This year's spring fit-out has been aggressive. It took 5 all but solid days of work to "wood" all the exterior teak on Surprise. There was a crew of two for two of those days. Took off the latest failed wonder finish, a 2 part urethane of some kind that went yellow sludgy brown right away and when it broke down the stuff was ridiculously hard to remove, heat gun, heavy artillery sanders, loud industrial thrash metal, but mostly scrapers and heat gun - never again! Its back to multi-coating good old Schooner varnish. The toe and rub rails in teak oil only.
She's getting prettied up because she is entered in this year's Elf Classic Yacht Race from Annapolis to St. Michael's Maryland on May 14th. There is going to be a fleet of 22 boats this year including the U.S. Naval Academy Sailing Foundation flagship, SummerWind a 101 ft Alden designed schooner. Another 76 foot schooner and 8 Hinckley B-40s.
See the event webpage for the full fleet list and other details at: http://www.cyrg.org/elfclassic2016.htm
Come on out to the Eastport Yacht Club that Saturday morning to see a magnificent collection of fine yachts and historical vessels sail off their anchors for the start or be at the Chesapeake Bay Maritime Museum to watch the fleet sailing in that afternoon.
Cheers!
Spring Fit Out And Elf Classic Yacht Race
Moderator: Jim Walsh