August 20, 2023, Huntington Beach California

It is hard to believe that we leave for Europe in 2 weeks. It is even harder to believe that it is raining in Huntington Beach with a tropical storm warning, first time in 84 years in SoCal. It has been a busy summer catching up on house and boat maintenance, socializing with friends, sailing and doing a few Raffaellesco boat projects. Suzette has recovered from her detached retina surgery, though she is probably only 95% in terms of her vision with some lingering distortion. The her doctors at Kaiser were pleased with the work that was done in Spain.

The house was not so bad, a couple days of yard work and we were looking like someone lived here again. Inside was well kept as the cleaning ladies still come once a week to dust and air out the place. It was a cold wet spring, so we were told. The boat was another matter. The winter took its toll on Rascal leaving us with a lot of clean up to do inside and out. The moisture left the insides smelling of mildew, but Suzette was able to eventually get it clean and smelling good again. Outside one of the dock lines broke and the boat lines in general needed attention. With our first scheduled boat trip coming up quickly it was a full court press, but we were ready.

We headed to Two Harbors at Catalina for a family Shoreline Yacht Club cruise. The weather was cool, but the sailing was good and it was great to get back to the Island with our friends from SYC. After a couple days at Two Harbors we moved west and spent a couple days at Big Geiger Cove with club members from our other club, Blue Water Cruising Club. The Island was lush and green from the winter and spring rains. The cove looked great, ready for a summer of fun.

Rascal at Big Geiger Cove

Let the games begin

Island Fox looking for lunch

Emerald Cove

Two weeks later we were back for the big forth of July weekend, 6 days anchored at Big Geiger cove. This is one of the most fun events for our club, games, parties, Bar BQ and fireworks. The weather remained a bit cool and overcast, not the usual July weather.

Another two weeks had us heading south for San Diego with 10 other boats from SYC. Our first stop was Oceanside Yacht Club. It was a foggy start, but a fast motor sail covering about 45 miles. Cousins Sheri and Ilow stopped by in the evening for a Fish Taco meal on board and lots of catching up. The next day it was up an out heading south to San Diego, another 65 miles. We met up with our SYC group at Coronado Cays Yacht Club where we enjoyed CCYC hospitality, games, food and fun. Next stop was San Diego Yacht Club for a few more days of dock parties and shore excursions. The weather had been fabulous, seems that summer has arrive. The trip back to Long Beach had us stopping in Oceanside for a night before landing back home.

View from OYC

A Big Pacific Sunfish

San Diego Sky Line

Raft up at CCYC, We are the little boat

Our Military's Might

Dinner on Rascal

Little Feat at Humphry's

Underway heading North

In between outings we did a few Raffaellesco boat projects, mostly sewing winter covers for the hatches, cockpit table and lines. I did some reengineering of my 230v system and bought the necessary parts and pieces to further upgrade Raffaellesco. It is so much easier and cheaper to by parts here in the US as long as we do not mind lugging them in our suitcases. That said I did take advantage of Amazon of Spain for a few heavier and larger items to be sent directly to the marina; Fortress stern anchor, 230v transformer for my electrical upgrade , wire, a dock cord extension and a pizza stone. I missed having a real pizza stone for my Sunday night pizza.

In Santa Carles Marina, Where Raffaellesco was on the hard, we had a company called 4boats working on some upgrades; a fiberglass repair on the bow (anchor ding), bottom paint, new zincs and a new boot stripe. We were not happy with the color or quality of the factory boot stripe so we had it removed and had a royal blue stripe painted on. So far, the pictures they have sent look great. The boat is schedule to go in the water September 7, the same day we arrive back in Sant Carles. We are already starting to pack and organize for our return to Raffaellesco, I think we may be down to two rolling duffels for this trip!

Primer

Finished strips!



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