It’s been a long few months with the last several weeks of interminable delays in getting out of our home in NJ with septic and roofing problems and a buyer who wouldn’t close until it was fixed. In any event, with that project finally completed with the help of professional plumbers and roofers like Knipp Roofing services, we finally moved last Thursday and are now in our new home here in Essex CT.
In spite of being here we are anything but settled with many boxes still left to unpack. I would have liked to have posted in sooner but there hasn’t been anything to talk about besides wishing that I was doing something on Pandora to get her ready to launch in late May.
However, this Wednesday I expect to head down to Norwalk to spend several days getting her ready for the season. There remains much to complete including the wiring connections on the watermaker, installing the wi-fi and working on the cockpit enclosure. Yikes, the list remains long.
In spite of it all, I was able to spend a bit of time out on the CT river in Essex last week when our son Christopher visited from NYC for the weekend. He and I took the guide boat that I spoke of in my last post out for a run on the river. It was pretty breezy but warm and sunny and we had a great time. Along the way he took these photos of a pair of osprey’s landing on their nest. As there were chicks/eggs in the nest, they were aggressively protecting the nest from our intrusion. Great shots. He’s a gifted photographer and has the patience to get the right shot. Not sure which this is, male or female.
Just take a look at those pointy talons. I’d hate to be on the receiving end when they are out fishing.
I also think that it’s a good thing that ospreys don’t have 20′ wingspans or sailing would be a bit less fun. “Hey, there’s a nice juicy human that we can feed our chicks. No, be my guest, you go first. Here Bobby, Bobby!!
Hmm, that was a bit random… Never mind.
I guess that will have to suffice for now as I am up to my elbows in boxes and unpacking. I can’t wait for things to settle down so I can get back to serious stuff like sailing.
Prior to sailing big boats (larger just actually, not BIG like the .001% boys), Brenda and I traveled for vacation to Lake Clear in the Adirondacks as I had with my parents for many years. During the many summers at Lake Clear, near Saranac, I fell in love with the sweet lines of the classic Adirondack Guide Boat, a style of pulling boat designed for hunting guides to take their customers (sports) out on the lakes in the area to hunt and fish. It was important for me to find a good boat supply store who are reliable and provide quality products. Due to the fact that the many lakes were close to one another and yet required frequent portages or “carries” where the guide would have to carry the boat from one lake some distance over land to the next launch area, these boats had to be very light so that they were manageable and easy to handle. While traditionally built out of wood, many of the modern day versions of these boats are built in kevlar, again to ensure that they are as light as possible.
Years ago, nearly 30 actually, I purchased a bare kevlar hull of a 16′ guide boat and finished it myself. The decks, fore and aft, and side rails are made of a combination of cherry, ash and walnut and the seats are caned. I even got ash blanks and made my own 8′ oars or sweeps, to match the design. The hull shape was taken from a wonderful boat Ghost built by a well known boat builder, Durant back in the 1800s and now in the collection of the Adirondack Museum in Tupper Lake which can be found, who would have ever guessed, in the Adirondacks.
Once we got into cruising Long Island Sound, the guide boat went into storage hung up high in my parent’s garage and for the last few years jammed under our front porch. As our new home is just one mile from the Connecticut River, we will once again be able to use our guide boat and for the first time since our boys were toddlers. Now our boys are 26 and 28 years old so it’s been a lot of years since the boat has touched water.
As you can imagine, after so many years in storage, the guide boat was pretty nasty looking as is witnessed by this shot. The under porch storage was very tight and while protected from much of the weather, it was a pretty humid place. Fortunately, the wood chucks that live under the porch hadn’t “chucked wood” or damaged the boat in any way. I did find some leaves tucked up under one of the decks that looked like a comfortable nest, perhaps for some mice.
Pretty nasty but there is beauty in there somewhere.After a bit of scrubbing, beauty… Actually, a lot of elbow grease on this baby.
As I mentioned, walnut and cherry decks. Oh, if it wasn’t clear, this wasn’t a kit, just a bare hull and a pile of locally purchased lumber. Not bad for a beginner. I must have been in my late 20s when I finished her. Amazingly, the varnish hasn’t been touched in all the subsequent years. Nice when you can keep a boat out of the weather.
No, I didn’t weave the cane seats. They are machine woven. CHEATER, CHEATER!!! Yes, don’t be too tough on me, we all make compromises. I was even able to fine hardware true to the original design of Ghost. It’s great to have nice hardware on a great boat. GOD is in the details as is the case in all of life. What amazing lines this boat has. She really moves through the water.
One thing that this boat has in common with our SAGA 43 Pandora, is a fine entry. They both move through the water very easily. Straight on you can really see how this boat would track on the water. Like a knife…Fine, really fine…No, I won’t be distracted from Pandora this summer but what better way to kill a few hours on the CT River than aboard a classic guide boat. There’s even a caned seat back (alas, packed for the move and not shown) for Brenda to lounge against, parasol in hand as we head out on the river.
Perhaps we will want to avoid the whole “dead deer in the bottom of the boat thing” as is in the case here.
No, and I am confident that Brenda will be good deal more attractive and a lot less smelly than the guy who is a passenger in this classic photo from Guide Boats.com. There’s a lot of great information here on the history of this unique North American craft.
In about a week we will be moving out of our NJ home and will be able to begin enjoying this great boat again after what seems like a lifetime ago. So much to look forward to.
I just love the ways that the big boys use their boats. What better way to make more room for passengers (well dressed of course) than spending a bit of time standing on the keel.
This is Hugo Boss, one of the big ocean racers and that’s Alex Thomson, the leader of that sailing group. He’s not even 40 year and is no sailing slouch as he owns the world record for a 24 hour run in a monohull at some 500 miles at an average speed of over 20 knots, that’s nearly 25 MPH. Not bad. Pandora? The fastest I have had her at a sustained speed is just a tad over 10 knots, and it was only in spurts over a several hour period. Normally, Pandora pokes along at a respectable 7 knots.
Who would even think of standing on a keel? I fear that my older son Rob would. Actually, he’s climbing, and camping, on Mount Washington this weekend. Isn’t it winter?
It’s worth checking out the Hugo Boss racing site. What an awesome boat!!! And, you have to love the shades on Alex. I wonder if he likes his martinis shaken, not stirred?
However, if you think that it’s all fun and games, this video shows the boat at speed. Not sure the keel walk would work in these conditions.
I wonder if Brenda would enjoy such a sail? Perhaps not. As I used to say in my, shall we say mere youth, “don’t get my wet”.
Would it help if I painted Pandora Black?
Oh, and by the way, the reason that the keel on Hugo Boss is painted international orange is so that if the boat looses it’s mast and turns turtle the rescue folks can see it better in the storm. Not sure that the black hull would show up all that well. Hmm…
I have really struggled over the last month to come up with new ideas to post as I have been house bound getting our home “staged”,shown, sold and then packed and ready to vacate by the, what is now set as a late March closing. Add to that a need to find somewhere to live. Don’t you just hate that home base thing? It seems that we do have a land base to escape to as living on a boat full time probably wouldn’t be a good idea for us.
Actually, as I believe I have noted in past posts, friends of ours that maintain a land home and also spend a good deal of time aboard cruising, have said that keeping a shore base to visit for as much time as needed, is a good way to keep on happily cruising for many years. It seems that while many couples chuck it all and move aboard for years of cruising bliss, a much safer bet for the long term is to split time ashore and afloat. There are plenty of boats for sale in “paradise” abandoned after living aboard for a few years.
Well, I have often ordered “surf and turf” so applying that approach to living seems about right for us. Besides, I am fond of Brenda and she would not be a happy camper on a boat full time. They say that you can rationalize anything and for me the “split thing” sounds about right. Besides, I am having trouble visualizing Pandora with a table saw, bench jointer, band saw… You get the picture. Add to that 5 looms and a gourmet kitchen aboard and, well, it’s not happening.
That’s fine. And, while moderation isn’t my strong suit, it is definitely the best path right now.
So, Bob, how’s the sale of your home in NJ going? Thank you for asking.
It’s proceeding well and the closing is scheduled for late March. Oh, yes, we made an offer on that property in Essex that I wrote about the other day and, after a bit of back and forth, we settled on terms and will likely move in late March or early April. Wish us luck.
So, what’s this have to do with summer sailing and what about “more time on Pandora!”?
The home that we have chosen is in very nice shape so I won’t be all stressed with a renovation and can focus on some fun sailing this coming season. In particular, I expect that to be able to squeeze in a short trip to Maine to participate in the Corinthians Summer Cruise. That should be fun and an opportunity to have a few buddies accompany me for the trip as Brenda will be hanging out with her weaving friends while I am away. We agreed that as she’s about to be away on Pandora for most of the time between September and April that she would not be going to Maine this summer. That’s not to say that we won’t be doing some nice trips aboard together prior to our departure, just not the Maine run.
Now all I have to do is to get packing so that I can find time to install Pandora’s new watermaker and to address the myriad items that always come up when preparing for the coming season. I won’t bore you with a rag list of “to-dos” as there will, no doubt, be many posts going into nauseating detail on each step along the way.
As I mentioned, our new home will be in Essex CT, a place that we have visited many times. We have visited Essex many times and have cruised the CT River often. On one visit we headed all the way up to the Goodspeed Opera House and got a number of wonderful shots along the way.
The bank of the river is lovely and very green.
Wonderful old homes all along the way.
Not many tacky ones at all. This one is a particular favorite. What a site!
And, of course, the famous Gillette Castle. Tacky perhaps but so “theatrical”. About right or it’s first owner.
And, the historic Goodspeed Opera house. Actually a very short ride from our new home in Essex.
Of course, water isn’t the only way to get around these parts. This small plane was fun to watch as the pilot practiced landing and taking off on the river.
We will also be close to Mystic CT as it’s so close to Essex so I’ll close with a bit about Mystic Seaport, a spot that we hope to spend more time in now that we will be living nearby.
One of our favorite things to do is an evening cruise aboard Sabino, a lovely steam ferry that has it’s home port at the seaport. I took this photo one evening last summer when Brenda and I were cruising around for one of usual cocktail cruises in our dink.
But wait, there’s more. How about a fun video of Sabino’s 100th anniversary at the seaport?
Perhaps a good way to close is with a shot of a “beginning”, breakfast aboard Pandora. Yes, a bit out of kilter, but hey, blame the photographer. Beginnings? Make that “new beginnings”. Yes, there will be lots of these for me and Brenda this year. I can’t wait!!! Now, on to packing. Ugg…
As we prepare Pandora for our trip south I am reminded once again of the adage, “when Momma be happy, EVERYBODY be happy!” As I have said many times, it’s all about keeping Brenda happy and aboard with me. These words are particularly true today as it’s her birthday. Yes, January 15th is a day that you too should have in your calendar. However, that’s another story and this post is about the cost of water.
More importantly, just how much would you pay for a gallon of water? That question certainly has many answers all of which depend on your state of mind. Questions such as… how thirsty are you, do you need a bath, or would it be a good idea if the person you are with down below took a bath? Need to wash dishes? Clothes? Each of these weighty concerns relate heavily to keeping Brenda, and to a lesser extent me happy aboard Pandora.
As we prepare Pandora for our upcoming strip to the Bahamas a big issue for us is one of having adequate water aboard. Perhaps better put, the value of a gallon of water depends on how much you carry aboard and in our case, it’s about 125 gallons. This seems like a lot but if you have to work hard, or travel great distances, to get more it’s a big deal.
Aboard Pandora we have two water tanks and we have documented that we tend to use about 15 gallons of water per day. That means with reasonable usage we can fill up about once every 8-10 days, perhaps every two weeks if we were to really conserve.
A great solution to the water supply problem is to install an RO unit, and that’s what we’ve decided to do. As I noted in a past post, we chose a Spectra unit and I will begin installing it in the next few weeks. Setting aside cost, this is one complex unit. Besides the obvious technology that makes the system work, there are a LOT OF PARTS. This sucker is complicated. The instructions that came with it urged me to do a complete inventory upon delivery. Here you go, a complete inventory…
Yes, it does look like it would be expensive. But, more importantly, back to the question about cost. When you purchase a 12oz bottle of “designer” water for $2.00, that translates to roughly $20.00 per gallon. Put it that way and it makes a $4.00 per gallon gasoline seem like a bargain and perhaps it is.
So, how much is a gallon of water worth? In the Bahamas you can purchase water for about $.25/gal but that assumes that you can bring the boat to the dock or are willing to schlep the water by the bucket full from shore in your dink, something that I did last summer in Maine multiple times per week. Given the cost of the unit I purchased it will take nearly 25,000 gallons of water to break even on making verses purchasing water. At 15 gal per day it will take 1,600 days to use that much water. Since we will be aboard Pandora for about 180 days in 2012, that means that we will break even on the purchase in about 10 years. But wait, there’s more…
These calculations don’t even count the cost of maintenance of the unit or the cost of the energy to run it, not an insignificant amount.
So, how much would you pay for a gallon of water? If you compare the RO unit and the cost of those bottled waters that you get, I will actually break even on the unit in 3,000 gallons. However, I find it hard to imagine pouring countless 12oz bottles of water over my head to rinse off after a hot day. Decadent you say?
Perhaps better put is to repeat J.P. Morgan’s quip when asked how much it cost to maintain his yacht when he said, “If you have to ask the price, you can’t afford it” Can I afford to use RO water aboard Pandora? Who knows, but it’s safe to say “when Momma be happy…”
The value of a happy wife with that “just showered feeling”? Bring it on.
I also think that it’s a good thing that ospreys don’t have 20′ wingspans or sailing would be a bit less fun. “Hey, there’s a nice juicy human that we can feed our chicks. No, be my guest, you go first. Here Bobby, Bobby!!
