Category: Splendido

Photos, stories, and interesting things about Splendido, our 1993 Catalina 270, who has lived and sailed her whole life on Lake Tahoe.

Reflections on a season of midweek sailing at Tahoe

On By David BranbyIn Commissioning & De-commissioning, Mechanical Stuff, On The Water, Ports Of Call, SplendidoLeave a comment

Debbie and I had one goal this sailing season, and that was to try to relax and enjoy our new-found leisure time after I stepped away from my long advertising career at the end of January. We were excited to see how we could go from being the typical “weekend warrior”-type sailors we’d been for the past 14 years to any-day-of-the week yachties able to get far from the madding crowds as much as possible. We discovered, to our delight, how empty Lake Tahoe is in the summer Mondays through Thursdays (apart from July 4th and Labor Day weeks, of course). When you’re out on the water midweek, you really do feel like you have the whole place to yourselves.

Nevertheless, we did find time to socialize a bit, whether at Chambers Landing, where they’re really stepped up their game of late with new management, or happily running into our nephew Dusty Cady as he was in the midst of a stand-up paddleboard circumnavigation (yes, 72 miles of paddling and camping out over five days). In early summer, our friends Fred and Alice at Big Blue Tahoe Yacht Club threw a backyard party with delicious paella, where we reconnected with Brady Trautman and met Alex Blue and Sharky of SV Delos and Cruisers Academy fame. When the weather warmed up, my sailing pals Ancil Sigman of La Crapaud and John Turner of Grand Cru invited me out to enjoy a relaxing day floating, eating and swimming off Baldwin Beach, followed by a tour of majestic Emerald Bay, which I hadn’t visited in a long while.

While nothing catastrophic happened (thank you, universe) other than someone stealing our buoy tags, we did have some lively moments, like when the sail slides on the mast all blew out right after I’d hoisted the main. In an instant, our mainsail turned into a wildly flapping spinnaker. Fortunately, I was able to pull it down quickly and continued sailing under genoa alone up to Tahoe City Marina, where you could not buy — at any price — a damn sail slide. (I now have enough backup sail slides to take care of two future blow-outs, thanks to our friends at Sailrite.) Oddly enough, a week later, that very same failure happened to John Turner aboard Grand Cru. The lesson here is that things age quickly at Lake Tahoe’s 6,225-ft. elevation, especially plastic sail slides. Back in my garage, it took me about four hours to sew on the new sail slides and shackles (another interesting lesson: I thought sail slides all just attached via snaps or screws, but half of the sail slides on my main had to be laboriously hand-sewn on. That would be quite the PITA if you had to do it aboard a pitching sailboat at sea).

One highlight of the season for me was to catch my first ride on Terry Wasik’s legendary Cheeseburger in Paradise, a 41-ft. Hunter sailing out of Obexer’s Marina. Last season, Terry had hauled Cheeseburger to the coast and sailed down to Mexico in the Baja Haha flotilla. I am deeply appreciative of having the opportunity to spend a lovely day of fine sailing aboard this gorgeous vessel with a crew of 5 or 6 guests while (appropriately enough) Jimmy Buffet serenaded us. Thanks, Terry!

While our good old boat only has about 700 hours on her 18 hp diesel, one day, I heard a grinding noise down below and discovered that the crankshaft was turning while the engine was turned off and in neutral, which was a real head-scratcher for me. Ancil theorized that the clutch plates had warped over the years and were causing the shaft to turn, which is not optimal. At the end of the season, we removed the drive shaft, pulled the transmission out, got it cleaned up and now plan to install a service kit to get things working properly again. I’m also thinking about replacing the worn engine mounts, which is kind of a big deal, but that should reduce engine noise and vibration as well. I’ve also got to drop the rudder and mount a new rudder bushing which I accidentally discovered while diving the hull in August. What do we live for, hey? 🙂

Alas, the season is so short at Tahoe, and before I knew it, it was time to bring Splendido down to Reno and put her away for the winter. I built a proper frame for her new-to-me winter cover, so I’m really grateful to be able work on her out of the weather this winter (and staying pretty warm when the sun’s out) while she’s on the hard. Next season will be here before we know it. Until then…

Fair winds and smooth sailing! DB

Sailor Andy Schwenk

Catching up with sailor Andy Schwenk & our first splash of the summer

On By David BranbyIn On The Water, Ports Of Call, Splendido2 Comments

I got a note from my high school pal Pam last week that her brother, sailing legend Andy Schwenk, was going to be joining Rick Raduziner — owner of the Santa Cruz 27, Lickety Split — to compete in the 2024 Santa Cruz 27 National Championships at Lake Tahoe July 12-14. Andy was a couple of years behind me in high school in Anacortes, WA and I had the good fortune to sail with him and his dad, Dr. Walter Schwenk, aboard the iconic Santa Cruz 33, Ajax, back in the day.

Andy’s been afloat pretty much his whole life, and has chalked up 54 trips across the Pacific to Hawaii and back while racing in the Victoria to Maui, Transpac and Pacific Cup competitions. Professionally, Andy is a marine surveyor, rigging expert, delivery skipper and Port Captain of the Richmond Yacht Club in the Bay Area. Andy made headlines a few years ago when he developed necrotizing fasciitis from a minor ankle scrape after the 2022 Pacific Cup race. A few days into the return voyage, Andy had to be transfered to a passing tanker and later airlifted to the mainland, where he spent a month at Stanford hospital while a team of physicians worked to save his leg.

I drove up to Tahoe Yacht Club last Friday to see if I could find Andy after the skipper’s meeting, and recognized him instantly. We visited for a few minutes before he and Rick dashed off to prep the boat for the race. With high pressure hanging over the Tahoe basin, winds were light and shifty, and Lickety Split managed a respectable 5th out of a dozen boats.

The day before, Debbie and I snuck up for a wonderful afternoon sail in 12-15 knot winds to Sugar Pine State Park, where we dropped the hook in about 14 ft. and both went swimming for the first time this year. The water was about 70º F. at the surface, so we dove in and splashed around a bit before climbing back aboard to dry off under the shade of our makeshift “bimini.” The winds dropped off to just a breath later in the evening, so we took a leisurely motor along the shoreline looking at all the lovely homes and boats as the sun lowered in the sky. After all the wrenching on the boat earlier this year — including replacing the hard-to-find Lucas alternator just last week — it felt like we’d finally settled into our summer groove. We’re looking forward to more. Until then …

Fair winds! DB

Summertime, and Tahoe living is easy

On By David BranbyIn Food & Drink, Friend Ships, On The Water, Ports Of Call, Splendido2 Comments

We’ve gotten in a few lively afternoon sails along the West Shore with winds in the 15-25 kt. range and temps in the 80s, so it really feels like summer is upon us here in the High Sierra. The lake level is high and it seems like there are fewer boats out, so you kinda feel like you have the place to yourself — which is just fine by me!

I’m making a point of revisiting a number Lake Tahoe classics this summer, including a yummy breakfast at The Old Post Office in Carnelian Bay with my pal Ancil, dinner with Debbie at Chambers Landing (also yummy and very family-friendly … just a lovely, laid-back Tahoe summer vibe), and one day just hanging out at the south end of Tahoe by Baldwin Beach with Ancil and our buddy John aboard La Crapaud. We anchored in 10 ft. and lolled about in the shade of the bimini for the whole day, sharing stories and watching the world go by. The Baldwin Beach area — tucked away in the extreme southwest corner of Lake Tahoe — is great for hanging out on the hook because the boat traffic is much further off shore as folks cut across from South Tahoe marinas to the must-see spot on the lake, Emerald Bay.

I rowed the dinghy in to shore at Baldwin and explored the wetlands, where evidently the Tahoe Yellow Cress is struggling to survive and efforts are being made to control invasive species as well. The water temp was about 67º F. on Ancil’s gauge, so I went for a swim in the shallows, then sat on the inflatable dinghy and dried off in the sun.

Later in the afternoon, we motored around Fannette Island in Emerald Bay just to bask in the grandeur of that amazing place before heading home for the night.

We’re planning on going boat camping once the 4th of July crowds thin, and I’m looking forward to watching the light change on the Sierra Nevada and the Milky Way to appear. Until then …

Fair winds! DB

An ode to the fine folks at Obexer’s Marina

On By David BranbyIn Commissioning & De-commissioning, On The Water, Ports Of Call, SplendidoLeave a comment

Putting a sailboat in the water seems like it would be so simple — and yet it takes a team working in close coordination to pull it off succesfully. Fortunately, Bret and Jessy and the crew at Obexer’s are real pros, and the only goofs we made at yesterday’s launch were self-inflicted: 1) we mounted the forestay with the drum opening facing forward rather than aft (yes, this needs to be turned around), 2) we broke a boat-stand pad as we worked to get the boat off the trailer, and 3) I dropped my favorite hose-clamp-tightening tool in the drink as I spent seven hours fitting out the boat (and feeling lucky that was the only tool that went overboard!). The good news is, the weather was gorgeous, the good folks at Obexer’s let me borrow an empty slip for part of the day, and when I looked up from time to time, I got to see lots of happy sailboaters out enjoying the afternoon zephyr breezes on McKinney Bay.

The lake is wonderfully full this year, and motoring up to our buoy made me realize how lucky we are to be able to enjoy this gorgeous sheet of water at 6,230 ft. above sea level. As I write this with my steaming cup of coffee beside me and feeling every tired and sore muscle in my body this morning, the only thing I can say is: I’m grateful.

Fair winds! DB

Just Add Water

On By David BranbyIn Commissioning & De-commissioning, Keeping Up Appearances, Mechanical Stuff, SplendidoLeave a comment

We launch Splendido in three days, and the past six weeks have been a whirlwind of activity getting her prepped for the Tahoe sailing season. The theme this spring was, “OK, what really needs to be addressed on a well-loved 31-year old sailboat that has seen lots of use? Fortunately, my mechanical-genius pal Ancil Sigman had plenty of suggestions, as you’ll see below.

The things I intended to fix in the off-season:

  • Make a better rope with knots in it to pull up the swim ladder.

The things Ancil heartily encouraged me (and tirelessly helped me) to fix in the off-season:

  • We pulled out every inch of the original (but significantly corroded) battery cables and replaced them with beefier, brand-spankin’ new cabling, all nicely heat-shrinked, from the battery bank to the panel to the engine, inverter, etc.
  • Upgraded the boat trailer with new running lights, from hitch to taillights.
  • Pulled out two bent lifeline stanchions, straightened them, then properly re-bedded and reinstalled them.
  • Replaced all the lifelines on the boat.
  • Removed the cabin windows that were popping up (hey, 31 years is a pretty good run), re-glued them with 3M VHB tape, and scraped/re-caulked all the windows on the boat.
  • Completely rebuilt the Whale Galley Gusher pump with a new service kit (way, way harder and less intuitive than it sounds). First clue: The schematic they provide was way too low-rez to be helpful, and nothing on YouTube™ showed how to do it properly. Even the factory’s customer service lady gave us the wrong instructions. In the end, I had to call on Perplexity.ai to finally spit out the right way to do it.
  • While the icebox pump was out, I sanded, cleaned and re-fiberglassed the area under the stove with a couple layers of cloth. Turned out great. 
  • Also laid in some fiberglass cloth and epoxy on the stern shower fixture door, which had cracked with age. It looks pretty good now with a little gel coat added.
  • Replaced every seacock on the boat with new Forespar® Marelon™ seacocks. This took a ton of work because the handles don’t come off of the new ones, so you have to grind out the cabinetry in the tight spaces so you can screw the new seacocks onto the thru-hulls.
  • Replaced the cheap CDI plastic furling drum cover that broke after only two seasons (are you listenin’, CDI?) with a proper metal replacement drum cover which should have been standard issue to begin with. (Replacing this was a major pain).
  • Since the mast was down on sawhorses, we took the opportunity to service it from tip to base, checking the sheaves, fasteners, spreaders, boots, wiring, lights, etc. Ancil rigged a gypsum-board lifter to help get the 200-lb. mast back up on the boat. Thank you, Ancil!
  • Checked the steering cables looking for fishhooks (there weren’t any — whew!).
  • Tried to remove the pinkish stain around the port-side Splendido logo that happened the winter we kept the boat on the hard up at Obexer’s. Tried four or five coats of oxalic acid, several fiberglass cleaning products, Soft Scrub … nothing worked. At best, I got it to lighten maybe 15% or so. Dang.
  • Applied gel coat to nicks on the transom and elsewhere in the cabin, then wet-sanded it and polished it up.
  • Removed all the original curtains in the boat, soaked them in OxyClean and mild washing soap, re-sewed the hook-and-loop parts that had come undone, and re-attached them. They look great.
  • Removed old epoxy spills in the cabin and on deck.
  • Used 3M 4200 to glue down the bilge pump and float switch in bilge. Also, finally wired the bilge pump properly to the panel so it operates automatically and manually as well.
  • Touched up the bottom paint with blue Total Boat Krypton.
  • Put 4-5 coats of PolyGlo (amazing stuff!) on the hull, and now she looks great.

I never did get around to making a better swim ladder rope.

After some rest, I’m looking forward to a relaxing summer of fair winds and smooth sailing! DB

A fond look back at a (mostly) serene sailing season at Lake Tahoe

On By David BranbyIn Food & Drink, On The Water, SplendidoLeave a comment

It’s funny what you remember when looking back on a sailing season. The thought that most occupied my mind last season was, “OK, are those five new thru-hulls I installed last spring going to stay watertight?” In the end, they worked out just fine, as did the new cutlass bearing (much quieter motoring than in all the previous years we’d owned Splendido) and the “drill-and-fill” repairs to the cabin roof. On the happy side, Debbie and I felt very fortunate that we did not experience the busy fire season locally like much of the rest of North America, so it was a summer of blue skies and ideal wind conditions, which opened up opportunities to explore other parts of Tahoe.

One memorable but somewhat regrettable experience I had was sailing south to Camp Richardson on a busy weekend in August. I hadn’t spent much time at the south end of the lake because I’ve found the winds to be a little flukey down there, and it’s also known for having a quite shallow sandy bottom. Nevertheless, I thought it would be fun to pull into the public dock at Camp Rich and go find a refreshing beverage at The Beacon Bar & Grill, because my sailiing pal Ancil (who keeps his boat down there) had told me what a great place it was. I could see the long pier was bustling with people and boats, so I motored every-so-slowly in and spotted an opening along the pier large enough for our 27-foot Splendido. Right as I started my turn, a small speedboat piloted by two stoned chuckleheads zipped in front of me and poached my spot. I swerved back toward shore to avoid a collision, and instantly felt the keel drag in the sandy bottom. Fortunately, I hit reverse and was able to avoid getting stuck, but that was it for me. I made for open water, set sail and headed north, breathing a sigh of relief at leaving the madding crowds in my wake. Alas, my eagerly anticipated visit to The Beacon would have to wait.

One highlight of the season was trying out a new-to-me pizza joint on the North Shore, Whitecaps Pizza with my buddy Jamie and also with Debbie. I’d heard about Whitecaps from our longtime friend and fellow foodie, Jim “J.B.” Budny of Christy Hill in Tahoe City (more on him below). J.B. had waxed eloquent about the crust of Whitecaps’ pizza. “They do a three-day proof,” he said. “It’s amazing.” J.B. was right. It was remarkable, and sitting at the bar on the deck and gazing out at one of the best views at Tahoe sealed the deal. Whitecaps is my new Tahoe pizza favorite, and I’d drive an hour from Reno for one of their pies.

Speaking of food, at Lake Tahoe, Debbie and I have two places that we love to visit when we go out to eat, and we’ve been fans of both for many, many years.

The first of our Tahoe foodie favorites is Wolfdale’s in Tahoe City. I think we went there on our first date in 1991, and it was — and is — spectacular. Douglas Dale, the founder and chef, has become a friend over the years, as Debbie would occasionally invite him down to Reno to showcase his amazing culinary gifts as featured chef at her place, The Cheese Board & Wine Seller. If you go, do not miss Douglas’ house-made smoked trout with aioli. Better yet, order five of them and make a meal of it. It’s that yummy.

Neck-and-neck with Wolfdale’s is Christy Hill, another longtime staple of the Tahoe City culinary scene. We’ve followed legendary Tahoe waiter and sommelier Jim “J.B.” Budny from Wolfdale’s to Boulevard to Spindleshanks to Christy Hill, where he delivers a masterclass every night in the art and science of service. The views at Christy Hill are to die for, and the nosh is wonderful. J.B. has a gift for pairing wines from all over the world with Christy Hill’s stunning cuisine. Planning a special date night? Make this the place.

We were delighted to welcome some old friends and new ones aboard Splendido this past season. Our friends Mikey and Patty joined us for an afternoon at Sugar Pine as we gently bobbed about, ate, drank and just basked in the bliss of being at Lake Tahoe on a balmy summer afternoon. These opportunities to really unwind are pretty special. Another special guest aboard was my cinematographer colleague and friend, Damian Gordon of Sierra Studio Films, who came up to film Splendido sailing from his drone. Damian is a gifted videographer and editor who’s hired by the likes of the San Francisco Marathon and large corporations to do video work. He’s also the marketing videographer for Nevada’s flagship university, where I’ve worked with him creating student recruiting videos for the past five years. We spent the day sailing the west shore, and I’ll post what we did here once I do the video voiceover that I’ve been putting off now for months. Stay tuned.

You probably noticed one photo in the gallery here showing a vast amount of yellow pine pollen collected along the shore where we launch. Yep, that’s Tahoe in June, and this past year, the pollen was so intense that when a breeze would come up in the pines, it would waft up on a scale that made it look like smoke from a fire. I don’t suffer from pollen allergies myself, but I pity the poor souls who do at that time of year. I think the massive pollen release was a result of the big winter and abundance of water we had over the winter of 2022/23. At the moment, though, the Sierra Nevada snowpack is at 25% of the historical average for January, which is a bit worrying. It looks like a storm is on the way, so fingers crossed for some lake-filling wet weather ahead.

Right now, Splendido is sitting on her trailer in her winter pasture covered with a new-to-me canvas sailboat cover that a fellow Catalina 270 sailor in Seattle gave me, as he found he didn’t need it in the milder Pacific Northwest. My handy pal Ancil is after me to replace Splendido’s battery cables, which we noticed had quite a bit of corrosion at the ends last season. My other projects before launch in a few months include installing brand-new lifelines and a new electric bilge pump, and maybe new portlights, as ours are quite dogged, as they’re now 31 years old. Ah, there’s always plenty of messing about to be done when it comes to boats, but the you realize it’s a privilege to be grateful for, and you just get on with it.

One last thing to note is that today, I’m retiring from the university where I’ve worked for past 11 years to spend more time with my darling bride, Debbie, who sold her business six years ago and has been kinda hanging out waiting for me to get with the program. Our plan is to sail more and stress less, so fingers crossed. I’ll keep you posted. Until next time …

Fair winds and smooth sailing! DB

Kicking off sailing season with some zing

On By David BranbyIn Food & Drink, On The Water, Overnighters, SplendidoLeave a comment

All the hard work this past winter and spring seems to be paying off — we’ve gotten out for five sailing sessions of pure Tahoe perfection. After a wonky June with lots of thunderstorms and winds that were blowing dogs off chains (my pal Ancil said one storm blew 30-40 lawn chairs into the lake at Camp Richardson at the south end of the lake), things settled down and Debbie and I got in some great sailing in 10-12 knot breezes with gusts to 17, which is just about right for our little boat.

I had a little drama with the mooring buoy this spring. I noticed someone had shackled their shiny new wakeboarding boat to the buoy I’d legally leased, which was a little alarming, let me tell you. Evidently, a new homeowner in the area where we rent our buoy felt entitled to take a buoy, leave town for a month and deal with the consequences later. I have a photo showing me pointing out the offending craft (with my middle finger), but I’ll refrain from posting it here. Ancil offered to lend me his auger, but I declined. We have plenty of sharp knives suitable for cutting mooring lines aboard already. 🙂 Fortunately, we have a very cool lease-lord who helped get things squared away, offering us another of his buoys closer in to shore until the switch could be properly made. My favorite part was when the officious blonde lady (let’s call her Karen) with the clipboard in the kayak paddled over and flatly said the situation had changed in this mooring field and I wouldn’t be able to moor there at all next year. After reporting this exchange, my lease-lord texted me: “Don’t you love it when people are confidently wrong?”

This past Saturday, I single-handed up to Sugar Pine State Park and anchored next to Le Crapaud. Debbie had some obligations in town, so I lolled about on the hook and spent a little time enjoying virgin mango coladas (for me) with Ancil and his partner Tina. The moon came up and the lake was like a mill pond. I don’t think I’ve ever slept better aboard. Debbie drove up Sunday morning and I rowed into shore to pick her up. We put up our little boom tent and read books in the shade as the boat bobbed gently — and sometimes not so gently, due to all the speedboats. But, that’s summer at Tahoe and you take it as it comes. Later, I rowed Debbie back to shore and she drove home while I sailed a 17-knot breeze back to Mark Zuckerberg Bay (oops, I meant to say Hurricane Bay). Our pal Mark bought two adjacent properties at the north end of Hurricane last year (reportedly spending $70 million, which I calculate as three days’ wages for him), and we see him out on his eFoil board weaving around our anchorage on flat mornings. But I digress. On my sail back, the wind was right on the nose at 320º (which is my usual head-back heading), so I trimmed up everything tight and really couldn’t “turn the corner” until I was literaly at right angles to our buoy and 1/2 mile off. Magically, the wind veered south at the last moment and I was able to sail right up to the ball. Still shaking my head about that.

We’re headed out this afternoon for a sail and a meetup with fellow sailors where we’ll share our favorite Caribbean Rum Zing recipe and watch the alpenglow paint the Tahoe skies pink and orange. Debbie just pulled out the portable chess set, so I expect she’ll beat me like a red-haired stepchild at that game as the sun sets and the brilliant Milky Way appears.

My next post will likely be a GoPro video I’ve been working on … dang, those things are a lot of work (especially the editing part), so I hope it all comes together.

Until then, fair winds and smooth sailing, and thanks for following along! DB

Swapping out the cutlass bearing (and other joys of spring boat prep)

On By David BranbyIn Commissioning & De-commissioning, Keeping Up Appearances, Mechanical Stuff, SplendidoLeave a comment

Our good old boat turns 30 this year, so it was no big surprise that spring commissioning would entail a few more tasks than usual to keep her ship-shape. It helped a lot to have fellow sailor Ancil — an incredibly talented, mechanically inclined guy — poke around Splendido when she was on the hard and notice things I hadn’t noticed. One day, he grabbed hold of the prop drive shaft and said, “You need a new cutlass bearing.” Before I knew it, we were working together to remove the old bushing that supports the drive shaft and tapping in a new one, as shown in this video. The untold part of the video above is that we got a little excited and ended up crimping one edge of the new cutlass bearing as we were tapping it in, so I had to buy a new $75 part from Catalina Direct and re-do it. C’est la guerre.

Ancil struck again by noticing that Splendido’s exhaust thru-hull was cracked. That was a bit of a shocker, as I started playing with it and it broke and literally fell out of the boat. Yikes! Many online searches and phone calls later, and I was able to get Catalina Direct to source a serviceable replacement that is now posted on their website. Having that one fail inspired me to replace four more of the thru-hulls in the boat, and I think they turned out pretty well — plus, it gave me an easy opportunity to use Marelube on all of the seacocks, and to improve access to the annoying one under the kitchen sink.

The fairlead tracks were leaking and allowing water into the balsa of the deck, so Debbie and I drilled and filled them with epoxy and installed new stainless fasteners all down the line. I’m still cleaning up the epoxy drips, but the good thing about an older boat with an oxidized fiberglass deck is that they’re a little easier to deal with — a sharp razor-blade and a bit of heat gun action seems to be doing the trick.

We launch next Tuesday, so I’m excited to finally get her back out on Lake Tahoe. Other honey-dos this winter included riveting on a new gooseneck to boom and mast, and doing a quick re-varnish of the cabin lockers, drink holder, and oars. Ah, the aroma of varnish stinking up the garage in the morning. It smells like … sailing season!

This morning, it’s back to the boat yard to caulk the fairlead tracks, clean up epoxy drips, Thixo some aged, cracked plastic pieces, and maybe touch up some paint on boat and trailer. I promise, my next post will be about actually sailing on Lake Tahoe — that is, if Zephyrus grants us the privilege.

Fair winds and smooth sailing. DB

Sleeping Beauty — An Update

On By David BranbyIn Commissioning & De-commissioning, Splendido2 Comments

I just read in the San Francisco Chronicle that we’ve experienced 12 atmospheric rivers this winter, so I was surprised to discover that Splendido was not knee-deep in mud when I went to check on her last week at her winter home. She was only ankle-deep, as the trailer tires had sunk a bit into the pasture. I don’t think it will be a problem.

I’m excited — as always, at this time of year — to get after the spring commissioning and get back out on the water. We were lucky to re-up our buoy by Hurricane Bay, so that’s one thing checked off the list. The big project at the moment is riveting a new gooseneck assembly onto the boom and mast. After that, it’s re-drilling the fairlead track holes, filling them with epoxy again, and drilling once again so they’re sealed and I can re-install the tracks.

Last week, I stripped the boom of the lazy bag and mainsail and brought it home to rivet on the new parts. I have never riveted anything in my life, so I quicky became a YouTube™ Certified Riveter by watching four or five videos, and now I’m ready for the challenge. The only quirk about mast and boom work is, you’ve got to use stainless-steel rivets and a goop called Ultra Tef-Gel to ward off corrosion. That Ultra Tef-Gel crap is spendy — $30 for a little tube. Debbie just shook her head and said, “What are you complaining about? Have you seen the price of lipstick lately?”

I did want to note that I had a bonafide brush with greatness at the end of last season. As regular readers may recall, I went through a real mental health challenge during the pandemic, and one thing that helped me through that period was watching countless episodes of a YouTube™ program called Sailing SV Delos, which chronicles the adventures of Brian and Kazza and, for many of the episodes, Brian’s brother Señor Brady and Brady’s partner, Alex Blue. When I heard that Brady and Blue had moved up to the Tahoe area and started a sailing school, I sent a note of welcome to their website and mentioned we shared the same mooring field. One evening, when I was working belowdecks, I spied a familiar face on an approaching sailboat. It was Señor Brady stopping by to say hello! We had a nice chat, and I told him how his adventures aboard SV Delos inspired me during the real low patch I was going through, and he was so gracious and humble —just a genuinely great human being. It was really a highlight to the 2022 sailing season.

Splendido turns 30 this year, and so my goal is to turn this sleeping beauty into the best version of herself in the next 60 days. Sailing her is the absolute best, but messing about in the boat is a close second for me. Thanks for sailing along, hit that “Like” button if the spirit moves you, and let me know in the “Leave A Comment” section if you have any questions about the care, feeding and sailing of the lovely Catalina 270 sailboat.

Until next time, fair winds and following seas! DB