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After the last 500+ posts I have somehow convinced myself that my blog is pretty entertaining.  Well, it is entertaining for me to write and my mom likes it.  But then, even though I am “vertically challenged” she says that I am big.  Anyway, doting mother set aside, I have been pretty sure that my posts are more interesting than most, at least.  This is what I imagine I look like with a halo and all.   Mom agrees.I can say with confidence that some of my posts are more interesting than those who just put down a lot of waypoints that prove that they were somewhere and write something about what speed and compass course they were traveling.

However, today that warm feeling of superiority was all but shattered when I was reading FaceBook and stumbled on the blog of Cygnus III, written by a couple, well perhaps by the guy, or bloke as a true Brit, which he is, might call himself.   Now, with my blogging self image shattered, I feel more like I am marooned on a desert island with all hope lost.   “Bob, give us a break.  Stop it… NOW!”   OK, OK, yes, perhaps I’ll live and muddle through another day.  However, it’s apparent that the site of the travels of Mark and Angelina, a couple that live aboard their Oyster 45 sailboat Cygnus III. are setting the bar a bit higher for me and my lowly site.

They mostly dispense with the we-went-there sort of coverage and dig down to the “marrow” of what it’s like to live aboard and cruise, and they do it with flare.

In their own words, I give you…

So what’s this Cygnus III website all about?

Well, in 2010 we decided to sell our Dyson hoover and the house we kept it in to buy a sailing yacht called Cygnus III to live aboard.

We wanted to go sailing into a striking sunset, visit paradise and get free coconuts.

It was all pretty simple really. If we got lost along the way we could just pull in somewhere and ask directions.

What no one told us was how bleeding scary the sea is! There’s, like, rocks and storms and shit!

So these are the tales of our hapless voyage on our sailing yacht Cygnus III and the places and predicaments we have found ourselves in.

Well put, and as I read excerpts from their site aloud to Brenda, we found ourselves chuckling and sometimes laughing out loud at their observations about what it’s like to spend months together on a small boat and to live to tell the tale.

Often, when we are talking to fellow cruisers about what it’s like to live aboard, there seem to be a few basic truths about the questions we all get from those who have never left the dock or, ye gads,  slept aboard OVERNIGHT.

Here’s what the Cygnus crews have to say that and more…

How will you know when you truly become a live aboard?

If your living on a boat these descriptions may ring your ships bell?

1. When staying in a house you always come down stairs backwards
2. You find yourself bleeding from random places at random times.
3. You and your wife define “taking a break” as moving about six feet apart and looking in opposite directions.
4. You avoid telling people you live on a boat just so you don’t have to explain to them you actually sleep on it as well… again.
5. You think butter only comes in soft or liquid form.
6. You only have 3 cooking pots.
7. When invited to dinner at someone’s house you spend all night turning unnecessary lights off.
8. When invited to dinner at someone’s house you ask if you can do your laundry.
9. The doctor assumes your body covered in random bruises is a sign of physical abuse.
10. You are the only one who doesn’t want to win the big screen TV at the charity raffle.
11. You think “Game of thrones” is something you do when two people need the toilet at once.
12.  Kids think you’re the coolest person on earth. Adults think you have lost your marbles.
13. When you don’t like the neighbourhood you just move.
14. You are content knowing that sailing is code for boat repair in exotic places.
15. You can assemble a gourmet dinner using only one pot and mouldy cheese.
16. Doing laundry involves a net bag, a moving boat, and 50 feet of line.
17. When asked for a piece of paper, you ask if they want course or fine.
18. You don’t want anything for Christmas that isn’t on a Kindle.
19. Cardboard boxes, wrappers, and packing are thrown away before getting onto the boat.
20. You define a good anchorage as one where you can get Wi-Fi.
21. Your wallet contains more boat cards than business cards
22. You know what a boat card is.
23. When visiting ashore, you wake everybody at daylight screaming “We’re aground “when you open your eyes and don’t see water.
24. You define an easy chore as one where you don’t have to pull everything out of the locker first.
25. You covet new solar panels more than a new car.
26. You can identify boats by the sound of their halyard slapping against their mast.
27. Removing things from the refrigerator is like playing Jenga.
28. In shoe shops you go straight to the flip-flops.
29. You accidentally put your life jacket on when you get in a car.
30. You walk in the rain all the way back to your boat, carrying a backpack, a load of laundry,  groceries destined to fall out of their bag at any second… all while thinking how lucky you are.
31. Filling the water tanks is a full day’s work.
32. The only thing you do religiously on Sundays is wonder what day it is.
33. The first thing you do after setting the anchor is to see what other boats you know.
34.  You talk to your boat and give parts of it stupid names.
35. You understand and pay attention to the entire weather forecast.
36. You spend weekends sitting in your cockpit with a boat hook beside you, waiting to fend off the next holiday charter boat.
37. Every time you consider buying something you have to decide what you’ll get rid of to make room for it.
38. When visiting ashore you look for instructions on how to use a push button toilet.
39. A three minute hot shower is pure indulgence.
40. You covet your neighbour’s engine more than his wife.
41. Ice cubes are the ultimate luxury.
42. You have to strap a bag full of water to your boom & wait a few hours before you can take a hot shower.
43. You’ve googled to see if there are any companies that make triangular bed sheets.
44. You know that duct tape was invented by God.
45. You only bring out real cups for fancy occasions.
46. Trying to find a partner to sail away with you isn’t being romantic, it’s kidnapping.
47. Your computer homepage is the Weather Service
48. You’ve spent mornings standing naked on the deck of someone else’s boat, adjusting halyards, lashing lines & freezing your ass off.
49. You have given up trying to defend your lifestyle and are content with smugly thinking…..they don’t know just what they are missing.
50. Having sex always rocks your boat.

You can read the entire post here.

So, there you have it.  Whatever SailPandora is lacking, I can’t be accused of trying to hide those who do the “blogging thing” well.  You go Cygnus… Thanks for making us laugh.

It’s Friday morning and near the end of July (where do the days go?) and yet another beautiful day here in CT.  Last night Brenda and I went down to the CT River Museum to enjoy one of their “Thursdays on the Dock” concert featuring the USCG Dixieland Jazz Band.  These concerts are held on Thursdays in July and August and are a terrific bargain, free to members and $5 for non-members.   It was a beautiful evening with a great turnout and wonderful music.   The last time I spent any time with the USCG they wanted to see my fire extinguisher and documentation.  It was more enjoyable last night. A very nice group of guys.  One of the guys even had his mother visiting.  HI Mom!I tried to find a video of them performing that doesn’t take an hour to watch but no luck.  This one was filmed in nearby New London and features the same guys that performed last night.  You should at least watch a few minutes.

Seeing them brought back memories of many visits to New Orleans, back in my days as a “worker bee”.   They were terrific and attracted a great crowd to the museum.  I have enjoyed spending time volunteering at the museum over the last year.  The director, Chris, is a great guy.

Brenda and I will be spending the winter in the Caribbean  and I have begun planning my run to the Caribbean and the BVI and am getting pretty excited about it.  Making a 1,500 mile ocean run is a bit daunting as it will be the longest that I have made to date.    Just over 1,000 miles is the longest so far and I was never more than a few hundred miles from shore.   A few hundred miles is still WAY to long a swim to shore but on this run I’ll be much further out on this run and too far to be picked up by helicopter, speaking of the USCG, if things decide to go badly.

Anyway, we plan to make landfall in the British Virgin Islands, Virgin Gorda, home of the Bitter End Yacht Club, and the destination for the Salty Dawg Rally.   Not a bad spot.  Getting excited!Still lots of details to work out to get Pandora ready for the run south.

Oh yeah, I think I mentioned that the bow thruster wasn’t working properly and had feared that a major repair was in the offing.  Well, I went up to Wickford and Pandora this week, tools in hand, ready to perform surgery.  Good news, nothing more than a loose wire.  And, to make it even better, I found, and fixed, the problem without bringing in the professionals.  Well, not yet at least.  Let’s hope that the “thruster gremlin” doesn’t show up again any time soon.

Still need to do some canvas work to put a connector between the top of the dodger and the bimini so I’d better get going on ordering some supplies and quit it with this post.  That’s all for now.

It’s Monday and it’s been over a week since I was aboard Pandora.  She’s now in Wickford RI where she will be, less some time cruising now and then, until early September.

I still have plenty to do to get her ready for next winter’s cruising and the Salty Dawg Rally from Hampton VA to Virgin Gorda in November.   I have been recruiting crew and am about done in getting those details in order.

Of the recommended equipment that I will need on board for the run, one missing item is a parachute sea anchor, a large, well parachute shaped device, that can be deployed from the bow to keep the boat pointed into the waves in the event a storm with large breaking waves.  I don’t have one but have been offered a 12′ one by a friend.  Pandora is technically too big for that size as the recommendation is for a 15′ diameter one but the size rules are more like “guidelines” so I think that I will go for the 12′ and hope that I never have to use it.  The size recommended is really a function of the severity of the sea state so larger waves means larger parachute.  I am hoping that anything less severe than “OH S&^%” will be ok for a 12′ one.  I guess we’ll see.   I do have an EPIRB, no make that two, and a liferaft.  Others items that I surely hope NEVER to use.

I have also installed my SSB radio and will have the back stay insulators, for the antenna, installed in the next month or so.    Another item still on my list is to get the AIS transoponder name changed to Pandora. AIS is a neat item as it transmits the name course of the boat so that others, with AIS receivers, can see me.  All commercial vessels have this now and an increasing number of pleasure boats do too.   It’s a wonderful product and once you’ve used it you won’t want to be out without it.  The problem is that only an FCC certified tech can make changes to an installed system and there aren’t many pleasure boats with AIS so there aren’t a lot of places to get them serviced.  My unit requires special software and cable which I will have to bring to the tech so that the information can be changed.

There are also a number of smaller issues that need addressing aboard such as the bow thruster that crapped out recently and a mysterious oil leak on the engine.  Let’s hope that it’s indeed minor as I shudder to think about a problem that’s not…  It is a very minor leak but a few drips are ending up in the bilge, never the less.  Such are the trials of boat ownership and the larger the boat the larger the trials.

Brenda and I hope to spend some time aboard Pandora after our son Rob’s wedding in early August and may make a run out to Nantucket.  That would be fun as I really enjoyed my visit with Craig a few weeks ago.  You can see that post by clicking here.

I always have trouble finding topics to write about when I am not aboard and now is no different hence the ten day delay between posts. However, the other day I stumbled on some information about Hooligan’s Navy, a group of private sailing yachts, based out of Greenport LI, that patrolled the waters off of New England during WWII.  While I had heard of this group of sailors, I didn’t know much about them. This short video is quite interesting.
If your interest is peaked, click here to see a documentary , about 45 minutes, that tells the story in detail.  When I was at Cuttyhunk Island a few weeks ago, I was reminded about the U-Boat threat to the NE Coast when I climbed the hill to the center of the island and saw the observation bunker that was used to try and spot U-boats during the war.

As another update, Donna Lange, the grandmother of 11 that spoke at our SSCA Essex GAM a few weeks ago, will be leaving on her non-stop around the world attempt alone in about a week as her scheduled date of departure, from Bristol RI is July 26th.   The following is a short video of Donna talking about her upcoming journey.  I plan on keeping track of her voyage and will certainly write about it here.So, for now I find myself thinking about being out on the water but these days, for me, it’s more thinking and working to get ready and less about doing.  I guess that’s life, 90% perspiration and 10%… Well, I don’t recall the rest of the quote but it’s 10% something else.  For now I’ll call it doing.  Yes, that will suffice for the moment.

Yes, a post that’s perhaps a bit random.  But hey, it’s a lot different than some pictures of me sitting at my desk writing posts.  Well, I cling to that belief.

 

It’s Friday morning and we are headed from Vineyard Haven to Newport as we make our way to our final destination, Wickford this weekend.  Yet again, we have wind from a favorable direction as we close reach at between 7-8 and sometimes 9 kts in wind at just under 20kts apparent.   I love the fact that she’s so fast and doesn’t heel much either.   It makes for a very nice and speedy ride.

Craig and I have been out for nearly a week and have enjoyed nearly perfect sailing conditions.  When was the last time you went for a week cruise and were blessed with fair winds each day?

As we headed east earlier in the week we had solid SW and S winds and now, as we head back west,  a front has blessed us with NE winds that are making the return trip perfect as well.  I can’t recall when I have been able to sail this route with fair winds BOTH ways.  It reminds me of when parents quip “You don’t have it so bad. When I was your age, we walked hill to school, both ways, in the snow”. However, this week, it’s been nothing like that.   Perfect.

However, the hardship in all of this, as as we have been sailing so much it’s been tough to get warm showers as the engine just hasn’t been run enough.  Feel sorry for us?  No?  If it helps you feel better, I did get a bit of salt spray on my arm as we took the dink ashore the other day.  And, it rained for an hour this morning as we left Vineyard Haven.  Still not sympathetic?  I am  having trouble seeing the puffy clouds as I am having to squint into the sun…  Still?  Never mind…

On another note, we had a very nice visit on Martha’s Vineyard and took the bus from Vineyard Haven to Edgartown yesterday.

There are many beautiful buildings.  Every town should have such a nice town hall building. Here’s the Chappaquiddick ferry.  When we were standing on the town dock Craig noticed that there was another Aerodyne 47, like Pandora, on a nearby dock.  As there were only three made, seeing one was pretty amazing.   Note the Edgartown Yacht Club in the background and the Aerodyne in front on the left. Well, I trotted right over and introduced myself.  The owner, actually the boat has two owners, weren’t aboard but the “manager” invited us aboard for a tour.  It turns out that this is hull #2 and the owners live in NYC and NJ.  I understand that the boat splits it’s time between Edgartown and The Hamptons with the manager moving her around and taking care of her as needed.  I need a manager…

The boat, even though she’s the same design looks a lot different.  She has a hard dodger but it’s a lot shorter and down below the woodwork is teak and white, a much different look than Pandora.  Here’s the cockpit layout.  You can see how much shorter the hard dodger is.  Mine is about two feet longer.   I like the extra protection it affords.   So does Brenda and what she thinks is critical.  Down below, much more white.Here’s a similar shot of Pandora.She also lacks the second head stay that we keep our Code Zero sail on for sailing in light air. I expect that she has an asymmetrical spinnaker.  I gave my card to the manager and hope that he shares it with the owners. I also have the contact information for the owner of hull #1 so that will give us an owner’s group of three. It will be fun to compare notes.

After our tour, Craig and I stopped at the Edgartown Yacht Club for a drink.  It’s a beautiful spot.  Edgartown looks a lot like Nantucket with the major difference being that “competitive container gardening” doesn’t seem to have taken hold quite as strongly.  However, it’s a lovely place and the gardens are beautiful.

This is a very popular wedding spot.  I think that it’s perhaps the most perfect porch that I have ever seen. How about these gardens?  All that’s needed to complete the picture is a blushing bride.  I expect that one will arrive on Saturday. Enough gardens?  There is a real working wooden boat yard in Vineyard Haven, Gannon & Benjamin.   They have been in business for many years and have churned out a steady supply of beautiful boats, many of which reside here all summer. Well, thanks to a speedy run, we are almost to Brenton Reef where we will turn the corner toward Newport.  Besides, it’s lunchtime and I wouldn’t want my crew to get cranky from low blood sugar.  And, to add insult to injury, he may end up with a shower that’s only warm as we haven’t been motoring much.  Such are the compromises of cruising.

Craig!  Lunch is coming.

It’s Wednesday evening and Craig and I have returned to Pandora after a day ashore in Nantucket.  It’s been a long time since I have visited here and only the third time since I have been here by boat.  Frankly, the moorings, at $75 per night, are the most expensive of any in New England, and I can’t see myself paying those sorts of fees so I didn’t visit for years.  However, this time Craig and I opted to anchor beyond the mooring field, a half mile from the dock.  It was blowing like stink but with the great dink and a powerful motor, we made the run in minutes and stayed dry.   Fortunately, the harbor police didn’t notice, or care, that we were exceeding the speed limit.

The first time that Brenda and I came here by boat was when we had our 20’ Cape Cod catboat, TAO.  After making the run here yesterday, it’s hard to believe that Brenda an I braved the seas to do this trip in such a small boat.  The currents, as you come from Martha’s Vineyard and cross the shoals, are fierce and kick up a pretty nasty chop.  Perhaps even more remarkable than the fact that Brenda and I did this trip in such a small and fragile craft, is the fact that Brenda didn’t say “I’m out of here” and ditch me and tiny TAO, on the spot.  I guess that’s a story for another day.  Thank you Brenda…

When we were here the first time, so many years ago. we ate at the Brotherhood and even though it was more than 30 years ago, I remember it like it was yesterday.  Craig and I had lunch there today.  It brought back memories. We also visited a very nice wine store, something that Brenda and I didn’t do when we visited so many years ago.  They were serving some terrific CA wines.  We enjoyed tasting them but I am still too cheap to pay those sorts of prices, larger boat or not.  We also walked the docks at the marina and saw, first hand, the “big kids” and their boats.  Well, we saw their hired help, at least.  This streets are paved with cobbles brought here in the bilges of ships for ballast.  The tree lined streets are very tranquil, in a “monied” sort of way.
I was struck by this flower stand.  If Brenda were with me we surely would have stocked up.  The local shops are very conscious about presenting their best “curb appeal”.   These window boxes just shout “buy something, quick!”.  Churches here are well supported and look beautiful.   Craig and I opted to climb up into the bell tower of this stunning one.  The view from up high of the harbor was spectacular.  Love the rockers.  What better spot to watch for returning ships. And, what’s a town full of beautiful homes without a few “painted ladies”.  This one is an amazing standout.  I’d hate to pay to keep this one in finery. I can’t say that I have seen such a profusion of gardens and planters ever in one place.  Perhaps it’s the cool Nantucket air or the deep pockets of the homeowners.  I expect that it’s both.

It seems to me that gardening here seems more like a competitive sport here on the island with each home more beautiful than the next. One look at this and Brenda would have me in the shop whipping up an arbor.  How about this wall of roses?One of Brenda’s favorites, Hollyhocks.Don’t like pink, how about yellow?  We walked by endless beautiful home perennial gardens.  Well, I could go on for ever but I think that you get the picture.  Besides, when Brenda sees this post I am going to be in a fix.  “Bob, I’d need a new garden bed.  I promise it won’t be a big one.  Honest.”

Good thing we don’t live in Nantucket as my protestations wouldn’t hold much sway with Brenda.  It’s clear that the mix of cool sea breezes married with owners who have deep pockets and Nantucket is indeed THE spot to garden.

Tomorrow Craig and I hope to head west to Martha’s Vineyard as we begin our run to Wickford where Pandora will be moored for the rest of the summer.   So far, we have been blessed with great winds for sailing so let’s hope that our luck holds.

Well, it’s “opening time” so I’d best wrap this up.