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.
"After all that waiting...?"
Here's the wrapped-up truck:
You can't see the little solar panel and trickle charger for the truck's battery. We figure, it doesn't hurt to make sure the truck starts when we get back.
Move to a new …
"So, where did you go on your 2025 cruise?"
The boatyard. Some hotels.
Here's the obligatory beach photo:
Here's the bullet list of days waiting for a repair.
"So far," you say, "your 2025 cruise is boring."
My response is that it's quite exciting, in a boatyard-maintenance-breaking-fixing kind of way. In a pretty-anchorages-cool-waterfront-bars way, it's not great.
Here's the obligatory sunset photo.
A few days before solstice, 19 December 2025 at 18:17.
All the planning. All the preparation. And. Oof.
Here's the ladder. It's under this.
The range light (fitting is a Perko 0170BMD) was out. The bulb was not connecting solidly. While hanging in my rock clumbing harness at the first spreader, I touched the bulb …
At the dock.
End stay at rental. Finish stowing some personal things and moving aboard. CA has a complete plan for this, making it easy for me to move the heavy things where and when she tells me.
Start provisioning for the first month or so. When the …
Launched. Here's the recap...
Ascend mast and reattach wind instrument. Test instruments. They seem to work. Here's a picture of the strip-chart recorder on the left showing a few minutes of wind direction and speet. On the right is the wind rose that shows the boat "direction" arrow …
Today. The jobs are getting bigger, actually. They take several days to complete.
Tighten the bolts on the stays'l track. They're accessible in the main cabin -- they come right through the deck and the top of the cabin. The track on the caprail has bolts that are almost inaccessible behind …
Yesterday, we took a little break in the morning. We've been working steadily, but, we're old.
However, we did get a lot done yesterday.
Where are we in the TODO list?
Well... It's complicated.
Last year, I cracked the bowsprit platform when I hit a dock piling.
The platform has stringers. Two were broken and lifted out.
I used some glue and screws to reassemble the two pieces …
Where are we in the TODO list?
Pretty far, actually. TK suggested I provide pictures. Hearing that from a professional photographer is encouraging.
Yes. I know it's really the tail end of 2024.
Years ago -- in the Chesapeake -- our boat year started mid-May, so we could get out and sail on Memorial Day weekend.
Now. In Florida, we're escaping Hurricane Season; the boat year is December to April or May. So. I'm calling …
We started with a big task list. This was based on a great deal of optimism. Optimism that started to look like empty hubris. Optimism that — when it’s gone — leads to some reflection.
The bulk of the tasks were simple: undo hurricane prep. This means putting equipment back on …
This was an emotional two week cruise.
We went approximately nowhere. We fixed a lot of things. I learned some lessons along the way.
Our preparation week had to be extended again. Ideally, we'd like to shove off on Sunday, the 21st.
Launch. The rest of …
There have been times when they put us in the sling and dropped us in the creek.
This was not one of those times.
This is -- in a way -- an After Action Review. Let's start with Intent.
There was a longish list of …
Mr. Lehman's feeling poorly.
To tell the whole story, let's roll back the clock. There are two kinds of end-of-season layup:
Wet Slip Winterizing. Put in antifreeze, take in the sails. Take in the running rigging. Maybe rearrange the stuff on deck so it doesn't collect puddles of water and …
My little heart is going pit-a-pat as we start preparing for our (very short 2024 cruising season.
We have three objectives. First, this is essentially sea trials after Hurricane Ian and a year living in Texas.
I'm confident the solar panels work. The semi-flexible panels on deck are a mess …
Status Report. Red Ranger is on the hard in Safe Cove.
Nothing has changed. Scott looked in on her recently, and reconnected shore power.
We're still in Texas.
Here's a factoid that come up in the Whitby Call yesterday.
Dash-223
Durometer 75
We have 6 fillers. The …
"Are [the rivets] just holding the spreaders in place until the shrouds are installed?" someone asked.
(Not just random "someone", but someone with a 16' catamaran with a simpler rig. A boat that can easily sail circles around Red Ranger. But doesn't have a bar or heads.)
Riggers called us back today.
(Not them in this picture, it's an old picture of me.)
Things up there look really good to the riggers, too.
This news is a huge relief to us. Huge. Relief.
When I went up the mizzen, I …
I think our sailing season has slipped away from us.
We would need to haul out before June to avoid Hurricane Season.
Because of some other travel, we have less than two months open to us.
If all the work was completed tomorrow, we might try to get launched and …
Page 1 / 2 »