Our Summer Job

Happy B'Day to the 1st Mate. She's XX years old today.

And we're into our summer pattern... which includes the four letter word, w-o-r-k.
Each summer for the past 23 years, we've fired up our little publishing business. It's online version is here.This routine has developed into a series of activities that go like this:

I'm in charge of graphic design and promotional material; the internet presence (web page and site design, writing code for special online functions,  uploading changes and corrections, building the eBook version for downloads, etc); creating the annual custom database (rate increase data, carryover of past due balances, updating forms for invoicing, etc.); and designing the cover for the next edition. As advertising comes in, I produce the ads, place them in the book, create a custom detailed map, send the finished page to the database on the 1st Mate's computer for proofing. When proof changes come in, I fix those, resend the page for final proofing if necessary.

I'm  also the sysop of our little network. Which sometimes can be challenging: We're Mac-based, and certain functions, like purchasing postage online for our Dymo Labelmaker requires work-arounds (in this case, a mix of virtual Window programs, Java applets and a virtual printer) because the Mac isn't supported.

I do some calling of potential advertisers and sell some ads, prepare packages for mailing, and do followup calls. And print labels and postage for mailing promotional materials and single copies.

We do the cover design early in the process. Above, the 2012 Edition.

The 1st Mate is the real powerhouse of sales activity in our business, and is constantly on the phone or emailing potential and existing customers, to present our latest idea to generate interest in our book.

Once the book is completed in the fall, we email (or ftp) the pages to our printer in the USA, who generates proofs for us. Once approved and final corrections are sent and incorporated, the press house plates up their web presses and runs off 65-70,000 copies. They box them up and hold them until we send Fedex our shipping list. Fedex drivers deliver the labels to the press house for affixing. Then Fedex sends a semi to pick up and ship the books to our advertisers. This print job results in 25 pallets about 6 feet high of boxes filled with books. Very heavy.

Once the books arrive, we start getting calls about the errors in the book (nobody is perfect). I make the revisions and post the updates on the eBook and the online version of the Guide.

Together, we build free web pages on our website for our advertisers who want one. This is a promotion that has worked well for us over the years and excites interest.

My work on the website then begins in earnest. I go through the book in the design program I use, adding hyperlinks where needed and then export each page individually into a format that retains the hyperlink data. When these files are uploaded to the internet my work for the year is done.

The 1st Mate writes an occasional blog for the website throughout the year, keeping interest alive there, as well as taking calls from potential customers who like our work.

Checks are sent off to Fedex and the press house, and we (and Uncle Sam) get to keep what's left.

It's a good system... it's really too hot to be outside now and we can work in air-conditioned comfort... in Mexico!

The Bitter End

Today our sailboat, SV BLISS, was hauled into the dry storage yard (behind the boat in this photo), where it will sit for awhile. Someone once called Marina Seca (dry marina) and it's plethora of masts, "The forest of broken dreams."

We were scheduled to splash the boat in the wet marina last Thursday, and in my final preparations, I mounted the 31" destroyer-type wheel on the steering post. I had rented a slip for a day/night to do final loading of the boat, and once in the water, we would motor over to the slip, take care of stuff and then motor out to the mooring the next day. I had also rented a mooring (and that's another post).

The helm felt funny, and when I turned the wheel something snapped under the cockpit floor and the wheel spun freely. I emptied out the cockpit lockers and climbed in to find one of the sheaves had broken from it's mounting. I devised a way to fix the problem, and bought the parts to do that. When I tried to move the rudder it would not budge.

Somehow the rudder had frozen to the steering tube during the two months in the workyard. That precipitated the break in the sheave mount.

I tried long levers; I tried spraying lubricants; hammering; dripping muriatic acid into the steering tube in case the problem was barnacle infestation. All the time working under the cockpit in a space the size of the trunk of a compact car. Temperatures were hitting well over 100° (ten miles away, in Empalme, the record was broken at 114°).

I soon realized the entire steering post/steering tube would have to be cut out of the boat. That would create a ragged hole 5 inches in diameter where the thing sits now, if I can drop the rudder. It's a big job, and I've had enough of big jobs for awhile. I decided to put the boat in storage until parts can be found, a place to drop the rudder can be located (I need a pit about 6 feet deep under the stern), the money could be earned to attack the problem (boat yard fees increase each month to discourage long term project boats) and I'm ready for it. I cancelled the launch, the slip and the mooring.

We've spent more money than we wanted to, we missed Loreto Fest completely, and the last 2-1/2 months have been hell. I've been getting up at 5-6 am daily, working to sundown, and sometimes past that. I'm exhausted from the physical labor and working conditions, and lack of rest: I've had to work every day because the yard fees have gotten so high it's a waste of money to take time off.

All this, and I end up with a boat I can't use.

As a consolation, I've kept the dinghy out of storage and we will use it for snorkeling and short fishing trips around the bay. It's pretty small (7-1/2 feet) but it will have to do for awhile.

Credit Where It's Due

The 1st Mate says that I'm doing all the work on the boat... if so, who's this?

1ST MATE

But she does more than sand and stick down blue tape.
She provides me with the best possible infrastructure I could ask for.

When I get up at 5 am to get an early start on the boat (when there's a lot less heat and no wind) she's up making coffee and breakfast so I can get out the door in a timely manner... usually, I get a wake up call from her- hot espresso in hand, a kiss on the lips.

She just now delivered a load of workyard laundry... with all the fiberglass particles, sweat and dirt washed out. Fluff dried and ready to put on tomorrow morning.

When I break for lunch, she's got that all ready to eat, and when we're done we stretch out for a brief nap. She makes me another coffee and sends me off to work while she does the dishes and cleans up the galley at home.

She shows up at the workyard when I need her, sometimes stopping off at the paint store to pick up supplies (with her own money), and sometimes she brings colas, Dr. Pepper, cookies.

Tomorrow she'll mix catalyst and gelcoat for me to spray the deck, cockpit and topsides and stand by if I need something else masked off or taped.

If I had to do all that stuff myself, I'd still be months behind.

1st Mate. She really earns her title.

On and on...

We've finished spraying the sides of the hull and the 1st Mate is busy putting blue tape all over the deck in preparation of the new gel coat. Meanwhile, it falls to me to disassemble and remove the hardware we don't want painted or we're just not using anymore. The stern, shown below, had four pairs of brackets used to hold a Monitor wind vane steering system I installed prior to our trip to Mexico in 1997. The vane worked fine, using the water sweeping past the boat for power, and the wind telling it which way to turn the wheel, We would set it and forget for up to 24 hours as we made our way down the California coast. The prevailing NW winds didn't vary much until we entered Southern California at Point Conception. Since then, the winds have been either too light or too shifty for it to be much use to us, so we removed the vane and stored it (installing instead a electronic autopilot on the helm). The brackets have sat, stuck to the stern, dripping rust for thirteen years now and it's time to remove them. That part wasn't hard, the sealant I used held up well and the 16 quarter-inch bolts came out with just a little coaxing, but the rust under the brackets will keep me busy for awhile. I have to remove all the sealant so the epoxy filler I use will stick to it. Just another step along the way.

We're both feeling really good about how this project is shaping up, and we're losing a little weight because of the exercise. We get to the boat at 7am and work until lunchtime, nap for an hour and drive back to the boatyard to finish up the day when the shadows get long.

Today a Mexican yard worker next to me gave me a lesson on using polishing compound. I had been using it like rubbing compound, where you keep your powered buffer loaded up with compound and just swirl away until you get a shine... Nope, wrong.

The idea is to spread a thin coat of polishing compound over the area, let it dry for an hour or two and then come back with a clean buffing pad to shine it up. Here's the result of the stern, after a few days of filling, plugging and sanding... priming, painting and buffing.

And from the side...

and the port side hull using the new buffing technique... thanks, Arturo!

Hole in my heart

Last week I got a message to call my Uncle Dave in Santa Barbara. He's in his late eighties and is in the final stages of life with a brain tumor. I made the call and surprised myself with my own honest expression of my emotional state... something I normally keep, if not hidden, at least camouflaged.

Dave Smith is a highly regarded architect and has designed many of the larger homes in Santa Barbara. His use of Spanish tile roofing was quickly copied by others when in the '90s, Santa Barbara was hit by a series of large fires. The only houses left standing in the ravaged areas were Dave's tile-roofed structures.

When Jack in the Box Restaurants wanted a national redesign of their eateries, Dave got the contract.

He was very influential in my life. When I saw his gouache architectural renderings as a child, I chose to pursue art, which led to college-level classes on a scholarship at Carnegie Institute at age 14. Later, I chose commercial art (now called graphic design) as a way to keep myself in food and art at the same time. My graphic design business led to publishing, my current occupation.

In the early '90s, Bliss and I would stay at Dave's large cliffside home while we worked selling ads in Southern California for our fledgling Collector's Guide publication. Dave fed us tri-tip roasts from the barbie in the evenings, and made us pancakes in the morning. We would eat on his treetop patio, so high we could see the oil rigs seven miles out in the Pacific Ocean.

And he would take us sailing in his Santa Cruz 27 racing sloop. We learned to sail in and out of the Santa Barbara Yacht Club harbor without a motor, tacking through traffic to his slip. Dave was a charter member of the Santa Barbara Yacht Club, and in 2000, was told he no longer needed to pay his annual dues... the board felt he had paid enough in his lifetime.

We would go the SBYC for an occasional lunch, sitting in the glittering crystal finery, being served by immaculate uniformed waiters and waitresses.

Dave got us started in sailing.

We wait for the news, bags packed.

Semana Santa in SC

San Carlos is a beach town. So when Easter break comes to Mexico, Mexico comes to us. Our little town is home to about 4,000 residents, 3/4 of whom disappear to higher latitudes around this time of year. When Easter week gets here, our population swells to around 10,000. The party starts at 5pm and runs 'til 5am. Tecate beer tents pop up on every street corner to make sure nobody runs out. The music is LOUD. My friend, Greg Pyros took these grand photos of the event and I built a little slideshow with my Mac. If your browser can play Quicktime content, it should be just fine.

Painting in the wind...

This week I was just going to touch up a few spots on BLISS' hull and purchased some primer and gelcoat to do it. I sanded the entire boat from accent stripe to the bottom of the keel, and when I started shooting the gelcoat I was stunned at how good the boat looked... so I started painting the entire hull. It just has one coat on it now, with two more to come. Then  I'll tape off and paint the waterline stripe (the "bootstripe" it's called) and the accent stripe our favorite color of blue/green. Then two fresh coats of bottom paint. It will look better when that's done but I had to post this photo to keep my spirits up.

Life in the boatyard is complicated by the wind, which still "lingers" if you can call 50mph lingering! This is today's wind chart thus far.

When it gets windy, the painting stops. So, I've been going to the yard at 7am and shooting until noon or so. After that, I'm wiped out and ready for some down time. Sleep. Read. Eat. Blog.