Norfolk, VA
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.
Red Ranger is wintering in the water. It's cold.
But. The ice is thin, so, it's not damaging in any way.
Last winter, the port-side deck drain hose filled with water, and then froze, and dropped off the "T" fitting under the …
Snow on the decks of Red Ranger.
The footprints are a technician from one of the service companies at Herrington Harbour.
There's a strike rail around the edge of Red Ranger. It's a wooden offset, between one a two inches deep, about a foot …
Read Safety at Sea: Preparing for Emergencies first. Captivating article.
On Red Ranger we have the 5 F's of safety:
Flood
Fire
Falling Overboard
First Aid
Fatigue
And Famine.
Okay. It's six. But they're the life-and-death essentials.
Here's Alvah Simon's list — based on real Coast Guard data.
Fire. Red Ranger …
Sigh.
Seasons come and seasons go. As we get on toward winter, we need to strike Red Ranger's sails, winterize Mr. Lehman, take the food out of the galley, upend all the cushions to let air circulate.
We replaced the T-shirts keeping …
CA and I (and a handful of others) chose the "Cleanup Sticks from the Rip-Rap" job for the fall cleanup at West River Sailing Club. We have a large checklist of things that need doing. In previous years I helped rebuild the dock. This year after something went wrong with …
On Thursday, we dialed the speed up to 7 knots. This means a bit over 2,000 RPM on the tach.
And the temperature started to increase. And increase. I don't often check the temperature. But I did manage to notice it in time.
Did I mention we had guests …
I think — or perhaps I hope — I've solved a serious problem. I have a theory about diesel fuel in the bilge.
Last winter, a hose clamp for the deck drains failed. The winter rains and snowmelt poured into the engine room, and the deep bilge. It froze. The pump broke …
Brought some friends — David and Bo — along to move Red Ranger from West River back down to Herrington Harbour.
They'd never seen Red Ranger before, and hadn't fully appreciated how much boat she is.
The winds were light, and — of course — on the …
Another year of fun and sharing! There's a lot we can learn from other sailors with the same boats and a wide variety of experiences. An important lesson from this year is how long it takes before we're talking about the ship's head. (For non-sailors, read "toilet.")
Sailing is all about cooperation. Nothing happens in isolation. The progress of a sailboat through the water requires wind, for example. There are other examples of cooperation, we'll get to them.
The Equinox cruise was timed to greet the passing of the sun over the horizon on September 22nd, 2018 …
We're lucky. As of Thursday (when Florence made landfall) the projected course was well away from the Chesapeake bay. There will be Tropical Depression wind and rain, but not a direct hit, and — hopefully — minimal storm surge.
Here's Red Ranger's hurricane preparation list:
Remove foresails. The furling line can break …
May as well clean.
And fix things.
This thing is the pump assembly on our Marine Sanitation Device (MSD). You might know it as a toilet.
CA's picking the paint out of the inlet valve packing nut.
The forward cylinder (with the …
Last year, we — sort of — lead a cruise for Labor Day. We learned about Dog-Stopping. This year, we learned a little more about racing and light-air sail handling.
This year, we decided to participate in the Annual Billy Heinz Regatta at WRSC.
We left the …
Saturday was a beautiful day. It wasn't great for sailing, but the beauty of clear air and light breezes was spectacular. Did I mention the light breezes? From almost flat calm to about 5 kt was all the wind we had.
I (finally) started moving the cars for the yankee …
The two are unrelated.
Saturday, we packed ten guests onto Red Ranger, and sailed around Herring Bay. Pictures? Sorry. Too busy schmoozing to actually take any pictures. It was hot and sunny with wind that barely reached 8 knots. We drifted around pleasantly. Gybed once to avoid the fish traps …
For years, we turned the helm over to our trusted crew member, Midshipman, Mr. Benmar.
While he was rugged, reliable, and patient, it was always a kind of crap-shoot to see what Mr. Benmar had in mind. Roll the dice. Perhaps you were on course, perhaps not …
The West River Sailing Club membership has a number of benefits. Crabs being one of them. Of course, we had to get there, and get back in time for work on Monday. And square away the Auto-Pilot.
After stuffing our faces with crab, slaw, corn …
We took CA's Yoga Teachers cohort sailing on Saturday. Winds 10-ish (and dropping) from about 090°. Sunny and 25°C air temp, so it was — perhaps — one of the most perfect possible days for sailing. Can I say perfect without invoking Poseidon's wrath? It was essentially perfect.
There was two …
Previous years began around Memorial Day. This year, we had a late start.
CA's Side Project has been Yoga Teacher Training. 200 hours of classroom time is a lot of work.
S.Lott's Side Project has been an Anchor Alarm.
The core concept is …
The hull paint was chipped in some places. Down to a thin layer in others.
We touched it up.
The bulk of the bottom paint is in good shape. We hope this little touch-up will reduce barnacle and algae damage for another …