February 2012 Blog Posts (9)

Received an interesting e-mail from Joe F. with www.outrig.com  His theme had to do with a conversation years ago with John Marples (designer of my tri). The question was, "Why do we love these multihulls?" Consider that John Marples, along with Piver, and Jim Brown were forerunners in the trimaran world. What compelled them to follow a path less traveled? Afterall, the Europeans are blamed (or given credit) for introducing monohulls to the US. Tri lovers…

Going through some older files, I came across the little piece I wrote for Carolina Currents magazine a few years ago. It was the first time I was paid for writing ... though it wasn't all that much ;)  Anyway, I thought I'd share it, as it helps explain why I chose North Carolina as the place to stop and work.

Love at First Sail



 



     It had been a long day reaching the Beaufort Inlet from Wrightsville Beach. A naval exercise to go around, wind on the nose,…

Ay, forget the cake and that dern icing, too. Well, at least the literal kind. After convincing myself to learn to cook, I had two delicious, low calorie, high healthy soups; cabbage soup first, then french onion. The problem with the french onion is I topped it off with fresh french bread, devouring the whole thing in two days. I've learned every meal has to have one leftover. That was o.k. except I followed up these two SPRAY specialties with a new recipe for spaghetti sauce. Hm, yum, not…

Afterall, what good is having cake if you can't eat it? Geepers wheepers, It's not like I'm asking for a million bucks. Rather, I already have a decent boat. No, it's not the Queen Mary or even a Mahe 36 catamaran with all the amenities. It is a seemingly sturdy, tank looking barge of a trimaran. SPRAY is just what I was asking for a 35 foot tri with an inboard diesel. To be alone at sea, to sail into an unknown harbor inhaling through all my senses the wonderment of a totally foreign…

Isn't it amazing when new people come into your life? Well, not just any people, but ladies who sail their own boats inspire me. Regardless of its size, being in control of a sailboat is an awesome responsibility. The liability of possible harm coming to another person is real. The possibility of bring harm to oneself is real. The prospect of doing damage to another vessel is real. Sure the risks can be minimized based on skill and weather, but these two factors do not undermine the…

I spent the Thursday night on the boat again.  I brought along a small electric heater, thinking that it would be more efficient then the propane heater we used bringing the boat north from Florida.  My electricity at the dock is metered so I’ll watch my slip rental fees closely this month.  I tried using the DC to AC converter, but the heater seemed to draw more than the…

After three and a half years tied to the big yellow umbilical cord, barring disaster, it will be back to cruising this April. I had hoped to head south for the winter, but it takes a while to turn a floating apartment back into a cruising boat, as well as the skipper. So I opted to stay over for the winter and head north in the spring.

The plan, such as it is, is to bounce around Carolina for a few weeks and make sure boat and skipper are functioning properly. Then it's north to the…

It's an ongoing effort  as I can afford, I am upgrading the boat, for when I start my off shore adventures.

Today got the Auto Pilot in Place.  We put the compas in the bilge.  Ran wire down the pedestal, into Aft Berth,,,around engine to high spot in Bilge.  Made a change, and mounted the auto pilot in the old housing for the speed meter..it is a much better…

We got to the boat later than we had hoped, but we had a great time talking on the ride to the marina.  It took a bit of trying different ways to rig the boatswain chair so that I could hoist Marina up the mizzen mast to remove the topping lift.  At first I tried the winch on the mast, but it was too small.  Then we tried the port jib sheet winch, but the lead was too high…