{"id":43150,"date":"2021-06-18T17:34:31","date_gmt":"2021-06-18T21:34:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/?p=43150"},"modified":"2023-05-06T17:35:30","modified_gmt":"2023-05-06T21:35:30","slug":"sailing-totem-cruiser-speak-the-clods","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/story\/people\/sailing-totem-cruiser-vocab-clod\/","title":{"rendered":"Sailing Totem: Cruiser Speak\u2014The CLODs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Painting <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Pancho sprays the high-build on Totem<\/i>: transformation begins!<\/span>\n Behan Gifford<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the world flattest anchorage!\u201d Jamie quips from Totem\u2019s<\/i> main cabin. We\u2019re propped on jackstands in the shipyard, and truly, it is so flat! On our last night afloat, I savored every lick of water whispering through the hull. It\u2019s an unnatural feeling not to have that gentle movement, that soundtrack of life on the water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Flat it may be; easy living it is not. Life on the hard can be, well, hard. The ladder to get on board, the inconvenience of having not quite normal use of water and holding tanks, our reluctance to use the yard\u2019s community shower\/toilet facilities before vaccinations kicked in. But we can deal with all of that, and we have\u2014over six haulouts. Even when Puerto Pe\u00f1asco hit the scorcher weeks of summer (did it ever go below 100\u00b0F from August until nearly the end of September? I\u2019m not sure it did), we\u2019ve always stayed on board while in the boatyard\u2026until now. We have just become CLODS\u2014Cruisers Living On Dirt.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Home sweet apartment<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n

I\u2019m writing this from an actual desk in an actual one-bedroom flat on a quiet street a short walk from Totem<\/i>. It\u2019s quite surreal. We\u2019re still getting our land legs. Our temporary home is in a compound belonging to a family who has built out a number of informal units to let.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s an extension of this already social yard: every unit is occupied by another cruiser doing work at nearby Cabrales Boatyard! Passing along apartments here, cruiser to cruiser, has become almost a word of mouth tradition. We all appreciate the local-style ambiance: trees surrounding the compound mean our mornings are garnished with birdsong. In the evening we have dinner on the porch, listening to neighborhood children playing soccer on the sand road that runs to the east.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Young <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n “The trees surrounding the compound mean our mornings are garnished with birdsong.”<\/span>\n Behan Gifford<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n

Adjusting to land<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n

The first sign that we were, well, fish out of water was when we moved furniture around (comes with! Bonus!). Mairen used the descriptors fore and aft, and inboard and outboard, to give directions. We did have a discussion and determine that there wasn\u2019t a way to have port and starboard sides of the apartment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Then there are all the crazy new appliances. A few days in, Siobhan made chocolate chip cookies. (Tangent: it turns out that land ovens actually get really hot, and they do it really fast\u2026 cue pizza night!) She called from the galley, I mean kitchen, to say the process would have to wait a while so the butter could soften. I pointed out the miraculous properties of the microwave on the counter, and commenced the ancient mother\/daughter ritual of transferring this valuable knowledge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Sailboat <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Yard work goes on! Jamie and surveyor Marga Pretorius check out a Westsail 42<\/span>\n Behan Gifford<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n

Some changes are easier to make! We don\u2019t have to call a pumpout truck. There are a couple of air conditioners we\u2019ll be especially grateful for soon. The freezer freezes things (laugh, sure, but we haven\u2019t been able to keep ice cream hard since ever)! We will enjoy the coffeemaker and toaster, but do fine without them later too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Why we\u2019re moving ashore<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n

It wasn\u2019t necessary before\u2014why now? We have plans that require turning portions of not just the exterior, but the interior of Totem<\/i> into a workzone: it\u2019s not really habitable. And the weather\u2026  have I mentioned the weeks over 100\u00b0F?  One of my favorite sayings in life is \u201cmisery is optional,\u201d and I think that might just qualify. That 2019 summer saw heat index routinely 110\u00b0+. It\u2019s really nice to retreat to a clean, cool abode.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

The last few nights we were on board, dust grinding fiberglass on the transom as Jamie cut in the swim steps had wafted through those mysterious routes air finds inside and settled onto our bedding. No. Just, no. I am OK with a lot of things, sleeping in fiberglass dust isn\u2019t one of them, and we moved just in time to keep the happy factor at a reasonable level on board.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Sailboat <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n Totem\u2018s<\/i> transom transforming: interim steps<\/span>\n Behan Gifford<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n

In other news<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n

On the shortlist of things to catch up on once we settled into Puerto Pe\u00f1asco were some routine checkups. Siobhan was interested in contacts and Jamie felt his prescription was changing, so we trundled up to get eye exams with more sophisticated equipment than we\u2019d had locally before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Surprise: Jamie\u2019s left eye had a cataract! Double whammy: at a surgical consult a week later, it turns out both his eyes have posterior cataracts. WELL THEN. Add cataract surgery to the fun and games on Jamie\u2019s docket. We\u2019re proceeding with surgery ASAP and he\u2019s excited about the prospect of clearer vision.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

An ophthalmologist\/cruiser friend pointed out that being relatively young for this diagnosis (a good two decades younger than the average age for cataract surgery in the US) means Jamie\u2019s eyes should be easier to operate on. And I\u2019ll call the circumstance of timing fortunate, too. Thanks to demographics, nearby Arizona has a saturated market for ophthalmology services. That means a lot of options when researching for a quality surgeon, and competitive rates (it\u2019s all out of pocket. Ouch. And we\u2019ll deal, as always.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Maybe now the kids will wear sunglasses? Maybe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Learning opportunities: routing and sails<\/h2>\n\n\n\n\n

Routing fundamentals.<\/b> planning from the big picture to passages, with considerations for better efficiency and comfort along the way. Jamie and I are delivering this for the Salty Dawg Sailing Association; register for Route Planning Strategies – A Cruisers Perspective<\/a> on their website ($12 for non-SDSA members).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n

Sails for cruising.<\/b> Last weekend we held our latest TOTEM TALKS, and Jamie held forth on his area of expertise: sails! amie has a unique blend of experience as a professional sailmaker\u2026 who took his proficiency cruising, and learned a lot about how well-intentioned sailmakers sometimes miss particular needs cruisers have. The replay is now online! Listen in to gain no-nonsense insight on sails<\/a> for cruisers.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since misery should be optional as a cruiser, the Totem<\/i> crew has moved ashore while their boat has major work done in the yard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28478,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"BS_author_type":"BS_author_is_guest","BS_guest_author_name":"Behan Gifford","BS_guest_author_url":"","hydra_display_date":"20210618","hydra_display_updated":false,"arc_story_id":"DVQXC6UMT5GCVARCYVWJHMEFTU","arc_website_url":"story\/people\/sailing-totem-cruiser-vocab-clod\/","arc_subtype":"right-sidebar","arc_exclude_from_feeds":false,"sponsored":false,"sponsored_label":"Sponsored Content","sponsored_display_label":false,"post_right_rail":true,"post_right_rail_ad_1":true,"post_right_rail_ad_2":true,"post_right_rail_ad_3":false,"post_right_rail_ad_4":false,"post_right_rail_recirc":true,"fixed_anchor_ad":true,"post_top_ad":true,"post_off_ramp":true,"post_taboola":false,"labels":false,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_cover_media_provider":"image","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_cover_video_id":0,"apple_news_cover_video_url":"","apple_news_cover_embedwebvideo_url":"","apple_news_is_hidden":"","apple_news_is_paid":"","apple_news_is_preview":"","apple_news_is_sponsored":"","apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":[],"apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[165],"tags":[251,202,283,197,238,583,182],"class_list":["post-43150","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","tag-family-cruising","tag-living-aboard","tag-mexico","tag-people","tag-projects","tag-refit","tag-sailing-totem"],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43150","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43150"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/43150\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/28478"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=43150"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cruisingworld.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=43150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}