Cut-in Waterline

Cut-in waterlines are a truly useful tool. Their primary purpose is to permanently scribe the waterline of a yacht into the topsides, that way it can not be erased or lost. Aside from this purpose, it also serves a few other wonderful services as well.

The most famous is the ability it affords you to paint your bottom without masking off the top. The bristles will simply fall into the groove and stop there. This allows you to simply paint up to the cut in waterline with ease and care without accidentally getting bottom paint on your topsides.

Taping off your waterline might not sound like a big ordeal, but when you are painting in a tidal grid, time is a very important item and one that is very limited.

As the tide is going out, you will begin scrubbing and scraping, then you have to chip off any loose paint, followed by fairing in any rough edges. This is a lot of work and adding one more step of taping off the waterline is not usually appreciated.

Having a cut in waterline allows you to simply start painting after the bottom is clean. The edge is there and unmistakable.

The second advantage of a cut in waterline is it makes it easy to see where your waterline is supposed to be, even if you raised the bottom paint as your cruising home becomes overweight. The cut in line will never move, and you can gauge how over loaded you are by how far under the water the line is.

The last and probably least thought of advantage of this scribed line on your hull is the ability to record and protect your waterline information, no matter what your yacht goes through.

We are repainting our topsides, and the bottom edge of the topside paint will go all the way down into the bottom paint area. The worker wanted to know how far into the bottom paint to sand, and the answer was easy to give and hard to forget: “Down to the cut in waterline”.

Now I could leave the country while the boat was sanded without worrying about where the worker was sanding. Best of all, when we repaint the bottom, I know how far above the cut in waterline to raise the boot stripe.

Having a cut in waterline boasts many advantages, ones that are typically only thought of as the moment they are needed arises. If you have one, enjoy it, and if you don’t have one but do have spare time to kill, consider adding it to your cruising yacht.

Taping Off for Spraying

With the topsides sanded away, it is time to mask off the areas that are not going to be sprayed. In the United States, this would typically occur inside a tent, where everything is covered in plastic.

In the Azores, regulations are severely more relaxed.

Newspaper taped to the waterline seems to be sufficient for the local workers, and no tent required, even when painting next to a dark blue yacht.

Yes, with some pages of the local newspaper, we are ready to be sprayed with primer. When I asked about the boat next to us, his reply was simple yet honest: “We wait for a day with no wind".

It is refreshing to step outside of the United States where people are so hung up on every little detail that they forget about reality and practicality. The cost to have work done in the Azores is approximately 1/10th of what the cost is in the United States. This may be because of the lower cost of doing business thanks to the relaxed restrictions. They don’t need tents, tarps, or collectors, they simply wait for the weather to cooperate and take it from there.

The painter doesn’t want to get paint on the next yacht, so he is extra careful to make sure that his over spray doesn’t travel in that direction. Believing in a workers skill allows them to work without all this red tape that we have in the states.

Preparing for New Topside Paint

We made it across the ocean purely by sail, with an electric motor, and most of all, without a diesel motor! While we felt accomplished by this feat, Wisdom was looking pretty tired.

Since we never motored, and instead were under sail the whole journey, we were also heeled over the whole time. We usually sail at around 10 to 15 degrees of heel, and that means that our topsides go into the water on the leeward side. This has never been an issue, even in the pea soup waters of the Chesapeake Bay, because they were never under the water for very much time. We would sail by day and anchor by night, most importantly, we would dry out by night.

Our topside paint was old and beginning to peel, making the surface porous and prime to grow fouling growth. Being heeled over with the topsides under water for days on end the paint grew some nasty fuzzy fuzzies. We knew we needed more than just a good washing; for it was time to repaint the topsides.

Labor in the Azores is very reasonable. 6 years ago, I painted the topsides myself because the cost of having the topsides painted was prohibitive! I received 3 estimates, all ranging around $20,000 to paint the topsides. Needless to say, I painted it myself for a grand total of $800 in materials.

Maddie and I were planning on painting the boat ourselves, until a worker in the yard offered to paint us for € 2,000. We quickly discussed the offer and decided that I could go back to the states and work as a Dentist for the same amount of time that it would take for them to paint the boat, which would pay for the project but be a lot less taxing on my body. The decision was made, and a handshake agreement sealed the deal. I now owed Paulo € 2,000 and he owed me a bright white hull.

Painting is easy, but prepping the topsides is where the real labor lies. The first step for Paulo was to sand off all the old paint and take the hull down to the gel coat, which in our case, was a lovely shade of Fighting Lady Yellow.

The long and laborious project has begun, which has snowballed into a long list of projects that are going to take place while we are on the hard.

Horta, Azores

Our first landfall in the Azores was Horta, Faial, Azores. This tiny harbor is actually the 4th busiest marina in the world! 

We passed through after peak season and were amazed at how packed the place still was. Yachts tie up to the piers rafted up to 4 deep, but luckily we were only 2 deep when we first arrived, and shortly thereafter, we were the ones up alongside the pier.   

The pier is a massive concrete sea wall which is murder on your hull, so be sure you have plenty of really strong fenders. We deployed our rope fenders and were safely protected from the rough concrete, but a few air fenders did pop on other yachts while we were there. 

An important point to ponder when you tie up is that your mooring warps will not only need to support your yacht, but the weight of three additional yachts that are tied up to you. As yachts come and go, a dockline shuffle will take place where the yacht up at the sea wall wil leave and all the other yachts will move around it to let it slip out. 

While we were there, mini-transat yachts arrived from mainland Europe and were going to be leaving in a few days for the start of their race. 

If you are concerned about costs, it is worth tying up because they charge you to anchor at a similar rate as tying up. The holding is less than ideal, so you might as well tie up and have the convenience.

After we tied up, Maddie and I went for a hike up into the mountains around the town, and at one point, we had this great view of the marina.

A Woman’s Guide to Cruising on a Sailboat

Ok ladies, this one is for you, however, if you are a guy, I recommend that you read this too, because you may sail with women now or in your future, and this is all useful information for you to know or pass over to them.There aren’t many people who write about the more intimate topics of being a woman while cruising, so I thought I would share some tidbits from my experiences.

We’ll start out strong with the most frequently asked question: What do you do on your period?

As we all know, depending on birth controls and body types, women have a lot of variance on this topic.  Some only experience periods once or twice a year and some not at all, but the majority of premenopausal cruisers still have their periods once a month and it can be a pain to deal with while cruising. 

The biggest problem is that of waste.  Pads are bulky and shouldn’t be thrown overboard, but they can smell and take up lots of space in the trash.  I tend to avoid those.  Tampax tampons now come with large plastic tube applicators wrapped in a plastic sleeve: all detrimental to the concept of minimal waste.  If you have to change your tampon every four hours for two to seven days, it adds up very quickly.  Many women and girls have adopted the use of a menstrual cup.  This is great for reducing waste, but needs to be washed frequently with fresh water.  If you are in a situation where you need to be saving your water, this can be inconvenient or even dangerous.  Otherwise, a menstrual cup is a very good option...unless you lose it. 

Personally, I have found OB brand tampons to be the best option.  They can be found in almost every supermarket or drugstore in the US.  I haven’t searched in Europe yet because I have yet to run out.  40 come in a very small package, so they take up very little space, which is great for the boat.  They do not have any applicators and are wrapped in very thin plastic, so there is minimal waste, and you simply dispose of it in a trash can in the head lined with a plastic bag.  This has been the option that I have found of the least inconvenience to both myself and the environment.  I recommend them even if you live full time on land since it uses such a small amount of plastic.  If you do not have access to them, try and find the Tampax tampons wrapped in paper with cardboard applicators.  They still take up a lot more space and are more costly, but you will at least be more environmentally friendly. 

Ok, now on to peeing.  Isn’t this fun? Ladies, we really got the short straw with this one...(literally).  Where men have the option to pee off the side of the boat, we do not have it so easy.  I’ve met women who squat over the side, but that just doesn’t seem like a viable option for me, so I am bound to going below in the head, which is in the bow of our boat.  This was a huge problem when I would get seasick every time I went below.  I tried those funnels, but here’s the reality: they are dirty and get very disgusting very fast.  If you are in a situation where you can’t go down below to pee, then you also can’t go down below to rinse out your pee funnel.  You can imagine how gross that gets.  There is always the option of pulling up a bucket of salt water to rinse it out, but then when you go to use it next, it’s salty.  For some, that might not be a problem.  I personally don’t love being all salty down there when shaving isn’t a realistic option.  So, conclusion? When possible, pee down below in the head.  When that’s not possible, pee in a bucket.  I had a designated bucket for peeing and puking.  It stayed pretty clean because every time I used it, we just tied a line to it and dropped it over the side to let the salt water flush it out.  And an extra plus is that your quads will get some exercise from squatting!

Shaving: Don’t bother.  You could slip up and cut yourself with the razor or the hair could plug the drain. 

Showering: Cut your hair as short as you are willing to.  Less hair = less shampoo, less water waste, less knotty hair blowing in the wind, and less worry about it catching in lines.

Shower as infrequently as you can without feeling horrible.  If you are a couple, you will get used to each other’s stench, but it is still important to give your lady bits a little splash with fresh water and soap every couple days. 

Makeup: Why? Just...why? I was reading a “Woman’s Guide to Cruising” and it mentioned putting on a bit of makeup every day to “feel pretty.”  That made zero sense to me.  You are out in the ocean.  But, if it makes you feel good, I guess go ahead? It’s a personal thing. 

Ok, I think I’ve covered all the questions that I have ever been asked about being a woman aboard a sailboat for an extended period of time.  Please feel free to email us or start up a conversation in the comments.  I’d love to hear from other cruising women about their experiences and what has worked for them!