Comillas49

Yesterday, I added a new entry for Sloopy so I thought I would explain what on earth Sloopy is all about.

When I was born my father did an animated cartoon using paper silhouettes and freeze – frame on an 8mm video camera. This is real film that had to be developed before the days of Hi8. To this date I still cherish that movie . It is a little corny , but very cute.

So I came up with the idea of narrating the journey across the Atlantic ocean for my son in a way that he could read it for himself every morning when he woke up, share it with his sister, and other buddies from his first grade class. I will write brief updates at first grade reading level with large fonts every day of the journey, weather and other factors permitting of course.

Why the name Sloopy? O’Comillas has one mast and is therefore a “sloop” so when thinking of a name for a cartoon to represent the sailboat Sloopy was the best I could come up with.

We are two weeks away from departing on our voyage and reality is now really setting in. Until now all the planning and preparation work seemed somewhat academic , as if we were doing this on behalf of someone else. Furthermore, every time I found myself daydreaming of the journey I had this image of wonderful high-pressure systems, good weather, everything working smoothly, and whales swimming along side us. La, la, la…

Spent a week in Newport fixing tons of things from the shakedown voyage, talking with the crew that brought the boat from Spain, not having my wife Kristi or the kids nearby, and suddenly the voyage doesn’t seem so rosy anymore.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m still extremely excited about the whole thing, but a good serious dose of reality sets in when you go try on GoreTex off-shore foul weather gear. Now I have a picture of low-pressure systems, high winds and soaking waves, things breaking, missing my family. Blah, blah, blah…

I’m certain we will have a little bit of everything. That is the nature of these trips. Coming home from Newport and seeing my two precious kids running to hug me was awesome and all I could think of, was how on earth am I going to be away from them for three weeks?

I predict some sappy blog entries in the future. You’ve been warned …

We now have a third and final addition to the crew. An old family friend, José Manuel Aguilera will be joining us on the journey across the Atlantic aboard O’Comillas. I’m certain that José Manuel is the only person my father and I would agree to have joining us on a trip of this nature. So welcome aboard José Manuel!

It is now after 10pm in Newport and this is the first time since Dad and I got here that have we been able to stop working on something and rest. We are currently listening to some classical music. Dad is reading a book and I’m blogging.

We have been fixing stuff left and right. I should be saying port and starboard, but I guess that doesn’t sound quite the same. What is this fixing all about? Well, since this is a new boat that was purchased in Spain we actually had a very experienced captain sailed the boat from Spain to Newport. As expected during the first voyage of any sailboat, things break and this is why it is often called the shakedown voyage. We are now about 85% done fixing things and what remains will be addressed before we depart.

In terms of things braking, it seems things have not fared better back home as blogged by Kristi at K Pasa!? Maybe Kristi is right and she is emitting some kind of magnetic field that breaks things, or maybe just perhaps maybe, I actually do something around the house once in a while 😉

The captain and crew of O’Comillas for the shakedown voyage, three in total, were all from Spain. This shakedown voyage was indeed a shakedown. O’Comillas went through very rough seas and over 50 knots of winds and handled very safely. The boat reached just over 20 knots surfing down the waves. This is very fast indeed for a cruising boat and the crew was very happy with her performance.

A more typical performance is about 9 knots which we have done consistently in the past two days of sailing here in Newport with winds around 18 knots. O’Comillas is indeed a very fun sailboat to sail.

We have put a few photos of the past two days of sailing in the Photo Log.

We spent most of the day reviewing little things here and there that had broken down in the shakedown voyage. From what we hear, what a trip. I’ll tell you all about it when I get a chance. Right now it is midnight here in Newport and we have a long day tomorrow. Shopping for parts and fixing things in the morning and sailing in the afternoon.

Today was foggy and misty, lets hope for a nicer afternoon tomorrow