Unintended Singlehander: Day 2, the grounding

Updated on Monday, November 21, 2011 at 09:46 by Kaci Cronkhite

This story continued from Day 1, next blogpost down!

We motored east as the tide began to ebb. Flipped up the fenders, one at a time. Not cool to keep them trailing, like fingers skimming patterns in the sand. Dawn was warming black into blue and the monolith islands ahead looked like construction paper silhouettes.

Nervous, excited energy made my stomach queasy. The tide carried us right on course, so I hopped below to start the propane stove for tea. One one-thousand, two one-thousand, click. The flame burst into the darkness and the red light came on. All good. Back in the cockpit, wood smoke signaled the start of the day. Cocks crowed, answered, crowed again.

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Luck and a promise for starboard bunk

This morning two busy women in the trades, one a shipwright with another boat on deadline and the other an expert on interior cushions with 4 other boats in line for Festival projects, are meeting me at Pax to decide if it's remotely feasible to finish the starboard bunk in time for festival. Boat projects, like house projects, are always a maze of details and design, deadlines and delays. Tear that out or leave that in to make the measurement so an order can be made? Experience makes a might difference and each project on the boat, like the Oklahoma house last year, got closer to reality, budget and otherwise. Thankfully, I've got no one depending on this outcome but me. There's enough complete already so to have a comfortable place for folks to sit for festival and a significant progress made on the interior that the answers this morning aren't under pressure. Sure, I'd love to get the mahogany on and varnished, the new ply seat with hatches complete and installed AND get the new 5" foam and cushions finished. But this timeline for all 3 of us is extremely tight. For it to all happen well, all 3 of us will have to be smart in detailing the steps, meet our part of the deadline, be lucky with other projects in our lives, basically be totally in-sync. Sometimes that happens. Touch wood!

Spidsgatter Pax: Best Haul Out Ever

When a travel lift opening at Boat Haven came up suddenly and my fav woman shipwright, Diana Talley said "come on, the space right next to our shop is open!" I had no idea how incredibly my life as a wooden boat owner would change. Yes, change! In the past when I've hauled boats, Pax included, I wanted the boat most convenient for me and in Port Townsend, that always meant Point Hudson. Boat Haven was the "big boat" work yard, the place where fishermen and 6 figure haulouts were managed by the "big shops," all way out of my league. The chance to set my 28 foot double ender in a corner, by a fence with grass on one side and asphalt beneath us. Luxurious enough, but then add a brew pub, coffee roaster and the best brunch in the boatyard and it's hard to imagine anything better. The first day, we set up the scaffolding and the next day, 2 young gals (one a boat school grad and the other the daughter of a shipwright) joined me and Diana and Moose, a corker best known for his work on fish boats, got to work at 8. In a week, I got more done than I'd ever experienced during a haulout so I quickly pulled a few items off the wish list, put them on the To Do list and in a second week, they were done! Hauling out immediately next to a shipwright, with tools, power, water, work benches, secure storage for the paints, supplies and an easy way to leave today's progress ready for tomorrow's was absolute heaven. Beyond the blessing to my soul, it likely saved me 40% on the budget for the same list done somewhere else AND we got to laugh more, use our muscles for productive tasks instead of hauling and daily setup/tear down and I got to work side-by-side with professionals, learning every step of the way.

Mad Mariner Podcast: Interview with Kaci

Mad Mariner.com is a fantastic online magazine for boaters from circumnavigators to local building and racing scenes. This past week, the editor interviewed me for their Women in Sailing Podcast Series. As you'll hear in the interview, I see the industry's biggest opportunity to grow by strong focus on women! Our roles, skills, interests, indeed the increase in numbers of us who've gotten Captain's license, bought our own boats, and who are in charge of the household finances where big boating decisions are made are key to growing the market. While the current economy may make it more urgent, it's also simply good business for progressive companies who want to last through the boomer generation. More women own-her-ship.... think about it.

Ideal First Mate or Co-Captain?

Are you the ideal First Mate, or do you have one? Is the Mate your husband, partner, dream, a friend? I recently exchanged emails with two women in very different circumstances and it reminded me of something Nancy posted on her website years ago. In fact it's still there, so I'm hoping she'll "post" here and give further comment. She wrote: "Kaci is an avid reader, published writer, diesel mechanic, tobasco connoisseur and somewhat irreverant Mate and Kaci loves sailing. She has single-handed Tethys between Malaysia and Thailand, holds her USCG 50-ton license, Ham radio license and absolutely does not dive! Her circumnavigation will be complete in Panama, but Nancy's "ideal first mate" will continue to teach aboard Tethys all the way home to Seattle, 2001." I'm sure I did not fit the description some of the guys I know would like to see in a First Mate, nor would I come anywhere close to ideal with the irreverant part, surely! As women, what are your ideals regarding either having or being a First Mate? One of the two women writing has had a partner/husband who is the First Mate. Her boat, 4th Chakra, is pictured here with her at the helm. The other woman is mostly a singlehander, now in the western Pacific, would very much love to have a companion onboard, both for safety and whatever else. Both these women are experienced women captains, boat owners and expressed an interest in exploring this topic with other women. What do you think about "The Ideal First Mate" as a topic for a day and half SailAway Seminar in Port Townsend? The ideal First Mate will also conjure up issues for the Ideal Captain as well. Post suggestions for or about any topics you'd like to see offered at a SailAway Seminar this next year. Check back to the website or email if you'd like to receive news of what, when and how much for the 2006