Sea Songs
Tuesday, January 21, 2014
Sunday, January 12, 2014
Why Sail?
There are many reasons I can think of to sail. I am a dreamer and have always tried to follow my dreams. This dream about sailing came to me while visiting the coast of France and seeing all the beautiful sailboats. John is a dreamer too.
We have enjoyed the water since we were children.
There have been many adventures that have led us here. A few I can think of include my first BiG sailboat experience. That experience was while visiting my dad for his 65th birthday in Key West. It was sunset aboard a 65' Cat. I got to steer the boat and help raise the sail. I loved it and knew I wanted many more sailing experiences. Those experiences have been from taking photos of sailboats at many places around the world, to practicing sailing on a tiny boat with a tiller while on Bald Head
Island in North Carolina, to helping sail a World's Cup sailboat while in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, to Sailing on Puget Sound and watching sailboats at Friday Harbor.
Finally one day after John returned from South Texas he told me he was sitting on the beach one day watching sailboats sailing on the Gulf of Mexico. He said he thought to himself " I could do that". That's when it started he began to buy sailing books of all kinds. He started reading blogs from people around the world who were sailing. Soon we started looking at boats. And here we are at the start of our adventure. Our first REAL sailing lesson was on Lake Erie. That was quite an experience, we were on three different boats that weekend being instructed by an elderly gentleman who never talked about life jackets. Later it occurred to us, uhhhh maybe we needed life jackets on those rough waters that day, especially when John was summoned on deck to untangle a line.
We have enjoyed the water since we were children.
Southern Coast of France
There have been many adventures that have led us here. A few I can think of include my first BiG sailboat experience. That experience was while visiting my dad for his 65th birthday in Key West. It was sunset aboard a 65' Cat. I got to steer the boat and help raise the sail. I loved it and knew I wanted many more sailing experiences. Those experiences have been from taking photos of sailboats at many places around the world, to practicing sailing on a tiny boat with a tiller while on Bald Head
Island in North Carolina, to helping sail a World's Cup sailboat while in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, to Sailing on Puget Sound and watching sailboats at Friday Harbor.
Friday Harbor
Finally one day after John returned from South Texas he told me he was sitting on the beach one day watching sailboats sailing on the Gulf of Mexico. He said he thought to himself " I could do that". That's when it started he began to buy sailing books of all kinds. He started reading blogs from people around the world who were sailing. Soon we started looking at boats. And here we are at the start of our adventure. Our first REAL sailing lesson was on Lake Erie. That was quite an experience, we were on three different boats that weekend being instructed by an elderly gentleman who never talked about life jackets. Later it occurred to us, uhhhh maybe we needed life jackets on those rough waters that day, especially when John was summoned on deck to untangle a line.
First. Sailing Lesson
Life Is Good, Sail On!!!!
Thursday, January 9, 2014
Moondance's Galley aka Kitchen
As we all know, well those of us who cook, you need a nicely stocked galley aka kitchen on your boat. That means some thoughtful research and shopping for just the right supplies. To many things and you won't have room, too few and not much cooking will go on. So I have read blogs and looked at books and decided to do some shopping. Online shopping is my favorite way to shop these days. What I decided on was plates of course sail flag designed melamine, silverware blue handles to match the sail flag plates. :) utensils, some thought goes into that because Moondance has a small silverware drawer and a few wooden spoons, spatula and large spoon. Still trying to decide on cups??? Not sure what kind and how many we can have onboard?? Except of course coffee mugs, sailing mugs no less.
We like the saying "keep calm and carry on", so when I found the coffee mug that said "keep calm and sail one" HAD to have it to go with Moondance's coffee maker. Coffee isn't as good in a glass or plastic cup, probably a psychological thing more than anything. Then there's the toaster of course.
Not much but we still have a mental list of other things we think might be useful for our summer sailing excursion. Maybe a griddle, John loves pancakes. A crock pot is a possibility. These items will have to be stored in the starboard front cabin as Moondance's galley is compact. There is also the need for that new refrigerator and freezer. Since we lost the refrigerator when the batteries were left to dehydrate in Miami. We decided a freezer would be awesome. I decided a drawer type fridge and freezer is the best for us. Thinking about some type of oven and bread maker. More research needed for those items. It is all about space and electric capabilities. Then there are cooking pots. They sell pans that fit nicely into each other and the handles come off. They take up very little space. Then there the few decorations to make it homey.......baskets and nice sailboat and red kitchen towels. We also need to decide on where to put a paper towel holder that won't fly away when it gets rough at sea. We tried Velcro for a decorative wooden anchor we got for Christmas. That may work, will have to try it. We put the anchor on a shelf so far so good. This is kinda like that first apartment or dorm room when you leave home the first time :).....
Life Is Good, Sail On !!!!
We like the saying "keep calm and carry on", so when I found the coffee mug that said "keep calm and sail one" HAD to have it to go with Moondance's coffee maker. Coffee isn't as good in a glass or plastic cup, probably a psychological thing more than anything. Then there's the toaster of course.
Not much but we still have a mental list of other things we think might be useful for our summer sailing excursion. Maybe a griddle, John loves pancakes. A crock pot is a possibility. These items will have to be stored in the starboard front cabin as Moondance's galley is compact. There is also the need for that new refrigerator and freezer. Since we lost the refrigerator when the batteries were left to dehydrate in Miami. We decided a freezer would be awesome. I decided a drawer type fridge and freezer is the best for us. Thinking about some type of oven and bread maker. More research needed for those items. It is all about space and electric capabilities. Then there are cooking pots. They sell pans that fit nicely into each other and the handles come off. They take up very little space. Then there the few decorations to make it homey.......baskets and nice sailboat and red kitchen towels. We also need to decide on where to put a paper towel holder that won't fly away when it gets rough at sea. We tried Velcro for a decorative wooden anchor we got for Christmas. That may work, will have to try it. We put the anchor on a shelf so far so good. This is kinda like that first apartment or dorm room when you leave home the first time :).....
Life Is Good, Sail On !!!!
Wednesday, January 8, 2014
Yikes, Lights on a Sailboat
Who would have thought the importance of light on a boat not to mention the cost yikes. Well let's see you need to have LED of course it pulls less power according to the latest research. How can you add light to the exterior of a boat without wiring duhhh. There has to be light on the outside to guide us in case we are ever get caught off guard again watching the sunset while trying to find a marina.
Then there are the lights inside Moondance, the cabins and salon. That would be seven cabin and four salon lights. Wow of course switch to LED and of course make sure the wiring is safe and good. Then of course there is wiring to the pumps oh geeze who would have thought there would be three pumps on a 35' sailboat. Gotta make sure all that pump wiring is good too. I will say this is quite a good hospital, thorough for sure. No responsible boater would journey far without ensuring safety.
We will be safe on the water the next trip. John, the construction guy he is kept telling me, electric and water don't mix.
Moondance is on her way in a few short weeks she will be good as new and ready to head north.
Gotta post a few pics of some nice brass cabin lights of course. Perfect Moondance's teak wood will look great with these.
Oh my more electric gotta take care of installing a refrigerator and freezer.
Life Is Good, Sail On !!!!
Then there are the lights inside Moondance, the cabins and salon. That would be seven cabin and four salon lights. Wow of course switch to LED and of course make sure the wiring is safe and good. Then of course there is wiring to the pumps oh geeze who would have thought there would be three pumps on a 35' sailboat. Gotta make sure all that pump wiring is good too. I will say this is quite a good hospital, thorough for sure. No responsible boater would journey far without ensuring safety.
We will be safe on the water the next trip. John, the construction guy he is kept telling me, electric and water don't mix.
Moondance is on her way in a few short weeks she will be good as new and ready to head north.
Gotta post a few pics of some nice brass cabin lights of course. Perfect Moondance's teak wood will look great with these.
Life Is Good, Sail On !!!!
Tuesday, January 7, 2014
Yoga on a sailboat
Inside Moondance is another story there isn't a lot of room for yoga. The only place inside would be in the starboard guest cabin. Maybe I'll try that on a rainy day.
Life Is Good, Sail On !!!!
Monday, January 6, 2014
Navigation and the Weather
We have been putting a lot of thought into preparing Moondance for living on her for the summer. We have learned that having an outside chart plotter linked to our inside chart plotter as well as paper charts are necessary. We have also learned that tide charts are also important for several reasons, but mostly for anchoring. Plotting our next stop is important, what marina will we stop at, what are the water levels, what anchorage and where and what are the water levels...
While playing in the ICW over Christmas we found ourselves once unprepared trying to dock at a marina after the sun began to set without lights on Moondance. This was not safe but thankfully it was uneventful. We did have a handheld spot light that I was able to hold for John as he navigated into Nettles Island Marina that evening. Moondance will not be without lights when she gets out of the marine hospital at cape Canaveral.
I think it is important to have radar to get weather forecast. As we now know from our first sail adventure all of our adventures / maneuvering on the water are planned and controlled by the weather. Waves and tides, direction of the wind, and when and where it is going to rain and for how long, etc..etc... One couple we met while on our journey said one rainy night. "I have never been so controlled by the weather in my life till I began to live aboard a boat." Being safe is more important then being at a desired destination at a specific time or day.
Life Is Good, Sail On!!!!
Cape Canaveral, Florida
Tide Chart
Local time: 2014-01-06 2:32 PM EST
While playing in the ICW over Christmas we found ourselves once unprepared trying to dock at a marina after the sun began to set without lights on Moondance. This was not safe but thankfully it was uneventful. We did have a handheld spot light that I was able to hold for John as he navigated into Nettles Island Marina that evening. Moondance will not be without lights when she gets out of the marine hospital at cape Canaveral.
I think it is important to have radar to get weather forecast. As we now know from our first sail adventure all of our adventures / maneuvering on the water are planned and controlled by the weather. Waves and tides, direction of the wind, and when and where it is going to rain and for how long, etc..etc... One couple we met while on our journey said one rainy night. "I have never been so controlled by the weather in my life till I began to live aboard a boat." Being safe is more important then being at a desired destination at a specific time or day.
Life Is Good, Sail On!!!!
Cape Canaveral, Florida
Tide Chart
Local time: 2014-01-06 2:32 PM EST
Weather: http://www.ndbc.noaa.gov/data/Forecasts/FZUS52.KMLB.html
Saturday, January 4, 2014
Stripped Sailing Cloth
One of the things we are planning to change / update on Moondance is her salon cushions. So I am searching for the perfect fabric, sunbrella of course. Since I decided to decorate using sail flag patterns and colors I think I want a blue and white stripe cloth fabric for her new cushions, that would be perfect. John and I both like colorful..... I think it will match nice with the rugs and pillows she has so far. Ok that was easy found the perfect fabric I like it's called Lido Indigo. Lido which means beach in Italian sounds awesome, so I think it's perfect. Here is the link if you'd like to take a look and let me know what you think, will it go with the sail flag rug? Yeah I think so :)
http://www.sunbrella.com/showroom/?lang=en_us#submit=thumbnail&screen=detail&style=57004-0000&limits=111111
Life Is Good, Sail On !!!!
http://www.sunbrella.com/showroom/?lang=en_us#submit=thumbnail&screen=detail&style=57004-0000&limits=111111
Life Is Good, Sail On !!!!
 |
Pillows to match :)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)