All Blog Posts (984)

  I've been working on my Columbia Sabre for the past six weeks, making her nice for her new owner. Most of the work was interior cabinetry and cosmetic. I had to replace bunks, cabinet faces, counter tops, and I painted all of the wood work save two bulkheads and trim, bright white. It really perked up the interior.

While I was at it, I built a new sliding hatch, new lazerette…

After work on Thursday I drove down to the boat and spent the night.  In the morning I trudged up to the Captain’s Lounge for a shower and then back to the car to stop by the Waffle House for breakfast.  Back to the boat I got busy clearing Marina’s cabin out by pulling her beding and mattresses into the solon.  I removed all the access covers and stuck my head down into the…

After work on Thursday I drove down to the boat and spent the night.  In the morning I trudged up to the Captain’s Lounge for a shower and then back to the car to stop by the Waffle House for breakfast.  Back to the boat I got busy clearing Marina’s cabin out by pulling her beding and mattresses into the solon.  I removed all the access covers and stuck my head down into the…

Boat show yesterday, spent the day with the crew looking at goodies and talking to engineers, designers, builders, mnaufacturers and the inevitable sales people.  With the weather being so bad we are not accomplishing much right now.  I did receive the PHRF certificate for our boat (Performance Handicap Racing Fleet), our particular rating is 150, which means that we get a handicap of 150 seconds per nautical mile from here to Hawaii.  That's 2057 miles x 150 /   3600  gives us 85.71 hours…

Rigging is all down and in the shop so sailing’s out, weather sucks, so varnishing’s out.  Spent the afternoon tieing proper pulls for all the hooks, shackles and pelicans on the boat.

Old Age

The seas are quiet when the winds give o'er;

So calm are we when passions are no more.

For then we know how vain it was to boast

Of fleeting things, so certain to…

A four day weekend is just what I needed.  I turned in my data to my tax accountant last week and the relief of getting that behind me was ecstasy.  At any rate Marina, Josh and I drove down to New Bern and over to the Bridgeton Harbor Marina to select a slip, then we drove one of the cars back to our old marina to check out and get the boat underway.  We stopped first to have lunch at Persimmons for.  The food was great and we had a good time talking as we looked out at the rain through the…

A short Mexico story

WHAT A WAY TO RESTART MY RETIREMENT

It was Thanksgiving morning, Portland was cold, 45 degrees and drizzly, grey and very chilly for your basic Southern Californian.  I suffer in the winter anyway, never quite warm enough.

The telephone rang, it was our friend Bo on the other end of the line, not much of a line today but still it was a contact.  “Hey buddy’ would you like to come to Mexico”, after a short pause and a…

So last week we decided to take our 5 year old offshore liferaft To Sal's Inflatables, to be recertified, this being a major refit of the raft we decided to stick around to watch Sal open the case and inflate the raft with dry air.  When the raft case was opened we discovered the painter was wrapped around the raft in packing and therefore this raft could never have been deployed.           …

Imagine sitting under a full moon with a gentle 7 knot breeze tossling your hair on an otherwise clear night. The blue/black sky has featherlike remnants of clouds just south of the moon. The last fisherman, the same guy who has gone out every night for the past six days, left his slip about an hour ago. This evening he has a friend on board. Across from SPRAY is a new guy to the club who also set out before dusk; no doubt to drift along the coast on this beautifully, peaceful…

The Sailing Ketch Morning Star with a long and illustrious career, having been built in China in 1968 by the eminent Robin Fong Boat Yard, and cruised 1½ circumnavigations of the world from 1973 through 1981, as related in the book, Voyage of Commitment Morning Star Around The World, by Raymond F. Triplett;  1983.  And subsequently having come to us after setting idly in San Francisco Bay for nearly fifteen years, this little ship was in need of a good deal of remedial…

Witnessing the night sky transform into daylight continues to be magical. It only gets better when the viewing itakes place with someone who initiatates a rendevous at my favorite spot on the boardwalk in Indialantic. Just north of Melbourne Beach on the east side of the Intracoastal Waterway is this sleepy little town. Not known for much other than surfing and as a gateway to other beach resorts, this square mile town boasts a quiet 1/4 mile boardwalk, two coffee shops, an ice cream parlor,…

Witnessing the night sky transform into daylight continues to be magical. It only gets better when the viewing itakes place with someone who initiatates a rendevous at my favorite spot on the boardwalk in Indialantic. Just north of Melbourne Beach on the east side of the Intracoastal Waterway is this sleepy little town. Not known for much other than surfing and as a gateway to other beach resorts, this square mile town boasts a quiet 1/4 mile boardwalk, two coffee shops, an ice cream parlor,…

If this is as good as it gets than I am doomed to one challenge after another. Why is it that the thrill of my new helmstation anhoring system is being replaced with the failure of my LG front loading washing machine. I figured out how to empty the water overflow filter. Cleaning it was an obvious easily identified source of the problem. Only problem is the washer still won't turn on. "EWWWWWWWWWWW" the thought of calling a repairperson makes me cringe. What if this happened on the high…

If this is as good as it gets than I am doomed to one challenge after another. Why is it that the thrill of my new helmstation anhoring system is being replaced with the failure of my LG front loading washing machine. I figured out how to empty the water overflow filter. Cleaning it was an obvious easily identified source of the problem. Only problem is the washer still won't turn on. "EWWWWWWWWWWW" the thought of calling a repairperson makes me cringe. What if this happened on the high…

If this is as good as it gets than I am doomed to one challenge after another. Why is it that the thrill of my new helmstation anhoring system is being replaced with the failure of my LG front loading washing machine. I figured out how to empty the water overflow filter. Cleaning it was an obvious easily identified source of the problem. Only problem is the washer still won't turn on. "EWWWWWWWWWWW" the thought of calling a repairperson makes me cringe. What if this happened on the high…

If this is as good as it gets than I am doomed to one challenge after another. Why is it that the thrill of my new helmstation anhoring system is being replaced with the failure of my LG front loading washing machine. I figured out how to empty the water overflow filter. Cleaning it was an obvious easily identified source of the problem. Only problem is the washer still won't turn on. "EWWWWWWWWWWW" the thought of calling a repairperson makes me cringe. What if this happened on the high…

We will move the boat to another marina this week.  Bridgeton Harbor Marina will be our new home.  I went over yesterday to drop off some paperwork, visited with Tom, the dock manager, and stopped at Hurricane Marine to check it out.  They had a couple of hard dinghys for sale, one of which has a mast, rudder, oars, sail, and dagger board.  I gave them $50 to hold the boat until my shipmate has a chance to look it over.  It will be a lot of fun to mess about in and will take care of one of…

After two days of having my sister Jane, and another day having my volleyball coach assist with tying up the nets, they are almost secure. At least if someone were to stumble and fall onto one of them, or cautiously walk across them, the net should hold their body weight. It will be another day or two or three of tying a second row to seriously secure them. Despite careful planning each net was tied on a little differently. Getting the nets organized to stretch equally in all directions was…

This entry is an excert of an e-mail response I sent to a new sailing friend from the UK. Imagine him being interested in a 35/36 foot trimaran. Yea, I am not alone. Anyway, here's the recent musing,,,

The big test will come this summer when I sail solo from Port Canaveral, Florida to New York Harbor - another 1200 mile hitch. Challenging the gulf stream, for me is pretty daunting. As my plans are to do more distant sailing I thought this would be a good way to find out if the…

Marina and I drove down to the boat Thursday night after I finished up with my substance abuse counseling group in Kinston.  Once onboard, we turned on the lights, put a case of Yoohoo in the fridge and turned it on, moved the cockpit cushions out of the solon to the cockpit along with the helm, drank a Yoohoo, checked the bilge, and then we both went to bed.  In the morning…