Desert Star PDQ 36

2012-01-05T10:33:00.002-05:00

History: Coast Guard General Order Number One

January 05, 2012

U.S. Coast Guard

For more than 220 years, the U.S. Coast Guard, and its legacy services, has been part of the fabric of our nation. The service has gone by many names before being called the “U.S. Coast Guard,” and January marks nearly a century since two services joined to take that name.

It was 97 years ago this month when Ellsworth P. Bertholf, the hero of the Overland Rescue and the then-current Captain Commandant of the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service, issued General Order No. 1. Sent by telegram from his fourth floor office in the headquarters building in downtown Washington, D.C., Bertholf’s order announced the creation of the country’s newest federal agency—the United States Coast Guard.

This new agency was a union of two existing agencies: the U.S. Revenue Cutter Service and the U.S. Life-Saving Service.

(reprinted from Military.Com)

http://www.uscgproject.com/ (New USCG HQ Bldg, Washington, DC

Happy New Year

2011-12-31T18:23:00.001-05:00

Just a quick wish to all our friends and family to have a joyous, safe and happy 2012 - wherever your boat, RV or home resides.

All the best from,
Eric and Bonnie

The Best Oyster Roast Ever

2011-11-26T18:09:00.002-05:00

I've been to a lot of oyster roasts in my life, from New Jersey to the Far East. I must say however, that the best one I have ever been to was the one today in Cape Charles, Virginia.

They limited the tickets to about 300 people and had over 1200 lbs of oysters. There were three kinds; bay, ocean and farm raised. They served them steamed, roasted and raw. There was also loads of other foods and deserts.

Everything was home made by volunteers and there was a fun band.

It was a great time! I am so stuffed...

Out for the Winter

2011-11-04T10:05:00.002-04:00

November is here and while many of our friends are beginning their voyages south to Florida and the Bahamas, we again have pulled the boat for the winter. Next year... ..hopefully... it will be our turn.

Hauling out

A guy who was working on his catamaran in May was using Recovery Orange bottom paint on his rudder and dagger board. He gave me what was left and I painted Dessie's rudders (on an earlier post).

After a season in the Chesapeake Bay, the rudder looked like it had a beard. The growth was far more extensive than the rest of the bottom. The keels had West Marine Ablative, the hull Interlux Micron Ablative, and the rudders were a hard coat non-ablative racing paint from a manufacturer I did not write down.

One season with Tropical bottom paint on the rudders

The Interlux was both the best to prevent growth, and also the best at wearing off (Ablative). It appears to be able to do another season, but we'll probably repaint it as we will repaint the keels and rudders with it as well.

We will be watching the progress of our friends as they travel south. Here is one of the links.

Vision Quest: http://visionquestiv.wordpress.com

I hope to use the Hobie Cat with a wet suit for a little longer.

Brrrrr.

Sunday on the Chesapeake Bay

2011-10-23T19:42:00.000-04:00

Today was a beautiful Fall day on the Bay. This is the first autumn for Bonnie and I in Annapolis. The everyday experience is as good as the summer was. Being four houses from the Bay on one side and 25 or so houses from the creek where we keep a variety of boats to play on is really great.

This afternoon I took our good friends out a for a sail on the new Hobie cat. Diane and Lucy came on the boat, while Tim recorded with their video camera from the crab pier.

Lucy had a great time and we all only got a little wet.

Here is video I took with the GoPro camera.

Then I took Casey's dog Keely for a sail. She loves the water and is eager to be on it, by it, or in it. She didn't seem too trilled at the cool water temperature though, and was happy just to go for a short ride.

Then I recorded packing up the Hobie to see how long it took. It was just under 7 minutes to pack it all up. Another reason I like the Hobie.

We had a light dinner and Bonnie continued to wash bottles for her new Bottle Slumping Hobby.

The PDQ 36 gets hauled out November 2nd for the winter. I really hope this is the last year, and that next year we will be taking it south that first week of November. Here's hoping...

New Hobie Wave

2011-10-16T16:45:00.000-04:00

I sailed Hobie's when I was a kid and always enjoyed Beach Cats at resorts. Finding this used one at a great price made the decision pretty easy for us, me anyway, to have one at the end of the street.

We purchased a used Hobie Wave a couple weeks ago, as I was looking for a fun little boat to play on the Bay with. The PDQ is great, but its fun to have something that I can set up and use quickly.

I have had to Hobie to about 15 knots off Thomas Point. I haven't tipped it over yet, and with the weather getting colder I might avoid trying to do it.

Here is a video of an easy ride on October 16th.

We sold the Carolina Skiff, as it would balance the cost of the Hobie, and is not useful for when we go spend winters in the Bahamas. We think it would be better to upgrade our RIB and get a larger engine. Perhaps in the next couple months we may purchase an aluminum AB RIB with a new engine and small console to take with us as our tender.

Hurricane Irene

2011-08-31T22:25:00.000-04:00

Irene has come and gone, and in her wake she did not leave much damage to our boats or those of our friends. My boat in Fishing Creek recorded the highest gust at 62kts, at about 2am.

Of course many trees did not fare so well and power has been out for a few days. We know of a couple homes that were damaged by falling trees.

Near our boat, in Fishing Creek, two boats did sustain damage. A Hunter 36 broke off its mooring. The line they had on the mooring chaffed through and the boat broke free. Fortunately the boat had an anchor out as a backup and that kept it from getting blown south, out of the creek and into the Bay.

The other boat was in a slip across the creek. The owner decided not to take down the roller furling Genoa. It came unfurled during the storm and was shredded in the wind. It also pulled the boat against the pilings and bulkhead and did some damage to the hull.

My neighbor Steve decided to go for a sail in the afternoon as the winds rose. Then we decided to take the Avon out to the Bay and see how choppy it was. I have to say that it was a blast. Here is the video:

I sure hope Katia does not get a taste for some Maryland Crabs...

Croatia 2011

2011-07-19T18:40:00.349-04:00

The trip to Croatia was incredible. The beauty of the architecture, cleanliness of the country, quality of the food, friendliness of the people, and the striking contrasts of limestone cliffs and deep blue waters, all made for a wonderful adventure.

View of Hvar looking down from the fort

We took many, many photos and about 9 GB of video during the journey. We divided the video into sections to make it a bit less overwhelming.

All the photos, arranged by city are posted on Photobucket - http://s1177.photobucket.com/albums/x355/EricEpstein/HSA%20Croatia%202011/

Trogir

We arrived into Trogir by taxi from the Split airport. The town is an island that was once a walled city built in the 3rd century. You can find the history here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trogir

Satellite view of Trogir

The Town Square after dark.

Ancient wine press

Clock at the entrance to the city

Ancient well in the city

We had dinner at the Hotel Trogir but stayed at the Trogir Palace Hotel that night. Many of the others in our group stayed at a hotel nearby.

Dinner of grilled squid at the Hotel Trogir

The next day we took a water taxi to Split, the second largest city in Croatia.

Split

It was built about 200 BC and later the Roman Emperor Diocletian (305AD) built his palace there. I can't do the history justice in a short summary, so here is the link to much greater detail - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Split,_Croatia

The Palace was quite incredible and we had a wonderful tour of it from Maria our tour guide.

Actors in the Palace

Eric and Bonnie along the waterfront

Some of the group, while waiting for the ferry

After touring Split, we picked up the taxi to the Sunsail marina in Kremek, checked out out our boats and then took a taxi to Primosten, a neighboring town, for dinner. We slept on the boat in Kremek and bought supplies the next morning.

At about 10am we cast off at headed to the island of Solta for our second night on the boat.

A summary of our first two days is on this YouTube link:

Solta

We arrived in Sesula Bay, Solta about 3pm. We had thought they had a couple mooring balls for us to tie up to, but what was there were hybrid Med Moorings with long lines to the shore. The restaurant tried to accommodate all the boats that arrived, and squeezed over a dozen boats on a set of moorings meant for perhaps six to eight. It was quite a sight to watch the guy on the dinghy act as a tug to spread boats apart so more could fit in.

Squeezing into the moorings

A look down the row of boats

A view from the hill of most of the boats. More were to the left.

We ate dinner at the restaurant that supplied the moorings. The food was very fresh and good and we had a blast.

We left Solta at 7am to get an early start for Hvar. Our hope was to tie up downtown, but we were told it gets crowded early. The winds were calm again and we motor sailed all the way.

Hvar

When we came around the turn from the channel into Hvar harbor, we were amazed at the beauty. Even after seeing Trogir and Split, Hvar was quite a sight.

For a history of Hvar, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hvar_(city)

We decided to try to see if dock space was available on the main quay. We came in between two large motor yachts - one of which had to be about 200'. The harbor master let us in, and we and Komoa moored next to each other right on the main walk in front of the town. It was really a blast to be there. If we had not left Solta so early and arrived just about 10am, there probably would not have been any space.

Backing into the Mediterranean mooring along the town waterfront

Lunch in the town square

The long narrow walk up to the fortress on the hill

The fortress above Hvar

View of Hvar from the highest point above the city

That walk up to the fortress and back wasn't too bad, although it was pretty hot out. Fortunately there were many nice Gelato ice cream stands in the town.

We had lunch in the main square and like all the meals we had, it was very good. This time it was Italian food and the pizza dough was extraordinary.

For dinner, we dined at the Park Hotel's restaurant which had a great view of the harbor. That night we walked around the streets and enjoyed the sights, music and people watching.

We provided the people passing with a short American musical compilation for the Fourth and had the boats adorned with red, white and blue banners.

Back on the boats, we enjoyed home made cheese cake dessert. It rained late that night for a couple hours.

Here is a compiled video of Solta and Hvar.

Lastovo

We left about 9:30am to head for Lastovo. It has a population of about 750 and is really just a small fishing village with a few restaurants. There is one dive shop as the surrounding waters boast an ancient wreck with urns still on the site, and a WWII German Torpedo boat.

We tied up at the Restaurant/Bar (called Konoba in Croatian) named Augusta Insula. They, like many waterfront restaurants in the smaller villages offer free mooring for the night if you eat in the restaurant.

They were able to squeeze about seven boats along the waterfront docks at the restaurant. Lobster, which was their specialty, was kept in traps on the dock. Here is the link to Trip Advisor (http://www.tripadvisor.ca/Restaurant_Review-g1175144-d1529818-Reviews-Augusta_Insula-Lastovo_Island.html) on the restaurant.

We found the lobster pasta, octopus and everything else to be excellent. The price was very reasonable and even with a 30 minute power outage to the entire island the dinner took only the normal three hours of a Croatian dinner.

Getting our lobster for dinner

They offer a place to sit on the waterfront and decent bathrooms

Boats moored Med style

Everyone at dinner

Much of the cooking is done outside

View of boats from the restaurant

Mark and Joelle

Everyone making their way to dinner

They also supplied electric for the boats

Korcula

The first view of the city from the water was stunning.

We left Lastovo at about 9am and made the long run to Korcula were we had reservations at the ACI marina there.

We stopped at a cove by the Raznjic light, about 3/4 of the way to Korcula for a swim and to explore the shore. The shoreline was like a moonscape.

Mark snorkeled while Joelle, Bonnie and I paddled to shore in the dinghy.

We met up our friends on Komoa II at the marina.

ACI Marina viewed from the walled portion of the city.

Boats moored off of the city wall

Mark and Joelle

Eric and Bonnie on the top of the tower

Supposedly the place where Marco Polo set out on his explorations

A bust of Marco Polo

A view from the top of the city wall

Hundreds of years of war, rebuilding, and growth have created unique structures in Korcula.

We always found great places to eat - with equally good views.

The entrance to the old city.

The docks for the local boats.

We found a large grocery store and a market in Korcula, so we stocked up on food, beverages, and some souvenirs.

Here is a compiled video of Lastovo and Korcula.

For more information on Korcula's history, here is the Wikipedia link: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kor%C4%8Dula

Pomena

We set out from Korcula about 10:15am as it was a short sail to Pomena. We arrived a couple hours later at 12:45p at the restaurant 'Nine' (pronounced Ne na') which offered the customary free dockage for eating there. Komoa II had beat us there as we spotted a large pod of dolphins and got distracted for a while. We got some great video of them.

Komoa's crew was eating from a large pot of mussels and spaghetti. So we felt inclined to order the same thing for the six of us. The mussels came right from the bags hanging on the end of the dock by our boats.

BTW, all boats must close their holding tank thru-hulls when in port. :-0

This symbol means cable crossing, do not anchor.
I have video of one cable crossing just a foot or two under the surface.

We hiked to the National Park to see the Fourth Century Basilica built as an island on one of two inland tidal lakes. The hike was nice and the park was extraordinary. We took a water taxi to the Basilica.

Inside the Basilica

View of the larger lake from the Basilica

After the hike was all went for a swim off of the dock by the restaurants. I did a bit of snorkeling which is on the video.

We combined ingredients with Komoa II and they made some great Painkillers which we drank before dinner. We ate at Nine again and had a variety of wonderful seafood and pork dishes.

Here is the compiled video from Pomena and the cave on the eastern side of Mljet.

Lopud

We left early from Pomena, about 7:15am so we could do a bit of sight seeing along the coast of the island of Mljet. We were told the day before about a cave along the Adriatic side of the island.

We and Komoa found the cave about halfway down the island. It was a pretty wild guess as to the spot, which Greg calculated from a topography map on his iPad that show the only walking trail to that part of the coast.

BTW, each of the two boats had an iPad and Navionics software on them. I used it almost exclusively over the boats chartplotter as it could zoom in far more than the chip supplied with the boat's plotter.

View of the cave entrance from inside

I guess this is what happens when you get stuck in the cave during a storm

We arrived in Lopud about 1:15, and after making a pass of the waterfront, found a place shallow enough to anchor. The bottom of a small area off of the town is sand and grass about 45' deep. The rest is rock and is over 100' deep.

We took the dinghy to town and walked around. There were quite a few ferries on the docks, and many tourists.

We walked along the water front and up to the large fort/church on the north side.

Here is the link to more info on Lopud http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lopud

Many homes and restaurants used grape vines to cover outdoor seating.

In most towns we saw walled in areas to moor small boats.

Much of the Lopud waterfront was converted to rental units for tourists.

The hotel LaFodia was a unique structure and did not fit with the rest of the town. It was the only large hotel we saw outside of Dubrovnik that did not blend with the rest of the architecture.

Here is more on the hotel: http://www.lafodiahotel.com/

Above the hotel along the waterfront was a large piece of land for sale.
Ancient ruins included...

The town has no grocery store and does not allow cars, except for the trash trucks that come in by barge to collect garbage.

We had decided to eat dinner aboard to finish up all the food we had. To start, we collected up all the rum and combined with what Komoa had, to reduce what we had to carry off of the boat. The happy hour did not end until well after dark, and we never did get to dinner.

Dubrovnik

Lopud is a short hop to Dubrovnik. We left at about 8:15am and headed directly towards the city. Rather than go directly to the marina, we sailed by the city waterfront and by the harbor entrance to get a good look at the city from the water.

It was a magnificent site. The large city rising above the Adriatic was huge and beautiful.

Dubrovnik as we sailed past.

The six of us as we came about in front of Dubrovnik harbor.

A view from the upper wall.

The Northwest side of the city.

Dubrovnik Harbor

Our friends sailing into the harbor.

We spent the day sightseeing and took a lot of photos and video. Our photos are on Photobucket at: http://s1177.photobucket.com/albums/x355/EricEpstein/HSA%20Croatia%202011/

We turned in the boat the evening before it was due and stayed on board for the night. The next day we checked into the hotel and toured Dubrovnik again. Bonnie made reservations in a very nice hotel with a great view of Dubrovnik. To our surprise, the hotel was located adjacent to where the fireworks commemorating the start of the Summer Festival were to be held. We ate dinner on the water front restaurant and watched the fireworks from the best vantage point I have ever had.

The partying in Dubrovnik that night was pretty wild. When we woke up at 4:30am to get ready to head to the airport, the music and dancing was still going.

It was a tremendous trip and we had one of the best vacations ever.

((Video of Dubrovnik to come soon))

~~~~~~~/)~~~~~~~

A Couple Days In London

2011-07-14T15:49:00.000-04:00

June 30 - July 1

On our way to Croatia for a week long sailing charter, Bonnie was able to figure out a nice layover in London so we could do some sightseeing. It was Bonnie's first time across "The Pond" and she wanted to see as much as possible.

Here is a photo of us along the Thames

We took a bus tour of downtown London and put that into a short video on YouTube.

There were many great sites to see. Downtown London (both Westminster and Old London) are incredible sights.

We also got to see Mara, my cousin's daughter, who is working on her PhD in London.

Memorial Day Weekend

2011-06-01T19:23:00.000-04:00

We had a great weekend with our Severn River Yacht Club friends in Cambridge, Maryland. We sailed over there on Saturday morning about 11, from our mooring ball, and got in five hours later to Cambridge Yacht Club.

We motor sailed the entire way, with our main up in the Bay as almost head-to-wind for 12 miles. Then we turned into Knapps Narrows and went under the draw bridge. From there we had our jib up, but left the leeward engine running to keep up speed. We averaged 6.5 knots down the Bay and 8.5 across the Choptank.

The SRYC gang was of course, a blast. Lots of food and drink. The committee chair for the event had some activities planned to keep us on our toes as well.

We toured Cambridge and took advantage of the incredible weather. None of us can remember such perfect weather on a Memorial day weekend.

I played with the GOPRO HD camera I bought for BVI and tried to replicate some of the videos and photos on our boat.

We sailed back about 9am Monday morning. There was almost no wind so we motored all the way home. We still made it in five and a half hours.

Can't wait for the next sailing trip...

Launched and ready for summer

2011-05-23T10:07:00.000-04:00

We finally got the boat launched and ready for summer. She is on her mooring ball waiting for the next adventure. We are wondering if we will have the money to take her south this winter - if only to use her a little. If not, she'll be back on the 'hard' next winter.

Its not that we will suffer if we don't get to take her south this winter, but it would be very nice. We also want to get down to St Thomas again, for a short trip sometime soon, and we already have the tickets for early July in Croatia, via a stop in the UK.

If we don't get Dessie south this winter we will be chartering a boat in the Bahamas this Fall, so that we can get a feel for the islands.

This week we will be watching the Blue Angels from the Severn River, and then off to Cambridge for the long weekend. Its a great way to start the season...

In the photo you'll see the International Orange rudder's on Dessie. A guy nearby was painting his rudders and keel on his cat with this paint, as he was heading to Europe and wanted to make sure if he flipped, that someone would see the boat. He gave me the leftover paint. Although I certainly don't plan on flipping, I thought it was fun to do. The travel lift operator at the marina thought they would be good for attracting Rockfish.

A ride in a big power boat

2011-04-28T20:37:00.000-04:00

Our friends Tom and Kristy are part of the boating club and get a variety of boats they can use. The largest is a 35 foot Carver. They took it out for a run last weekend and I decided it would be fun to tag along and play with the new video camera. Its not as great as the BVI video, but I got much better at time-lapse video.

We spent $118 in fuel for less than 3 hours on the water. Our sailboat would motor about 200 miles on that, or travel about 300 miles with one engine, motor-sailing. But is was a very pretty boat and we had a great time.

March 5 - 12, 2011 in the British Virgin Islands

2011-04-18T20:37:00.002-04:00

I never did put together the story of the week on the boat. We stayed on the Eastern Islands such as Cooper, Norman, Virgin Gorda, etc. We dove on The Dogs and the Indians, and snorkeled everywhere we could.

The two boats - a Catana 47 and R&C 46 were a blast. The 17 of us had an incredible time and enjoyed being in paradise with good friends.

I recorded about 8 GB of video with the GoPro Hero I purchased. I trimmed it down to about 15 minutes for a YouTube posting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kyDOpf4jhAg

I also put another 30 or so raw footage videos on YouTube. You can find them by searching "eepstnet" or "SRYC BVI"

The video tells the story of the week very well.

The drinks came in buckets...

I had endless ideas for mounting the GoPro in odd places...

... and when I mounted it on a boat hook, I was able to get some cool shots and videos.

From any angle, it was beautiful there.

Only one more week until our boat hits the water. The Chesapeake Bay wont be nearly as clear, but it will be good to be out on the Bay.

March 3rd and 4 th - US Virgin Islands

2011-03-23T20:37:00.001-04:00

Thursday, March 3rd

We flew down to the US Virgin Islands on Thursday to have a couple days to unwind before our sailing charter was to start on Saturday.

Fortunately we have friends in Paradise and met up with Julian and a coworker of his Mark who is an avid catamaran racer.

We waited for Julian at the bar in the baggage claim. Yes, a bar in baggage claim! How come the airlines here haven’t figured out that a bar would take the edge off of waiting for bags at airports?

Julian is being reassigned to Washington DC which Bonnie and I just cannot fathom as I was figuring out on a napkin over dinner how much of a pay cut I can handle to apply to be the PC Technician for the TSA at the St Thomas Airport. I might be a bit overqualified, but we could live on the sailboat and Bonnie could sell stuff on the Internet to pad our livelihoods.

Anyway, with all the kids, animals, and properties that dream was short lived – for now.

So Julian, Mark, Bonnie and I ate conch and talked of Caribbean islands, how those two came to live here, and catamarans. It was a great evening.

Our room at the Frenchman’s reef was inside facing but very reasonably priced. As we would have a week of on-the-water views, we weren’t worried about seeing a garden for a couple nights.

Friday March 4th

Friday we took the water taxi from Frenchman's reef to downtown and toured the shops and water front.

The Iguanas were eying bonnie as she has a red top on, and their favorite food is a red flower.

The rain came just as we were crossing the Bay. Fortunately we had raincoats with us. The water taxi captain suggested a restaurant in town for lunch and to stay dry until the rain passed.

After the rains we were treated to a nice rainbow.

Bonnie found a Blue diamond ring in one of the shops and she bought me a new pair of sunglasses for the trip.

We spent all day in St Thomas and met up with Mark and Julian for sushi on Friday night.

BTW - All the photos from trip are posted at: https://picasaweb.google.com/SRYCphotos/2011BVITrip#

What's in your Ditch Bag?

2011-02-12T21:22:00.002-05:00

I had made this for some friends about ten years ago, then found it for Ocean Dreamer to add to his Ditch Bag list. Its a bit tongue-in-cheek. I updated it a bit for modern technology...

Ditch Bag Items

EPIRB (cause the USCG like everyone else only uses technology these days)
PLB (cause the Coasties think only one emergency beacon is a false alarm)
Streamer (to float on the water so they find your body)
Life jackets (to keep the ditch bag floating - and you)
Flares (for a false sense of security)
Laser flare (to actually signal someone)
Cell phone (hopefully you have time to grab it and put it in a dry bag)
VHF radio (in a bag, to call for help since your cell phone is wet)
WX radio/world radio (to listen to music while trying to survive)
GPS (to know what no one else knows - where you are)
Water proof bags (for each piece of electronics you actually might need)
Water bottles (for that life saving liquid - rum)
Food bars (cause its bad to drink on an empty stomach)
Head lamp (to find the rum, and signal the Coastie who is busy texting on his cell phone)
Signal mirror (to annoy passing pilots and boat operators)
Compass (so you know which way home might be if you were only drifting that way)
Charts of the area (so you can be sure you are drifting the wrong way)
Exposure suit (to keep your skin from getting all wrinkled)
Strobe light (to keep beat with the music at night)
Batteries (cause all the ones in your electronics will most likely be dead)
Bailer (to keep your dinghy dry - if you remembered to untie it from the boat before it sank)
Hat (Cause sunburn sucks)
Sunglasses (might as well be comfortable)
Sunscreen (shark repellent)
First aid kit (for the boo boo you got when you abandoned ship)
Long pole or boat hook (to poke sharks or retrieve stuff that floated away)
Snorkeling mask (to see what is nibbling at you, or to watch the EBIRB or VHF sinking in to the depths)
Water shoes (to walk home across the reef you just hit)
20 feet of 3/8" line (to tie your wife or other valuables to you)
Four 6 foot 1/8" lines (to tie stuff together so you don't need the long pole)
Crab pot floats (to tie to stuff that might sink - like everything in the bag when you open it)
Cash (cause if you are lucky enough to be rescued, you'll need cash to buy food so you don't starve)
A bathing suit (Cause your clothes are still in your cabin)
Waterproof camera (so you can take photos and make millions after you are rescued - or at least update your Blog)

New Toy - GoPro Hero

2011-02-06T00:59:00.001-05:00

In preparation for our March trip to BVI, I decided it was time to upgrade to a new dive camera. After a lot of shopping and contemplating the other ways I would use it, I decided to buy a GoPro Hero HD.

Coincidently, this week, they announced the add-on LCD screen, so now its an even better option for the trip and using it for other adventures. I also plan to take action shots from the boat, snorkeling, and wherever else I can think of.

Stay tuned for photos and videos...

Winter Activities

2011-01-30T21:25:00.000-05:00

For the last couple months we have been busier than even our normal busy lives. We keep raising the bar on what one would call "overloaded", but we then add even more to the mix and then say this is all we can handle. Until of course, more comes along.

Our goal is not actually to kill ourselves, but rather to 'downsize' so that we can move to Annapolis, have minimal monthly bills, live part of the year on the boat, and be 'semi-retired'. Now that the kids are all over 18 and out of high school, we are taking to this next phase of our lives with a lot of gusto.

Here's the list of the big items:

Shrink-wrap Dessie for winter [DONE]
Decide whether to enlarge, sell, rent, or something else with Fishing Creek [RENTED]
Find a house in Annapolis at a great price, but would like it to be bigger, newer, near Fishing Creek, have a water view, and be large enough for all the kids to visit. [DONE] (Okay now I know I live a charmed life!)
Sell Bonnie's house in Alexandria. [CONTRACT for March 1st Closing] (another miracle)
Make new house livable; working water, hot water, heat and patch roof [UNDERWAY] (the water is warm and brown in the tub, cold and brown dripping from the ceiling and the house is warm enough)
Get rid of everything Bonnie and I don't need. [UNDERWAY]
Pack and move to Annapolis [SLOW BUT STARTED]
Beg for student loans for all the kids [IN PROGRESS]
Get Casey off to WyoTech [LOTS TO DO]
Don't volunteer for anything else. [FAILED] I'm now the Membership Chair at philsoc.org, Piers & Harbors volunteer at Oyster Harbor,
Bonnie to build Internet business so we have income we can continue from Caribbean [UNDERWAY}
Eric to figure out how to reduce billable consulting time, but still make money. {PONDERING]
Plan for BVI trip with friends in March - right after we move. [UNDERWAY]

So far so good. We sure have been lucky with all of this so far! ....knock on wood :-)

Here are some photos of what has been happening:

To ensure one aspect of life is stable, we paid to have Dessie shrink-wrapped for the winter. Parker recommended Above the Waterline out of Annapolis and they did a great job at a very reasonable price.

So that's one thing done. Other than checking on her, there is not much to do until James comes to fix the steering in the early Spring.

Fishing Creek is Rented to a very nice couple from Richmond - thanks to listings on VRBO.com and Rent.com.

We purchased the ugliest house we have ever owned! But it sour has a lot of potential (and leaks).

We started remodeling right away...

Here's why we bought the house....

Our first dinner. We felt like twenty-somethings again...

We have over 100 products on Amazon and EBay, and have exclusive distribution rights in the US to one of them (http://www.groasis.com) on Amazon and EBay. This is probably temporary though, but we are enjoying it. Check out www.ardentideas.com to see where we are going with all of this...

Hanukkah slipped by and Christmas came and went without offers on the Jane Way house. We were starting to worry...

Of course there is always time for a social life. Events at the Philosophical Society, Smithsonian Opening Night, Company Christmas Party at the Natural History museum, and Change of Watch at the Severn River yacht Club were loads of fun.

Then we got the contract on Jane Way. The Home Inspector found almost nothing wrong with the house. Bonnie had it in amazingly good shape when we put it up for sale. This is a big step for Bonnie, as big as when I sold the house in Herndon to merge our households.

We had a planning meeting today with our friends for our trip to BVI in March. Two 46' catamarans with 16 people in total. It will certainly be our reward for all the hard work from October to February.

So its not all crazy here, and we will be living in Annapolis in less than 30 days.

The first time I saw Annapolis, and thought it would be a great place to live was the summer of 1982 while I was stationed at Quantico.

Eric 1982

And it won't be too long - perhaps even next winter, that we can begin the next dream of winters in the Caribbean.

Here's hoping....

Out for the Winter

2010-11-22T21:25:00.000-05:00

Someday we will be heading south for the winter. But until then, we are high and dry for another winter season. I did take the opportunity this time to have the boat compounded and waxed. She sure looks good.

We have really enjoyed the Blogs of other cruisers' travels. There have been some really great posts this year so far.

Speaking of, I have a PDQ Newsletter to write...

Hot Tub Party

2010-09-07T21:58:00.000-04:00

This past weekend was the Yacht Club's 2nd Annual Labor Day sail to St. Michaels. Many of the Club's boats came and we all had a great time at the Miles River Yacht Club. Skip and Judith came with their boat, a 76' motor yacht. They are great people and hosted a hot tub party on the bow of their boat.

The hot tub is quite large, and can hold about 8 people. It takes a lot of water to fill it. During the party, someone knocked the plug out. Amazingly, Skip had enough water on board to refill it.

We also ran into Mike and Rebecca (www.zerotocruising.com) while in town. They have a PDQ32 and have kept a really great Blog of their experiences while going from being new boat owners to full time cruisers. It was nice to meet them. Hopefully we will get to sail with them sometime.

Big Pink Eyes on a Teal Sail

2010-09-07T21:41:00.000-04:00

In August of 2008 when we purchased our PDQ 36, we knew it had a few names and a few owners, but did not know much about it. It came with a Spinnaker and the boat's colors were very festive and Caribbean which Bonnie really liked. One day when sailing up the Bay we decided to open the Asymmetrical spinnaker and see how well it worked. When I pulled up the sock, I was very surprised at what I saw.

Bonnie loved it. Its got some of her favorite colors.

Now, two years later it's still lots of fun to use and I get a kick out of seeing the looks on the faces of passing boaters.

I'd love to know what it looks like from a distance. Certainly we'd be easy to pick out on the Bay.

2010 Annual SRYC Lobster Feast and Weekend Sail

2010-08-03T22:34:00.000-04:00

It was the annual SRYC Lobster Feast this past weekend. We got in a nice sail, lunch on the hook, and a really fun party.

Carl and Elana came with us and Carl brought his new fish eye lens. He got some great photos of the sail and of the party.

The party photos are up at http://picasaweb.google.com/srycphotos

Below are some of the sailing photos and photos of the boat.

Cockpit

Motor sailing along...

The workshop in the aft side of the port hull

The water flowing between the hulls

Tyler was wondering about his XBox

Dinner at the Party

Bonnie missed the memo that the commodore always gets thrown in at this event - and so does anyone standing nearby.

So I go to check on her and I get pushed. Fortunately I was able to get the phone to shore as I was falling. Carl took this great photo, especially considering its high speed with a flash...

Dessie was a bit short for the 80+ foot slip we needed to fit her beamy girth...

So ended a great weekend. It was nice to have Tyler join us for the party and spend the night. He left early Sunday to help Ian move apartments in Richmond.

2010 SRYC Yacht Club Commodore’s Cruise

2010-07-14T20:45:00.000-04:00

After being members of Severn River Yacht Club for 10 years, we were finally able to get away for an entire annual Commodore’s Cruise held each year around July 4th.

This one was to be around the Southern Chesapeake Bay. Our Commodore, Nancy named the cruise “Southern Comfort”. Other than the winds from the wrong direction more than a few times, it certainly lived up to its name. In weather, in meeting people, and in having a great time with good friends – it was always a Comfort.

I loaded the boat Friday evening, and went back home. We left from Fishing Creek on Saturday morning. It was great weather, no rain in the forecast and the wind moderate from the south-southeast. Unfortunately that was the way we were to be heading.

Day One

We motored with the mainsail up, for the 42 miles to Solomon’s, Maryland. It was a long run and it got a bit choppy by mid-bay, while nearing the Gas docks off of Calvert.

We arrived off of the Solomon’s Yachting Center and after stopping for gas, anchored just to the north of the Yachting center. The Club arranged for a space for us to have heavy hors d’ourves right on the water. Discman Rich, a Club member had music. We had a drink before the food was set up and I was quite loopy by sunset. We danced, ate, and did some Karaoke (not me) until about 10, then headed to the boat for the night.

I ran the genset and we had air conditioning all night.

Day Two

We were up at 7am and weighed anchor to head to Kilmarnock. It was another motor-sail for about 30 miles. Not real rough and we were able to hug the cost as we only draw 2’ 10” of water.

When we arrived at the marina (Chesapeake Bay Boat Basin), we dropped anchor. Vernice yelled to us that they had slips, and our location was not very good as the grain barges for Perdue come through there.

We stopped in the office and the owner offered us the end of the T-head at a great price. So we took him up on it and spent another great night with AC power and air conditioning.

The heat was almost unbearable. The thermometer on the door of the boat registered 107 degrees.

Many of the group wanted seafood for dinner. The Marina had a loaner van and we attempted to pack all the people in two trips to drive the 2 miles to the restaurant. The restaurant was very good. Quite causal. We were probably 3/4 of their business for that night.

Day Three

I got up early and left Bonnie to sleep as she had caught the cold I was just getting over.

We motored out of the creek with a line of SRYC boats spread out ahead of us.

The wind was on the nose again, this time at 16 to 18 knots with gusts to 25 knots and seas from 2 to 4 feet. We motor-sailed for a bit and then after figuring the rough VMG of falling off to about 70 degrees apparent wind would only slow us by an hour or so, we made a beeline for the Eastern Shore and killed the engines. We ran for 3 to 4 hours at between 8 and 9 knots. It was a bit bouncy, but was a lot of fun.

We passed the Commodore’s boat, which was motoring, as one of their guests was very sick.

Once we got across the Bay, we were somewhere around Belle Haven and still had about 20 miles to Cape Charles. I alternated between motor-sailing into the wind, and falling off to the west on a port tack, then tacking back after a few miles. Either way our VMG was 5 kts at best. We made the jetty entrance south of Cape Charles and cut across the flats as it was high tide. We made the marina in the early afternoon.

The thermometer on the boat's door said it was 105 degrees. Even with the breeze, we were soaked with sweat.

The marina was incredible. It was huge and as it was fairly new did not have a lot of boats in it. All the boats from the marina mostly fit on D dock, except Skip and Judith who have a 76 foot motor yacht. Our slip was 20 feet wide. We had 50 amp power and enjoyed air conditioning for the entire time in Cape Charles. Lenore Savage (lsavage@baycreek.net) is the dock master if you plan on going sometime.

After we docked, I noticed that the starboard anchor was missing. When I looked closely at it, the dual swivel shackle had lost its front pin. The anchor must have dropped off in a wave or when we were near the end of our trip. I do remember seeing it about ¾ of the way to Cape Charles and made a joke about the anchors now being clean. Unfortunately I got into a nice anchoring routine each day and built some bad habits. Rather than reaching out over the bow rail to tie a rolling hitch on the anchor, I was tying the secondary line to the chain and back half of the shackle. The only part not doubly tied off was the front shackle pin. Of course, that is what failed. I broke two of my own rules that led to the loss of the anchor. One, I hate complicated parts, and never use a swivel shackle. But the boat came with such a nice, heavy duty one, that when I attached this anchor I felt it was a waste not to use it. The second rule was tie off everything with line. Although I did, I had gotten sloppy in the easy daily routine we had.

The anchor was a Spade Anchor from the UK. (www.spadeanchor.com) It’s was aluminum and only about 20 lbs. The anchor held our old boat, and now this one, without ever a problem - sometimes even with 6 rafted boats in high winds. I went to the website to look for a new one. The cost is $960.00 plus shipping – OUCH!

The marina had a wonderful restaurant and a few nice stores. It was built on an old landfill and the glass was surfacing out of the sand in the beach area. Bonnie enjoyed hunting for sea glass at low tide every day.

Aqua, the five star restaurant at the marina, had heavy hors d’ourves and a cash bar for us the first evening. We were stuffed and had no thought of eating dinner.

Days Four, Five, Six, and Seven

We took our folding bikes into town the next morning and went to the remodeled Rayfield’s Drug store and restaurant for breakfast. It was built on an old ice factory and moved from some other part of the town. It has apparently been around for 80 years or so.

We rode down Mason Street (the main drag) after breakfast. We passed an office supply store that had a sign in the window that said "sea glass". I yelled back to Bonnie, asking if she wanted to stop, and a woman’s voice in front of the store shouted back ‘sure’. We rode to the end of the street, to the fishing pier, and then back to the sea glass store (http://www.mjsullivan.com/). The lady who shouted was the co-owner of the store and the mayor of the town – Dora Sullivan. She introduced us to the chief of police and to David, whom she called the “Shorekeeper” as he is the person who most cares for the local environmental issues in Cape Charles.

We had wonderful conversations, and Dora and Bonnie discussed the hobbies they have in common.

Bonnie complained that Bay Creek Marina had no recycling. David and Dora offered to send a truck over to get the recycling from the yacht club boats. David came by about 3:30pm. He was very helpful and full of knowledge about the area.

To learn more about Cape Charles, go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cape_Charles,_Virginia

Bonnie and I brought over some homemade wine to them the next day. Dora shared her 'secret' Sea Glass searching places with us. We searched out some of them and found wild dill and blackberries as well as sea glass.

During the second day in Cape Charles, the winds clocked around to the North. We had had the wind on the nose since we left Annapolis on the 26^th and now it would be on the nose again.

So for comfort – this was the Southern Comfort Cruise after all, most of us decided to spend another day in lovely Cape Charles. So - another day of eating well, exploring the local area, searching for sea glass and making new friends.

The afternoon of the third day did not provide any relief in the forecast for winds for the next day. We were a bit concerned. The next morning many of the sailboats headed out for Onancock early. We stayed behind as Bonnie was not feeling too well – having caught my cold, and the commodore’s guests were not ready to make the voyage, so they were pondering staying in Cape Charles another day.

On one of our explorations, we found a wonderful gourmet food store called Gull Hummock Gourmet Market. The owner was very nice and let us try some wine and cheeses she had. She carried many local wines, so we ended up buying a couple local wines from her. We also purchased some nice cheeses for the BYO appetizers.

Arnon, the Commodore’s husband was able to arrange for some rental cars. By this time the power boaters decided to stay put as well, and drive with us to Onancock for the Oyster roast and party we had planned there. This left us without enough cars for everyone. So Bonnie and I got on our bikes and headed to town to ask Dora about more cars. She was calling a friend of hers about renting a van, when I mentioned that we only had about five people to accommodate. She told her friend never mind and handed us her car keys.

We were very hesitant to accept such a gracious offer. Dora was very trusting, not knowing us very well. But we gave in (pretty easily) and accepted her kindness. The drive up to Onancock was nice. Gary and Julie, friends from another boat, rode with us. I used Bonnie’s GPS (Garmin 486) from the boat as it had a land navigation mode. That made it much easier. Everyone else was packed into three other cars. We purchased salt cured bacon at a rest stop along the way. We arrived in downtown Onancock to meet the boats that were just arriving from Cape Charles. They all had a bouncy trip. We toured the town and enjoyed some sightseeing.

Onancock (http://www.onancock.org/ ) was a quaint town. Not as nice as Cape Charles, but rich in history. Our friends commented that many shops had closed since they were last there. It did appear that most of the restaurants did survive though.

After touring the town and finding a birthday cake for Bonnie, we headed out to the family of one of the yacht club members – who were hosting the party. The Ihling’s had a beautiful secluded place called Nowhere Point looking out on the Onancock Creek.

We ate raw and steamed oysters, and hors d’ourves then hot dogs, burgers, pulled pork, corn on the cob and a rich array of deserts. It was quite a spread and we feasted as we had the entire journey.

We also celebrated Bonnie's birthday there. We served cake with desert. It was a nice treat.

We drove back to Cape Charles, full and content. We dropped off Dora’s car with a full tank, and six bottles of her favorite wine. Bonnie ordered a hat for her from REI as Dora said she liked Bonnie’s.

We slept every night with Air Conditioning, even if the weather was not too hot. Our little catamaran never felt so much like a water front condo.

Day Eight

We arose on July 2^nd, had an easy breakfast, and waited a bit for the other boats to get gas at the fuel dock. Then we took our turn and filled up the tank and the jerry jug for the generators.

We headed out of the creek and turned south with the other boats to avoid the break waters. At the same point we came in at a few days before, we cut across the flats and off to the west. The water was a little shallower, about 4 feet, but fine for us if we were careful.

We put up the sails and headed North. As was the luck on this trip, we were directly into the wind. I played around with a good heading and decided to head for the Rappahannock River mouth, as the VMG seemed good and we would get a nice sail. It was still rough and some of the power boats in the club got a good pounding.

We did pretty well, averaging 7.5 to 8 knots. But I noticed the wind and current was pushing us off to the south a bit. If I adjusted, we were end up pointing too much into a close reach and loose speed. So I opted to run the leeward engine for a couple hours and gain the ability to point a bit. That got us 8 knots with almost no leeward slide. When we motor sail, I usually run the windward engine to help reduce rounding up and the load on the auto pilot, but this seemed to work better. I’ll have to ask other catamaran owners what they do.

After a few hours we were across the Bay but slightly south of the river mouth. I tacked a few times and started the other engine. We maintained about 7 knots until we crossed into the chop of the Rappahannock River mouth. That slowed our speed over ground to 6.5 knots. I did a long tack in, then out of the river mouth. Finally I gave up on sailing and we drove out of the Rappahannock straight north. Fortunately the shelter of the western shore gave us a smoother ride for a while.

Just off of Kilmarnock, where we were the week before, I tacked out and got a really nice run for an hour. Then the wind slacked and I again gave up and motor sailed the rest of the way to Reedville. Such is the life of sailing. Wild rides in choppy seas to no wind and motoring.

I did notice how well the new sails performed. They did so much better than the old sails. I could come into the wind more than we could with the older sails (in this catamaran, that's 45 degrees apparent). And it was easy to keep a good sail shape with simple adjustments.

We arrived in Reedville at 6pm. We anchored just beyond the Crazy Crab restaurant and marina, where everyone else was. As I had lost my favorite anchor, I was left with an aluminum Fortress. It set okay, but did not feel as well caught as the old one did.

We took the dinghy to the Crazy Crab and found Vernice, with her motherly kindness, had put in reservations for a table for us, and for Gary and Julie who were a bit behind us. We all had a very nice dinner. While there we found out that the town was having their fireworks display that night.

At 8:30 we went back to our boat to watch the sunset. We sat on the trampoline and got to see our very first fireworks from the boat. It was very nice and I think we both felt that we could abandon most of our land locked life for this one. As soon as a put away enough money that is…

In the craziness of the trip and adventures, I forgot to email Ray and Paula who live in Reedville a few miles north of the Crazy Crab. They also have a PDQ 36. I emailed them when we arrived, but they had guests over and were not able to come to us on such short notice. Hopefully we will see them on another trip soon.

Day Nine

It was to be a 50 mile run north to Solomon’s so we were up early and everyone was heading out well before 7am. This time the wind was off our beam, but was so light, I had to motor sail to make any kind of good time.

I pulled up the anchor to find it fouled in the night as the boat swung in the tide change. Did I mention how much I miss that Spade Anchor?

We ran along the coastline, being careful of crab pots, fish traps and other contraptions in the shallow water.

Here is shot of the old Navy gunnery target SE of Solomon's, about mid-Bay.

We got a bit more wind at the mouth of the Potomac and got up to 8 knots for a while. I left an engine on for that hour or so crossing the mouth. Then back to both engines again on the other side.

The Yamahas are great little engines. I love the low maintenance, reliability and low fuel consumption. Also, they being gas, keeps odors down that other sailboats collect. But those little gerbils sure do not like running the boat into the wind. The weight of the boat and windage of the wide front really put a load on them and slow us down. At times like that, I just remind myself that one engine costs less than a single folding prop on boats with diesels and I feel good again. The engines just passed 100 hours on this trip.

The run was uneventful and we made the Patuxent in good time. As we ran towards the river I was surfing the web on my iPhone for anchor alternatives. The closest kind readily available was the Rocna. I know a few folks at Mears have them and swear by them. So I called West Marine in Solomon’s and they had one in stock. I asked them to hold it and we set a course up the creek towards the neighboring Calvert Marine Museum. We dropped anchor there and took the dinghy in. We ran into Glenn, and old friend and carpenter Bonnie knew. He has restored a beautiful catboat and was planning on racing it at the museum with other catboats the next day.

We took our bikes to West Marine. I purchased the anchor. So there I was looking at my little bike and the 44 pound anchor trying to figure out how I was going to get it back to the boat, when a guy in line next to me came by in his jeep and offered to drop it off at the museum entrance for me. What a break. Especially since I also had a power cord I purchased for Peg and Bob for their boat, as they had no bikes or way to get to the store. Bonnie ran off to look for soft shell crabs and met me later.

We arrived at Vera’s White Sands Beach Club & Marina about an hour later. Carl and Audrey were anchored as well and offered for us to raft up. We did and my new anchor sat unused. As Carl was fixing everyone drinks, we noticed that we were moving. The wind was dragging his CQR and us down the creek. He let out more line and I rigged a bridle to keep our noses into the wind as the cat was making us appear like 3 boats in a raft-up with the farthest outboard boat having the anchor. All was good after that and we didn’t move again.

Vera’s has quite a history to it. Bonnie and I really enjoyed the tour of her house and the huge efforts that the new owner was making to make it a Bed and Breakfast.

The restaurant was also very nice and we all had a nice Commodore’s dinner that evening. After dinner a band started playing and many of us moved to the bar area to dance a bit. The music was very heavy metal and oriented to the usual younger crowd. We danced for a while and then Peg decided to form a train to a heavy metal song. We must have been quite a site. Even the singer commented after the song that she had never had anyone do a train to that song.

Day Ten

We slept great, albeit with ringing ears from the loud music, and were back early in the morning for a group breakfast. As it was only an hour trip to Peters’ house, we enjoyed our morning and took our time.

Today was the Fourth of July.

We motored to Peter’s with a lot more boaters, boat wakes, and commotion than we had experienced before on the trip. We drifted for a while off of a creek near Peter’s house while the anchor boats set their hooks. We then tied up with Arnon and Nancy.

I got a very nice swim, as the water was much clearer than the northern Bay near Annapolis. I scraped the bottom of the boat and got rid of the pesky young barnacles that had attached themselves of the last two months.

I threw the casting net a few times and got minnow for bait. I rigged a rod with a flounder rig and dropped it in. I didn't get anything as the crabs got the bait first.

Peter and Mary Kay have a wonderful place on the water. The dock was able to hold a half dozen boats and the rest were rafted-up in the creek in front.

For lunch we had some romantic alone time, caviar, and finished up the last of some open food, to celebrate our first anniversary.

On shore at Peter’s, the bar-b-que, food from the caterer, and hors d’ourves everyone brought make yet another perfect meal. The Club gave out some fun awards, gave recognition to all who helped put the trip together, and we ate, drank and danced (our fellow member Rich was the disc-jockey of course) the night away.

We were able to watch the Solomon’s Island Fireworks from a distance and Peter set off some of his own in the back yard.

It was a perfect final night of the trip and a wonderful way to spend our 1st anniversary.

Day Eleven

The last day of a journey is always the worst part of the trip. The last run, where home is the destination, and clean up, packing and ferrying items ashore are the only adventures left to have. It always make me feel a bit down.

We arrived back at Fishing creek about 2:00pm on July 5^th.

----------------------------

This was the third long trip we took on the new catamaran since we purchased it in 2008. It was certainly one of the best trips we have ever had. I think only our honeymoon was as good. This adventure also reinforced our desire to live aboard, a least part of the year.

The total was about 300 nm. We used about 40 gallons of fuel for engines and generators and were aboard for 11 days.

Sailing in One to Two Foot Seas

2010-07-14T17:43:00.001-04:00

Some friends of ours took some great photos of us while we were sailing in the southern Chesapeake Bay. The wind was about 60 degrees at 20 knots apparent. Seas were one to two feet with some occasional larger ones. We were sailing at about 8 knots. We were probably near the upper limit for no reef. But as there were no gusts, we got to enjoy a nice fast ride.

This is the first time I have ever seen our boat sailing in open water like that. It’s an interesting perspective. The new sails sure look nice. It does appear as if her bow is being pushed down a bit, but that may have been the waves.

New Sails

2010-06-11T12:10:00.001-04:00

We purchased new sails from Neil Pryde and I got to really try them out last weekend, while taking some friends for a short sail. We had a good 12+ knots of wind from the south and with the new main and Genny made between 6.5 and 8 knots continuously for a couple hours.

We did not stay out too long as our friends had their 3 years old with them and she was not too big on bouncing around. She sure did like her swim in the creek off of the back of the boat though.

We saved about half the price of local sails - including not having to pay taxes, as NP is in Conn. The local Rep (Bruce Empey) measured for the sails and did a semi-custom design. He put in foam for the Genny luff and custom sized it to 143% which he felt was the maximum sail we could use on our existing track. The main as a larger roach and staggered full battans like the new racing sails. I believe he used 7 oz dacron on the Genny and 8.5 on the main.

As we have a jiffy reef system that supports only 2 reef points, he moved the first reef point up quite a bit and the second up to where the third would be.

Between the new sails and boom gallows, we are always excited to get the sails up.

Bruce also repaired out Asym that broke last year. We have yet to try it out.

Once we get the kids done with high school graduations, Bonnie and I will take off on the 26th for 10 days of sailing aroud the southern Chesapeake Bay. Yippeee....

Launched and ready

2010-05-05T21:14:00.001-04:00

Happy Cinco de Mayo! We launched Dessie today and I motored her to Annapolis through the calm, windless morning. I went through everything I had notes on, and only a short list of repairs are left - albeit most are the expensive ones, such as Wind generator, and rudder mount. Some little ones sprang up as well, so my list of repairs is growing again.

One big item of interest is the Boom Gallows. James made one for me to protect the solar panels. I have only one sailed on a boat with boom gallows, back in the 1970s. It seemed like a practical idea.

Well, now that I have one, I rank it up there with an autopilot and windless. It changes everything. First, I no longer need a toping lift. Second, the boom is held in place except when the sail is raised. One safety issues I always kept in mind is wrestling with the boom while securing the mainsail. The Stack-Pack & lazy jacks made it a bit easier, but the boom still jumped around and threatened to buck me off the hard top more than once. I also had to adjust the toping lift before dropping the sail, so that the solar cells would be safe.

Today, I unzipped the stack pack, loosened the main sheet, and cranked up the sail. That was it. The boom popped up and I did not have to think about topping lift, raising it quickly to clear the solar cells, or removing preventers I had previously rigged to keep the boom from bouncing around. Getting the sail down was even easier. I tightened the main sheet and dropped the main. It landed on the gallows and I pushed it into the channel. It fell in place with ease. I climbed on the hard top to zip the stack pack. As I reached out over the back end of the boom, I realized that I could use it for support as it wasn't going to bounce around. What a joy!

Dessie is sitting on her mooring, waiting for this weekend's adventures. Its nice to be back on the water.

Spring Project Successes

2010-04-19T18:23:00.000-04:00

James cam through and of course did in two days, what would take me months, assuming I even had the skills.

He made a boom gallows our of Star-board. It looks incredible and changes the entire look of the boat. My solar cells are protected and I don't really need a toping lift anymore. James also fixed all the broken latches and replace the more cover latches with ones that wont rattle.

I have been busy experimenting with Bow seats. I came up with the idea to use rod holders to support the seat and also let me remove them. Its all perfect, except my cutting skills with Star-board. I will look for an off the shelf product or wait for James' next trip to have him cut some.

There is a broken tip off the molded aluminium block for the steering gear. I noticed it this winter but am not sure how long its been that way.

I need to contact Sandy for the location for parts. Hopefully it will last the summer.

Still have a lot to do, but am making progress. While I have been tinkering on the boat, Bonnie has tiled a customer's bathroom, started on a second, helped Casey move to Ashley's old room, repainted and converted the old bedroom to an office, and will probably have the old office into a bedroom before the boat touches the water in May. Of course Bonnie does rest now and then. For a breather she mows, plants flowers, landscapes the yard and grows spices.

Cant wait to hit the water!

Cute Multi-hull Humor

2010-03-29T18:33:00.000-04:00

Record Snow Fall

2009-12-21T15:31:00.000-05:00

21"+ of snow in two days. Digging out is no fun, but the snow was great to watch. We made a trek to the boats to check them out. The catamaran show accumulated a lot of snow. We shoveled a ton or more snow off of the boat. I was worried about the weight.

We have yet to cover the boat. I am a bit behind schedule. I have been looking at the other Blogs from the Caribbean and am very jealous.

On shore for the winter

2009-10-29T22:26:00.000-04:00

Desert Star is on the 'hard' for the winter. We have lots of winterizing projects to do and need to ponder shrink wrapping her. There are only about four places on the Bay that can lift such as wide boat. It was a great sail down. The wind was from the north at 20 kts and I motored sailed at 7 to 9 kts all the way down the Bay. Of course it rained the entire time and was a bit cold. But I am very glad I was not beating to windward on such a cold and nasty day.

Bonnie drove to meet me and we watched the crew put her up on blocks. We tried her sitting a bit 'bow up' this year in the hope that less water would pool in lockers, etc.

We have a bunch of winter projects to get done. Hopefully November will have lots of warm days for us to do work.

We have a lot of trips and events this winter as well. We are trying to figure out where to charter this winter. We also need to fit in a trip to Europe - of at all possible.

Aerial Photo

2009-10-25T16:29:00.000-04:00

This photo was taken not far above the Chesapeake Bay bridge by a passing helicopter on an Autumn day.

PDQ Cookout

2009-10-12T21:26:00.000-04:00

The PDQ Cookout was a big success. About 20 PDQ owners (about 10 PDQs) came and brought food and drink for all to share. We really enjoyed sharing stories of our boats and adventures. We hope to get together with all of them again, at future boat shows and of course in warm climates.

James of course was the big hit of the party. With lots of knowledge and advice for all the PDQ owners. He is a great guy and handy to know as well. Someday we will get to meet his wife Jackie.

Boat Show Time!!!!!

2009-10-08T22:18:00.000-04:00

Gotta love the boat show. James is here for a moderate list of repairs and improvements. Why does the head or holding tank always need repairs when James is around? Lucky for me...

I was good on purchases - so far. I did buy a waterproof bag. I think I am developing a bag fetish. I also purchased a new Cruising Guide for the Chesapeake. Bonnie can use it to plan our getaways for next year. I went through most of the catamarans there. The prices have skyrocketed due to popularity. Even 32 foot catamarans with outboards are $200K.

No photos this time, sorry.

Its time for autumn wine making

2009-09-27T21:49:00.000-04:00

Its that time of year, when the summer is over the and grapes are ripe, and ready for harvest. Actually these we purchased from California - but its their harvest time too.

We purchased enough grapes for about 150 bottles of wine. That should make holiday gift giving easier.

Bonnie's little Element handled much of it, but there were also two pick-up truck loads as we were working with some friends on their wine as well.

It was a messy job. Picking through the boxes for moldy grapes, leaves, and foreign objects was a big job.

Wayne has a nice Crusher that breaks the grapes and pulls out a lot of the stems. But one still needs to sort and pick out what gets through.

We also did some white wine grapes, where we only press the grapes and save the juice.

For red wine, it must sit in its skin to get the color and aroma of the more complex red wine.

It took all day and into the evening to get it all done.

But in the end we had a lot of juice starting the fermenting process.

Ours this year are Chenin Blanc, Ginot Grigio,Chardonnay, Old Vine Zinfandel, and Cabernet.

Let's home its a good year!

Sailing and Shooting

2009-09-13T21:05:00.000-04:00

SRYC put together a Guy's trip. There was a lot planned, but weather and a long time at the skeet range limited the activities. We did get a good sail, lots of sporting clay shooting, and a belly full of crabs. It was a lot of fun. Tyler and Diogo came with me on the trip.

I didn't shoot as well as I would have liked to. It had been a few years since I shot last. The mosquitoes were pretty heavy while shooting.

I found a leak in the hot water hose off of the water heater. That explained some of the water. I also found a good bit in the aft section from rain water. I think I now have the two main sources of fresh water showing up in the bilge. Its possible that some comes from the water tank as well, but I wont worry about that until I have the other two fixed.

Labor Day Cruise 2009

2009-09-07T20:03:00.000-04:00

We made the not too long trek to St. Michael's for the last long weekend of the Summer.

We went with the Severn River Yacht Club and stayed at the Miles River Yacht Club just outside St. Michael's, Maryland.

28 Boats from 30 to 70 feet came. Some stayed in slips and others rafted up. The ones anchored out gathered their dinghy's at the floating dock.

There were lots of dogs as well.

It made for a great weekend. The Picasa site with all the photos is located at: http://picasaweb.google.com/SRYCphotos/2009LaborDayCruise#

PDQ Cookout Oct 9 after the Boat Show

2009-08-31T21:09:00.002-04:00

For all PDQ owners, we are hosting a PDQ Cookout on October 9th in Annapolis from 5pm until 9pm. There will be food and drink, and you are welcome to bring your own additions as well. Go to the PDQ forum for more information, or send us a message. Hope to see you there.

The Honeymoon

2009-08-19T20:52:00.023-04:00

We finally got away for our honeymoon. With the house sold, bills paid, kids home, Ashley signed up for college, and the cat getting better after $2000 in medications, we packed the car and headed for the boat.

The weather was great, although there could have been a bit more wind. The trip up the Chesapeake was easy and we timed the tide well. The C&D was also easy as we anchored at the mouth of the Elk river and waited for the morning tide to take us through.

Oddly enough we found the restaurant and fuel dock in Chesapeake City closed. It looked as if it was being remodeled.

We got water at a marina father down and were fine on fuel to Cape May.

The Delaware Bay was the usual droll trip. Nice lighthouses and occasional pod of dolphins, but little else.

Its always a long trip and half of it is usually against the tide.

Ship traffic was much lighter than usual the entire trip.

We arrived in Cape May, via the canal, late in the evening and anchored off of the Fisherman's memorial. I had not been to Cape May since 1978 and Bonnie had never been there.

We were on the inside of a mooring field in 4' MLW. The perfect place for a PDQ to escape to.

The tides were typical for Cape May, about a 5' change. The boat was fine as I planned for Mean Low Water (MLW), but access to shore gave the dinghy a bit of an exercise. I realize now why hard bottom RIBs are so popular.

We met a couple that anchored nearby with a Gemini. They were finishing up a six year cruise in the Caribbean. They had a lot of ups and downs. It was great sharing some wine with them and hearing about their adventures.

We walked into downtown Cape May, then rented bikes. We went to the Lobster House, toured the water front and shops, saw lots of incredible old homes and went up to the top of the Cape May lighthouse. We ended up staying two and a half days as the wind and rain one day convinced us that it was a great day to do boat chores.

We purchased some fuel a Utsch's marina in the Jerry jugs. The PDQ did not look like it would fit in the fueling slip. The trip out of the inlet was great, and we spotted dolphins right at the entrance. There were 2-4 foot following seas and Bonnie's first ocean experience was a good one.

We rounded the end of the Cape between the shoals and beach and caught a Bluefish.

The trip up the Delaware bay was just as long as the trip down. We fought the tide for two hours then with the tide change, we made a good 8 knots plus most of the way and the entire C&D as well.

We got caught by the tide change running NW up into Harve De Grace. It took a while, but we were anchored by 9:30pm. My mind was blank as to where to anchor, so we decided to anchor directly off of the Concord lighthouse.

We had a nice tour of Harve De Grace the next day and also found an Art Fair there. The photo above was taken from the lighthouse.

We really wanted some fresh fish for the grill, and found a place on Google Maps that was near the water. We had to tie up to an old barge and trek through a field to the store - only the find out it was a restaurant. But the people there were very nice and sold us some Rockfish at a good price.

I BBQ'd the fish at the mouth of Bodkin Creek as the sun went down. We made it home the next day by 2pm. As we motored down the creek to the mooring Bonnie said she refused to grab it. She wanted to stay on the boat. But we bowed to the responsibilities of life and tied up.

We did send the kids a good message from a shop in Cape May. And we learned that a week on the boat was easy. We are certainly ready for more adventures.

SOLD!!!

2009-07-30T19:34:00.002-04:00

The house has sold. We closed today. We are one house closer to the dream of living in Annapolis in the summer and spending winters on the PDQ. Only one house to go...

We did pretty good on the house considering the market. It was a great place for the kids to grow up. Fishing, swimming, tennis, basketball, and a playground all within a few hundred yards.

Now we just have to cram 3 houses and 2 boats worth of stuff into 2 houses and 1 boat, with only a year or so to sell another house.

We're Married!

2009-07-29T22:27:00.005-04:00

We did it! Barefoot on the beach, on a beautiful summer day with 67 family and friends watching. It was a great event; fun, casual, and light hearted. The Justice of the Peace spoke little English and every couple of paragraphs had a pause for the translator. Of course, we each said 'Ce'.

The reception was a hundred feet from the beach in an outdoor pavilion called the Steak House. The resort was grand, and the entire event (and week) could not have gone better.

The honeymoon has yet to happen though. We had planned to sail north upon our return, but came home to a sick cat, and a contract on the old house in Herndon. We are looking to escape in early August.

Off to the Dominican Republic for our Wedding

2009-06-30T11:20:00.001-04:00

We are off to the Dominican Republic for our Wedding. Photos and stories to follow.

Prep for Honeymoon

2009-06-09T18:18:00.002-04:00

Its less than 30 days to our wedding in the Dominican Republic. Unfortunately with 5 kids in tow and about 50+ other family and friends we won't be sailing down.

But assuming the weather permits, we will fly home on July 8th and within a day or two set sail north on our honeymoon.

Our goal is to try for at least Block Island in the time we have. As we both own small businesses and five kids ranging from 16 to 22 will be left guarding the houses, we are not sure how long we can escape for.

Bonnie has never sailed in the ocean, but has sailed on watches for over 150 miles. This will be a big experience for her. I made my first run off the Jersey shore at 16 - long before GPS. My dad taught me how to use a radio direction finder in the mid 1970s.

We expect to sail via at least one stop at Long Beach Island where I grew up and discovered sailing as a boy.

I am slowly prepping the boat for the trip. Sandy(s/v Page 83) gave us and old main sail and we have a spare so we are ready for any blow-outs. ;-)

We still need to get the spinnaker fixed.

The spring thunderstorms appear greater in number than a typical June. Perhaps its just the timing during boat project days.

This weekend is the Friday night party at Mears. Bonnie has volunteered to help and I will bring the boat around for the night.

Last weekend we only had one night on the boat, as it was Prom night the next night for Ashley. We met up with a young couple who have plans to live aboard their boat. Bonnie and I are very happy, and envious that they are have such a great plan at such a young age. If I could only go back...

I had an old Honda 5hp outboard in the shed I loaned them so they can get around in their ancient dinghy and avoid water taxi charges. Hopefully it will stay reliable for them. Eventually when they make their way south, they will need a tougher dinghy and bigger engine as it will be their 'car' in the Caribbean. Until then, there was not reason for them to buy an engine.

Their Blog is really cute to follow. Its at http://www.sailblogs.com/member/joeynchristine/. We'll all expect great adventures from them.

Weekend in Rock Hall

2009-05-27T21:45:00.000-04:00

We spent the weekend in Rock Hall with about 20 boats from SRYC. It was a great time. We broke the spinnaker. The head was dry rotted and snapped. No 50 kt winds this time. Another sail to get repaired. :-(

We took the trolley to Chester town for the wacky boat race. It was fun to watch. We had a wine and cheese party at Will's house. An incredible place on the edge of the river.

Splash!!!

2009-05-17T19:18:00.001-04:00

We're in the water! Launch last week and motored up to Annapolis. She is sitting quietly at her mooring awaiting new sails. We should have the jib this week and repaired main early in June. Memorial Day will be with only head sails or motoring I guess.

We have a few little projects to get her ready for weekend trips. The other projects will be done as time and budget permit.

We also added a convection oven so Bonnie could bake. She found a great caterer's oven and her brother had a stainless steel sleeve made for it. I cut the front of the life jacket locker and it fit perfectly.

Almost ready for the water

2009-04-30T23:28:00.000-04:00

A few more tasks and we will be ready to go... We have had so much going on this winter that getting back to boating will be a great stress reducer. We are looking forward to a great year.

Mike went up the mast to figure out why the topping lift was stuck. Apparently the line jumped the track and was stuck against the other block and halyard. So that is all fixed.

All I need is a main sail... We should have quotes this week.

We are planning on launching "Dessie" on May 13th. We have been busy with projects and figuring out how to save some cash after all the time and expense of working on the houses. With my old house up for sale, we hope to have a much less stressful springtime.

We ran out of bottom paint and need to finish up. I cut into the life jacket locker and installed a sleeve for the convection oven Bonnie purchased last fall. It looks really great. I'll have to remember to take a photo of it.

Most of the big work is done

2009-03-25T22:16:00.000-04:00

James finished last night and is probably well on his way home today. Having someone who knows these boats so well come and inspect them is a incredible benefit. His knowledge is incredible. He took on most of my to do list and was very fast and exact in everything he did. I figured it would have taken me 10 weekends at least to do what he did in 2 days. The biggest benefit though was having him inspect the entire boat for my own piece of mind and general safety. My quick calculations figured he saved me about $8000 over what the Yard would charge to do it.

Thanks again James!

Pictures to follow in a few days

James to the Rescue

2009-03-22T20:57:00.000-04:00

Poor Desert Star sat on the hard this past winter with blown out sails and two bent rudders. All wrapped up in tarps she looked pretty glum. Earlier this past week we got her cleaned up so she would look presentable when James came through on his way back to Canada. On Saturday I handed him a list of questions, repairs and projects.

He set to work on the rudders first. With Sandy's help and the socializing of our thoughts we formed a plan to use a 'come along', wood, tow straps, and line to 'crank' the rudders back into place. James' calibrated eye picked the right angles for straps and pressure points. I used a chain as a plum bob and Sandy gauged the spacing and stress on the steel.

It all worked like a charm and the rudders look as good a new. James is a miracle worker.

I took the old (but in excellent condition) jib and am having it re-cut slightly to fit on Desert Star. That will solve the head sail issue. So I just have to find a main sail to get her ready to a point I can start the Spring Commissioning.

More on project status to follow.

A warm spell but getting cold again

2009-02-17T10:19:00.000-05:00

We had a warm spell and everythign looks good onboard. I did not get any projects done, but it was nice to at least sit on the boat and dream of warmer days to come. We have a large project list, as well as Spring commissioning to do.

The 'short list' is:
New Sails, Fix Rudders, Clean all tanks, Commission 4 outboard engines, Install plasteak in cockpit (someday), build oven Stainless Steel sleeve and cut opening , replace hot water hoses add hot water heater overflow drain, replace Head shower control, shower head, Ck water pump surge load, Rebuild holding tank pump, Chg line on skiff floating dock, Chg anchors, New anchor chain, Sun screens for hard top, make a clear windshield for hard top w new clips, Buy new blocks and longer lines for dingy davits, replace some of the running rigging, Fix corrosion on A-Sym, unstick toping lift, sew a Bonnet for helm, make a net for birds, sew winch covers, install Pelican hooks on life lines, replace pads on rear life lines, possibly buy batteries, add a 12vdc sockets in bunks, Fix gauge on wind gen, trace fuses added on batt switch, deck hardware inspection, add auto bilge switch, label every cable and hose, Fix 12 outlet at helm, Add two cleats on bow, New mooring ball and briddle, make a second, smaller bridle for anchor, put tread on floor in shower, add tool pockets for workshop, install TV/computer monitor, Fix speedo (spring), install a water level gauge, change fuel filters and water separators 320R-RAC-01 on OBs, Add water separator to skiff engine, new chain for Mooring ball, float, and reconnect it all, find Leak in window, add automatic Bildge switch to starboard hull, Install pump for AC drain, install MOB system, make and install light plates with lights, fan, and fire alarm (1 over galley) (7 each), add fresh water hose spicket in starboard aft well, replace light bulbs in anchor, stern, and spreader lights, change Hot water heater hoses.

2008 Recap

2009-02-03T21:11:00.000-05:00

October 23 2008 – I was energized by the experience Bonnie had going to Reedville and wanted to get the boat to 10 kts. So we took her out on a windy Saturday. The winds ended up being a lot more than expected. We blew out both the main and jenny.

It was an expensive trip, but other than the sails, no damage to the boat.

You can read the full story on
THE LATEST PDQ NEWSLETTER

October 13 2008 – We did an overnight, continuous run to Reedville to give Bonnie an idea of standing watches.

We did 120 miles in 28 hours, only stopping for breakfast and a nap.

Denny accompanied us. It was a fun trip and a great test of the boat and its new owners.

Bonnie and Eric at the launch of our new boat.

September 2008 – Baltimore, Hurricane Hanna, Annapolis

This is a recap of 2008 and before we moved to Blogger.com

August 2008 – Bottom painted, launched, shake down trips to Annapolis, St Michaels, and Deal. Speeds to 8.8 kts. Saw a water spout in St Michaels. Carl was first overnight guest. Tyler and Robert did first night sail with us.

Bonnie enjoying the headroom in the galley. She purchased a convection oven which we need to make a stainless steel sleeve for.

During August and September, we sailed around the Annapolis area, St. Michaels, and Baltimore getting to know the boat.

We had an incredible time and got pretty good at handling her.

We now have to worry about overtaking other boats. That's sometime new for us.

Winter 'on the hard'

2009-02-03T21:03:00.000-05:00

It’s very cold. Everything in the boat is frozen.

Hopefully nothing is damaged from ice expanding in hoses or equipment.

We are reading other PDQ owner's blogs and feeling envy of their travels. Just two more years and out youngest will be out of high school and we can escape for the winter.

We are planning a lunch one day for PDQ owners still stranded int he Annapolis area.