What's in an Adventure

An adventure means different things to different people. For the extremists out there, it obviously means climbing Everest in shorts and a T-shirt. For the less-than-extremists, it can mean anything from sitting on a different cushion on their couch and watching a different re-run of Star Trek than the one they usually watch on Thursday night (the original series of course). It can mean trying something new at your favorite restaurant, taking a long overdue vacation to someplace new, or hopping into the van at the park with the guy who is always offering candy and holding the cutest puppy (don't get in the van...I don't care how much you like candy or how cute the puppy is. Trust me...don't get into the van).

We seem to find an adventure in small things. We don't own a car anymore so walking to the grocery store and figuring out how to carry the load back to the boat can be an adventure, getting to a new town or island is always an adventure, and sailing the high seas, far from the sight of land, definitely feels like an adventure. But after a couple of years of being on this adventure, sometimes things that used to seem adventurous to us, just become normal life.

When we pulled into Newport Oregon because of some problems with our steering, it definitely felt like an adventure. We got to a new to us town (adventure...check), we had to figure out where to get a new bushing to fix our steering problem (adventure...check), and we had to figure out how to swap the new bushing for the old one (adventure...check). 3 checks next to the adventure column means we are surely in adventure territory, and we are both sucker's for a good adventure. As much as we don't like it when things on the boat aren't working, especially steering, trying to figure out how to get us back on the high seas was pretty exciting.

We stopped here because we read in our guide book that there was a haul out facility just up river that had the capacity to pick our boat up and out of the water. Since the rudder bushing is under the waterline, we were pretty sure we would have to haul the boat, pull the rudder, and then swap the bushing. What the guide book didn't tell us is that there is a bridge before the haul out facility that we wouldn't fit under. Our shiny new mast is too tall and we aren't willing to cut 8 feet off of it to fit under the bridge. Bummer.

The next best option was to make our own haul out facility. We just needed to pick up the back end of the boat a few inches to bring the bushing above the waterline, so that when we pulled out the bushing and the seal, water wouldn't come flooding into the boat. Our number one rule on the boat is that water is supposed to stay on the outside of the boat and we definitely don't want to break that rule.

To bring up the back end of the boat, we piled all of Brenda's shoes in the front of the boat. She has about 200 pairs of shoes, but even with all of those shoes, it didn't quite do the trick. So we basically piled everything that wasn't bolted down up front. With all of our available spare weight in the front of the boat, it raised up the back of the boat just enough to get the bushing above the waterline so we could pull it out. With the bushing out, the next step was to find a replacement.

We called every marine parts store and repair facility in the area and they all said the same thing. “Bring in the bushing and we'll match it up and get you a new one.” Jackpot.

We don't have a car anymore so getting to all of the parts stores and repair facilities was going to be a challenge. What we do have though is feet, and if you know Brenda, you know she likes to use those feet. After about 15 miles of walking and trying each location, we got the same response each time. “We don't know where to get that bushing. Try the place up the street. They may be able to help you out.”

We finally decided we just needed a machine shop who could fabricate us one. We weren't having any luck buying one off the shelf and my dogs were barking (code...feet = ouch). So, we went to the nearest machine shop, talked to the guy who worked the lathe, and in a little over an hour, we had a new bushing. Piece of cake.

I don't like when things break and I don't like fixing things. I really like it when the boat just works. But if I'm going to be honest, I do like the sense of accomplishment we get when we tackle a problem head on and find a solution. It's extremely rewarding. A big part of the adventure of cruising is being self reliant and being able to problem solve, because you never know what is going to pop up next.

The whole process actually took us a few days to complete. And since we were in Newport for a few days, we missed our weather window that would get us through Northern California before the next gale formed offshore. Since we have no desire to head south in the middle of a gale, we were stuck waiting for weather in Newport. And since we were here for about a week, we got to spend some time being tourists on the Oregon coast until the next weather window opened up.

Tomorrow looks to be the day. We are planning on heading back out to sea bright and early tomorrow morning, which should put us to Cape Blanco just as a gale is dying down and should it give us a clear shot all the way through northern California and past Cape Mendocino before the next gale starts forming. We are currently thinking of landing in Half Moon Bay, but that could change based on weather. The trip should take us roughly 4 days, and if you want to follow our progress in real time, the link to our map page is below. Click on the “+” next to my name and our track will show up.

https://share.delorme.com/svadventurer

Also, our newest video is up on Youtube. That link is down below as well. California here we come!

Chillin' on the Oregon Coast...litterally chillin...it is freezing here.

We got a grand tour of the area on my big birthday from our good friends from S/V Mola Mola.  It was a really fun day! (thanks again for coming to visit us Mola Mola!)

The Yaquina Bay Bridge.  It's a cool bridge and yes we've walked across it at least 20 times.

Since we lost a tuna on the way down here, we had to get some more gear with bigger hooks for bigger fish.

Here is our latest video.  If the link doesn't work on your device, copy and past the link below.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzj3E0m76do