Whew, I finally got Tucker to bed!
We had the best day - son-in-law Tom dropped him off at the barn. I had a great ride on Wiggles today - no antics or spooks, that's ALWAYS a good thing. I was offering my picky horse his lunch al fresco in the paddock when Tucker arrived on the scene. After dragging myself away from the barn, Tuck and I did some errands, then it was off to Bertucci's for pizza and ice cream. Now that he's been bathed, read to, played trains with, Nana is taking some time to catch up. Seems that's all I ever do - catch up. But since I actually do, no complaints from me.
So I didn't get to tell you about my visit to Olympia. I was practically speechless for a good part of the time - which in and of itself is legendary - but it's not often that I'm wowed out of my mind! I accomplished a great deal and actually got to spend many blissful hours aboard. Too bad it was with an army of workers, but I already knew that would be the case.
The sheer size of her, the rakish sweep of her mighty bow, the huge, tapering cockpit with rounded transom, her height, I could go on for days. I will say one thing though, deciding to add the green sheer stripe to the bow was one of my more brilliant flashes of brilliance! Well worth the extra cost.
Oh, and her name on the Portuguese bridge is not too shabby either... There is some thought being given to adding the flourish to the Portuguese bridge - that flourish was on the other two boats - they will always be recognized as our girls. It's a gold curlique with a star in the forward curl - the same star that dots the "i" in Olympia's name. The design was Tom's and I love it. I have plenty of time to decide. Unlike the other decisions needed during the build process, these decisions can be made more leisurely - without any sense of urgency - nice.
Unfortunately, since Olympia was being readied for her first show next week - the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show (FLIBS), there were all sorts of people crawling all over her. On Wednesday, it was almost comical - several people were removing the protective wraps and doing all sorts of polishing and cleaning inside, while a crew was waxing the outside. Interspersed throughout the entire boat, including the roof and engine room was the electronics team, installing equipment, stringing miles of wiring, fiddling with dials and crawling around on the roof to select the best place for all the antennae (I took 4 years of Latin and got a 98 on the Latin Regents).
On Monday, my first glimpse of Olympia in the daylight, I climbed into one of the helm chairs and proceeded to work with several electronics folks to locate the best and most comfortable place to affix the screens and gauges. Let me tell you, this is one very patient group of folks. The initial tutorial was a bit rough - and extended.... We were only trying to identify the best location for things; we didn't even get into what those "things" actually
do!
...at least we're all still smiling!
Since you've been just getting peeks at the helm chairs, here they are!
Not only are they pretty and match the settee, but they are comfortable too. What a bonus!! They are outfitted in stainless to match all the other trim. Another additional cost, but this is not the place to start economizing. The pilot house is such a bright and airy spot. It will be difficult to leave when one is not on watch.
The view out the helm windows is what inspires poetry about life at sea (what do I know, but it sounds good)! Cripes, there sure is a lot of bow out front! BTW, the Snow White Awlgrip paint on the capstrip extending to the beginning of the cockpit was another stroke of genius. There is
absolutely no way to get to the trim under the windows! On the other hand, the teak capstrip on the cockpit
was the way to go there. It's very wide and adds the right amount of elan to this girl. The windlass is awe-inspiring, at least to me. It's quite big and certainly heavy-duty, that's for sure.
I mentioned insisting on having build outs done on the windows for blinds. It was something I've seen in my mind's eye and I was not to be diverted from that idea. Poor Tom, he finally threw up his hands and said, "just get the damn blinds and stop talking about them"! That's the way things usually went when I dug in my heels about wanting something. Tee hee. Anyway, I'm so glad I hung in there - the blinds are fantastic!!! They add the perfect touch to the elegance of this boat. I put them in all the right places - salon, galley, guest stateroom and pilot house. There is not one wretched curtain on the entire boat. I don't mean to insult anyone that has curtains, but I truly hate them. Never even had them in any of our homes. The one house that had them - well, I was taking them down as the movers were bringing in the furniture!
Sorry the picture is lop-sided - it would take me hours to figure out how to turn it around, so just tilt your head a bit.... That's looking to port. I have another one looking to starboard that's right-side up....
I think you get the idea. The blinds mute the light but in no way diminish the airiness. Notice how the valance covers the headrail so that the look is smooth. There will be 2 leather club chairs in this spot in a brandy-colored leather. Those sliding doors under the windows are actually nice-sized cabinets. On Serenity, the electronics equipment was in one of those cabinets, necessitating moving a chair when we needed to load a movie or dock our iPod. This boat has a dedicated electronics cabinet just forward of the steps, in the wall that forms part of the guest stateroom. I tried to get a picture of it, but there were so many wires in the way, I dared not even walk by them.
K, I've got lots more pictures, but I'm going to save them for future posts. I want to show you the engine room without all the clutter from previous pictures. I actually took pictures of each section of the engine room. The plan is to read the owner's manual that Laura is painstakingly crafting and look at a corresponding picture - that's for when I'm actually
not in the engine room, driving myself crazy.
I also have pictures of the guest stateroom with the Sunbrella fabric I put on the beds, the wine fridge, the stern, etc.
The bottom line here is that I am truly delighted with the way this boat turned out - so are many other people. After all, this gorgeous design first appeared on paper - it had never before been seen "in the flesh", so there was a bit of a leap of faith here. The end result has exceeded everyone's expectations.
I'm happy to tell you that from the first moment I stepped aboard, I felt a bond with Olympia. I knew I would - eventually - not immediately. It was as if all those months of uncertainty and all the care Tom put into selecting her central systems, came together at that moment. I feel at home, that this was the right thing for me to do (many others I know would argue that point), and that a bright and exciting future awaits Olympia and I. We are already a team and we won't let each other down.
