Lemony Fresh

Since day one, as I step down Sojourn’s companion way, I am always greeted with the unpleasant odor of well…… musty old boat with a hint of diesel.  Sojourn is 36 years old, leaks like most 36 year old boats, and her tired old MD7a leaked from every place imaginable, so I guess this shouldn’t come as a surprise. 

I’ve changed out the leaky old Volvo, flushed the bilge and washed the interior with simple green.  It all helped a little, and has been getting better over time, but it still was not satisfying. A couple of weeks ago, I bought a copy of This Old Boat by Don Casey.  In there he suggested wiping down the interior woodwork with plain old lemon oil.

Why not?  I found some Formby’s lemon oil at my favorite neighborhood hardware store and wiped down every piece of wood, oiled or varnished, on Sojourn’s interior. Then next day, I opened the companion way and Voila! Like changing a painting, musty old boat with a hint of diesel has been replaced with Grandma Audrey’s den. 

It wasn’t exactly what I had in mind, but it is a fantastic improvement. I had been planning on varnishing the interior and hadn’t given much thought to what it would do visually. I wasn’t  really expecting much of a transformation, so I didn’t take before photo’s.  It was such a striking difference that I did snap a couple of quick after photos.  If it stays, I’ll likely not bother with the varnish.

 

Sojourn to Langley

Every year, there is a day when spring arrives for me by way of a odor.  It usually happens in April, and usually in the early evening after a day or two of warm dry weather. It isn’t a flower like fragrance, or the odor of cut grass, just spring. Earthy is the closest adjective that comes to mind and after being tormented by La Nina for months, it finally happened.

A warm breeze fanned the marina from the northwest.  Crescent shaped kites danced over Jetty Island. Baby blue skies with soft haze filled the sky.  As we pulled into the marina, I was again mentally rubbing my hands in anticipation of a great day sailing. Kyle and I cast off at just after noon and set sail for Langley, a quaint little town on a bluff 7.8 nautical miles west of Everett. 

The wind blew as if coming from a fan over Langley, so we tacked the whole way, bouncing back and forth between the shores of Priest Point, Gedney Island and Camano Island.  Sojourn’s knot meter refused to go above 5 knots.  It’s been pretty consistently reading lower than the GPS, so I calibrated it to my perception.  With the needle reading 5.5 knots instead of 4.5, the trip somehow was somehow more satisfying.  One of these day’s I’ll get around to actually calibrating it properly.

We arrived at Langley to a full harbor.  The harbormaster said call back in a half hour, so I seized the opportunity to try Sojourn’s anchor.  I happily found that she has 250 of well marked rode in better condition than I remember.  We were in 10 feet of water and not leaving the boat, so I paid out 90 feet.  A spot opened up, so we pulled anchor and headed into the tiny marina.  We climbed the hill to the main part of town and found an outdoor pizzeria.  . 

At six o’clock, we headed home.  Once under sail, we found ourselves on a broad reach for about 20 minutes and then a dead run all the way to Everett.  This was actually a real treat. Not having wind instruments, I can’t say what the apparent wind was, but the apparent tranquility was excellent.  If a picture is worth a thousand words, what is a video worth? 

Sojourn on a broad reach (turn up the sound if you can’t hear it.)

To top off a very enjoyable day, when walking back to the car in the Marina parking lot, spring had sprung in an odor.