can not sail down the islands anyways until November! So we are making the best of it and stay at beautiful Culebra and Vieques (small islands of Puerto Rico) and if a storm should threaten we will come back to Salinas and hide in the mangroves. It is an el nino year though (usually a year of few hurricanes) and we are keeping fingers crossed that this Atlantic h-season will not be a wild one!

Rainbow at Coffin Island :)

That's it for now...thanks for following our adventures...stay tuned and God bless!