Naming of Athena

The 1978 Bristol passed into Sailorette's hands with the name Alexis Dare.
One day Sailorette received a gift from a wonderful friend of an owl figurine and a card indicating Sailorette reminded the friend of the Greek goddess Athena. Avoiding all temptation of ego, Sailorette decided she did not deserve the memory of Athena, but felt instead the Universe was telling her to rename the 1978 Bristol, Athena.
Athena: Greek Goddess of Wisdom - Her decisions were usually well-considered, highly ethical, and seldom motivated by self-interest.
Symbol or Attribute: Owl, signifying watchfulness and wisdom. There is evidence that in early times, Athena was an owl herself, or a bird goddess in general, with one story indicating she took on the form of a sea-eagle.
She is also known as Greek goddess of strategy, crafts, war, skills, industry, and justice.
Although the goddess of war, she always worked to prevent war.
As goddess of crafts, she was celebrated as the patron of weavers, potters, goldsmiths, sculptors, musicians, and horsemen. Athena was credited with the invention of the yoke and the bridle, the sailing ship, and the flute and trumpet.
Athena is usually portrayed as one of the most benevolent goddesses . . . strong, fair, and merciful. She was, in essence, the prototype of the contemporary "career woman", unswayed by the spells of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, and the consequent pull of marriage and motherhood.
Athena stood for strength and independence for women!!
More than any other of the Greek goddesses , Athena remains a symbol of civilization, useful knowledge, noble reasoning, logic and wisdom.
The goddess Athena reminds us that we can successfully use our intellect and creativity in the pursuit of any goal we choose.

First three priorities...

Setting first priorties for restoring Athena...
Captain John of Naples, FL took a look at Athena and set the first priorities....
First three as follows:
1. Clean bilge.
2. Get bilge pump working.
3. Get engine running on a regular basis.

With todo list in hand, I single-handedly start working on Athena...
To date I've been cleaning the bilge and engine. In the midst of cleaning the bilge I discovered the old diesel fuel tank was leaking. So, out of the boat came the fuel tank. and, one more thing to learn... how to bleed an engine...
Using the old engine manual, I've been learning all about Athena's 15 hp Yanmar diesel engine. I'm in the process of replacing the thermostat, two anticorrosion zincs in the sea water cooling system, cleaning up old corrosion and changing out the hoses of the cooling water system, and replacing the water pump. I've also been replacing old hose clamps and spraying anticorrosion on everything!

Prior to meeting Capt. John, I had changed out all running rigging (except roller furling) from wire/rope combo to all rope. I used the Bristol yahoo group to get advice on this replacement. Did the entire replacement on my own in Jan/Feb 2006, without a trip up the mast !

Sails haven't been on Athena since before Hurricane Wilma, was hoping to get those back on after replacing running rigging, but a continuous supply of gifts from nearby nesting Ospreys, as well as some needed repairs to sails, has prevented their return to the sailboat thus far...

And so it begins...

The great experiment! As one woman takes on the task of upgrading the sailboat, another takes on the task of learning to navigate the sailboat (only having sailed in a sailboat twice in her life). Still another starts a blog for the trip never having done a blog before. This will be a journey of many interesting experiences before we even sail.

The Project

Determine whether five women (among whom only one is a sailor) can sail to the Florida Everglades and yet remain friends.