Surprise surprise! What sucked, what rocked and what will be most welcome

I am a little late in getting this up due to Hurricane Isaac. First, it was worrying about whether or not Isaac would make his way towards Ceol Mor and would we have time to properly secure her and the house (I would have picked the boat over the house if time was short). Then it was anxiously awaiting news from our blog pals Tate and Dani over at Sundowner Sails Again  to update as to how they and their boat fared. They seem to have weathered the storm okay so now I can write since I am no longer biting my finger nails and once again have use of both hands.

When we took our Suck! Down mini cruise, it was with the purpose of not only getting the kids used to the boat and trying to improve our sailing abilities ( a never ending task) but to really take a good look at what works and doesn't work so far as making Ceol Mor a comfy home. I can rough it with the best of them but if given a choice, I will take the cushy pampered princess route.

With that in mind, this post will not go into detail about our plans to redo the deck layout, change the blocks, clutches, winches, rerig, etc to improve the ease of sailing the boat. That will get SEVERAL posts all on its own because who ever set up Ceol Mor was obviously a masochist. Turning Ceol Mor into an easy to sail boat will take a lot of time and it will be done but for now, lets concentrate on the little things that make life aboard a little more comfy.

What rocked:
1. New lighting- The CCF linear lights sometimes take a few seconds to illuminate (nothing is perfect) but when they do the light is good quality, they don't draw much, the dimmer switch in the salon is lovely for softening the light and as a bonus- they look great. Their low profile means that the boat seems roomier with more headroom. Illusion, but nice anyway! Their chrome case and sleek design really help update the boat. We were really trying to find a way to bring the aesthetics of a 1980s design into the 21st century and these lights really help with that. The LED bi color task lighting LED bi color lights we have as task lighting in the galley, head and chart table work fantastically and the placement of them is unobtrusive yet absolutely fit for purpose.

2.Fabric Microfiber Suede Fawn P213 By Yard,1/2 Yard,Swatch - so glad we had the cushions redone! The inevitable kid spills cleaned up easily, they resisted water well and what moisture did get in them dried quickly ( we had lots of rain soaked butts to test it). Even an errant bit of pen ink came out with just spot cleaning and its a heck of a lot easier on the wallet than Sunbrella plus its soft and cozy.

3.Caframo Sirocco Fans - I might tease Mark about the fact that our boat is now absolutely festooned by these things but they are kind of awesome. They stow away flat when not in use and put out plenty of air for what they suck out of the battery bank. I am like a Golden Retriever in that I am happiest when my face is in a wind tunnel. Mark spent a lot of time ensuring that each fan location was carefully thought out and it shows. Pretty much anywhere on the boat you would want to hang out is within a gale created by these fans. With the fans, it was a bit warm but tolerable. Without them, it would have been stupid hot.

4. Onan Generator- I love my generator. Someday, I will love my quiet wind and solar set up but for now, the generator which allows me to sleep in the afore mentioned wind tunnel is aces in my book. Its not overly noisy and powers the fans, lights and any other little cushy princess requirements very efficiently. We were even able to run the ac at anchor for an hour to tone down the late afternoon wall o' heat in the salon. I puffy heart love you generator.

5. Zombie Dice 2 Double Feature - Still the best cockpit game ever. Just for the record, I got the most brains.

6: Electric toilet- I love this thing, power hog or not. I have kids aboard who (at least the potty trained one) are not currently able to be judicious in their use of toilet paper. The electric head makes this less of an issue. Hooray for non clogged heads!

7. Polar Fleece sheets- When my blog pal Behan over on SV Totem told me that Polar Fleece sheets were very comfortable to sleep on in the heat of the tropics/sub-tropics I thought she was out of her tree . I then thought hey, this trip is all about experimentation so lets give it a go. She was right. She tends to be the voice of cruising reason so it is to my great shame that I doubted. Never doubt Behan. Not hot at all and very comfortable. An added bonus is that Polar Fleece is very Craft Challenged friendly. You don't even have to hem it!! Wicks away moisture, regulates temperatures well- a definite and surprising win. Once I get a more elegant example completed, I'll share the details. Marvelous stuff.

What Sucked:

1. The galley. Ok, I am lumping it all together but let me just tell you what I absolutely hate and what will be changed before we leave whether Mark says is it will or not.
1a: The countertops- with our new spiffy lighting we are able to see just how crap the old laminate is. Cracked and EVERYTHING stains it. These will absolutely be changed before we leave. I hope we can find someone good who is willing to install such a small amount of Corian but it must be done. Even if it means an extra week or two for Mark to do it because we can;t find anyone. Laminate. Must. Die.

1b: The lack of refrigeration- Sucks. Big time. I wanted to use a plug in free standing Engel freezer but with the space considerations on board I know we are going to have to go with 

Drop-In AC/DC Fridge / Freezer  but so long as its an Engel, I'm good. Sure, not having to crawl down into a hole to find what I need would be ideal but you have to deal with the space you have. Everyone I know who has had an Engel for over 2 years loves it so an Engel it shall be. They work. Well. This is what I require of my refrigeration.

1c: The galley sink- That thing is manky, too small and I hate it. It must be changed out for a deep, single bowl sink and a taller faucet. What will I do when I need 2 basins of water? Its called a plastic tub and you can get it just about anywhere for around $4. Farewell manky sink, you shall not be missed.

2. The master cabin- When we first bought the boat, I kept telling Mark I wanted to rip out the fore head and expand the forward vee berth cabin, which we use as our master cabin. Mark said it was too much work and we would just have to live it. Now that we have taken a couple of overnights, Mark has come around to my way of thinking. I'm not totally being a princess about it because the owners of a sistership which is for sale have done precisely what we would like to do. Yeah, its bargain priced to boot. Where was this boat when we were shopping? Oh well. Hopefully someone knows a really talented carpenter with boat experience in the Kemah area. We are willing to pay a more than fair fee for this, but I will be upfront and say that our level of expectation of the quality of the finish work is high. Recommendations are most welcome.

What will be nice additions:

1.Oceanair Skyscreen - Now that we have beautiful, streamlined lighting is just makes sense to go with an elegant, durable solution for the screening and shading of our hatches. We will be installing Oceanair skyscreens on our 5 overhead hatches. They are beautiful, they work well and they mean I no longer have to struggle with trying to sew mosquito netting. They will go a long way to making the interior of the boat bee-yoo-ti-ful.

2. Schaefer In Boom Furling- HA! You thought I wasn't going to talk about sailing hardware. Actually, I'm not. The Schaefer In Boom Furler is the one piece of gear that is absolutely, positively not in the budget (they start at 15 k. Ouch)- no way, no how. This fact does not prevent me from looking at it with lust in my heart. I do like to mention it from time to time just to watch Mark twitch funny.

3. Porta-Bote- Mark's reasons for waiting to purchase our dinghy until the last possible minute makes sense but boy it would be great to be able to do this short little trips without having to make 2 trips to shore each time in STINKY.

I feel pretty darned good about the level of finish in the interior boat. There are some little unnecessary but nice little cosmetic tweaks we will be making but really, she's looking quite good and she functions well as a family boat. I think that even though we are facing a major plumbing rebuild and then there is the whole deck layout/rigging stuff to deal with, we are in a pretty darned good spot 14 months out. And moving forward...



* I've been an Amazon affiliate for over a year, but I haven't ever found anything I liked enough to link to it. I can't recommend something that I don't like because it makes me feel slightly dirty. *shiver* Now that we are getting a bit of experience with stuff, I feel like we can make some recommendations that are not based on marketers hype but on being 100% Ceol Mor approved. ;) If you decide to follow a link and purchase an item through our blog, we get a few pennies for it.  Pennies that will be used to tell Mark- "Hey, I have to have internet access I am a PROFESSIONAL writer!" because even if its the princely sum of $5 a year, income is income. Funds will be completely wasted on a yearly latte at Starbucks. You can rest assured I will never post anything that I don't absolutely love because I am nothing if not honest. Cheers.

We got this....

We finally loaded everything into the boat, checked the weather and headed out for a quick sail to Redfish Island where we planned to anchor for the night. We made decent enough time even though we were under canvassed. Our thought was that this first day was more about getting the kids comfortable on the boat, seeing how our anchor bridle worked for us and what we thought about the new lighting and fans than about trimming the sails spectacularly and clipping along at a nice speed.

Sunset at Redfish Island

Redfish Island is not actually an island at all as Maura discovered to her utter disappointment. Visions of frolicking on a lovely beach, splashing in the surf were quickly put away as we made our approach. (from the NW for those taking notes, the S end is very, very VERY shallow) "That's it?!?! Its just a bunch of dirt and rocks." she said as we entered the anchorage. Yes, its just a bunch of remnants from the channel dredging which makes a nice little sheltered are so that the huge commercial ships do not run over you at night. Not being run over at night is a really good thing. We put out plenty of scope which thanks to Mark's super specific anchor marking technique was easy to count (it hurt me to write that.), got the bridle and snubber on without much fuss even though it started to rain as we came in. The rain cleared and Kitty danced and sang on deck. we had a lovely unburned dinner and Maura declared that she loved this. This was even better than camping and she really loves camping. We settled in, watched the stars from the open hatch above our v berth and thought, yes this is good.

During the night we had 2 little blips to disturb our rest. The rains came, necessitating that we close up the hatches. Fortunately, due to the fact that our boat now has more Caframo fans than any other boat on the planet, we were able to maintain a somewhat reasonable amount of comfort. Point to Mark for that one. The other blip? While Kitty is the happiest kid on the planet while sailing or playing at anchor she will not sleep on the boat. AT ALL. After the 3rd time of Kitty calling for me, me going in and comforting her and trying to get her back to sleep, Maura opted to bunk on the settee and I moved in to the girls bunk to try to get Kitty to sleep. It worked for about 15 minutes at a stretch. It was a very long, long night.

And then the rains came. Good thing Maura loves to read.

The next morning we took our time getting breakfast, tidying the boat, more deck dancing until the rains came. Then it was time to hang out on the boat, coloring, reading, playing with Legos until the weather cleared. Once we had blue skies again, we hoisted the anchor and set sail for Galveston. We were on a beam reach and as we approached Galveston, the dolphins made their first appearance. Maura was at the helm as 2 big dolphins came within 3 feet of the boat to check us out. "MOM! MOM! LOOK!" Maura exclaimed. The smile on her face was absolutely magical. I still get excited by the appearance of dolphins and I love that the girls share my joy at the beauty of these creatures. We taught Kitty how to squeak at the dolphins and now every sighting means we get an excited stream of joyful exclamations punctuated by toddler dolphin squeaks.

Beauty is where you find it. Industrialized busy port not beautiful to you? Look up...

The area just as you come into Galveston is known as Bolivar roads. It would be better to be called Bolivar sphincter check. Bolivar roads is where the Houston ship channel crosses the ICW and oh, there are a few other various channels full of commercial ships following other channels here and there. You've got lots of really HUGE container ships, barges, pilot boats, fishing trawlers, a cruise ship or two, Coast Guard cutters and skiffs and ferries running to and fro, this way and that and one little sailboat with a squall approaching, sails up because Mark did not heed my warning that the rain was going to hit us and there were too many huge ships going in every which way to sail elegantly into Galveston. As I manned the helm trying to keep clear of impending doom, Mark and Maura finally struggled to get the sails down in the rain. Mark later admitted that he would never again ignore my request to drop the sails if I was feeling nervous. That I think is a very important lesson learned. Always defer to the Biggest Chicken Baby on board. Kitty sat with me in the cockpit shouting "LOOK! Pirate ship!" at every tanker that passed. Who knew my 2 year old was up on current Somali events?

We headed into the same anchorage by the Bolivar ferry we used last year. This year, there are work barges moored in a large portion of the anchorage. Seems they are reconstructing a jetty near the ferry landing. Fortunately, we were the only boat there so we had plenty of swing room.

At this point, Maura was ready for a bit of land adventuring so we inflated the dinghy and headed for shore. Since we are trying to wait until the last minute to buy our dinghy (one less thing to maintain until we are ready to use it) we used the small inflatable given to us by a friend. Imagine my surprise to see that the dinghy Mark intended to use was a 6 foot rubber Achilles which the previous owner had christened 'Stinky'. We were rowed ashore in 2 trips by Mark in a bright red inflatable with STINKY emblazoned upon it. We tied the dinghy up but didn't lock it because A: we were not at a dinghy dock, we were docked in a super secret not Kosher location that the security guard said so long as we went to dinner then right back, she would look the other way and B: who the hell is going to steal a little rubber rowing dinghy which is emblazoned with STINKY on it? A friendly power boat captain gave us a ride to the nearest restaurant ; Chili's where we ate an unremarkable dinner as you do at Chili's, then made the trek on foot back to the boat where we enjoyed a beautiful sunset, lots of rolling due to passing commercial traffic and another night where Kitty refused to sleep. Even still, it was a good night and everyone was in great spirits.

Early morning. Birds overhead as the rain clouds rolled in...

The next morning, absolute crap weather rolled in. Bad visibility and rain, rain and more rain. This was supposed to be our first time to take Ceol Mor out into the Gulf but I nixed that idea. I just don't feel the need to prove anything and while we absolutely could have handled what was out there (just a lot of rain and low clouds, no scary wind) it would have been less than fun. As it is, Mark will still be able to tell people his dream is to get out of Galveston for a while longer. We headed back to Kemah escorted by a tremendous amount of dolphin pods every where we looked. Maura and I got good experience helming the boat in busy shipping lanes and Mark learned to relax a bit when he is off watch. Very good things to have a bit of confidence in.

 We made it back to the marina and as we approached the slip, the rain stopped and the skies returned to blue. We might not have gotten the ocean experience we were hoping for, but we did learn a lot of useful things. We have a better idea of what we want on the boat, what changes we are glad we made and what is now at the top of the refit list (separate short post coming up on this).We gained confidence in anchoring. We got a bit better at trimming the sails. We learned a bit more about how to handle 4 distinct BIG personalities in a small space. The most important thing I learned? We can do this. We really can.

Hurry Scurry

It is amazing to me how much work it is to provision for 3-4 days. 3-4 days with kids that is. If we did not have the kids aboard, I'd be happy to throw some clothes and water on the boat, a couple of boxes of Pop Tarts (the miracle food of modern science) and call it done. As it is, I've been running around laying in supplies, food, toys, boat bits like a mad woman for the past 2 days. I feel like I've been doing nothing but checking off lists. Note to self- get all but food provisioning done at least a month before departure. Anything else is madness.

In between the hunting and gathering, I've managed to help Mark get the main sail repaired and reinstalled on the boat. I am not the most graceful of sail handlers and poor Mark kept seeing me step on the sail gathered on the deck. "ACK! Don't step on the sail ! Care and attention!" As we replaced the battens his shoulders sank and he said "I think I cut the battens just a wee bit too long". He had carefully recut and added end caps on the battens in an attempt to keep the battens from chewing their way free.  So as we were hoisting it I liked to point out the fading glory that is Baggy MacBaggerton. "Look, there's a pin sized hole. And another one there. Stitchings gone there.  Mark, the good news is that I do not think the extra 2 mms on your batten length will make any difference at all. If Baggy survives this jaunt somewhat intact it deserves full kudos and a well deserved retirement."  Looks like we will be ordering that new main sail sooner rather than later. Don't ask me about roach size or battens (actually I do know exactly what I want but its bo-ring.), instead ask about Maura's and my plan to BEDAZZLE our main sail. You should have seen Mark's face when Maura and I told him that no, we weren't kidding and the slight loss in aerodynamic efficiency would more than be made up by our joy at having a glittery, sparkly logo on the sail. Mark says it won't happen. Maura and I think otherwise.Mark is the only male aboard and there are 3 females. He is outnumbered. We shall see who wins-   Fortunately the predicted wind conditions are decidedly mild and we should be able to manage just fine with Baggy. If all else fails I have duct tape, a sail palm, a bunch of Yo Gabba Gabba stickers and mad MacGyver skills.

While I was off doing my bit to boost the economy and tick those darned check list boxes, Mark put the finishing touches on the lifelines and netting. After spending hours cutting, installing swages and retensioning the life lines he got busy with getting our netting up. The netting probably won't prevent Kitty from ever taking a tumble from the deck, but it should slow her down so it was on the important list. Mark was so chuffed at his results, he was absolutely giddy as he asked me to come survey his handy work. I admired the neat and tidy manner in which he had carefully attached the netting. Then I looked at the transom. Seems Mark finally found his groove and got into such a solid net attaching rhythm that he just grooved along attaching the net all along the boat. Going even so far as to attach the netting to the swim ladder in its upright locked position. When I pointed this out to Mark he sighed and said " A functional swim ladder is an upgrade". No matter, this kind of thing happens to the best of us.

Whoops

And so we are finishing up loading the boat with an eye to heading off this afternoon. When ever anyone has asked us what exotic port we hoped to sail to, Mark has always replied "I'd like to get out of Galveston". Hopefully after this Suck Down cruise, Mark will be able to tick that box on his list and come up with a more exciting answer to the question.

Old Glory on our dock neighbors boat. So much for the myth that lighter fabrics are more UV resistant.

Last minute chores....

If the weather powers that be cooperate, we should be leaving tomorrow for a little mini cruise. Most sailors refer to these little test runs as "shake down" cruises. Its a chance to see how the boat and equipment are functioning and to ensure that all systems are go before heading out far away from chandleries, shops and marine repairmen.

 I like to think of our little jaunt as a "Suck!!" down cruise. As in, 'we do not have XYZ on the boat and man does it ever suck'. Take for instance the fact that currently our water tanks are not plumbed as we await checking the refurbishment of the water system off the check list. So we are going to have to jug the water which is not ideal at all but it will work.

What should add to the suckage is the unmerciful heat we have just now. It is stupid, stupid hot. Hovering right at 100 Farenheit in the afternoon and if you are in the sun it feels even hotter. I've never been one to perspire in a dainty manner and you can't say I sweat like a pig because pigs do not sweat. I sweat a LOT. August in Texas usually means I am absolutely covered in a thick sheen of perspiration. This is why I perpetually look as if I have just stepped out of a swimming pool in summer. I am just trying to function while my face is melting off. Jumping in for a swim to cool off isn't really an option. The visibility of the Gulf of Mexico water here on the Texas coast is about 3 inches. I do not mind swimming in the ocean unless I cannot see what/who I am swimming with. That kinda skeeves me out. So Sweaty Betty I shall be. I figure if I can keep a happy disposition while I am being baked to a golden crisp by the sun, with no opportunity to rinse off the sweat, with a cranky and hot preteen and toddler on board I can do anything.

We are ticking off last minute items of our check list. One of the big ones was removing our main sail (Baggy MacBaggerton) to replace a missing batten and patch up the batten pockets which had torn. Poor sad little sail. It has seen some abuse in its lifetime and now as it winds down its career its like an aging athlete who is held together only with tape, physical therapy and an iron clad, unescapable contract. Hang in there Baggy, you shall be retired soon.

Mark took photographic evidence of me actually sewing a patch on the sail. Me sewing, by hand with the evil sail palm which refused to sit properly on my hands and insisted on rubbing my hands raw. My sewing machine is no longer my arch nemesis, the sail palm is. Seems no one makes them small enough for people with T Rex hands such as mine. Its like shoes- if they are too big you get blisters. Thank goodness Mark took pity and finished the other patch up.

So we are off to put the main sail back on, finish up the last minute items, check off the provisions list, load up the boat and tomorrow we head out to see how we do. How long are we off for? A couple of days then its back home to port to put the final items on our work list for the boat to shorten the suck list.

14 months....

Things that make you go #@&%!!!

Ceol Mor had a life long before our stewardship and hopefully, she will have a long life after our time with her. While some items on Ceol Mor have suffered from previous owners attempts at maintaining her (nobody is perfect after all), there are plenty of areas where you can tell she was well loved (the interior for one). Since we want to be certain that when Ceol Mor leaves our care she is in better condition than when we got her we always do our utmost to use the best practices to keep her as close to Bristol as we possibly can. Okay, so right now she's not exactly Bristol fashion yet but she is well on her way.

With this in mind, we did careful research on how to best keep her Awlgrip painted hull shiny and pristine. After much research, we decided to take the hit to the pocket book that using the manufacturers recommended cleaning product Awl Care would entail. Boat soap is cheap, Awl Care, not so much but if that is what will best care for her paint job then so be it.

We carefully followed the directions, washing with Awlwash then painstakingly applying the Awlcare inch by inch, buffing by hand as directed. It worked beautifully at removing the dirt streaks from the hull and shining her up to a glossy finish. We were chuffed!

Imagine our disappointment after that expense and great effort to find that while Awlcare does in fact clean as directed, the protective polymer coating actually attracts dirt and soot. Quickly. I suppose its smart marketing on Awlgrip's part. Yes, Awlcare works but if you aren't willing to spend 5-6 hours twice a week and a bunch of cash to continually use it your hull will look worse than it did before. We are down with spending time cleaning the boat but not hand buffing a 42 foot boat non-stop. We'd like to you, know, have time to actually SAIL. Regular cleaning is fine, as is buffing the entire boat every month or so but this photo shows what happens just a week after polishing the hull and after regular cleaning.

Exhaust soot staining the Awlcare polished hull after about 15 minutes of engine run time. :(

I told Mark that someone, somewhere has the answer to our dilemma we just haven't come across it yet. We have a metric butt load of readers and I am really hoping that one of you out there has a workable solution for us. There has to be an easier way. If it weren't so darned hot, I'd just paint the hull Flag Blue and be done with chasing streaks.*sigh*

In other spic and span obsession news, Mark continues to try every device known to man to keep birds and their accompanying poop off the boat. I long ago made peace with the fact that the only workable answer was to shoo them as often as possible and just be prepared to clean the decks. This is our plastic owl, which Mark continues to cling to despite having given up on a Bird Spider, bits of metallic tape and numerous other bird frightening implements both purchased and built. Mark is still not taking my advice. What we need is a cat. A big old boat cat. Anything else is folly.

I'll Mark Your Chain Mister!

As the temperature continues to hover in the 'stupid hot' range, we keep inching our way down the short list of items we need to complete before our mini shake down cruise in the next few weeks. The heavy lifting on the plumbing and deck hardware will have to wait until the temperatures drop into the 'slightly dumb' range which should be late September or early October.

One of the tasks on our to do list is to mark the anchor rode. The last time we went out for an overnight, we had to guesstimate how much rode we had out which was not only an inexact science but was a source of much unnecessary worry and angst. We are all about lessening the angst when possible so marking the rode is high on the priority list for our little jaunt. I happily told Mark when he was reading off the list of current To Do items that I was in fact capable and willing to handle the marking of the chain all by my own self. He agreed to let me handle it and I was pleased to be able to help alleviate the work load for him a bit.

The next day, Mark asked me how I planned to mark the rode. I told him since nothing would last forever and since this was intended to be bit of  his much loved redundancy for a chain counter at the helm, I planned on marking the rode every 25 feet with paint using four alternating colors. Very simple, very easy. If you are seeing yellow for the second time, you have 125 feet out. If you are seeing green for the second time, 150 feet and so on. It was quick to do, easy to keep track of as the rode went over the gypsy and would be easy to redo when necessary. This is when Mark's left brain kicked in on him again and he went all Captain Perfecto on me.

Mark informed me that my method was in fact, not simple as I had assumed but was in fact overly difficult due to its lack of complexity. He had a better idea. What I would be doing would be to use a base five number system with an error checking bit and here was a handy diagram he had made for me to follow.

I blinked. I blinked again. Hard. "Dude. You are so over thinking this". "Not at all" he replied. "This system is thousands of years old! It is simplicity itself". I blinked again. I asked him how he expected me to be so precise with the spray paint markings as to carefully delineate individual links. He had a quizzical look on his face "Why, you will just have to use a small brush and thoroughly paint each link.". As I looked upon his satisfied smile, I knew there was no other method that would make him happy. I was now an active participant in a Rube Goldberg project due to that left brain of his.

 After a bit of research, we did opt to mark the rode with cable ties- much cheaper than the rubber inserts chandleries sell and much quicker than putting on multiple coats of paint waiting for each coat to dry. I did get to enjoy a wee bit of subversion though. Mark sent me to get the cable wraps at the store with instructions to purchase black, yellow and red. I was feeling feisty so of course I bought black, yellow and HOT PINK. Ha!

Taking a break

And so it was that we sat out on the scorching dock and marked that chain in a few sweaty hours( you didn't think he'd really be ableto let me go it alone did you?) and I do mean very sweaty. I just hope those little cable wraps stay in place for a bit. I know they will eventually fail but if they could just hang on for a wee bit please. So far they seem to have no difficulty passing over the windlass and going in and out of the chain locker so here's hoping. Thy will probably pop off and it was probably an utter waste of time but Mark is my favorite person to waste time with so how can it be a bad thing?

Another item checked off of our list was to get some 12 strand and splice an anchor bridle. Mark spliced the rope, while Maura burned and whipped the ends. Kitty lent a hand checking our rolling hitch knots. That is 2 items off the list....