Otter Cup - Elkhorn YC - 2015

May 16, 2015 -- For many years the Elkhorn Yacht Club, located in Moss Landing, has hosted a wonderful reaching race from the waters outside their harbor, to a buoy off of Monterey and back again.  A few of us left Santa Cruz harbor early and took MAYAN by power to Moss Landing in time to arrive for the 0930 hours skipper's meeting.  The winds were looking painfully light again, and the memories of our slow and frustrating sail in the Leukemia Cup lingered.

As always EYC was warm and welcoming.  The race committee did a good job of briefing us, warming us with hot coffee, and sending us out to the race course.  For those of you who haven't been to EYC, the MAYAN crew would highly recommend investigating this jewel of a club.  No flash, just sailors enjoying sailing to the fullest.  Elkhorn Yacht Club

The Otter Cup Course

The race course was simple and looked to be perfect for a schooner like MAYAN that loves to reach.  The only difficulty was going to be that short little beat directly into a 6-8 knots westerly wind.  We've been learning how to sail MAYAN in light winds (those painful memories of the Leukemia Cup haunting us again) but it is hardly our strong suit.

Approaching the start, which was a beam reach start on Starboard, we underestimated the additional speed MAYAN would show on a reach and found ourselves early by about a minute.  We are clearly still learning how to judge her speed.  Turning the boat up and down wind a lot to slow her down started to fail as competitors formed up around us on our final run-up to the line, so we were forced to reduce our boat speed by easing sheets.  While we were on the line at the gun and had "won" the start, we were only moving at about 3 knots and the ARIEL, a C&C-110, passed by us to windward.

For the next one hour and fifteen minutes we painfully beat two miles upwind in 4 to 8 knots of shifty breezes.... frustrating to say the least.  We rounded the windward mark dead last, seriously - dead last, behind the Cal 25, really seriously... last.  MAYAN is not a light wind boat.  We had confirmed our lousy ability to go upwind in light air.

Then everything started to get better.  The wind built slowly over the course of the ten mile beam reach to Monterey.  The sun came out.  With the genoa, advance staysail and mainsail we spread as much sail area as we could on a tight reach and MAYAN started to do what schooners do well.

MAYAN starting her move.  (Credit: Un Bel Di)

Our friends on UN BEL DI, the Cal 25, started snapping photos as we moved past them giving us some of the best pictures of our restored schooner we've seen so far.

As the wind moved aft slowly, we were able to set the forestaysail and MAYAN started to average about 6 knots over the ground in what had built to a steady 12 knot breeze.

With no complexity to the leg the crew relaxed and enjoyed the ride.  One of the great joys of being MAYAN's caretaker has been that Stacey and I have been able to invite a tremendous group of sailors aboard to share the rare joy of schooner sailing.  With so few of these old girls still sailing, let alone racing, our friends have turned up in large numbers to share the experience.

In this race we had to wonderful helmsmen who paired up to relieve me: Bill Lee and Lou Pambianco.  There were smiles all around and I got a chance to spend some time fussing with the sail trim up forward, and catching up with old friends.  The wind continued to build and move aft and by the time we reached Monterey it was relatively steady at 14 knots.  Bill guided us through the gybe gracefully, the crew brought the sails around and we were off again back to Moss Landing.

MAYAN doing what schooners do best: reaching

By the Monterey mark MAYAN had reeled in all but two competitors, and we appeared to be gaining on them.  With about ten miles left in the race, it would be difficult to catch the C&C but we provided a bit of a photo shoot for the boats still sailing towards Monterey and the boat in second.

We decided to hold a bit high of the finish line and then set the spinnaker.  As you all know, we're really just learning how to sail MAYAN and in hindsight it would have been better to simply sail the rhumb line as she doesn't gain much speed from the spinnaker.

After a wonderful dry and relaxing sail back to Moss Landing, we finished in second place, and believed we had saved our time on the C&C.  It is nearly impossible to provide a single number rating for two boats as different as the C&C and MAYAN.  If the race had included more distance sailing upwind, we would have been last.  But with 20 of the 24 miles of the race course being reaches in enough wind to get MAYAN moving, the advantage shifted to the schooner.  Aboard MAYAN we were amazed that she was so very slow upwind and so very fast on a reach.

As always the EYC put on a great meal after the race, there was great camaraderie in the bar, and we were thrilled to receive MAYAN's first ever First Place trophy.  We have sailed at Elkhorn Yacht Club in the past and have always enjoyed their tremendous hospitality.  Later this year we'll be back for the Double Angle Race, a crazy fun race course in which boats start from both Santa Cruz and Monterey, go around a mark in the middle of Monterey Bay (rounding in opposite directions simultaneously), and then run downwind to Moss Landing.  The party after that race is a legend amongst Monterey Bay racers.  The MAYAN crew will be there!

Leukemia Cup - Santa Cruz YC - 2105

MAYAN's first Leukemia Cup

Santa Cruz YC, Sunday, May 3rd, 2015

MAYAN with her advance staysail hanging

It is always great to support a cause like the Leukemia Cup.  The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society supports a massive amount of research into the elimination of all forms of blood cancers, a cause that is near to my heart.  My Dad, who taught us all to sail, died of multiple myeloma.  Then a few years ago my good friend Dave Emberson came down with Leukemia. Even since we've worked hard to help when we could - so this event was for Dad and Dave.

The day started out cool, calm, and overcast, with a gigantic all-star cast aboard sorting out the multiple strings that dangle from MAYAN's two masts.  One of the more interesting sails is the advance staysail, which you can see hanging from its halyards in the picture on the right.  Named for the schooner ADVANCE, a Starling Burgess design, which was the first to sport a sail like this, the advance staysail replaced the gaff foresail that used to occupy the space between the fore and main masts on many schooners.  With the luff running all the way up the foremast and the foot as close to the deck as we dare, the advance staysail is perfect for the light winds that had been forecast.

MAYAN

Once the crew had assembled, we set out for the calm waters outside our small harbor in Santa Cruz. The forecast was for 8-10 knots of wind from the southwest, but our first half hour was spent simply trying to get the sails to fill in near nonexistent winds. In the picture to the left you can see the large genoa, advance staysail and mainsail set with just enough wind to fly the flags.  Some have commented that MAYAN looks a bit down by the stern. Well, we had 28 crew aboard and at least half of them were in the cockpit at this point.

This was to be our first race in N. California.  That combined with the great cause it was supporting, resulted in every person we asked showing up to crew on MAYAN. As we left the dock Beau counted heads and came up with 28!  This was a new record for MAYAN during our stewardship and we were thrilled to see that everyone was comfortable.  Indeed, we could have accommodated 6 or 8 more folks aboard!

Lawson Family at the Rail

The crew was wonderfully competent with world champions, a yacht designer, professional crew men and women, along with some of the most adorable little kids we've seen aboard any boat.  For Stacey and Beau, a major component of MAYAN's mission is to sail with friends, family and most of all kids.  MAYAN was proving to do a great job of all parts of that mission.

The Lawson family had brought the entire team, and they all seemed to be having a great time!  While the munchkins played in the cockpit and below under Dannie's watchful gaze, their Dad (Jeff) hauled the main sheet and provided Beau with a spare pair of eyes spotting boats and marks.

The race format was a pursuit start, slowest boat first, which theoretically should have all the boats finishing at the same time.  The course was basically a windward/leeward course twice around.  Beau got us to the starting line about a minute late, which in schooner-time is close enough (but needs to improve).  Most importantly, no people, glass or wood was injured during the start.  The PHRF handicap MAYAN has received from the Monterey Bay PHRF committee matched her up boat-for-boat with the Catalina 30s.

Bill Lee

With the wind hovering around 6 knots, it became critical to keep the boat moving.  With over 68,000 pounds to move, MAYAN will stubbornly stand completely still with her sails full until she decides to grandly accelerate.  Eventually we set off around the race course and the wind built to about 8 knots.  Beau turned the helm over to Bill Lee for a bit, and the two of them discussed her sailing characteristics in these non-schooner conditions.

With the wind this light, and our entire crew completely new to sailing schooners, we struggled with the first beat.  After rounding Wharf Mark the crew scurried around re-setting the sails for a broad reach.

Gollywobbler and A1 set on the foremast of MAYAN

Schooners are known for being able to reach well, but usually there's a bit more wind.... oh well.  Up went the A1 (asymmetrical spinnaker) tacked to the bowsprit and sheeting about amidships.  Shaped more like the spinnaker for a Aussie-18' skiff than a big boat, this sail drew beautifully and MAYAN started to move.  Next the gollywobbler was set to leeward of the advance staysail and the advance hauled down.  The gollywobbler is another sail that is set between the masts, tacked at the foot of the foremast and hoisted to the top of both the fore and main masts.  It is made of spinnaker cloth, light and strong, and fulfills the needs of a main mast spinnaker.  Aboard MAYAN,  both sails are marked with the MAYAN logo on a broad yellow/orange band.  If only we'd had enough wind to really fill them!

The next mark was SC3, east towards Capitola, so we had a nice long reach to try and get MAYAN moving.... but the wind stayed very very light.  As we approached SC3 the advance staysail went back up, the gollywobbler came down, the genoa went back up, the A1 came down and the crew rounded the mark close along side and kept the old girl's speed up.  Nicely done!

A crew of 28 on the windward rail

In slightly stronger winds of 12knots, MAYAN began to move more easily, but we still hadn't figured out how to get her to point. Perhaps she just doesn't point? Bill repeated the wonderful old joke about schooners: "When you watch a schooner going upwind, you keep wondering why the boat in the back doesn't tack to clear her air." He got quite a chuckle from that one.  As we returned to Wharf Mark to round again and head dead down wind to Black's Point Mark the wind died off again and MAYAN began to wallow a bit.

Finally, abeam of the Santa Cruz Harbor, Beau called Homer on the VHF radio.  "Homer, go ahead and head in, we're going to withdraw."  Homer thanked us and we started taking sails down.  We had ended up last by well over a mile.  Not our best day as a race boat, but one of our best days ever at having a great time on the water.

The Santa Cruz YC hosted a terrific party after racing with great conversations, drinks, food, and awards.  Team MAYAN managed to win on shore, even if she was dead last on the water.  Thank you to ALL the generous folks who donated to the effort.  MAYAN raised more money than the organizers had set as a goal for the entire event!  Well done!!!

We will be making this an annual event for MAYAN, so please continue to look kindly on the email pleas for funds that will start appear early in 2016.  Hopefully, we'll get a race day with a bit of breeze so that we can have a little better showing on the water.  Again, THANK YOU for your tremendous support for our efforts and fund raising for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.

Making Progress

OK, today we completed and did a sea trial on the new autopilot and the quick release for the wheel. The Admiral and I have been worried about the damage that OttO could do to small arms and faces by spinning the open spoke pegged wheel quickly in a crowded cockpit. Give OttO has the power to spin the wheel six turns in 20 seconds and exerts the equivalent of 380 lbs of pressure on the outer pegs of the wheel, clearly he could hurt someone.   First, we took MAYAN out of the LA harbor and powered around in the glass flat sea. No testing the wave handling or sailing (no wind to speak of). Through out the time OttO performed perfectly.  He ramps up the speed at which he turns the wheel, spun MAYAN to nearly the new course, and then started to back the helm off quickly and then more slowly as MAYAN reached course.  I was impressed. This OttO is NOTHING like the OttO that was in S'AGPAO! MAYAN has a LOT of weight in the steering worm gear, the rudder shaft and the rudder itself; because of this the Jefa guys told me that only the Raymarine unit will gently speed up and slow down the power on their drive unit, making it easer on all the old heavy gear in MAYAN.Second, going back to the wheel spinning around and potentially hurting someone....  First, a quick look at the display for OttO mounted on the after side of the binnacle. It's pretty much hidden from everyone except the helms person. I can put up with this much "new" tech.  Now back to keeping the wheel from damaging someone. Wayne and I had discussed a pin through the wheel hub that one could pull and then the wheel would spin easily. That was two weeks ago. When we got to MAYAN today, we found a MUCH BETTER idea had been built. Typically, Wayne didn't bother talking about it, he just built it. So.....   Mounted aft of the wheel, around the steering gear main shaft, is a bronze collar, see picture on the right. In the collar there are two stainless steel screws, with unthreaded ends. You can see one of them on the right side of the collar in the picture below. These pins run in two grooves shaped like an inverted "J", you can see one on the top of the shaft and there is another on the opposite side of the shaft. When the collar is "locked", as it is in the picture on the right, the pins are in the short end of the "J" and hold the collar tightly against the wheel hub.

To free the wheel, so that it won't turn when OttO turns the rudder, one grabs the collar and twist the top of it to the left in the picture (to port). There is a small click as the pins get around the curve of the "J" and then the collar can slide aft on the shaft a distance a bit bigger than the thickness of the wheel's hub. In the picture on the left, the collar has been moved aft.

Now that the collar has been freed from the wheel, the wheel is free to slide aft along the shaft. In the picture below you can see the wheel in it's "free" position. In this position the wheel sits still and the shaft is free to turn within it. The key, which normally locks the wheel to the shaft, has been attached to the shaft so that it can't fall out and it has been modified with a "V" on the aft end (facing towards the wheel) so that one can push the wheel forward on the shaft more easily to re-engage the wheel.

When we pull when wheel back and let OttO drive, I'll tie the wheel so no one accidentally pushes it forward or tries to turn it and it spins out from under them. We don't have a lot of hours on this system so far, but our first four hours were great.

Catching Up - Progress on the Interior

I must apologize for not having updated this blog in quite awhile.  Once again I've failed at retirement and the press of work has anchored me in San Francisco, far from our lovely MAYAN.  She remains at Wayne's boatyard in Wilmington with he and his crew hard at work on completing the tasks I left partially done, in addition to his many other jobs aboard.

While stuck in an office working, I've spend a little time working on the history of our lovely schooner and was thrilled when the grandson of her builder sent this along.  He has been researching his grandfather's dockyard in Belize and had the pen-n-ink done from a composite of family pictures.  A big THANK YOU to Robert Tewes for getting this lovely piece of art for all of us who love MAYAN and great old dockyards.

As I've mentioned earlier, part of the re-fit of MAYAN includes building a proper head with a shower, adding some berths forward, and rebuilding the starboard side of the saloon to make the seating more comfortable.  These projects are proceeding nicely.  I suppose some of the credit for the progress goes to me for not being there to constantly distract the team with silly questions. 

The new refrigeration, water tank and holding tank have been installed in the head, outboard and to port. (see above)  You can see that all of the wood that will be painted has been covered with red-lead paint prior to final finish.  This is the best technique we know of to stop dry rot and mildew. 

With that complete, Wayne has been able to start making real progress installing the bulkheads that he has built to enclose the space.  In this first picture the central athwartship bulkhead which divides the shower from the head forward of it is being installed.  (BTW, that's Wayne back there fitting the panel.)

The way that Wayne assembles the interior allows us to remove these bulkheads to access the equipment outboard of it and also allows us to remove them for re-finishing when required.  You can see that the central panels of the bulkhead have been sealed and have already received a couple of coats of varnish.  Prior to assembly, all the bulkheads, doors and panels will be completely finished with 8 coats of varnish.  Below is the same bulkhead viewed from the galley, aft of the head spaces. The shower will be on the left and the head is visible beyond the bulkhead.

Just forward of the head space, where the head used to be located, Wayne has built a berth and will build a storage space below it. While the camera has shortened the look of this berth, it is a full 6'6" long and full width.  These pieces have been dry-fit and will be removed for varnishing soon.  The sleeper's head will be aft, to the left in this picture and you can just see the opening at the foot of the berth to allow air-flow to the fo'c's'le in hot weather.

This next picture shows the opening from the passageway berth above into the fo'c's'le.  It will have a door for privacy.

While air flow is certainly valuable, one of our primary goals of MAYAN's mission is to be a great place for grandchildren.   The fo'c's'le will be their space and Stacey and I think it'll be great fun for them to be able to climb through the opening at the foot of the berth, and to have whomever is sleeping there get their toes tickled when they least expect it.  If you're crewing aboard MAYAN you'll need a sense of humor! ;)

Moving forward into the fo'c's'le in the picture above you can see a panel below the opening leading to the passageway berth.  This is part of the base of the two berths we're building up forward.  In the next picture you can see the same berth with the wide central area in the bow.  This platform provides a place to stand while moving sails up through the foredeck booby hatch, and will also make a great tiny person berth.  At the moment it's serving as sail storage.

Finally, Wayne has put together a wonderful video on how he built the raised panels for MAYAN.  Please enjoy it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LP-SfAV2yXg&feature=youtu.be

Building the Interior

With much of the mechanical, plumbing, and electrical nearing completion it's time to start building the bulkheads and lockers that will surround all that work.  All the wood has been planed and sanded to a uniform thickness.  Wayne has lofted the bulkheads in the shop, and has milled the rails and stiles.

The sheet of plywood on the right serves for the lofting and layout of multiple bulkheads.  The top, center, and bottom stiles for two narrow panels are laid atop the lofting for two narrow panels.

The end of each stile has a long tendon that will fit into the mortise in the rail.  In the picture on the left one can see the inner edges which will face the raised panel within the bulkhead.  Each has been milled on the shaper.  To produce all this Wayne has been running plank after plank through the shaper and then cutting out the tendons with a jig on the table saw.

I've no idea how he keeps it all straight, but there are dozens of small stacks of wood, each with the grain matched, piled around the shop and slowly forming themselves into raised panel bulkheads and doors.

Few boats have bulkheads built this way today, primarily because it's a massive amount of work and also because modern boats utilize the strength of the bulkheads as a key component of the boat's design.  In older boats, like MAYAN, the bulkheads often aren't structural and can be both less strong and moved to whatever place in the boat is most useful.  In the three pictures to the right, you can see how the tendon on the stile fits into the mortise in the rail to form the center structure of a bulkhead.  A panel will be inserted into the interior slots in the stile and rails.

A number of new bulkheads will be built to surround the new head, separate the head space from the forward passageway and from the galley, and to provide the cabinetry along the starboard side of the main saloon.  In addition, we will most likely replace a few of the older doors in spaces like the master stateroom and build new doors for the new head and shower that are all constructed with this raised panel technique.

Traditionally, only the stiles and rails were glued and fastened together.  The panels within the system were free to move within the slots.  This was done because the finishes were not particularly water-proof.  For example, oil based enamel and varnish only blocks 60% of moisture.  As the humidity changed, especially in northern Europe and New England, between summer and winter this allowed the large panels in the center of bulkheads and doors to expand and contract as they absorbed and lost water content.

However, many modern glues are capable of providing enough flex.  This will allow Wayne to glue in the panels, making everything much stronger and resistant to mold and rot that can occur when the panel is loose set.

Because the bulkheads and doors in the shower area will also be built in this way, and will be subjected to a great deal of moisture, we will be using epoxy to set all the joints.  After a few tests, we've decided to use varnish to finish the interior of the shower.

Panels made entirely of one broad plank are prone to cracking as the humidity changes.  As a result Wayne is gluing up the large panels from multiple smaller pieces with the grain matched.  This results in a stronger and more stable panel.

It has been a great deal of fun for me to hold the "dumb-end of the board" for Wayne in this process.  Learning a new field is always entertaining and in this case it's teaching me that I have a tremendous amount more to learn about the complexities of wood, adhesives, joints, shapes, and thousand of other things that Wayne has learned over his 40 years of ship and boat building.

What we did this week.....

MAYAN is a mess right now, with Ruben hard at work putting the port passageway berth in, Wayne building the head space, and me tearing out the stb side of the main saloon. After weeks and weeks of infrastructure stuff, like new exhaust systems, wiring, refrigeration, etc... none of which shows any progress to the uninitiated after the lockers are closed, it is wonderful to see the chips fly!!

Here is Ruben looking forward into the forepeak from the place where the passageway head used to be. Before "El Destructo" went after it (that's me) this is the place where MAYAN had her head. This opening will allow the foot well of the berth to protrude into the forepeak and reach the required 6'6" that our sons demand. There will be a hatch in the foot of the berth so that fresh air can flow through. (I hate quarter berths that don't have a vent in the foot well - too damn hot.) Also, as The Admiral pointed out, the munchkins who will inhabit the forepeak will have a lot of fun tickling the toes of the person sleeping in that berth and crawling through the foot well hatch!



Below is the space where the head used to be. Originally, as seen in earlier pictures, I was going to refinish the long leaf yellow pine ceiling material as I did in the forepeak. But after taking some time away from the project I noticed that the wood had an odor (Damn leaking heads). I had attributed that to the plumbing for the head, but alas that wasn't the source. Various leaks over the years had saturated some of the wood with foul stuff (don't ask) and the smell was coming from the grain of the wood. Rather than strip and sand it all, which would have required at least a week, I tore it all out (took 5 hours). Rubin will install a Alaskan yellow cedar ceiling this coming week (in fact he's probably got it done by now). Smell gone and replaced by the nice fragrance of cedar. One third the work and a better result.



Meanwhile, Wayne has been milling the wood with which to build the interior bits. Here's a stack of milled "rails" for the raised paneling and doors. Also a door jam and a few other bits in the making.



Here's a pile of the "stiles" (the bits that go between the "rails". Together then surround the "panel" that will be machined to have that nice raised panel look. All the joints will be mortise and tendon, pinned with trunels.



Meanwhile, back in the main saloon, El Destructo has been removing the stb settee and cupboards. In the picture below, the large space (6'6") on the right is where the berth used to be. We will move the berth forward and inboard, putting storage behind, so it can serve as a settee for the saloon. It'll be long enough to be a berth, keeping in mind Mr. Perry's missive to allow a space where women can curl their legs up and read. This should be about the best reading spot aboard when on port tack. Above the back rest for the settee will be raised panel doors and in the center of the row will be some leaded glass doors to break up the monotony of all the wood. Back aft we'll put in a small flat work space. It can serve as a chart table, for the rare occasion that we need to look at paper charts, but it's primary purpose will be as a stand up desk just below the main companionway. above and outboard of the work space will be doors that hide the RADAR and other instruments. (No electronics in view on MAYAN.) We've nixed the quarter berth under the chart table idea as we want the space for storage of wet sailing gear. There will be a powered fan in a vent, drain/pump and hot plumbing in there to get rid of water and dry things out quickly.



In the forward section you'll notice that somewhere along the circuitous course MAYAN has sailed weights were added to her starboard side. Our guess is that these were added when the Yanmar generator engine was added to keep MAYAN on her lines. We're pondering removing these and adding some more battery capacity on the starboard side. No sense in hauling around lead unless it's doing something helpful!



Next week should see a lot of "visible" progress, as opposed to invisible progress we've been making. It will also see the arrival of the sails on Wednesday and Thursday - which I'm really looking forward to!! The booms and lower 6' of the spars have been painted and the fitting remounted, read to have nu-suls bent to them. We'll get to go sailing on Thursday!!! 

The Sails Are Nearly Done!!

I have had some business things to attend to. As a result, I've been in Santa Cruz dealing with this rather than down on MAYAN getting "work" done; which is mostly getting in Wayne's way asking inane questions. But, one piece of the project is proceeding apace just a couple of blocks from home - sail making. Yesterday my granddaughter and I walked over to check out the progress on the sails.

The white sails are all completed and waiting in bags for the big "haul" to LA.  We've taken a little different approach, non-traditional, on the main staysail and the fore staysail. They are loose footed so that we can ease the outhaul and round the sails when appropriate. The mainsail is still running on a track with cars along the boom, as it doesn't need to have the draft altered as much. But the poor staysails are either operating solitarily or are flying in the slot between the advance staysail or the yankee/genoa. As a result, I've always wanted to be able to get more shape in them when they're on their own. We'll see how well all this theory actually applies, and can always put the cars on them again if we need to.

We're keeping the original multi-colored spinnaker - which appears to have been cut down from a much bigger boat so there's no chance we'll ever blow that thing out. We are also lifting the over-size A-2 from S'AGAPO (It's not legal under PHRF, IRC or ORR) and we will just have to live with the british numbers. This A-2 is perfect for MAYAN. When flying it has an effective overlap of about 140%, a great reacher.

Finally, the gollywobbler is finally done. It's got a dyneema luff rope and triple cloth luff tape, so we can reach up more with it. But I really didn't have any idea how BIG it really is until seeing it laid out on the floor at the loft. It literally doesn't fit. Pretty funny! It is coming out exactly the way our granddaughter and Stacey wanted it.

Here's our granddaughter doing her first inspection, and you can see Patrick (a top sailmaker at Santa Cruz Sails {Now Ullman Sails}) laying out the MAYAN logo on the center section of the sail.




Most of the stencil for the MAYAN logo is glued down now. It's computer cut with the same cutter they use on the sail cloth. Double layers of butcher paper and a bit of spray adhesive hold it in place. There is a pattern under the sail to show Patrick where to put the stencil, which was generated by replacing the cutter with a sharpie. 




Next Patrick gets the box ink (used for putting black logos and stuff on cardboard boxes) and starts to "paint" the logo on with a foam roller. This goes fast and the black ink is amazingly potent. It covers in two passes easily, drying quickly. The solvent is denatured alcohol, so it smelled a little like a doctor's office. "Icky" said our granddaughter as she sniffed it.





After two coats, Patrick is hunting for "thin spots" with more ink.  My wonderful granddaughter was lying down in a Syndey 38 spinnaker by this point having a little nap. Clearly a ocean going sailor in the making.




Finally, we pulled all the masking off and revealed what our granddaughter calls the "Monster Face". Stacey and I are thrilled with the contrast between the yellow/gold cloth strip across the center of the gollywobbler and the black ink. No one will doubt which boat this is! We will be putting a 6' high version of this on the mainsail also, and have selected "1947" as our sail number (the year she was built).



We've had hats, shirts, and vests made with this MAYAN logo and the entire package is coming out wonderfully well.

Now, back to work!

Beau