Blogging, the First Post

It would appear that I'm behind the times. I'm not much of a writer. But hopefully, Robin will join in help me write some entries.

So, where to begin. Well the title of this blog is Bella Luna. As many of you know, Bella Luna is Italian for beautiful moon. It is also the name of our Hunter 34 sail boat. Berthed on Beaver Lake in Northwest Arkansas, she is our weekend home for much of the warmer portion of the year. As the leaves have fallen from the trees, sailing season is all but over. With a few exceptions, most the days of the next few months will be much too cold to sail.

We have almost wrapped the racing season at the sailing club. Team Dreamer, composed of Tom Unger, Bruce Smith and myself have captured the fall series title. First place! Thanks to hard work and dedication to sailing in all kinds of weather. We actually wrapped up the title before the end of season. We had enough first place finishes to put us in the lead. I suspect we'll cruise around on Tom's pontoon boat for the next race and have a few coldies and enjoy the match race between Jaded and Anahi for second place.

The past week has been a busy. Last Sunday was race day. As my family knows, there isn't too much to get in the way of attending a race event at the club. It's my passion, and I'm there every time without fail. It's also part of what makes a great crew member---dependability. Many of the weekend racers have too many other commitments, and fail to make races.

During the week, I began the process of winterizing the boat. Taking down the sails for repairs and to keep them out of the weather during the winter. The Genoa (sail on the front of the boat) was beginning to fray. As the sun has degraded the threads on the sacrificial cover, I decided it was time for a re-stitch

Off to Tulsa, to see our friend Roger Kerr. Owner of Kerr Sails and an avid racer himself. The sail bears his name, so what better place to have it fixed.

The sail loft is an amazing place. Roger has a small office in the front of the store, decorated with many trophies. He is a national Catalina 22 champion and his office is adorned with many plaques and trophies from his victories on Oklahoma's lakes.

The back of the store is an elevated platform made from 4 x 8 sheets of plywood. It's about 4 feet or so off the ground. The plywood is varnished and smooth to facilitate sliding sail cloth around. There are two "pits" where he can sit and stitch the sails together. Along one side of the loft there is a computerized cutter to slice the sail cloth for fabrication. All in all it's a fascinating place.

Back to the week... Monday found me driving to Subiaco to pick up the last of Dominic's things from his old room. He is now enrolled in Fayetteville High. Except for girl troubles, he seems to be making it along just fine.

Thursday was a trip out the the sailing club. Ostensibly, to check on dock work and begin the process of trying to straighten some of the bent dock fingers from the damage sustained during Ike, the tropical depression that blasted us in September. What I managed to do, was begin the process of winterization.

There are many systems on our boat the require attention and protection from freezing temperatures. The veins of the fresh water system need an infusion of non-toxic pink anti-freeze to prevent the plumbing from freezing. As you might imagine these pipes run in some of the most inaccessable places. So, as the saying goes an ounce of prevention...

I've developed a system over the years, and this process goes quickly. Bypass the hotwater tank, drain the fresh water tanks, disconnect the tank, begin the IV of pink antifreez, as the pink stuff courses through the veins of the boat, I ensure that each tap both hot and cold produces a nice pink stream. When I have finished with all 6 taps, I repeat the procedure for good measure. It takes just a bit more than a gallon.

The engine is another story. It utilizes a heat exchanger. Much like a radiator on a car, the boat engine uses lake water to transfer the heat from engine via a radiator like device called a heat exchanger. The water is then used to muffle the sounds of the engine before it leaves the boat. Any freezing in this area would be very costly. So the engine is warmed and allowed to pull cool lake water. Then, the intake is fed a 50% mixture of antifreeze and water. A careful obsever notes color change at the exhaust and stops the engine. Safe from the harsh winter!