“Pretty boat… a lot of work though”. I cannot tell you how many times my wife Susan and I have heard that phrase while out and about in our Cape George Cutter “Talelayo”. The first half of the phrase is of course a compliment and should be treated as such with a suitable response of “Thank you”. The second half of the phrase however is anything but a compliment. I’m always puzzled about the motivation or meaning of the second half of the phrase. Could it be that that person does not believe that the effort required to upkeep a traditional craft is worth it. Or that having a traditional vessel in this age of plastic fantastic boats is for the woefully uninformed or worse dimwitted. People are strange … god only knows. Is a person who has restored an old English sports car and keeps it in showroom condition also stupid. How about the person who keeps a beautiful garden at their home, works on it with pride on the weekends, are they also to be categorized as dumb for working so hard. So now when Susan or I hear the phrase “pretty boat” we wait a beat before uttering the automatic “thank you” and wait to hear if the unwelcome second half is also said, and if it is we just chuckle to ourselves and give a polite wave. We chuckle because the dreaded phrase is spoken from an invariably forlorn vessel. I’m not just speaking of a boat in need of a lot of TLC but sometimes also a boat that may be large and expensive but put together rather oddly. You see them in every harbor, the kind of boat that the designer may not be entirely proud of but was specifically requested by the builder to be sold to a segment of the market that is incapable of knowing the difference. So when you do see an especially beautiful sailboat, powerboat, sports car or house garden by all means give the owner a compliment, but please leave off the second part. The nasty second half is just a bad reflection on the person who utters it. Believe me those who have pretty things know how much effort is needed to keep them. One’s insistence on reminding them is entirely unwelcome.

I've done a little research about termites on boats and have learned that the little critters can fly onto your boat from another boat or from shore. There was a boat upwind of our boat, I say was because it left for San Diego about an hour ago, yeah! It won't be coming back, yeah! I suspect it was the source of the flying vermin. The boat was from Seattle, termite central and it was an owner finished boat that was made up of house 2 by 4s and such. A termites dream come true. I found a site on the web that talked about a company that can tent a boat in the water. I contacted them and they said that yes they can do it in the water, they first need the permission of the harbor and that the cost is about $1900.00. That sounds a little steep but it may be because they have to come up from Covina CA to Channel Islands harbor, a distance of 70 miles or so. I'm going to check to see if there's a local company that can do the job cheaper. In the meantime I'm going to wash the boat today. I'll be on termite watch for the next few days to see if there is any new signs of the nasty creatures. 

Hi Shipmates
I've just dicovered something on my boat that strikes fear into the hearts of boatowners everywhere, termite wings on my deck. This requires swift action so I'm ending this first blog entry just as swift to start researching a solution to this new problem. I'll keep you posted.