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

  • It's not all fun and games

    Mon 04 October 2021

    Sometimes you have to do some work.

    Like chase down the Blue Heron ("George") as the sunset and clouds align.

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    245C441B-9CB8-4BC2-B6FC-E255BB8F23D7 1 201 a ""

    This was almost like work.

  • The mallard families

    Sun 10 January 2021

    CA has a shiny, new Canon EOS.

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    78502055-9F95-4D2A-B39F-57B287EA82D6 ""

    The ducks living in the marina.

    We're checking on Red Ranger every other weekend (more-or-less.)

    We top off the battery water. Make sure nothing's leaking or broken or falling apart. Adjust the dock lines. Sigh a lot. Talk about trips we want …

  • George

    Sun 27 December 2020

    There's a Great Blue Heron at Herrington Harbour. We're told its name is George.

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    It's not clear, but the creek has a thin skin of ice.

  • West River Sailing Club

    Mon 09 November 2020

    This is a set of chores we take on with joy.

    WRSC Dock Repair
    Every six months, we do another 20 feet

    This is the WRSC dock.

    A long, long string of wood and plumbing and electrical.

    The idea is to rip out pieces each year.

    Since becoming members, I've helped with a …

  • Red Ranger Prep — High Heat Index

    Mon 27 July 2020

    She's been on the hard for about a year.

    We had emptied every battery container (except one.) We had opened every locker and drawer.

    We'd even disconnected the vent fan for the Air Head composting toilet. The only thing left on was the bilge pump. On the hard, she takes …

  • Ice in the Creek

    Thu 07 February 2019

    Red Ranger is wintering in the water. It's cold.

    Ice in the creek
    Ice in the creek

    But. The ice is thin, so, it's not damaging in any way.

    Ice by Red Ranger
    Ice by Red Ranger

    Last winter, the port-side deck drain hose filled with water, and then froze, and dropped off the "T" fitting under the …

  • Winter Chills

    Mon 21 January 2019

    Snow on the decks of Red Ranger.

    Snow on the foredeck
    Snow on Red Ranger's foredeck

    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 …

  • Winterizing

    Mon 12 November 2018

    Sigh.

    Fuel Jug Covers
    Old T-shirts to protect the spare fuel jugs

    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 …

  • Yacht Club Cleanup

    Mon 12 November 2018

    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 …

  • Hurricane Florence

    Thu 13 September 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:

    1. Remove foresails. The furling line can break …

  • Rainy Weekend

    Tue 11 September 2018

    May as well clean.

    Wilcox-Critteden Head
    Trying to get the head to flush properly

    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 …

  • Final Pre-Launch Touch-Up

    Sat 16 June 2018

    The hull paint was chipped in some places. Down to a thin layer in others.

    We touched it up.

    Hull with touch-up
    Splashed a little paint on the chipped spots

    The bulk of the bottom paint is in good shape. We hope this little touch-up will reduce barnacle and algae damage for another …

  • Through Hull Exercise

    Thu 31 May 2018

    The Whitby design has a fairly large number of through-hull fittings. They let water in (and out) of the boat in a controlled fashion. For fittings below the waterline, we have huge bronze valves — sea cocks — to be sure we can close off the hole in case a hose fails …

  • The Drain Hose

    Tue 22 May 2018

    We've moved the deck drain hoses. The Whitby has wonderful bulwarks that trap water running over the decks. The original Whitby design had hoses that ran from deck drains to through-hulls below the waterline. It's an elegant idea that keeps the cockpit dry and makes sure dropped tools don't always …

  • Fixing The Sea Chest

    Wed 02 May 2018

    Red Ranger uses "raw" water for a number of things: flushing the forward head, rinsing in the galley sink, cooling the engine, washing down the anchor. Once upon a time, it also had air conditioners, a fridge, and an aft head that used raw water also.

    All of the raw …

  • That's a Lot of Lead

    Mon 19 March 2018

    House batteries were nearly dead. See House Batteries for their last days.

    I have a theory that ice in the bilge may have frozen the switch in the on position, and the motor's overheat protector kicked on and off over a period of weeks, running the batteries down in the …

  • House Batteries

    Sun 25 February 2018

    The house batteries date from September 2011. We've gotten a hair over six years of service from batteries that are normally replaced every five years. They're not stone dead. See Sudden Death—Joys and Concerns for details of the last time they died.

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    DSC03472 ""

    They're not dead. But. They're barely …

  • Winterizing and The Pink Stuff

    Mon 20 November 2017

    When we lived aboard, we didn't winterize. Winterizing is a potentially big job. But we think we're getting a grip on it. Except for one thing. And this year, it was a problem. So we had to do some diagnostic work.

    Steve holding the dinghy
    Scout, freshly bagged, ready to go below

    Here's the …

  • Race Day

    Mon 01 May 2017

    Two things are essential for racing on sailboats.

    I have some ideas about this. Years ago I did a little racing in our first boat, a Buccaneer. It's an 18' dinghy, designed for comfy, reasonably safe two-person racing. I crewed a bit. I did really badly. I had a vague …

  • Formal Season Opening

    Sun 23 April 2017

    This is different.

    Whitby Rendezvous
    Whitby Rendezvous at West River Sailing Club

    It looks a bit like a church event. Multiple generations. Folks congregating, socializing, forming and strengthening their connections. There's a strong sense of thanksgiving. Not so much worship and praise.

    This is West River Sailing Club.

    Worship and praise was …

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