Tuesday 22 May 2007

The Sahara comes calling

Progress continues. The brightwork is all varnished and two fresh coats of anti-fouling (same word in Spanish, only pronounced anti-fooling) applied, so she´s looking very smart from ground level. Today, we commence preparations for the deck painting.
Two days ago was washday again. We had to wait until evening though, so that the varnish would be dry enough not to be bothered by a bit of water. That meant leaving everything out on the lines overnight. Sure enough, strong winds and a bit of rain came during the night. I was up on deck, stark naked, at 0400, gathering everything in. A good move. It was the south wind, or Xaloc, blowing and when we popped our heads out the hatch in the morning light, the decks, and everything else, were covered in a light coating of fine red sand. This is a regular occurence in late summer when the Xaloc blows frequently, bringing the Saharan sand with it. It doesn´t happen so often at this time of year, but it meant that we had to start the day by washing everything down. Let´s just hope it doesn´t come back before the deck paint is dry.

5 comments:

Marc said...

Just curious...how is standing in a sandstorm, naked, in the middle of the night, EVER a good idea?

My mind's eye! It burns!

Jim_Brodie said...

Only small quantities of sand were blowing around at any one time. Over the course of the storm, though, it builds up. Actually, it seems to be mainly borne in the rain droplets.

Marc said...

That's really interesting...I wonder to what extent these large storms contribute to the spread of microorganisms and pollutants between Africa and Europe.

On that note, if any mice fall out of the sky, please notify Jill. She'll have to modify her migration map.

T. WLESC said...

Greetings Jim and Sonja, Your blog is quite enjoyable I check it on a regular basis. I have also posted a link on the WLESC yahoo group so others may enjoy as well. On that note thanks again for the great presentation last month at the WLSEC meeting. I was out at Anchor Pointe prepping my little newport and met the new owner's of Vagabond as the headed out bound for Cleveland. They seemed thrilled with the vessel. Keep up the progress and updates as you ready Fettler for your voyage.
T. H. Commodore WLESC

paulmjohnson said...

Hey Jim and Sonja,
Well I don't have to worry abut the Saharan sand but maybe just the may flies as I get ready to go down to the boat over Memorial Day weekend to get things ready for launch. Everything looks and sounds just wonderfull over there - love the picis. One good thing happened to me today - I found a full bottle of Tequila in my truck!! It must have been left there by the gods - Hallelujah! Paul.