Ireland – Page 3 – Dauntless at Sea

Phase I is Done

Dauntless after her second coat of primer

Phase I was doing he stuff that had to be done before Dauntless got her feet wet. All done except for salt water pump. For a competent person, this is a few days work; for me about three weeks.

Forward Bilge
1. Complete hookup of New Vetus holding tank, with new fittings and electrical
2. Install new bilge pump (old one becomes spare) with new check valve
3. Make additional fresh water hookup and run hose to forward compartment for Raritan Purisan
4. Check connections for salt water pump (new, hasn’t worked since installed)
5. We found a bare wall bulkhead in front of old holding tank. Gary sealed it and put Gelcoat on it.
6. Check all clamps for the multitude of thru hulls in this area
Anchor Locker
1. Pull all the chain and rode out for both anchors
2. Vacuum the bottom of chain locker
3. Replace two deck fittings for fresh & salt water connections
4. Re-mark and reverse anchor chain
5. Add 90 feet polypropylene to end of chain rode (this is because it floats, making it easier to find should I have to abandon anchor with no time for anything else)
6. Paint anchors
7. Find third anchor for stern
8. Make up a new, longer chain snubber

The Electrical list is untouched, but the first four items a-d, will be done in the next days. The rest in the next two months.

Run new VHF cable to the two radios
Replace plugs for Navigation lights
Add Name Board lights
Install new Driving lights
Add USB ports in salon and second cabin
Add new switch and breaker panel for fridge/freezer in pilot house
Add switch panel for solar panels

Once D is out of the shed we will be able to re-rig the Paravanes and the mast. Gary’s carpenter has made another bird that got broken in the North Sea and has repaired the doors. The Rocker Stoppers are a work in progress.

Restring birds to new line, 3/16” Amsteel, so that I can modify the depth of the birds.
Boat Yard is making rocker stoppers for me to use while at anchor

For the Wood Trim, I can’t oil anything until all the sanding is done. I will do this next week, before we head out of the shed into the hard, cruel world.

Teak “eyebrow” around pilot house has been scrapped and sanded thanks to Leonie & Martin. I will put Tung Oil on it and see how that works.
Oil all the benches that have been sanded

Fuel tank is in the final stages of being done. Sealant has been applied and new inspection ports are ready to be installed. Anti-Foul will be applied the last day, next Friday.

Most of the heavy lifting by Gary and the New Ross Boat Yard are done or will be in the next week:

Port fuel tank sealant and new inspection ports
New bottom job, with two coats of epoxy and one of a tie-coat
New anti-foul by International, a semi-hard coating that is made for slow boats like Dauntless and should last at least a few years.
Painting of the hull from the cap rails down, including the bow pulpit
Fixing on of the side doors that while latched open this past winter the winds ripped if off the hook and broke the entire frame. (winds this winter were higher than 100 knots or 110 mph.
New Bow thruster blades

Getting the forward cabin and compartments fixed, cleaned and put away was the big monkey on my back. It was critical to get done and as long as it was unfinished the boat was unlivable.

I’ll start sleeping on board Friday. It’s feeling like my home again.

My first glass of wine on Dauntless since October. And looking forward to forward cabin.

Gary is just finishing applying the second primer coat. That will get sanded tomorrow, then washed again with an Awlgrip wash (a solvent, like paint thinner) before the first finish coat goes on. At that point we will actually see the final color. I hope I like it!

I literally had my first glass of wine on board, the first since October (I’ve had wine, not just in a glass!). I do have rituals you know.

P.S. Here is a bonus video of Gary applying the second primer coat today. ( I don’t post many videos because it takes hours to upload one video sucessfullly.)

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A Quick Note About My Sidebar

On my home page, under the Follow Me banner, there should be the titles of some of pages that are also in my Dauntless At Sea Blog, but it’s how WordPress organizes things and I have not yet figured out a better way to do it.

So far on these pages, I have included:

Interesting News Paper Articles From the Economist on the Arab World
Tidbits from the Wall Street Journal Eagles and Wind Turbines
Weather Sites I Use Everyday two sites here, more than that is just confusing

Until I come up with a better system or someone tells me how to make it better organized, I will put my most recent post on the very top. That way if you look at the pages often, you will know right away if something is new. If you do not, the order really doesn’t matter.

Also, while I can make a link to articles in the Economist, the Wall Street Journal is another story. I must copy text and then email that copy. So, I do this less than once a week.

I include things I am the most passionate about as a way to lead to more thoughts and better questions. I am not trying to advocate for certain ideas, as much as I want to bring to light some things that may not get said or questioned enough.

One of my primary themes is “there is no free lunch”. The more people tell me how great something is, the more skeptical I become.

I’m also skeptical of fake environmentalists. Those who profess a certain lifestyle, but only insofar as it is convenient to do so.

Today’s article from the Wall Street Journal is about that, the massive bird kill by wind turbines that everyone ignores. But when you read the accounts of those who service those turbines, the number of dead birds on the ground is horrific. https://dauntlessatsea.com/tidbits-from-todays-wall-street-journal/

Lastly, if you read the above and think I against wind turbines, you need to read better. Power from wind is not free. There is no free lunch. I at least want people to think about the consequences before implementing the “free lunch solution”.

Richard on Dauntless in Ireland

Ireland Part 1

A Tunnel of Green, (one of the more meager ones)

It’s going to be hard to say goodbye to Ireland, the land is gorgeous, the people wonderful and the sun shines at least once a month to remind you what it looks like.

Today, I took a day off. Every day I’ve been working on Dauntless, getting my little projects done. The new holding tank is in and connected, the bilge pump also, so forward bilge work is almost done.

So, with the sun out and the buds on the trees getting bigger by the day, I thought it would be a good day to drive to the town of Roundwood, about 70 miles NE of New Ross, about 30 south of Dublin.

Well the drive turned out to be even prettier than expected. The roads were even more picturesque and the traffic was actually minimal.

The restaurant, Byrne & Woods, lived up to expectations. Here is a link to my review:

Bryne &

Woods

Out the side window, while I waited for the cows to go home.

I Love Brilliant Women

And even just really competent ones or highly functional ones. What brings this to mind?

Another episode of Wallander of course. The Cellist. Watching the beginning, seeing her play, yes I know it’s drama, not real, but I realized how attractive I thought she was and realized it was far more than just her European nose, but was really based on nothing, other than her play.

Yet, knowing her play is fake, makes no difference. We are programmed to like what we like and I like smart, competent women.

Writing and sometimes even publishing in this blog, is my way to express my thinking. Not having that mind-mate for the first time in a long time is what’s hard.

Did you see this? You should read that! Long distance is no problem.

Oh, by the way, if you like Prosecco, as I do, you should only drink the DOCG. The DOC is a new appellation that the Italians cooked up to take advantage of the popularity of Prosecco worldwide. The problem is the DOC prosecco is made in places that are not dei colli Conegliano – Valdobbiadene, the little hills to the northwest of Treviso that make Prosecco, Prosecco. Another beautiful creation or is it brilliant?

And another story revolving around a brilliant woman.

But can we really separate beauty and brilliance?

OK, let’s get back to our Lady Dauntless.

So Dauntless is beginning her transformation to the new “Dauntless” look. In the next days’ I will be posting the details and pictures. For now, you see her in her undercoat.

A true functional beauty.

Boats, Books & Lab Girl

“My lab is a place where my guilt over what I haven’t done is supplanted by all of the things that I am getting done”

This is as good a place to start as any.

After yesterday’s post, I felt I had done something if only to document what still needed to be done. It didn’t have the effect I had expected, instead of accomplishment, I felt intimidated.

Yesterday’s post was also different in that usually I write a draft, upload the photos I want, then edit the next day, add pictures and post. But yesterday, I was in a hurry and wrote and posted within an hour, with minimal editing, thus you can see how my mood changed even in the course of the writing as evident in the last line.

After a number of bright (only spotty rain), warm (temps in the 60’s) days here in the south and east of Ireland, yesterday dawned like a winter day, dark, cloudy, steady drizzle. Actually, typical pre-warm frontal weather, the result of an inverted trough, the low pressure system being to the south and the warm front moving in from the ESE.

Dauntless is not my lab, but it is an instrument in that lab. It facilitates me being in nature, good or bad, hot or cold.

The worse the weather, the more I have this need to put my face into it. Certainly having to go to the bathroom, to pee, every few hours drives the need to go out there and check the elements, though the phrase to hold on for dear life, has no exaggeration at that point.

I’ve been trying to determine the best way to talk, to write about books that have a profound influence over me. I know many of my readers like the boating adventures and may not care about my soliloquys about life. So if you have any suggestions that I can get to work with WordPress, email me. I have made some additional pages, but don’t like the look so far.

Though it seems I have a wide interest in things, that interest really revolves around two main cores, science and history. Thus my interest in Paleoclimatology, a field that a number of times in my life I considered going back to school to earn a PhD. The last time about 15 years ago when I had just started teaching, I had attended a symposium at the National Center for Atmospheric Science (NCAR) on climate change. I was offered a very appealing opportunity, but having moved back to NYC for my mother, and having already given up a good job to do so, life prevailed.

But that Fate is what put me here now, writing this. Dauntless and I exploring the world at 7 miles per hour.

During the last month, I have been reading three books, all non-fiction, all three different, but amazing. All three are fascinating in their own right and I have not finished any of them completely, I think in large part because I don’t want them to end:

Terrible Swift Sword: The Life of General Philip H. Sheridan by Joseph Wheelan

Having grown up near Sheridan Square I had a familiarity with Sheridan, yet realized I knew nothing about him other than him being a Calvary man doing the Civil War. Then, just before leaving NYC this past March, I realized that the gold statue across from the Plaza Hotel at the SE corner of Central Park was also Sheridan.

So when I came across this book and in the opening pages was captivated by how much I did not know I knew I had to keep reading! As obvious as it sounds now, Sheridan as Corps Commander, was the first to use infantry and cavalry as a combined weapon.

Also, the insights one learned about other personalities of the war, e.g. How effective Custer was, or how Meade although in total disagreement, when told by Grant to support Sheridan, actually did so, unlike so many other generals of the war who let their jealousies get in the way.

Half Moon by Douglas Hunter about Henry Hudson who explored New York when he was supposed to be searching for the Northeast Yes, Northeast, as in above Russia, with a crew that spoke Dutch and he didn’t, in a boat only 20 feet larger than Dauntless.

And last, but not least, Lab Girl by Hope Jahren. A beautifully written book by, and about, a woman who lives for science. Wonderfully written because of the language she uses and her ability to relate the mysteries and explorations of science in a profound and moving way for a layman. Thus my opening quote.

Science is about making connections that most don’t or can’t see. Like science, my lists are more than lists of things I must do. They are maps of things to learn and things to practice. It’s what keeps me awake at night. The puzzle in the sky that is multiple realities, that makes it rain on your side of the hill, but not mine. Or the three prong plug that can run two different lights. They seem different, but are the same.

Thanks for listening.

Amazon links to the above three books:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0080K3F86/ref=oh_aui_d_detailpage_o04_?ie=UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/Half-Moon-Hudson-Voyage-Redrew-ebook/dp/B002WOD8WY/ref=sr_1_2?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1462706074&sr=1-2&keywords=half+moon

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00Z3FYQS4/ref=oh_aui_d_detailpage_o00_?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Time is Flying; But My Head is in the Clouds

Or am I flying and that’s why my head is in the clouds?

Such weighty questions, so little time.

What else is new, as my friends would say?

Nice view of the River Barrow & Stratocumulus clouds

I did make a list of all the things that still need to be done between now and the next few weeks. It’s a long list. Most of the small things I will do, as few big things are being done by the painter Gary and the Boat Yard. So, what’s still to be done:

Electrical
1. Run new VHF cable to the two radios
2. Replace plugs for Navigation lights
3. Add Name Board lights
4. Install new Driving lights
5. Add USB ports in salon and second cabin
6. Add new switch and breaker panel for fridge/freezer in pilot house
7. Add switch panel for solar panels
Forward Bilge
1. Complete hookup of New Vetus holding tank, with new fittings and electrical
2. Install new bilge pump (old one becomes spare) with new check valve
3. Make additional fresh water hookup and run hose to forward compartment for Raritan Purisan
4. Check connections for salt water pump (new, hasn’t worked since installed)
5. We found a bare wall bulkhead in front of old holding tank. Gary sealed it and put Gelcoat on it.
6. Check all clamps for the multitude of thru hulls in this area
Anchor Locker
1. Pull all the chain and rode out for both anchors
2. Vacuum the bottom of chain locker
3. Replace two deck fittings for fresh & salt water connections
4. Re-mark and reverse anchor chain
5. Add 90 feet polypropylene to end of chain rode (this is because it floats, making it easier to find should I have to abandon anchor with no time for anything else)
6. Paint anchors
7. Find third anchor for stern
8. Make up a new, longer chain snubber
Paravanes
1. Restring birds to new line, 3/16” Amsteel, so that I can modify the depth of the birds.
2. Boat Yard is making rocker stoppers for me to use while at anchor
Wood Trim
1. Teak “eyebrow” around pilot house has been scrapped and sanded thanks to Leonie & Martin. I will put Tung Oil on it and see how that works.
2. Oil all the benches that have been sanded
New Ross Boat Yard and Gary are completing:
1. Port fuel tank sealant and new inspection ports
2. New bottom job, with two coats of epoxy and one of a tie-coat
3. New anti-foul by International, a semi-hard coating that is made for slow boats like Dauntless and should last at least a few years.
4. Painting of the hull from the cap rails down, including the bow pulpit
5. Fixing on of the side doors that while latched open this past winter the winds ripped if off the hook and broke the entire frame. (winds this winter were higher than 100 knots or 110 mph.
6. New Bow thruster blades

That’s pretty much it for me! I figure realistically, this list will be complete my 2018, though I will strive to get most of it done sooner.

Just goes to show that one thing I do well is plan; not so well, do.

I need a real doer in my life.

Dauntless Gets a New Bottom Job

In October when we pulled her from the water, we found both old and new damage.

That long repair is the result of the second rock.

The new was from my second rock encounter in Finland. In the first Finnish rock meeting, Dauntless rode up the rock on her keel.

But the second one was more egregious in that I hit the side of the rock with the side of the hull that left a four-foot scrape in the hull which was deep enough to cause a hairline crack all the way through the hull. Me Bad.

So in looking to repair that damage, we also

found some old damage that had been repaired, but not well or not completely. How do I know? Because in the three years I have owned her, whenever it rained, I had water entering the forward bilge. In addition, the paint on the bulkhead that separates the forward bilge from the amidships, had peeled, since water was coming in behind it.

Both those issues have been repaired and even though Dauntless sat on the hard in the wind and rain all winter, only in the last days was she put into the shed for painting, the forward bilge has remained bone dry.

Dauntless in the Shed. The Shed looked much bigger before she went it.

Now, the engine room bilge still has rain water getting in there, but I actually think that is as normal as one can expect in a 25-year-old boat.

I am also very pleased that everyone who has worked on the Krogen for the last 6 months has commented on the quality of: the workmanship, the design and the build.

I decided to paint the entire hull, since three years of docking was starting to show. And the incentive of a new, different for a Kadey Krogen, paint job will make me both more careful and thoughtful.

In the next weeks, I will enumerate the other jobs we, I have done for this coming season. That we have many, many miles to go, makes me feel even better about the preparation we are doing now.

The pictures show Dauntless outside when they had finished the bottom rehab, which meant repairing all the nicks and gouges, new fiberglass along the keel, gel-coat along the keel, then preparing the hull for two coats of epoxy and one of the tie-coat, which allows the anti-foul to adhere to the epoxy.

After two layers of epoxy, the beginning of the tiecoat (that allows the anti-foul coat to bond to the epoxy) is going on.

Determined & Confident = Dauntless

So I am sitting in my little B&B in New Ross, County Wexford, Ireland, watching a Korean Drama called “Marriage, Not Dating”. An apt title for a cutesy drama.

Dauntless gets a new bottom coat. The beginning of the end.

Korean Dramas are my one reliable escape; giving my brain a rest from the planning of tomorrow and the reflection of yesterday.

There is still much to do on Dauntless, and while the bigger jobs are getting done, I do the small things that have been on the to do list for too long, such as:

the installation of a new set of “driving” lights,
adding USB and 12v receptacles in the pilot house and cabins, so I don’t have to lug the different chargers from place to place.
Remarking the anchor chain and cleaning out the chain locker,
Replacing a float switch for the forward bilge pump as well as its check valve,
Finish the installation of the Wallas heater, yes, that heater I told you I finished years ago!
Getting the salt water pump, though new, has never worked. I think it’s not connected in the electrical panel in the engine room.

We should be back in the water mid-May, then I will mosey on down to Waterford before heading north to Scotland at the end of the month.

Then, returning to Waterford in mid-June for a couple of weeks, as I have a quick trip to NYC, before leaving Ireland for good in early July.

I’ll miss Ireland; for such a well-travelled person, I am still amazed that for all the years I have been coming to Europe, 30 plus years at that, I only found the gem that Ireland is just recently. A really shame, considering the amount of time I have spent wondering where I would live if I could live anyplace. Italy and the Netherlands were always near the top of that list, then Korea jumped up in the last 10 years and even Spain has interest. But for an English speaker, Ireland is just like Spain or Italy, except I’m fluent in the language. And maybe because it is such a small country, like Latvia, Ireland is full of wonderful, helpful, friendly people.

The fact that they talk like New Yorkers just makes me feel even more like home. Now I can also see why the Italians and Irish of NY did not always get along so well. They are virtually identical and we all know that similarity breeds contempt.

With Dauntless entering my life, I no longer have to decide where to live. Dauntless has given me the ability to live the life of a gypsy. Don’t like this town, go to the next one. Don’t like this country, go to the next one.

I’m not a negative person. In my life I have fought for those who cannot fight for themselves, kids, students, old folks in particular, but for myself, not much. I don’t like conflict. I’d rather move on. Just another aspect of living on a boat that at least for me makes life easier, not harder.

Seeing the world, being immersed in nature, whether you like it or not, are all benefits of being on a boat and crossing oceans.

Some of you may remember the long term plan was to do to Northeast Asia, Japan & Korea, after my time in Europe was up. That time is finally almost here. Earlier I had thought to spend another year in Europe, in Spain, but now realize it’s time to move on. Life gives you lemons, make lemonade. Corny, but true, much like many of the Korean dramas I watch.

Therefore, I’m excited that in just weeks’ time, we’ll be back in the water, looking a bit different and living up to the name Dauntless.

And with the end of summer will also signal the end of Europe for us for a long time. Oh, I’ll still fly here to see both new and old friends, but Dauntless is heading to places only dreamed about.

I can’t wait.

I’m Excited; Very Excited

Yes, that kind of excitement.

I’ve been playing with the numbers.

I like numbers:

25 May 2016 to 01 November 2017, 525 days
207 days underway; 17,000+ miles
$0.80 per nautical mile & $26 per day for fuel.
4576 gallons of fuel; 17,321 liters
10 oil changes, 145 quarts, 140 liters or 36 gallons of oil,

I like making a plan, executing the plan; sometimes even changing the plan.

Dauntless will have a look befitting her name in just a few weeks.

Then, in the water, fueled up and ready to go.

Friends for the US of A join us for a little jaunt to Scotland mid-May returning to Waterford Ireland in mid-June.

Then around the 4^th of July, I’ll say goodbye to all my wonderful Irish friends in Waterford and New Ross.

Dauntless will turn south, putting Ireland behind us heading to France, then northwest Spain and Galicia. I hope to be in San Sebastian in August, then heading west to A Coruna for September and October.

November will find us heading south, enjoying the fortified wines of Portugal and southern Spain.

Then it will be tackling the Straits of Gibraltar, yes, I have seen the film Das Boot, so I will be prepared.

After checking out the monkeys, we’ll fuel up and really begin an Odyssey.

Glimpses of Ireland

Working on the boat this week, getting her ready for painting. That story and pictures will come soon.

And in a sudden development, the Cruise Plan 2016 & 2017 has been radically altered. I’m working out the numbers now, so stay tuned to this channel for the exciting details.

So in the meantime, here are some relatively random shots of Ireland taken over the last three weeks:

Getting My Mojo Back

So Thursday, I passed my first car in a roundabout (aka traffic circle, rotary) and today, Saturday, I passed a few more.

That reflection of the arrow and line seems out of place in this photo because of the camera angle. In fact, by keeping the arrow near the center line, it helps me to not stray too far left as is the tendency.

What does that mean? Simply that my terror of driving in a right-hand drive car on right-hand drive roads is slowly decreasing as my skill of using my right hand to shift and left hand to steer is coming along nicely. I still let out the clutch a bit slower than normal, as there are still occasions of getting third when I want fifth gear or vise-versa. Even worse, in this car, reverse is to the right of forth and right where sixth is on some BMW’s), so when shifting to forth, I am really slow with the clutch just in case.

Crossing the Atlantic is still preferable, but while Dauntless is laid up, I need convenient transportation and that means renting a car. Knock wood. (Should I die tomorrow, or anytime this month, I hope someone has the decency to remove this post and not re-post on Trawler Forum, with the title, “I Told You So”.

These days, I am stay in a wonderful B&B in New Ross, close to JFK’s ancestral home, and I had a great conversation with the owner’s son about movies and series. The Unit by David Mamet came up, because for me, it is still the best depiction and most realistic military shows I have seen. So in looking for the DVD’s I discovered Amazon Prime streams them.

Passing the time watching The Unit, by David Mamet and reviewing World Cruising Routes by Jimmy Cornell

I have been skimming through season four since yesterday and also grabbed my World Cruising Routes by Jimmy Cornell from Dauntless. A must has, it’s a great planner for any passage in which weather matters.

As for The Unit? A must see that reminds us of the sacrifices many have made for the sake of ours and much of the world’s freedom.

Turning the Page

Tonight I turn the page; ending one long chapter and starting a new one.

Spring in Ireland, getting Dauntless ready and her first significant haul out in the last 3 years and 15,000 miles. In May, she’ll be back in the water, looking like she’s ready for business.

That business will start in Scotland, doing our last exploration in the “north”, before heading south for the rest of the summer. We’ll have a few weeks in France in time for Bastille Day.

The rest of the summer and they year will be in Spain, Galicia. Sometime in the new year, 2017, I’ll head further south along Portugal and the south coasts of the Iberian Peninsula. This will put D and me in the Mediterranean for the first time ever.

I’ll clearly have a lot of time on my hands. I will be doing far less cruising then in the past, but it will allow me to enjoy the life in Spain, sometime in Portugal and maybe even a few weeks in Morocco.

Spain is one of the most affordable countries in the E.U. and certainly in the Eurozone. If I am anyplace, it’s probably the ideal place to be for an extended time.

I hope to be in San Sebastian in August, then heading west during the fall to A Coruna for a couple months and Vigo for a few more.

I’m still planning on leaving Europe in October 2017, which will begin a busy extended cruise westward, not finishing until we cross the North Pacific to Japan and Korea.

Want to join me at any part? I can always use help, extra hands and advice, and most of all, the company. This year, summer 2016 through fall 2017, it’s less cruising and more just joining Dauntless and I while we stay in some wonderful town, eat some of the best food in Europe and wash it down with some wonderful wine; all at a cost that will make me never want to leaveJ

The best way to contact me is the email link under “contact”.

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