Simple Things

It was another long, tough week of stress and reduced sleep. (I’m not complaining…glad to have the work in tough times!) So, I was looking forward to spending time on the Falls.

Yesterday morning, the buses were especially efficient, so I was in town well before 8:00 a.m. I wanted to have a look at Clipper Antje, so I took a different, slightly longer route to the harbor.

While I was taking photos of Clipper Antje, it started to rain. It was just the typical light morning shower (liquid sunshine), but it produced a very nice rainbow that arched over the harbor. It’s amazing how such a simple thing can lift your spirits.

The rainbow was fainter, but still visible when I arrived at the Falls. The light rain continued to fall as I climbed aboard. It was oddly refreshing. I put my gear down in my cabin and went up to stand on the poop deck. I noticed a kolea on the roof of HMC and a pair of fairy terns soaring above. All was right with the world for that moment in time.

Back to the reality of FOC…I did my usual walk about the ship and made some mental notes. Regarding the elastomeric coating on the poop deck, I spoke too soon. It looks like a few more coats will be needed.

I decided to work in the fo’c’sle. I swept the port side (starboard can wait until next week), re-coiled some lines, and applied elastomeric coating where it was needed.

The focus of work shifted with the arrival of a few more volunteers. I went to work on replacing the three-strand line I mentioned in a previous post.

All in all, a very good day.

***

I went down to the ship again this afternoon and did a small bit of easy cosmetic work in the fo’c’sle. It’s not important in the grand scheme of projects, but it makes me feel better and makes the ship look a bit neater.

While I was working, I thought about the men who occupied the fo’c’sle in the past. I hoped they would have approved, even grudgingly, of what I was doing.

I also thought about a recent online chat I had with the ship’s manager of the Glenlee (another one of the last remaining Clyde-built sailing ships). At one point he asked me if I loved FOC. It may seem like a strange question to ask, but it’s an important one. There are a lot of people who care about FOC, but how many people actually love her? There IS a difference.

Different view of the Napier windless in the fo’c’sle:

I finished what I was doing and packed up to leave. I told FOC to be a good girl and wandered over to Aloha Tower Marketplace to indulge my ship spotting habit.

Matson’s Maunawili:

While there, I got photos of one of the elusive Horizon Lines ships (they usually arrive and depart late at night).

Horizon Enterprise with hard-working HT&B tugs:

Another good day.

Long Day

Yesterday was a long, but satisfying day at the ship.

The elastomeric coating on the poop deck is done (thanks Tom). Huzza! Unfortunately, some water is still leaking into the cabins below as indicated by the handy bucket meter. 😦 I have some thoughts as to where the water is coming from and maybe a solution or two. We’ll see.

I mucked up the brown trim, so will start re-doing that next week along with the elastomeric work on the port side of the fo’c’sle.

The other task of the day was putting chafing gear on the other new mooring line. (Thank goodness for the marlinspike!) This one turned out a lot better looking than the first one! I’ve been studying other ships’/boats’ chafing gear. A lot of what I’ve seen has been a bit ratty looking. Made me feel a whole lot better about the state of FOC’s.

Placement of the line a bit awkward you say? That’s because the bollard is in an awkward place away from the edge of the pier.

I’m not too keen on modern cruise ships. They look a bit too boxy for my taste. However, here’s a photo of the Dawn Princess arriving in the harbor.

Kind of fun to see all the people standing along the rails. Maybe I should have waved at them?

Various Bits from the Harbor

I had help yesterday, so the elastomeric coat on the poop deck is basically done. There are areas that need touching up, but I think it looks a lot better. Hopefully, the coating will do its job and keep the rain out.

Here’s the Star of Honolulu squeezing back in to her berth at Pier 8. Sometimes it looks like she is getting a bit too close for comfort. To be fair, she is angled to avoid a smaller vessel moored just makai of her spot.

A bit of a change from container ships and tankers…here’s the Hsun Hu No. 7 approaching Pier 9.* She is a Republic of China coast guard ship out of Kaohsiung. I’ve been there and have fond memories of the city. A lifetime ago it seems…

*The WordPress template has cropped off part of the image at the right of the photo. The original is framed better!

An interesting feature of the ship is this electronic sign:

One of her rat guards, shiny but plain:

To continue with the coast guard theme, here’s the USCGC Rush arriving:

(Tempted to Photoshop in a line leading from the small coast guard boat to the ship!)

Finally, more bird photos. In a previous post, I mentioned the cheeky sparrows landing on FOC’s mooring line as we were putting on the chafing gear. It seems that another thing they like doing is clinging to the wall overlooking the harbor. Maybe they like copying the a‘ama crabs that are the masters of scaling the wall?

Peeking out from a hole (pipe opening?) in the wall:

Like a Broken Record…

I have nothing new or earth-shattering to report. Still working on applying the elastomeric coating on the poop deck.

I was getting a bit annoyed by the mooring line that was flaked out on the port side of the deck.

I decided to do something about it this morning. Not the neatest coil, but it’s out of the way now. Yay me!

My previous post featured the bow of MOL Satisfaction. Here’s the rest of the ship.

More Elastomeric

I spent most of yesterday applying more elastomeric coating on the poop deck. (See the picture in the previous post Twigs from the Sky.) It’s going a bit slower than I thought it would, but that’s okay.

After leaving the ship, I went over to Aloha Tower Marketplace to get something to drink and to chill out for a bit.

One of the cool events of the day was seeing seven ‘iwa gliding over the harbor as they headed inland. Groups like this seem to be more of a rare sight these days, compared to when I was a child.

I was standing on the pier, waiting to get photos of Arica Bridge, when the K-Sea tug Namahoe zipped by, stern first. Arica Bridge is the container ship in the background.

Container Tetris:

Twigs from the Sky

I started off Saturday morning doing some prep work for the day’s projects. I stepped out of the aft cabin area to go to the paint locker and was a bit surprised to see a visitor walking towards me. He knew my name and mentioned the name of one of my neighbors. Ah! I remembered that my neighbor had told me that one of his colleagues had worked on the ship in the past.

He said he had stayed away from the ship all this time because it was too painful to see her in her present condition. Although I wasn’t involved with the ship in the past like he was, I think I can understand how he feels. I will always remember the day I saw that the rigging was being removed. It was like being punched in the gut. It was a horrible thing and would be to anyone who loves sailing ships. When I got my first close look at the ship after they had finished butchering her, I was filled with an awful mixture of incredible sadness, disgust, and rage.

Anyway, I told him we need all the help we can get to bring her to life again. I hope he will consider coming back.

He left to get back to his work, and I went back to mine. I was standing on the poop deck when I noticed that every so often a small twig would fall on the deck. Curious! Looking up, I saw that one of my bird friends (a zebra dove) was constructing a nest up on the jigger mast.

At low tide, the new port bow mooring line tends to rest and rub on the concrete platform below the point it’s attached to at the street. The important task of the day was to put new chafing gear on the line. The previous version wasn’t done properly, so it was removed a few weeks ago.

Line sans chafing gear:

After one of the other volunteers arrived, both of us went to work putting the new gear on the line. It was the first time either of us had done it, so it probably took longer than it should have. It’s not perfect or pretty, but I’m fairly confident it will do the job it’s supposed to do.

Some amusing moments were provided by some cheeky sparrows that landed on the line. I’m sorry that I didn’t have my camera with me, as they were quite comical.

Passersby stopped to watch what we were doing. One fellow had a QR code app on his phone. He used it to read the QR code (pointing to the FoFOC website) I had generated and had made into a small sign. I’m happy to report that it works!

After having some lunch, I applied more elastomeric coating to the poop deck. It was really hot, so I decided to call it a day.

Carrying On

I finished the last bit of varnishing on the poop deck rail last weekend. After concentrating on it for the last few months, it felt a bit strange not having any scraping or sanding to do.

I’m now working on applying the elastomeric coating on the poop deck. Hopefully, it will stop rainwater leaking into the cabins below.

Also busy on the ship was this female Sonoran carpenter bee (Xylocopa sonorina):

She was probably looking for an ideal spot to make a nest hole. 😦

I finally got around to sewing the large grommet on to my canvas bag.

Now, all I need to do is add the handle.

Rainy Morning

I went to the ship this morning to do more work on the rail. It rained on and off, which was a pain.

Varnishing didn’t take very long, so I decided to apply elastomeric coating to some of the areas on the poop deck where the old coating was degraded and cracked. This was just a quick, rough bit of work because of the rain. I’ll do a more thorough job next time.

It never ceases to amaze me how fairy terns pick some of the most awkward places to lay their eggs.