All Blog Posts (984)

Not the result we were expecting ! 

We had planned to take a couple of friends over to Northern Ireland for a weeks sailing in Belfast Lough, two hours into the ten hour trip and the weather changed completely with large rough seas and a good 28knts steady wind instead of the 12-14 on the forecast. One of our friends fell ill, really ill and so we headed to the Isle…

No pics to post yet, but just finished an awesome trip from Mobile bay to Port St. Josehp FL. what a trip. did an over night pasage there, and one on the way back.  It was great weather, lil warm, but thats part of it.  I am so stoked, want to go for another open water passage.  I took the 4-7 watch so I could see the sun rise, ;) I got to see the sunset as well being the skipper I was up at all hours checking things, Gosh I love this sailing on open water, We out ran a storm first passage…

Thanks to Russell, Steve, Sail Dancer, Mark and Karen for your encouraging words. Now that I decided to buy the boat the challenge is finding a 3rd crew to assist with sailing her home. Time is short as I need to get plane reservations at a reasonable rate and have 'er home by August 2. There is always a challenge, always an obstacle to overcome and always a reason to change one's mind. Been trying to hook up with Suky but the computer, Sea Knots, and I are also having our communication…

Not one person responded to my question about wood/epoxy boats. So, on my own, with some research and a conference with my boat mentor, along with that good old woman's intuition the decision has been made. Tomorrow, I will make a reasonable offer on the trimaran of my dream.Okay, so she needs some prettying up, but I believe she is a secure well made beast that isn't simply good enough, rather she is going to complement SPRAY. A cross between my Corsair, SPRAY, and Slocum's cruiser, this…

Oh dear, with this dern cold lingering another day my feet are awful chilly. Is it because of the reality of how incapacatated one becomes when hit with flu like symptoms. Just like seasickness that quesy stomach, accompanied with a weird headache and inability to keep food or drink flowing through the digestive tract took control of me yesterday. I was able to function, albiet laborously with the cold symptoms. When my stomach got quesy though, my ability to focus on reading, watching tv or…

Back from the Catamaran Hotel in Rio Dolce, Guatamala, I keep asking myself, "Is this the right boat?, Is this really what I want?"

The cockpit seemed so confining, yet secure. The sails are in good condition, yet the main may need some sort of widget so when the sail comes down all of the little slides don't come out of the mast. The boat sailed a steady course yet we only had 5 - 8 knots to test her in. The brow over the gps on the port side of the helm has some cracks and is soft,…

Here we are starting Hurricane season 2011.  It's generally fairly quiet at the beginning at the season so while everyone has their hurricane kit prepared, it isn't too pressing.  YET.  (operative word there)

Sailed out near Cocoa in the intercoastal this past Sunday.  Winds picked up closer to noon with some excellent sailing just under the jib.  YEAH.  Why is it that sandwiches always taste so much better on the water?  Yummy. 

I have been practicing single…

Here's the posts directly related to the electric engine I just added:

http://www.stuffandjunk.net/blogs/index.php/boat/2011/03/23/electric-engine

http://www.stuffandjunk.net/blogs/index.php/boat/2011/06/05/installing-the-electric-engine-part…

Sunday, May 22, Great Guana Cay, Bahamas:  Borrowed dingy plays key role in daring rescue. 

Just three days into an island-hopping vacation in the Bahamas, the crew of the Rhapsody in Blue was launched into an unexpected adventure that could only have been attempted using the dingy borrowed from North Carolina residents Steve and Janet Clayton.

Rhapsody obtained the dingy from its caretaker – the Big Bamboo – at Hope Town on Saturday for convenience in transporting the…

i  sit here waiting to repair what broke and some other stuff as well, and i watch th swells of th sea ---   wanting to be there instead of in a harbor--- there is a peace in the ocean that does not exist  in harbor or on land.  there may be  storms and  seas and disrupted water, but there is a peace in htat.

 there are also fishies......

i am convinced i   should find a waterman as a mate, as opposed to any other kind of male ...  watermen know the sea and the ways…

Pardon my spanish, the first website link is where I will be in two days. The second website is what I will be surveying as my potential blue water cruiser.

Check out the location section of the Hotel Catamaran's website where "Good Enough" is docked. Notice that the little direction's map is animated and that all the boats in the harbor are multihulls!  Progress . . . .

http://catamaranhotel.com

 …

was advised i need to make a happy daance here-- so  ---heeeeeere it is--LOL-

 we made mazatlan with 3 gal of diesel to   spare in tanage.>LOL..  made cabo in 60 kt winds which died to nothing by  time we fueled  and left there-- sooooooooooooooooooooo......am in mazatlan in   old harbor with a broken alternator bracket  and dirty tank-- both will be fixed soon, and   some woodwork needs to be effected,as th 60 kt winds   took off some caprail -- the decorative sternrail that bends…

Hopefully I won't be plunging into the depths of hell but rather into the land of sunshine and rainbows. Fewer rainbows perhaps because rainbows need rain and rain conjurs up storms and storms can be deadly. Other things can be deadly as well. Yet friends and other beings of the human kind seem to relate sailing offshore as a sure method of meeting one's demise. Who thinks about a deadly car crash on their routine drives, or a heart attack brought on by poor eating habits. Regardless of the…

As part of our plans to set up for blue water cruising we have a few planned changes we wish to make (over time) to the power around the boat. One of the first things was to get an inverter and later we will supplement the battery capacity with a third domestic battery and some wind and solar generation.

Its not a hard modification to do, but it is something you have to take care with as one side is shore power voltage (240V for us) and the other is huge cables (70 sq mm) onto big…

If you happen to be crossing to the Abacos/  Bahamas  be careful on where you pick up Fuel.  Even the most respected places have BAD Fuel.  Why?  if they just received a delivery 2 or 3 hours before you got there and your one of the first one or two boats to get fuel,,,,, then you get the mess that was stirred up in the bottom if their tanks.  ASK..they will tell you and better yet;  wait for a Big Sport Fish to fill up then get your fuel.  If you cross and check in at Old Bahama Bay...... …