So when does the vacation start??? - C'est quand les vacancies?

Maryse always has lots of questions about the boat on any given day but this was the million dollar question of today ... my sense is that between the "to do" lists and the amount of time it takes to accomplish what used to be simple stuff like laundry and grocery shopping at home, Maryse is a little discouraged. Being a kind captain and always sensitive to the feelings of my crew I responded to her question about vacation with "well it is sunny today therefore it is a perfect day to help me re-caulk the teak toe rails on the boat" - those same toe rails that let in way too much of Delaware Bays salt water inside the boat. Like all good boat projects, I expected that we would get both rails, which run the full 40 foot length of the boat done in one day. Well it is a good thing I do not earn my living estimating boat work! We started at 9:30 in the morning and by 1:30 when we stopped for lunch, we had finished gouging out 80 feet of old caulk - in other words just one side of the boat. Well the rest of the afternoon was spent by Maryse using acetone to clean the gap and me applying  the required 4 strips of masking tape - yup all 180 feet! The step of actually caulking the toe rail did not take long but I am always astounded how just one tiny dab of caulking - especially black caulking can cover soooooo much white fiberglass. I ended up with a dollop on one glove and before I knew it I had 15 feet of lifelines, three stantions, a cleat and all kinds of fiberglass to clean, not to mention my itchy nose.

So we are now 50% done, our knees have given up complaining and neither us can lift our arms to eat dinner so we just kind of lick it off the plate and then head for bed early ..... vacation doesn't seem to be the best description of today either! Perhaps tomorrow will be vacation like!

C'est quand les vacances?

Dimanche 14 octobre

Le temps était idéal, une belle journée ensoleillée, il faillait en profiter pour refaire le calfeutrage des côtés en teck d'Ambition. A deux, enlever l'ancien calfeutrage, ramasser, nettoyer, mettre du ruban collant pour masquer et protéger le fibre de verre et mettre du nouveau calfeutrage, une journée entière pour un seul côté, un travail bien fait qui devrait régler certaines fuites d'eau à l'intérieur. Nous ferons l'autre côté une autre fois.

Un petit moment bien mérité pour relaxer et détendre les muscles endoloris suivi d'un petit souper bien tranquille.

Lundi 15 octobre
Le temps était tristounet, des nuages avec de la pluie intermittente.
Merrill avait différents trucs à faire, prenant mon trailer je suis allée à l'épicerie avec Lyne et Michel. Un bon 30 à 40 minutes de marche. Je suis revenue au bateau mouillée et toute sale, mes sandales avaient fait éclabousser l'eau sale de la rue. Le petit trailer et son proprio avaient eu besoin d'une bonne douche.
Un peu plus tard en journée Michel et Line sont venus prendre l'apéro avec nous. On partirait le lendemain pour St-Michaels.