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.
We've finished most of the "official" documentation process. Jimmy Cornell's book on World Cruising, and his Noonsite web site provide a specific list of documents that constitute the "Ship's Papers" for a small yacht. www.noonsite.com—DOCUMENTS YOU WILL NEED
The list looks like this.
USCG Documentation. No. 648197 …
For our 28th anniversary, we did something new and different: we went camping. Camping isn't all that new. But we spent our first night on the Ranger. No water. No heads. Limited electricity. Delightful.
[The Emily Post list of anniversary gifts: 1st paper, 5th wood, 10th tin, 15th crystal, 20th …
We grew up in houses, on land. We've lived in cities as well as the ‘burbs, and we felt pretty well acculturated.
But marina life is still very new to us. The standards and conventions are not what we're used to. It takes a bit of work to fit in …
Changes feel like they're coming at us in waves. Back in December, all we had was a marine survey with dozens of things that absolutely had to be done. The insurance company (of course) has to see all the known problems resolved. Some of these are objectively slow: weeks of …
"Stone Soup Today" -- a blanket invite to everyone hanging around the marina. "Stone at 5, Soup at 6" is the small print at the bottom of the sign. (Ishky Baha is Gaelic, "water of life", from which we get the English word Whiskey.)
CA was cruising the boatyard, looking at …
The waiting is hard.
Red Ranger is still in the shed. It's only been two weekends. For a while, we were really pushing hard to get jobs done. There's an exhilaration -- an adrenaline rush -- to diving into a list of jobs.
When the list is finite and within one's capabilities …
You need to know both things -- where you are right now, and where you're going. If you don't know where you are, the destination is just academic.
Sailors like to say they're "bound for" a destination. We're told not to over-commit to a particular place and time. My limited off-shore …
The waiting is hard.
FoGoBo says "Don't wish time away."
Rather than pacing around, beating a tattoo with our fingers, we should really be doing something. Sadly, the boat is layed up.
Since December, we've been "playing boat" just about every weekend. Partly, it's what we do to get out …
Red Ranger's "ground tackle" (anchor and rode) weighs over a hundred pounds. Our primary anchor is a 44 pound Plow. We have a few hundred feet of BBB chain, at about 1 3/4 pounds per foot. Our secondary anchor is a thirty-pound Danforth. We also have a little 10 …
The guys at the boatyard called it "muck". It's the rotten wood sandwiched inside the foredeck.
There's more than what's showing in the picture.
Okay, so there was some rot. We knew that going in to the deal. It's a bit more rot than we'd hoped. But, we had lowered …
Yes, that's the Ranger in the shed.
A boat on the hard -- up on stands -- still has a tremendous majesty. A dismasted boat on the hard, well, she looks like she's wearing the silly front-only hospital gown, prepped for surgery. Vulnerable.
A boat in the shed... well, she's stretched out …
People form communities -- mostly because the group is more successful than the individual. Sailors stick together because there's so much to know and learn; you can't boldly go where no person has gone before without running terrible risks.
The folks that own the same (or similar) boats naturally form communities …
No, really, it was unbelievable. When you have the right tools, the job isn't all that hard. Until you understand the tools, the job is impossible.
Yesterday was a day of gloom and despair. I had been defeated by two through-hull fittings. I spent hours fiddling around with things that …
Frustration is having a long job list and icky weather. Coping with this can be tough.
We spent the summer busting a hump: painting, repairing, packing.
We moved and we had to get organized, find our way around, "get settled". Maybe 5 or 6 weeks.
Then a quick boat shop …
The Hampton Roads Geocaching Group had a meetup last night. We said we were n00bz and were out to meet other folks in the area. So we went to this pot-luck dinner at some random church.
During dinner, one of the cachers asked us who else we knew. We knew …
Epic snow. Cabin Fever.
We're fidgety because there was no hands-on boat work this weekend. There's much to do, but we couldn't get to the marina; roads are closed. The Chrysler Museum of Art, for example, didn't try to stay open in this icy, sloppy mess.
For my friends up …
It's only been about three months, but things change. We moved October 1st, '09. Three months later, on Martin Luther King day of 2010, we went back to the old stomping grounds.
MLK day -- celebrating human dignity and skiing -- what a combination. How this? Letting justice roll down like waters …
Finally got some jobs checked off as "done". As in "completely 100% done."
Engine Room Light; shown above. Done.
Polarity Indicator; shown to the right. Done.
Replace domestic wirenut on bilge pump circuit; lower right. Done.
Some jobs are mostly done.
Sink Drain Hose; lower middle. Mostly.
Seacocks. Port side …
The Team Red: Red Rover name had a lot of resonance. The kid's game. The idea of roving around. Rover is a euphemism for pirate. Cool.
Synonyms for rover turned up ranger and wanderer, neither of which are piratical in nature. Wanderer seems undirected. J. R. R. Tolkien has this …
One Christmas Gift was the 12 Days of (New Boat) Christmas song.
Another gift was Don Casey's This Old Boat. Wait, what? "Old" boat?
Well, okay, it was built in 1982. It is almost 30 years old. Cars don't last that long, so I guess, by the "transportation" yardstick she's …