I attempted my first solo docking maneuver this Sunday. My crew consisted of Sam (11) and Vivian (13). They were instructed not to fend off, but to just kick the fenders over the side at the appropriate time. They did a beautiful job and so did I. No damage. Ego stimulated. All good.
Archive for April, 2008
Stolen vid, something to do in the Bahamas when we get bored.
Published April 22, 2008 sailing 1 Comment
This looks very cool. I wonder how far Sam would go…
The boat has been officially Christened by an ordained minister. We now have had every ceremony imaginable (minus the dead chicken). Here is a picture of the family with our plaque and burgee.
P.S. Sam ran with me in a 5K this weekend and placed 6th overall with a 25:80 (approximate time). He got 1st in his age group. I got 3rd in my age group of 30+ and 13th overall. Yes, Sam kicked my butt.
Lizz just sent me a cool link:
The Hacking Family
I hope we can utilize her advise. The author also writes a detailed account of their expenses. That is the real scary part. I hope we can go for more than a few months.
This past weekend we worked our butts off on the house. Saturday evening at dinner on the lanai, we contemplated the rest of our evening. It was a beautiful night, wind blowing from the SE around 10kts. Chelsea was probably going out with “the boy”, so David, Sam and I started planning, “Family walk? Family game night? Family game night on the boat? Family game night on the boat anchored out to watch the sunset? Family walk to the boat, anchor out, play games, watch the sunset and sleep on the boat?” Ding, ding, ding, we have a winner! David checked weather, predicted shift to SE and then a dying breeze after that, perfect. We cleaned up, packed a little, threw our bags on our backs and headed out. The guard at HYC said, “where are you hobos going?”
The weather was beautiful; unfortunately we got little or no sleep due to the wind shift to the East. When the wind shifted and increased to 15kts, the protected anchorage was not so protected and it got a bit rolly. We returned to the harbor at 8ish and headed to the club for breakfast. Sam ran 1.5 miles (to get ready for the 5k in two weeks) and David and I walked home lugging our stuff. Back to work on the house. I put a very “ghetto” for sale sign up, just to get us in the mood to sell the house.
We started working on the boat around 4. We put new halyards on the boat (main and jib) with little difficulty. I went up the mast to retrieve the wrap stop from the forestay (I really like it up there). Andrew “the boy” and Chelsea helped out on the boat. We took some pictures. I slept very well that night!
Lessons learned:
-Check weather at 2 different weather sites prior to planning an overnight trip.
-We have to do something to stop the wires in the mast from banging around, drives me crazy, even with earplugs.
-When you are on a boat you get hungrier and sleepier, than when on land.
I want to know how many of you all are sunrise vs. sunset lovers. Please see the blog entry “I could get used to this”, which photo do you like more the Dana’s sunset or the David’s sunrise. Just curious.
Wedding, regatta and maintanence
Published April 3, 2008 cruising , partying , sailing Leave a CommentWe had the priviledge of attending Marty and Joey’s wedding this weekend. It was a beautiful ceremony with two wonderful people that seem to be perfect for eachother.
The merged family – peace out!
We took MC out for a spin on Sunday morning to watch the racing (Elissa regatta). I took 646 pictures. I like this new hobby. I wish I could make some money at it.
David and I cleaned out the water filter, air conditioner filter, and refrigerator filter. Gross. We need to do this at least twice a month, but we waited a little too long this time (2 months). We found a tiny amount of oil in the engine compartment. I told David, it was just dirty water, but he didn’t buy it. We shined up the boat a bit and she is looking purdy.
A happy man is too satisfied with the present to dwell too much on the future. -Albert Einstein
I couldn’t agree more. I am finding it very hard to think about the future. I am kind of abstractly planning this trip of ours. It doesn’t seem real yet. We have 4 months and 29 days until my quit date (Sept. 1st). I guess that is when I can devote all of my time to “the plan”. Until then, I guess I will float along, learn the boat some more, try to organize and get rid of funky smells.
