To see as much of the world as we can,
Using the smallest carbon footprint we can,
Spending the least amount of money we can,
Making as many friends we can.

Team Red Cruising

  • Memorial Day Sail 2012

    The Commodore Says "Jobs can wait; once in a while you need to have some fun." It's Memorial Day: a day to cease work and recall the sacrifices of others. And have a party to celebrate our veterans and the benefits of those sacrifices.

    It was one of those too-perfect-to-believe …


  • Connectionalism

    The Whitby 42 S/V Sinbad is heading south. Randy and Diane are headed—I think—to Trinidad to wait out hurricane season.

    The 45' Dolphin ketch S/V Fawkes is heading south, too. I know a little more about Dave and Nancy's itinerary—but not much more. Sailors are …


  • Getting off the Grid

    The Commodore Says "We need reduce our dependence on diesel fuel." How do we cut our dependence on petroleum? How creative do we have to be? Are we going to revert to cave-dwelling?

    The diesel auxiliary ("Mr. Lehman") for moving the boat is difficult to restrict. We can try to …


  • Cushion Rebuilds (Part 5) and Rig Inspection

    Lon said, "Hey! You're in Deltaville every weekend. Our place is right nearby on the Coan river. Come on up to ‘Almost Heaven' some weekend." Lon and Miriam have a Whitby, also, so they're a part of our Whitby family.

    Red Ranger came with a winter cover. A great thing …


  • Blogroll

    CA shares this:

    This was posted in the Women Who Sail group on Facebook — some of them she'd already found.

    Another interesting group seems to be Women and Cruising.

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  • We Got The Power

    The essential power system rework is complete. Now we're (finally) in a position to start adding new features. Until we replaced the old, out-of-date equipment, it was difficult to add anything.

    There were really only two small things to replace: the diodes and the charger But there were a lot …


  • Whitby Family Get-Together

    Puffin, Red Ranger, and Indefatigable. Sailors. Drinking. Who'd have thunk it?

    We're at Mordecai Booth's pub in the Washington Navy Yard, celebrating the 30 year career of Captain (now Mister) C―.

    It was great to talk of the sea and boats. And—of course—to share Whitby-specific details.

    As a …


  • Team Red's Mascot

    We found this guy stowed away under the aft cabin hatch cover. He's been hiding there for perhaps a decade, maybe two. He looks like a retired Stunt Copter pilot. I guess he wants to see the world. He has the Team Red colors; we've taken him into the crew …


  • Critical Mass

    On average, boat jobs require (as Lon says) 3.5 trips to West Marine, Hurd's Ace Hardware or the Napa store here in Deltaville. If you get a job done with only three trips, that means that there's a four-tripper in your future.

    It's a natural law. Like Parkinson's Law …


  • Fender Envy

    We finally drained the starboard tank. Now we can shovel out the Aluminum Chloride crystals plus swab down the inside with vinegar. CA insists that clean water is important.

    I suggest that gin is a viable alternative to water. She reminded me of the old Erie Canal song, the E-Ri-E …


  • Sailing Foreign

    Red Ranger is a documented vessel; she's mostly set for international travel. According to Skipper Bob's Bahamas Bound, we need a bunch of paperwork before we can sail foreign.


  • Activity or Accomplishment?

    Wiser heads advised us that the secret of living aboard is to accomplish one thing before noon each day. A shower counts.

    There's a lot of activity on a boat. But did we really accomplish anything?

    The blurry picture above may be an accomplishment. It's a proper (working) engine block …


  • Poseidon Makes you Earn It

    There's that "Oh, Crap!" moment when things are clearly not working. This moment of horrigying clarity is balanced by the utter obscurity of the root cause. After all, I only changed a one simple thing. How could it go so horribly wrong?

    A solution is something that must be earned …


  • That "Oh, Crap!" Moment

    We installed the Engel MT45 fridge this weekend. That's not the "Oh, Crap!" moment.

    This fridge is 1.43 cu ft; 1/10th of the volume of the original, complex built-in fridges with their 12V water pump, 110V compressor and engine-driven compressor. "Chilly Willy", the little Engel, just plugs …


  • Free (and Not-So-Free) Power

    CA works for a company that gives gifts for various anniversaries. For her 10th anniversary, she asked for the Black and Decker drill. For her 15th anniversary she asked for the Coleman 18W solar panel.

    It's 1.5 A at best. Assuming 6 solid hours of great sun …



  • Space, The Final Frontier

    The Whitby interior design is pretty roomy with plenty of storage. There's a bonus: plenty of inaccessible space, too.

    This is a photo of the space under the aft berth (port side, if you're keeping score.) You can clearly see three things. One the left (astern) is a lift-up panel …



  • Waterworks

    Whitby's were designed to have almost 300 gallons of water aboard. Since our forward tank leaks, were down to only 200 or so gallons. Without any conservation effort, we think this might last us a month or more. We don't take long, lingering showers. We do our laundry in a …


  • Cushion Rebuilds, Part 4, Installed

    The Big Day... Installing the cushions in the V-Berth to see if the sizing instructions actually made any sense at all. (They didn't.)

    CA carefully bagged each piece so that they wouldn't get dirty in the truck. It took a bit of stuffing to get them down the companionway hatch …


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