January 28, 2016

Continued work on the new overhead for the underdeck in the v-berth.  The new headliner, perforated vinyl laminated to 1/4 foam rubber, has been installed, trim pieces fitted and varnished with three coats of RapidCoat so far.
I tried surfing for the second time, this time with the used board I bought a couple of months ago.  It was a lot tougher this time for a couple of reasons.  First, the waves were quite a bit bigger, which made paddling out an ordeal and trying to catch a wave a lot scarier, especially since I'm just starting to learn how to do it.  Getting through the rocks that are now the beach surface was not easy going in or out.  Secondly, the board I used the first time was 9 feet; mine is 7 1/2 feet, which makes it a lot less stable.  Finally, a "sneaker set" of bigger waves that caused problems even for experienced surfers wiped me out and washed me ashore.  I barely had enough energy left to scramble out over the rocks as the surf tried to knock me off my feet while carrying the board.  Fun!!!  I'm recovering nicely now and waiting for the next storm front to come in this weekend.  Spent last weekend in LA with Carol, and we visited the new Museum of Neon Art in Glendale.  Ate well too!

January 21, 2016

I spent another week working around the weather.  I was finally able to get a break and install the new radar antenna dome, which, after a few adjustments works fine.  Hurray!!! I also made some more progress in the v-berth, and it looks like it might work out fine after all.

Heavy surf continued to wreak havoc on beaches and the harbor entrance.  Much of the sand that washed off the beaches to the west of the harbor got deposited in and around the harbor entrance.  High surf and shoaling in the harbor made it pretty dangerous to try to get in or out.  The Harbor Patrol was on station at the entrance and told boaters if and when they could enter or leave.  (We were informed via email that ignoring their edicts was a violation of Federal law.)  Island Packers, the company whose big catamarans take tourists and campers out to the islands, had a staff member with a VHF radio stationed up in the Park Headquarters tower to tell their boat skippers when the sets were right for a quick exit.  As if that weren’t enough, a quick inspection of the burn from the Solimar fire made it pretty clear that if we get some heavy rain, a lot of mud and debris is likely to come down, possibly closing the 101 freeway.  We’ll see….

January 14, 2016

Not a very productive week for boat work, although I did get some other things done.  A couple of days were consumed with getting new high performance tires and wheels for the Mini, rearranging the storage unit to accommodate the original wheels and tires, and of course road testing.  While working on the storage unit, I extricated the parts for mounting the new radar antenna array, and I hope to get that up tomorrow.  Until I get some more Epifanes Rapid Coat, I can’t finish that last piece of teak trim for the v-berth, which is a bit frustrating.  Since I couldn’t do that, I started straightening out and securing the wiring for the v-berth home theatre so that it can be hidden behind the new underdeck.

The surf has been big most of the week, and a commercial fishing boat ran aground just west of the harbor.  The crew was rescued unharmed, but the transom was so badly damaged that the boat couldn’t be salvaged and will have to be cut up.

January 7, 2016

It was all about the weather this week once the new year celebrating was over.  Between the high winds and days of rain (see the videos), about all I could work on was my indolence.  Even the birds just hunkered down.  I did manage to cut and shape a piece of teak trim for the v-berth as well as bring my car in for a maintenance check.

Pretty blustery!

This is INSIDE the harbor!  Find the lone surfer to

see the real size of these waves.