Friday the 13th ...Kuan Yin Revisited
A posting from my blog. You guys do not get over that way, so I'd thought I'd share it here...
Friday the 13th, no this is not a Friday the 13th bad luck story. Sorry to disappoint you thrill seekers, I had only thought of that briefly while making ready for the day, it was the 13th. I believe I read somewhere Chinese think that is a good number so maybe Kuan Yin being a Buddhist deity made the difference... whatever. :-) Kuan Yin was my first boat ( she is listed here somewhere) she is loaded with memories, and vibes of former passions which I will not go into (sorry again thrill seekers). Kuan Yin is a 1965 or so Pearson Ariel. Great little boat, a racing cruiser, 26ft. However little is the key word here. I would not fit into the long range plans I had for my sailing goals. So when I came across my Islander 29, I sold Kuan Yin to a workmate for $3,000. I had paid 2,000 and added a bunch of stuff and cleaned up. However she still needed some work, I did not think extreme but more than I wanted to spend and not be able to get use of. I thought it was still a good boat for her to learn on and have some fun, without a big investment, then sell it. The lady to whom that I sold KY, moved out of her expensive apt and lived on KY for about 6mo. She saved enough that she could buy a condo, which she moved into. KY stayed at my marina for the next 2yr or 1.5 yr un-sailed, unmoved, poor thing. The lady was busy. I would go by her since she was only a few slips down and check on her, like a worried parent. I adjusted lines, and fenders made sure things were ok. ..
Finally a couple of weeks ago the owner emailed me asking if I would help move Kuan Yin aka KY, to her marina near her condo. Sure I say. We worked out a date after she got it from the boat yard, they were doing some work. which included re-stepping the mast. That is what I thought would be the major fix and some repair to the strongback, if she planned on keeping her for some length of time.
Friday the was the day we were to pick her up and sail her to the new home port. I stayed outside take a few pictures of her being launch, while the owner went inside to settle the bill. I'm thinking a couple of grand...
I go in after a while to check on things and the guy is telling her what he did, then I heard the total!!! $11,000.00 I was shocked!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
She said I have been budgeting and I will be keeping this boat! I said Yeah! ( she has plans on sailing to Mexico to retire someday I found out later)
They did some some nice work and fixed a lot of things, re-glassing, re-wiring, cleaning the bottom & paint, re-stepping the mast, replacing the strongback, setting and replacing chain plates plus some misc other things. WOW!! I thought!
She says now I will feel secure sailing. I thought yeah... but I would have brought another boat with that much money. But she has her reasons and she will know that major stuff is in good condition for many years. Anyway...She has her plans and is happy, that is what matters!
So we set off, after re-rigging the sails and lines. It is a great day in Northern Calli, sunny, fair wind, not hot, not cold, perfect. Off we go..
Evk4 , over at the superblog says writing about a great easy sail is boring stuff for a blog. He is right and this for the most part is just that, boring, But I'm writing anyway. It is the end of a chapter for me. NO major problems or minor for that matter. We sailed for about 3 hours then fired up the iron sail and motorsailed or the rest of the trip to port which was still another 3 hours away. About 1.5 or so away from home Port we had to go through an area , where my second time sailing on Kuan Yin I though for sure we were going to capsize from the wind and the waves ( for you local folks this is the Richmond bridge), but KY sailed on. As we neared there, I could see in the distance major fog rolling over San Francisco ( that was a concern however I figured we we not going that far so we were safe) and the wind pickup... a lot... We bounced, we heeled, we got wet. However this time I was not concerned. I knew to let out the main and jib to spill some wind. even though it was not pleasant it was not scary. Training, a little skill, and a good boat makes a big difference. We got through that section and I thought it would calm down but it did not. We were still in it for the next hour, bouncing, shaking and taking a shower. Finally we made it inside the breakwater wall to the channel and had a easy sail into the Kuan Yin's new home in Richmond. I was happy, the owner was over joyed, Kuan Yin I'm sure was pleased as well. We covered some 25 miles in 5.5 hours all upwind.
It was a good day's sail, calm, adventure, a bit of a thrill and a happy ending.
Another Ariel is down in the Bay
Kuan Yin - escapes from the yard
Hey French!
It IS good
you spill some wind
about the good boat Kaun Yin.
A summer sail on SFBay is ALL it's cracked up to be.
Especially if you are anywhere near the Gate!
In those days when I was receiving instruction from Bill
aboard Mai Tai (another buddhist diety) he often had us
STANDING coaming to coaming, looking grimmly at the SF skyline,
or sitting outside the cockpit on the wet sidedeck with the coaming under our knees!
The Ariel takes it all in stride.
Definitely uncomfortable as you point out.
Invigorating - and afterwards, with the wind off the quarter,
a feeling of warmth and wellbeing.
It's grand that your old friend has a happy new skipper!!!!:D
