From Acorn To Arabella.
This week, we’re getting our homebuilt wooden boat ready for her first international passage. Sure, it’s just to Canada, but to us, it’s a big deal!
First up is finishing work on the bowsprit. I needed to get the bow out of our bronze bow roller before we could reinstall it. Thank goodness for clamps and our onboard workbench! Getting the bow out was the easy part, but then I had to install it while bouncing around under the bowsprit in our tender!
Next, we needed to re-waterproof the spot where the mast goes into our forepeak. I scraped off the Flex Tape residue, sanded it, and shellacked it. Then I snugged up the shims holding the main mast in place and wrapped them in a piece of old sailcloth. This serves two purposes: it prevents the shims from poking through the Flex Tape, and it keeps the Flex Tape from adhering directly to the mast.
I also finished the rigging for our new light-wind sail, which we picked up from Doyle Sails. Some might call it a "code zero." Whatever you want to call it, it’s going to make a big difference for us when the winds are light. More sailing, the better! One last piece of rigging: a halyard to hoist our quarantine and international flags, now that we’re looking at crossing some international boundaries!
With our final to-dos checked off the list, it was time to head from Marion, through the Cape Cod Canal, to Provincetown to meet up with Josh and Erin from the Schooner Hindu! We had a beautiful and uneventful day motoring across Cape Cod Bay.
We arrived in Provincetown just in time for the 4th of July parade and fireworks show. We had a front-row seat from the wave attenuator in the harbor (and Akiva enjoyed it, too, since he got to run free on the floating dock).
Finally, one last trip back to Granby to collect everything Arabella will need for the winter, which we plan to spend somewhere surprising: Newfoundland! If you’ve been following, you know that we’ve been dreaming of sailing to Newfoundland for a long time now. We are ready to get back to mountain biking, climbing, skiing, ice climbing, and all the outdoor activities we love, and Newfoundland has it all!
It’s time to secure our anchors (we learned that lesson the hard way!). So, we tucked our 45# Mantus in the anchor locker and then triple-secured our 65# Mantus. Some people have suggested keeping both anchors on deck for long passages, but we like to have the option to drop an anchor quickly if we need to!
————————–
Sign up for our email newsletter: http://eepurl.com/hn3Qyv
Acorn to Arabella started as a wooden boat building project in Granby, Massachusetts. Steve began the journey as an amateur wooden boat builder crafting a 38′ wooden sailboat in his backyard: designer William Atkin’s Ingrid with a Stormy Petrel’s gaff rig. These videos follow the journey from tree felling, to lumber milling, to lofting, to the lead keel pour and now sailing the boat—sharing details of the woodworking, carpentry, metal smithing, tool building, and tool maintenance that traditional wooden boats command. This ultimate DIY project continues beyond the boat shop, as Steve and crew travel and learn to cruise aboard the handmade wooden boat that they’ve built. Just kidding about all that, this channel is about a Siberian Laika named Akiva.
————————–
If you are interested in supporting/helping here are a few ways:
https://www.acorntoarabella.com/how-to-help
Acorn to Arabella’s wishlist:
https://www.acorntoarabella.com/wishlistpriority
TotalBoat supports A2A! Please consider using our Total Boat referral code. Click here, then shop: https://www.totalboat.com/acorntoarabella They’ll kick 10% our way!
To offer recurring support via Patreon, CLICK BELOW. Just $5 a month gets you an invite to our monthly patron-only livestream Q&A sessions!
https://www.patreon.com/acorntoarabella
Original Soundtrack available at benfundis.bandcamp.com
FOLLOW US:
Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/acorntoarabella
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/acorntoarabella/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/acorntoarabella
Website: http://www.acorntoarabella.com
