We have been very busy getting prepared for the Transatlantic race coming very shortly. Ben Galloway has joined me here at Dorade. Ben and I have been going through every detail and task to be prepared for this race. Ben has all the little tricks and secrets to put Dorade at her full potential. With Ben’s immense experience on Dorade, we work through our task list leaving no stone unturned. Dorade will be absolute for the start of the race.
Our training session was mostly involved in sailing and safety. The crew sailed as much as they could, getting accustomed to every little detail and the way Dorade behaves at sea. The crew did an overnight sail in order to know the boat through the night. As the crew went sailing I would stay ashore and keep working on Container work and some carpentry work. When the crew were not sailing, we were all working on organizing our safety gear and preparing for the safety inspection at the end of the week. During this inspection, Kim, the inspector, said, “It is nice to see a boat this prepared and organized.” After the inspection we then loaded all the gear into the boat. We also upgraded our systems plan, a layout of all systems and gear, into a wooden picture framed mounted in the interior.
After the training session Ben and I got to work on our pre-race task list and loading gear. We started by cleaning the boat from top to bottom in every nook and cranny. We then organized all gear, including sail repair, engine servicing, emergency leak kit, safety gear, sailing gear, rigging, etc. We then made up our kits and loaded them into designated locations.
Following the training session Dorade was to be hauled out. LMI hauled the boat out of the water for approximately one week. With the new bottom put on by Diversified Finish by LMI, we needed to come out of the water to burnish the bottom after a good month of swelling. After the haul out the bottom looked exceptional. Now LMI will address the seems, and wet-sand the whole bottom. We did have some bending of the rudder flaps, which will be addressed by LMI whilst out of the water. After the work on the bottom is complete we splash again on Friday, June 19th.
I have been working with Phil Kinder on all the canvas work. Phil has made a new nav station waterproofing curtain, a new door for the for-peak entrance, new waterproofing cover for the inverters, pig-stick and wind-sock holders, and about 10 new fleeced lined canvas bags for all the removable wooden pieces of Dorade.
We also replaced all the running rigging. RigPro was a huge help in this. RigPro made all the lines, splices, and any hardware that we needed. Ben and I have sorted through the entire running rigging, moussing in all new halyards, and replacing all running rigging. We then sorted through our spares and loaded what we need on-board and the rest into the Container for shipping.
Our main focus recently has been getting everything in its proper location for the race. The Container will leave LMI on Thursday June 18th. This means everything we need for the race must be on-board by this date. We have organized sails, rigging, gear, and anything else we need. We also need to have everything being shipped loaded into the container by this date. This includes building a mount for our outboard for the dinghy. Loading any and all spares, sails, gear, etc.
We did have one mishap since the last training session. One of our stern lines snapped. It was blowing off the dock about 25 knots and our stern line let go. After immediately replacing this line, I inspected the others. We made the decision to have all new dock lines made. This will be done through Jens Lange having all custom made lines for Dorade.
Ben and I are prepared and ready for our important dates coming up. Container ships on Thursday, June 18th, re-launch on Friday June 19th, and crew arrival for the Transatlantic June 24th.
~Nick
