We met folks finishing their circumnavigation of the planet.

On Red Ranger, we did some jobs. CA fixed our red sail covers. I played with Epifanes. CA broke a needle. There it is — shattered needle from serious stitching.

Safety note. D-rings must be stainless. The non-stainless D-ring was rusty as hell and had cracked. It's not safety critical or anything. But. Non-stainless is a mistake on a boat.

Did I mention Gromit?

Around the World?

I think I did okay on getting the Epifanes thinned properly. It's a complicated schedule with each coat being less thin: 50%, 25%, 15%, 10%, 5%. When you're coating something small, it's like 2 oz. of Epifanes and — um — .2 oz. of thinner? 1.2 tea spoons? How about "a splash"?

Did I mention Gromit? Circumnavigators?

This is the real story:

http://www.sailblogs.com/member/ketchus/

Read and enjoy.

2008 to 2015. 7 years. 35,000 miles.

Around. The. Planet.

Family of Five.

The boat, by the way, is a Ted Brewer design. Gromit is a 47' Olympic Adventure Bluewater "Ketch/Cutter". It's designer, Ted Brewer, created the Olympic Adventure by stretching the Whitby 42 and adding an extra 5', a single cabin, a larger rudder and the Brewer Bite.

(I've heard that Brewer preferred "double-headsail ketch" to "ketch/cutter" or "cutter/ketch.")

This makes Gromit is a sister-ship (in a way) to Red Ranger. Details of the boat are here in "Gromit Classified".

The family — more or less — started from Deltaville in 2008. They returned to Deltaville in 2015. We had a dock party.

There was a family starting an extended cruise. And another family who were on their first vacation on their new sailboat. Three cruising families at three stages in their journey in Deltaville on the same weekend.

CA made absolutely sure that they all met each other. She made sure they all knew when the other folks were going to the pool so that the three different families could maximize their time together. How else can the new cruisers learn except by hanging out by the pool with the experienced cruisers?