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Eleytheria Journal: Getting Ready for the Trip
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March 16 & 17, 2001: The selling of ALL OUR STUFF!

The selling of our stuff began a week or so before when I listed some big items on e-Bay. I had some furniture that I knew I could sell for more on e-Bay. Our washer and dryers (yes, we had an electric we'd brought from Texas AND a gas we had to buy for our SFO flat) and some electronics were sold on e-Bay. Then, on March 16th and 17th, we had a huge sidewalk sale at our rental flat in San Francisco. We sold lots of stuff, gave loads away, and kept a few pieces to be stored at my folks' place in Tennessee.

One of our friends got Abe's great stereo system and a bookcase for helping us with the project. Our landlady got Grammy's old sofa - still in great shape. Mom and Dad got a TV and I'm sure other stuff. One sister got a computer or two. Abe's sister got some computer equipment and software. We gave clothes, mattresses, and some left over garage sale stuff to Salvation Army. But the hardest part was seeing all our stuff on the sidewalk and watching piece by little piece walking away from us in someone else's hand.

From sidewalk to our flat, there were 48 steps. We walked up and down up and down up and down up and down, carrying load after load after load after load of our possessions to be taken away. At 7:30 on Saturday morning, people started wandering by. They stopped simply because they'd seen us putting stuff on the sidewalk. It was a swarm asking how much for this prized (at least to us) possession. It was too hard for Abe to watch for awhile - our stuff being sold for a pittance. He just kept making trips up and down the stairs so that he wouldn't have to listen to me selling his favorite toy or book or his homemade bookcases for $1.

We even had some people go upstairs to look at things we hadn't yet brought downstairs. It was a feeding frenzy. Neither of us has been to a garage sale in ages, and I think both of us were surprised that so many cars were double parking in the road to stop and look. And some of them were vicious. We were selling most things for $1 and that wasn't low enough for some veteran garage sale-ers.

One lady took all my plants and pots for $1 each. We sold each of our wooden bookcases for $15 or less. These are bookcases that are 6 feet or taller and at least 4 feet wide. Great stuff! Stereo speakers, books, records (yes, vinyl records!), furniture, books and books plus things I can't even remember any more. It seemed like we would never get it all from upstairs down to the street.

We knew that we weren't coming back to California when we finished the trip, and for most of this stuff it just didn't make any sense to keep it at my folks' house. We did keep our bedroom set minus the mattress, a kitchen table (I think more because it was less than 6 months old!), our skydiving gear and a bookcase my dad and I had made together. Not much left for two of us who combined two complete households 4 years earlier!

What was great about the sale, though, was for the first time, we were publicly stating that we were going on a circumnavigation. We hadn't really told anyone yet other than family. It was such a great joy to tell people who asked why we were selling ALL OUR STUFF! The reaction from most people was a slightly jealous amazement. Most were very supportive and excited for us to be taking this adventure. We had a few people who asked us, "Have you seen the Perfect Storm?" It had recently come out in the theaters and had some horrific storm scenes in there. That's what some thought the trip would be.Back to the top.

 

March 17, 2001: Eleytheria becomes our home

'Twas the first night on board as our home. The noises from the creaking in the rigging, the water sloshing against the hull - it was all so new and seemingly so loud. Each noise was a strange and unfamiliar sound - quite unnerving. But we got used to it, and with each wind storm that blew through my anxiety would be less and less as I became familiar with what it felt like. We were slowly learning to live in a small, small, oh so very small space and didn't miss much of anything we'd sold or given away. Eleytheria was slowly becoming home. Back to the top.

 

May 4, 2001: How to kiss a Matson ship and survive

We were out for a lovely sail with Abe's sister, Kat. We planned on pulling into Clipper Cove at Treasure Island for a pleasant night at anchor, or "on the hook" as we were learning sailor-speak. We sailed hard all day, and finally turned in toward Treasure Island (TI) to relax for the evening. I turned the key to start the engine and click - nothing. Short story long, we couldn't get the darn thing started. We were on the west side of TI, and I had pointed us toward home (south) while Abe was below in the engine room checking it out. We weren't moving much because we were in the wind shadow from TI. There was a lovely Mattson ship sitting at Oakland Port. At least we had something to watch.

It was not to remain so peaceful.

From Abe's point of view in the engine room, he hears me scream at the top of my lungs, "AAAAAAAAAAAAABBBBBBBBBBBBBBBBEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!" followed closely by five long, very loud, horn blasts from the Mattson who had begun to move out of port. SH*T, SH*T, SH*T. We had very little steerage, no motor, and no signal flag to tell the Mattson we were without any means of movement. Because they'd started moving already, calling them on VHF would do no good. They couldn't alter course quick enough to go around us. SHIT, SHIT, SHIT. We turned the boat around (very slowly since we had very little motion and therefore very little steerage) and luckily got out of the way of Mattson. Kat just sat very still, eyes wide open and very quiet. She's a copy in the LA area. Not much will scare her any more. She tells us now that this did the trick. We're proud we could give her some excitement and maybe some nightmares including 10 feet high letters spelling MATTSON

After the close encounter of the very large kind, we set sail toward our marina which is about 4 nautical miles from where we were. We'll anchor close to our home and we could get one of our neighbors to come tow us in. 5 hours later… By 10:30 that night we were close to our marina. With no wind and adverse current it was slow going. We anchored close to the marina entrance but well out of the way of traffic, and spent the night waking every hour or so to check that the anchor was still holding or because we'd heard a strange noise.

Bright and early the next morning, we ask Vessel Assist to tow us into the marina. What magic they can work. He put us right in our slip which is a tight squeeze with one boat much less two! Our next door neighbor at that time was a diesel engine expert (or so we thought) It was his job, he should know what he was doing, right?! Wrong. He took a look at our engine, turned it manually with a crowbar to confirm there was no water in there. What we didn't know until 3 weeks later was that he was cranking it the wrong way. Pistons only go so far with water in them. Water will compress only so far. By cranking backwards, he was releasing the pressure in the pistons and it showed that we didn't have water in there. So we rebuilt our starter (it seemed to have questionable cranking power), changed our entire battery bank and on and on. Abe and I were both learning about diesel engines and so relied (too heavily in hindsight) on other's opinions. We thought they were the experts.

When we finally hired someone out to look at the engine, the salt water had seized the engine. If we'd caught it within a day of taking on water, we could have fixed it. By going through all the other gyrations, we'd killed the engine. It needed to be completely rebuilt.

How it happened: we had choppy water that day, as well as following seas in SF Bay. The rise from our exhaust pipe to our engine was 7". That's it. So when we were on a hard port tack (leaning way over to the side for you landlubbers), the water simply flowed directly from the exhaust pipe directly into to our engine cylinders.

The rebuild took an unbelievably long time (10 months of fighting, arguing and badgering the mechanic), but we did get a rebuilt engine. We also had him extend our 7" rise to a 21"rise. He'd suggested a minimum of 14" - 18" for offshore. In this case we said bigger is better! We asked him to make it as high as our engine compartment would allow. On our next boat, this will be one thing that gets our immediate attention and fix if needed BEFORE the problem occurs.

We were lucky it happened in SF Bay where we had easy access to mechanics and resources and insurance. We learned so much about the boat that day and in subsequent trials. It turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Back to the top.

 

September 2001: We are a sailboat after all.

Towed Eleytheria across the bay to the boat yard to have the seized engine taken out and fixed. It was the quickest we could get on the mechanic's schedule. Back to the top.

 

October 2001: Towed again

The boat yard towed our boat back to our home marina while we continued to wait for pieces and parts to fix the engine. September 11th had caused quite a delay in getting Perkins parts from England. Back to the top.

 

February 14, 2002: 300 days and counting.

With the mechanic selling his business and becoming partners with another boat yard, with 9/11 slowing down shipping, and with some poor planning on the mechanic's part (if you know you're going to rebuild the cam shaft, don't you order all the parts for that at the time you order all the other parts?), it took quite a long time to get our engine rebuilt. Luckily, we knew that he was a very capable mechanic and just a poor planner. After 300+ days without an engine in our boat, we finally turned it over and hear a beautiful purr. We sailed her back to the marina and all was well with the world. Back to the top.

 

March 2, 2002: We have an engine, again!

With the newly rebuilt engine in our boat, we were finally excited to be going on some trips with our boat. The club we belonged to was taking a cruise out to another club. We hadn't taken the boat anywhere since we brought the boat home from the yard - when the mechanic started the engine. We were so excited. We're all ready to go, Abe turns the key and absolutely nothing. No sound, no click, not a sound. Where was the purr of the engine. With a lot of cursing, Abe went below to see what was going on. Jiggle some wires, and try it again. We found, in relatively short order, that wires to the starter were loose. Boy are we feeling edgy!

But we get under way, have a lovely couple of hours of sailing before the wind dies. But that's no problem. We have an ENGINE! Yippee. Only. Crap, crap, crap. I turn the key and the stinking engine just makes a clicking noise. You have got to be kidding me. This cannot be happening!! After much discussion, we call all our friends on the radio, and tell them that we're turning for home. We try sailing back to the marina, but again with adverse currents and no wind we're going backwards. We need to get back to home before it gets dark so we call Vessel Assist. And for the third time (going home from the engine break in May 2001, getting towed from the boat yard back home while we waited for our new engine and today) we get the same guy towing us. This is becoming, in a sick way, funny.

So after trying to jump us - thinking our batteries were low, he hooks us all up, starts towing us, and as we're headed towards home he starts doing some trouble shooting over the radio: "Boy, you're loud and clear over the radio. I don't think it's an electrical problem. Turn on your lights. Wow, your lights are pretty bright. I know this is going to sound like a funny question, but let me ask it anyway: are you in neutral?" Abe says, "yup." The gear shift is up and down - just in the position that it used to be in for neutral. But, Abe being the problem-solver that he is, says, "let me take a look at the transmission just to make sure."

To make a long story less embarrassing for me… It wasn't in neutral when I tried to start it. I've driven a stick shift for 17 years - you'd think I would know what neutral would feel like. When the engine was rebuilt, the gear shift was installed at a slight different angle and therefore neutral wasn't straight up and down any more. With the engine in neutral, she fired right up. We meekly thanked Gary (we're on a first name basis after all these trips!), paid him something for his troubles and were on our way.

We've had some really great trips while living here. But nothing as exciting as our engine trips! We've done some playing, but a lot of working too. The boat was in excellent condition when we bought her, but some of the equipment was old or not working, we wanted some new toys, and we wanted to outfit her for long-term cruising. See the link for projects that we've finished. Back to the top.

 

July 30, 2004: Retiring at 33 and 51.

My last day of work. Very hectic last week of work. I guess some clients never thought I'd actually leave! It has been a phenomenal opportunity, and I have so enjoyed working with the folks at my job. For the first 3 weeks since that last day, I've been a kept woman (Abe is still working). It certainly seemed like 3 very long, long weeks. We've been so incredibly busy at the boat yard, that I feel like we're in a time warp. It has felt so good to be working hard doing physical labor every day instead of sitting a a desk. Our muscles were very sore and we slept like babies every night. This is something we've been looking forward to for a long time. I think. I'll let you know if I say that same thing in 3 more weeks when my muscles may be in full-blown protest! Back to the top.

 

August 2004: On the "Hard."

The first two weeks of August were spend "on the hard." We went to the boat yard, got hauled out of the water taking care of so many projects that are best left for when out of the water. After the haul out, we had our Go Away party, then spent the last 22 days before departure at a breakneck speed. One of our skydiving friends recently returned from Iraq came to visit which gave us a 2-day break. Thanks, Matt et al for keeping us free and safe! And, as you know, when we have visitors, it's always a good excuse to go eat sushi. I'm in a panic since there are only 3 weeks before we leave. No more sushi at The Best place ever!!! I'll miss Kabuto the most! On Geary between 15th and 16th if you ever have the chance to go. Absolutely the best. There were big projects (see equipment list for more details) and so many small things to address. I took to taking a clipboard with me wherever I went so I could keep it all straight. I even penciled in time to eat sushi at least once a week. Back to the top.

 

August 14, 2004: GO AWAY, PLEASE, Party.

How fortunate we are to have so many friends! You all made our sendoff so amazing. Although we're not sure whether you came to say good-bye or to make sure that we're actually leaving. The party was called a "Go Away" party. If you showed up, does that mean you want us to go away? We had a very large showing of our San Francisco friends plus one from Seattle, two from Los Angeles, two from Houston and one from Utah. It meant the world that you were able to take time from your schedules to give us a proper sendoff! And maybe even more important, we're so glad that you were able to see the boat. Now you can imagine a little bit better what life may be like on a 44' sailboat!

A special thanks to all of those who helped out with the party. Kristin drove around with me all morning picking up food (following in her car since there was NO ROOM in the truck). Then she drove with me to the airport to pick up one sister-in-law. Then she and Jerilyn helped cut up all the fixin's and put it all out for the barbecue. Amazing. And she did it all with a smile. Jim spent hours in front of the hot grill cooking burgers and hot dogs. I know that many more of helped out in ways Abe and I never saw. Thank you so very much. We will miss you all. Most of all, thanks to all those who told great stories to make me laugh like I haven't laughed in a long, long time. What a great stomach workout. The laughs are coming easier these days as more and more things get marked off the dreaded To Do list. Back to the top.

 

September 1 - 5, 2004: e-Bay, Yeah, right!

Mom and Dad flew in on September 1. Since they'll be making the trip with us to Los Angeles, we decided that having them come in early would help. Their slave labor is a good thing! Every day was filled with so much to do, and we still didn't get it all done. It was absolutely necessary to constantly remind ourselves that there were only x number of items that HAD to be done before we left. The rest could be done along the way. As long as we took care of all the safety equipment, we could leave other things undone until later. Mom and Dad had never seen Pac Bell Park so we went to see the Rockies and Giants. We were all so tired that we only lasted through the 6th inning! We took many trips to our old marina to drop off free stuff. We knew someone would find it next to the trash and get great use from it all. We dropped off an old autopilot, water maker, DVD player, tuner for a Ham radio, 4 flooded batteries in great shape, magazines, and gave away to a neighbor a pressure washer, hand buffer and who knows what else. The plan had been to sell some of the more valuable equipment on e-Bay, but who had time?! Hopefully that will build up some good karma for us. Back to the top.

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