Wednesday, March 31, 2010

March

I wanted to drill the pivot hole in the centerboard while I still had a flat surface to work with. My dad has a drill press, so I headed north.

The Skagit Valley, a very productive agricultural area, is a little over an hour north of Seattle. It was first settled by families from Holland and is still known for growing tulip and daffodil bulbs. It's also one of the largest producers of seed crop.

March is daffodil season.


My dad was doing the annual on his plane while I drilled the pivot hole.


Also this month, my daughter and I went on a morning and evening photo shoot of Seattle. On one side, Lake Union. (A link to the Duck Dodge)


While the other side is on Puget Sound, connected to the Pacific Ocean (a 3-4 day sail, water is just to the right, out of the picture).


Back to building: some decisions are hard. The only boats I've sailed have had booms. Would I like one without? Most of the time I plan on using dry storage - a 'mast up' area where you can either launch with a crane or trailer. This makes me lean less towards quick set up, and more towards . . . I'm not sure exactly.

In the end I decided on a main boom. The reason I'm thinking about this now is that I wanted to recess the area of the main sheet traveler and track in the cockpit seat. Originally I was planning on recessing the whole thing, but after evaluating the size of the traveler and leaving enough space so that lines wouldn't be caught etc., it seemed too large. Instead, I went for leveling the attachment surface (seats are slanted out) and then leveling the top of the track with seat cushions. That hopefully will limit Murphy's Law with sheets and traveler binding, and also allow lying down comfortably. Pieces are of HD and will be secured at time of VB.


Here I'm making the measurements -- length along the cord and corresponding thickness -- for the topographical plan of the centerboard. Glasses with 'readers' weren't enough -- I didn't have this problem when I started this project!


Also this month, my wife and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary with friends and family,


then took a trip south. We stopped in Salt Lake to do some Spring skiing at Alta, 32oo m, 1300 cm snow, one of the first ski resorts in US. We lucked out with fresh snow and sunshine!
Heading south, we visited Nine Mile Canyon, a 40 mile canyon showcasing over 1000 panels and 10,000 images of petroglyphs and pictographs from the Fremont Native Americans, 300 - 1250 A.D.


And hoodoos with Wilson Range in the distance near Goblins State Park.


We hiked Little Wild Horse Canyon, a narrow slot canyon in the sandstone on the edge of the San Rafael Swell. You wouldn't want to do this with the threat of thunderstorms up drainage. Amazing twists and turns, colors and shapes.


We camped at Arches National Park. There are over 2000 arches and fascinating sandstone formations here. We've been here before, so it was relaxing to not 'have to do it all.'

Colors of Salt Valley (thousands of feet of salt are in a dome underneath, which accounts for many of the types of formations at the northern end of the park.)