Tessa Reynolds onboard the world's cleanest boat, April Dancer
We love our boat. It serves as our home, our main source of recreation and as a vacation cabin for three weeks during the summer. Right now she is looking a bit shabby. Steaks of dirt and mold mark the hull, the wood is dull, and the decks are filthy. Here's my excuse: Winter was long and wet, and we were both down with knee problems.
Next weekend we are taking a very short cruise over to Brisbane, where we will meet up with the Bahama Sailing Club. The host of this particular cruise is our dear friend Lyn Reynolds. He and his wife Tessa have a 1985, 39-foot Fair Weather Mariner named April Dancer that sparkles. This boat gets more wax than all the auto-detailing shops in the world put together. There isn't a word clean enough to describe April Dancer. Gleaming, polished, immaculate, spotless, taintless are all adjectives that don't come close to describing the Bristol condition of this boat. And I am going to have to tie up next to her....
We (meaning me) have dedicated this coming weekend to cleaning up our beloved old tub. I have already started by scrubbing the unfinished teak trim. It's amazing how much dirt accumulates over the winter. I use a soft brush and salt water, and work a small section at a time until the teak regains its rosy hue. Of course the dirt that has come out of the teak is now streaking the decks and hull, but I'll leave that for Sweetie.
The paint that we so carefully applied to the doors and window frames is chipping, so that needs to be addressed, but probably not in time for the cruise next weekend. How could I have allowed our precious boat to become so dirty??? Am I a bad mom, or just lazy? Maybe a little of both.
Things tend to accumulate in the cockpit, too. I feel like I live in Okeeville. Right now there are two empty kitty-litter containers being saved for an upcoming oil change, a full kitty-litter container, my bicycle (the harbormaster has requested that everything be removed from the dock for an upcoming fire inspection), the ice chest, a few empty diesel containers and a propane tank that hasn't made it up to the box on the flying bridge as yet. Just writing this is making me panic even more!
At home in Oyster Cove, we are surrounded by people who live onboard their boats. They all understand about "stuff" accumulating. If you live onboard, there are just some things that you aren't able to hide (such as the kitty litter).
However, I have this strong desire to have my boat look credible or, at least, clean, especially when we are visiting the reigning King and Queen of Clean.
Know in your hearts that I will have an extremely busy weekend, and that Sweetie and I will probably not be speaking by Sunday afternoon.
