28 December 2010 Holiday Season aboard Lynx
Posted by privateerlynx on Tuesday Dec 28, 2010 Under AllMerry Christmas!
We all know that Christmas is the season for giving and, in that spirit, the crew of LYNX have been busy these past few days giving the vessel a face-lift. Well, not a face-lift exactly but a sole-lift; we shut down for a brief holiday respite to strip, sand and refinish the main saloon and aft cabin soles (what you landlubbers might call floors).
Maintenance is always an issue aboard LYNX, and whenever we can, we try to find the best way to tackle the ongoing issue of keeping the vessel looking sparkly and well-kept. The main saloon sole had seen a lot of use since its last refinishing a few years ago. Since the main salon is open to the public during sails and dockside tours, it had been trudged and trampled on by thousands of visitors during our summer in the Great Lakes, fall in the Chesapeake and now here in St. Augustine. It was well past time for a fresh coat of polyurethane.
Since the holiday season saw a couple of crew turnovers, with some folks departing and others joining, it was the perfect time to take a short break from dockside tours and get to work on the soles. Bosun Elizabeth Foretek is acting as foreman for the project, and has kept our skeleton crew hard at work and covered with dust for the past few days. It’s very surprising how much dust is created when you sand off the remaining polyurethane to expose the fresh yellow pine underneath; it looked like a snowstorm had covered the main saloon! Luckily, we had foreseen this problem, and had taped off all of the cabinets, bunks, and as many cracks and crevices as we thought the dust might be able to find. After securing the area, we tackled the sole with sanders, causing a massive cloud of dust that looked like the beginnings of some great sand dunes or like powder on a ski slope. I wasn’t sure whether to expect Wile E. Coyote or the Abominable Snowman lurking around the corners.
After making sure that everyone had some time to enjoy the holidays here in St. Augustine, we are now seeing the light at the end of the tunnel or rather, the light reflecting in the second-to-last coat of polyurethane on the sole. We expect to untape and uncover all of the storage spaces we’ve sealed off, and get the furniture back in place in the next few days, and then get the boat — and ourselves — cleaned up in time to reopen on the first of the year. If you’re in St. Augustine or the St. Augustine area, please come see our satiny new sole!
Of course, while Christmas is the time for giving, and the crew have certainly been hard at work giving back to the vessel, we’ve also been the grateful recipients of other folks’ generosity. Warm holiday thanks go to Rob, a local who extended an invitation to the crew to enjoy Christmas dinner at his house, to the St. Augustine Municipal Marina staff, who always make sure we are taken care of here at our winter home, to the crew and captain of the Black Raven, who provided us with an early Christmas gift of delicious homegrown oranges, and to our support staff on the West Coast, who made sure that we had ample snacks — and a ham and a turkey! — to go around this holiday season! And to all of the well-wishers who simply stopped by to wish us a happy holiday, Merry Christmas!
Since the holiday season saw a couple of crew turnovers, with some folks departing and others joining, it was the perfect time to take a short break from dockside tours and get to work on the soles. Bosun Elizabeth Foretek is acting as foreman for the project, and has kept our skeleton crew hard at work and covered with dust for the past few days. It’s very surprising how much dust is created when you sand off the remaining polyurethane to expose the fresh yellow pine underneath; it looked like a snowstorm had covered the main saloon! Luckily, we had foreseen this problem, and had taped off all of the cabinets, bunks, and as many cracks and crevices as we thought the dust might be able to find. After securing the area, we tackled the sole with sanders, causing a massive cloud of dust that looked like the beginnings of some great sand dunes or like powder on a ski slope. I wasn’t sure whether to expect Wile E. Coyote or the Abominable Snowman lurking around the corners.
After making sure that everyone had some time to enjoy the holidays here in St. Augustine, we are now seeing the light at the end of the tunnel or rather, the light reflecting in the second-to-last coat of polyurethane on the sole. We expect to untape and uncover all of the storage spaces we’ve sealed off, and get the furniture back in place in the next few days, and then get the boat — and ourselves — cleaned up in time to reopen on the first of the year. If you’re in St. Augustine or the St. Augustine area, please come see our satiny new sole!
Of course, while Christmas is the time for giving, and the crew have certainly been hard at work giving back to the vessel, we’ve also been the grateful recipients of other folks’ generosity. Warm holiday thanks go to Rob, a local who extended an invitation to the crew to enjoy Christmas dinner at his house, to the St. Augustine Municipal Marina staff, who always make sure we are taken care of here at our winter home, to the crew and captain of the Black Raven, who provided us with an early Christmas gift of delicious homegrown oranges, and to our support staff on the West Coast, who made sure that we had ample snacks — and a ham and a turkey! — to go around this holiday season! And to all of the well-wishers who simply stopped by to wish us a happy holiday, Merry Christmas!
See you in the new year!
LeeAnne Gordon and the crew of LYNX
Greetings,
