Busy... Busy... BUSY!

Hello all.
Well, We made it!

After about 69 hours of work on my part, and nearly that much on the part of Capt. Topher, over the past week.. Plumbing Problems, Electrical Problems, Rig Inspections, A NASTY 3 day Flu, Lots of climbing around in the Bilge, Spars to repair and re-varnish, Topmasts to down-rig for repairs, Sails to Up-rig, TONS of paperwork, a late night S.I.P. "Cram Session" last night, and a last minute scramble this morning..... WE PASSED OUR C.O.I. INSPECTION!!!

My first one as Mate. :-)

Here's a couple shots taken by our 2nd Mate Mathew of me bringing down our Main Topmast.

Of course I didn't do all of the work on my own, but our Captain did allow me, under his watchfull eye, to Supervise all for the rigging & the "Calling of the Shots" for the downrig of the two TopMasts. This was a great opportunity that I have been looking forward to for some time now. And... Aside for some stubborness on the part of the Topmast, (wanting to stay up), everything went without a hitch... Aside for the sweet "Prussik-Hitch" I tied for the Upper Tag-Line. :-)

More news? Well... I have my date with the R.E.C. On may 17th, I will be going to Toledo to "Ace" the 100ton Master exams and become "Captain T.C." Scary, huh?

On that note... I have got to get back to the books.

Cao for now! Check back soon.

-- Bhodi

A new job & another Carreer Step.

Hello all... from Bay City, Michigan!

Many of you may have already heard: After leaving the Pride of Baltimore II, Erin & I spent the winter in Florida and then drove out to move into our new Cottage in Santa Cruz, CA.

Well... You may also have heard that I flew out just a few days later to join Capt. Christopher Sutton & the Baysail family aboard the Appledore IV for the 2006 Sailing season. I will be searving the App. IV as Chief Mate, and am excited about having this opportunity to sail as mate on a sweet schooner in the 2006 Tall-Ships Challenge series.



Soo.. While Erin is enjoying our new love nest in "The Cruz", our new cutie-pie cat "Foxy", her new job for Patagonia, and her renewed college carreer in GeoPhysics at UCSC: I am getting a Schooner ready for a USCG C.O.I. Inspection and a busy sailing season, including such fun activities as trying to fix a grey-water punp and repairing the Main Gaff with epoxy fillets and a nice sized "Dutchman".

Also, as you may have figured out from the photo above, I have finally been approved by the Coast Guard for my Captain's License & expect to go test sometime in the first half of next month.

Well... That's all for now. Keep checking back, as I will have more and more photos and postings up as the weather gets better and we get sailing this season.

Cheers!

--Bhodi

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