Almost exactly one year ago Deborah, and my sister, Gretchen, went through breast cancer surgeries. We decided to close out this years sailing season by participating in the 11th annual Sail for the Cure in Portland.
Saturday morning I washed down the boat, loaded things up, and just before noon we hit the road. Stopped to get gas and realized I didn't know where the straps I use as baby stays for the gin pole and mast were. Back to the house and . . . I still don't know where they are. Drove to Portland, with a detour through Salem because I-5 was closed for a wreck
We got to the ramp around 3:30 and started setting things up. Managed to raise the mast without baby stays on the gin pole but I had to cut away the ones I'd rigged for the mast. Forgot that the padeyes on the cabin needed some stand off and I couldn't get the straps to release after the mast was up. Oops!
The Gleason ramp is nice, but way longer than the one at Fern Ridge; it's also steeper. A guy on a Harley who was watching asked if we needed some help, which I accepted. He helped guide the trailer down the ramp after I got the straps set up and everything went smoothly.
Once the truck was parked we loaded up and headed down the Columbia. There were a lot of boats out enjoying the sunshine and water and the river was pretty rough. The view of Mt Hood was awesome - I should have grabbed the camera. We motored down the river to Hayden Bay and parked Verboten in a private slip in front of some condos; very nice.
Karen (condo owner) drove us back to get the truck/trailer. Parked on the street across from her condo, unhooked the trailer, and went to dinner. After we got back I put the boom on and got everything rigged. Went to bed fairly early.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Woke early to rain; looks like there is a leak around the tabernacle as the compression post was wet. We got up around 9:00 and went for breakfast at BK. Drove back to the condo, got the trailer and dropped it off back at the ramp, then went to Portland Yacht Club to sign in and get our crew & sailing orders.
Seems like we don't have very good luck with crew - aside from Mary, who we knew couldn't make it, none of the others showed up either! Funny thing is, as we were waiting to talk to someone at the registration area about how to get our crew to the boat, I overheard Edie (the lady in charge of it all) telling someone she'd be on Verboten. "Did you say Verboten?" I asked, "I'm the skipper of Verboten . . . " Introductions were done and we picked a time to meet, then got Karen's address, I called our last prospective crew member, who said she wasn't coming, so we headed back to the boat.
After we got back I put on my foulies and tighted up the rig, then wrapped the lifelines with pink flagging. I put up the burgees (one for Mom, one for Deborah) and hung a couple of the "Make Breast Cancer Walk the Plank" banners the grandkids made off the lifelines.
Raynette (Ray) got there as I was finishing up the flagging.
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| Deborah and Ray |
We weren't alone . . .
We didn't quite make it to the buoy for the start, but that's ok, because a whole bunch of boats did and they were all headed our way, so we turned around and joined them.
It was pretty crowded with lots of close passes . . .
With boats going in all directions . . .
Trying to beat back up the river against the current.
At 3:00 we headed back to Hayden Bay where I dropped off Deborah and Ray. Deborah drove the truck back to the Gleason ramp while I motored back up the river.
Joe Washburn, from the Trailer Sailor Forum met us there and helped get the boat out of the water. We tried a new approach with Deborah staying on the boat to hook up the winch strap. That worked out ok but things got interesting when I started pulling the trailer out of the water with her in the cockpit - the front of the trailer came right up out of the water! Once she moved to the bow things settled down and I was able to pull the trailer out of the water. *whew*
We got the boat up in the lot, winched it the rest of the way on the trailer (only 1/2 the keel was on the trailer!) and started breaking things down. Joe was really helpful and able to take care of a bunch of stuff, like loosening the stays while I got the boom ready to come off. Once the boom was put away we started on the mast. Things went really well until the mast was about a foot from the mast crutch - I forgot about the tendency of the gin pole to fall off to one side if it's not stayed . . . and it did. I swore a bit but Joe remained calm. Once he let the tension off the line I was able to remove the gin pole and we lifted the mast off the stern rail and onto the crutch roller. I still haven't found those @#$@ straps I bought specifically for raising/lowering the mast!
The rest was cake - tied off the lines and got everything ready to go. We talked to Joe a bit, thanked hiim, and then stopped by the Portland Yacht Club for a bite to eat and to see if we'd won anything on the raffle tickets I'd bought. We hadn't but Deborah got 3 bottles of wine from the Wall of Wine and bought a couple of t-shirts for the girls. We then headed for I-5 and got home around 8:30, tired, sore, but glad we went.
Would I do it all again? Probably not, but it was a special way to close out the season this first year after Deborah and Gretchen's surgeries. Next year we'll rent a boat or go as crew, or maybe we can find a marina where we can leave Verboten for a week and pull her out the weekend after Sail for the Cure.
Photo by Dena Kent
Photo by Dena Kent
Photo by Dena Kent
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