Another busy week. It's really amazing how much work is involved with this "retirement" stuff.
We're all (Chandra, Bev and I) appearing as extras in the upcoming documentary "Ghosts of Ybor City." It's about the life of Charlie Wall, a local hood who was famous for running a crooked "bolita" game. It's a sort of numbers scam. We spent the whole day last Sunday on the set. It took all day to film two brief scenes. It's fascinating to watch them set the lights, position the camera, etc. I hadn't realized before that even the camera has to be rehearsed. The camera moves with the action and has to be coordinated, so I guess it makes sense.
After the day's shoot, Chandra came to the boat to spend a few days. Bev had to work, so Chandra and I got to hang out together. We went for dingy rides, and even took a trip to downtown St. Pete, to the Pier, to the history museum, etc. She's such a ham. Take a look at these pics.
Bev and I have also been working on making a new sail for the boat. It's called a "reacher" and we will use it to add extra sail area when the wind is light. It will save using the engine. I bought the kit from a company called SailRite. They had the exact pattern in their database, taken directly from Bolger's original design so it should work beautifully. Their kits are quite simple to make since they cut all the panels, label everything and even mark the seam allowances. The new sail is 120 sqare feet, made of green ripstop nylon. It will fly on a whisker pole out in front of the main and act like a jib when the wind is too light to get good speed without it. Previously, we've had to resort to using the engine to get reasonable speed when the wind is light, but now we will have another option.
