Ramming Speed!

On last weekend we had wonderful wind for sailing on the bay. However, a daring ship decided to cross Arpex'es course. Such insolence would not go unpunished, and promptly we kept going on a collision course, firmly decided to ram the the offender midships, and sink it, without mercy. 

However, the sneaky lizard managed to evade punishment on the last second. A favoring tide helped him to leap into safety, and off Arpex'es deadly path. ... Lucky ship. Not sure he can pull it off next time! But in a benevolent mood due to the fair weather, and willing to show mercy since my girl was there, with me, I let him go.   

Pictures from 2016

It has been almost a month since I have sailed Arpex. That very sad situation is caused by a focus on some domestic chores, which have been postponed for just too long... So, I reminisce, looking at old pictures, which I now share here. Love these pictures taken in 2016, when I went sailing with my cousin, and met my sister, on Adao e Eva beach. We joined for a lovely sundowner on Minna, my sisters boat. A perfect opportunity to get lovely angles of Arpex, with a perfect backdrop. Don't know why I have never printed these pictures, and put them to view at home... Here is another task for the weekend....

Sailing with the crew of Wayan, Niko and Daniel

This weekend I took the crew of the Wayan, Niko and Daniel, out for a sail on Arpex. Unfortunately there was very little wind, so we only sailed slowly and comfortably across the bay, enjoying the lovely views and chatting away. I took the opportunity for a dip in the clean water.

Wayan is a James Wharram Tiki 26. Daniel came on Wayan crossed the Atlantic on it. He produced some lovely videos, like the one from the coast of Bahia. It would have been nice to show a little bit more action. But the wind died away, and we had to motor back home to the mooring.

Arpex Adrift

Bad start into the day, with a good ending. This morning came with a call at 5:15am. Arpex broke his morring, and was adrift, in strong winds, and a pitch black night. Short before dawn, I had to scramble together a rescue plan and team, in a matter of minutes. who can you call at 5.15am, in pitch dark, cold and wind, with prospects of going out to the sea, in search of a runaway boat???? 

Luckily I have good friends who did respond, either with my call, or even without, on own initiative, as I came to hear later. Thanks to these guys Aprx was under control and safe, about some 30 minutes later. all happened so fast! But I can tell you, it was frightening.

I was very happy to see Arpex, on a unusual location, but tied down, and safe. As light broke, winds abated, and could start to reclaim the boat, and assess the cause for such an grave incident. Especially considering that I had executed a mooring maintenance not 2-3 months before, as I do regularly! 

 

 Turns out, that one part broke which connects the chain to the rope, with a swivel. I should have been changed on the last maintenance. Lessons learned; change them in regular intervals, independently if the diver says it can still hold for a while....

Arpex could have been lost, winther on the rocks, of in any other way. nd I must say, the thought of it, caused be to experience great anxiety. But the positive outcome, and the support form my friends, gave me a warm and safe feeling.

 One of the root causes was also my lack of experience with mooring equipment. Now I know better. Last time I dived to check myself, I was the swivel, and I thought it would sill be safe. However, when I saw the new part, I immediately thought, Geez!!! the old part was in no way in operational order! It should have been changed - no question! I won't do that mistake again.

Winter Sailing in Rio with a Cup of Coffee

Had a lovely sailing day, with balmy conditions. Arpex, with a fresh cleaned bottom was a pleasure to sail, with nimble reactions to helm and tacking easily. It took a bit of work, since I had to re-install the mainsail, and put everything back in place. But all was very well worth it. Sails looking good  - despite the feeble breeze I still made 9 knots, during a gust. 

We sailed across the bay, and out, but since time was already advanced, I turned back. And just in time it was, since the tide was running out, and the wind was not enough to push us back inside. I just barely made it, with a little help form my electric engine friend. When I noticed we were starting to go backwards, being flushed out of the bay, I called for his support, just to bring us in. Once back inside the wind shifted, and we still had a few leisurely tracks in flat water, during which I even prepared a cup of coffee for my wife. Nobody will be able to say that I do not care and provide for my crew, and make everything to make her happy aboard. Happy wife, happy captain.

To beach, or not to beach?

Today, I went to see the boat on the early morning. It has been a while since I plan to beach the boat, and I thought it was a good day for that. However, it turned out that there was a little swell, and I felt uneasy to touch the sand, being alone on the boat. So, I called it off, and just lingered around, close to the beach for a while. It was still a very lovely and joyfull morning. I enjoyed just floating around, soaking in the calm atmosphere and lovely view.... I never get enough of this.

A Proa is Good!

That is a lovely video. Good job. Russ'es work, specially JZerro, inspired me so much. ... I wish I had such design and boat construction skills. Such advanced workmanship. I didn't achieve anything comparable. But I tried.

Arpex

Arpex hasn't seen much action lately. Work has again gotten the better part of me, leaving no time on weekends. Also, frankly, summer is just too hot to stay out in the sun. Only rare visits to check the boat have been possible lately.

Design Brief

 The sketches have been produced around 2010 or 2011, during the construction of Arpex. The objective was to get an image of how the boat would look, once equipped with its decks and cabin. Since I didn't have detailed construction plans, I used these sketches to move forward with some design decisions. The images were produced based on actual construction site photos, which I amended with PowerPoint... :-)

I liked to produce the more artistic view, instead of precise drawings. The whole boat construction had an artistic approach, and I viewed the boat itself as an object much like the mobiles which I like to build. And in fact, there are many similarities in the sense of balance, structure, and movement.

10 Years Challenge

Browsing the trough the blogs archives, I got curious,  and looked for a picture of myself, 10 years ago. I found this one, from December 2008. I had a long way to go still.

Maintenance Tasks

In between the Christmas  and New Year Holidays, I managed to execute some overdue maintenance tasks on Arpex. 

The main task was to repair the edge of the hull on the cabin entrance. It had suffered, and the wood was exposed. Before it started to deteriorate, it was better to provide solid repair. This was provided in form of sanding, fairing, glueing and laminating with glass-epoxi. And then painted. 

To be quite honest, I admit that I did a more than sloppy job, in terms of finishing. Mainly the painting was not at all up to standard. The sanding and laminating was done in two layers of bi-directional 300g fiberglass, and well saturated in epoxi, which achieved a thorough cure, and no blisters. Seemingly a healthy bond to the wood. But the alleged automotive epoxi white paint was horrible to apply with my brush, and it left an unsatisfying finish. Of course I did also not have tape available on the boat to make a proper making. ... At least, I did find it at that moment. I am afraid I will have to sand it down again, and do a new cover. Wile working the area, I also sanded and epoxied the entrance hatch cover. Also there, the repair came in good time, to preserve the material in good shape.

I also gave the "bow-sprit" a bit of love from the sander, and a coat of epoxi and then white paint. Since the paint showed to be fairly rugged, however weak in finishing, I decided to give the dingy bottom a new white cover. Since when the dingy is on deck, it becomes part of the cockpit, being additional seating area, it makes sense to keep it white and clean. The bottom suffers a lot, when it gets dragged over the beach. So cuts and bruises a are regular occurrence. Therefore, before the paint, I also made repairs with epoxi and glass.

Other smaller points of bruise, were epoxied and painted. On the mast for example, where the boom meets the mast, and on cabin edges, where ropes might friction. I was happy to have done this the keep Arpex in good shape.