We are back!

We are back from a long break from blogging.  It is now the 2013 sailing season and we are having a blast.   The spring and early summer was cold and rainy but the last few weekends have certainly made up for it.  We hope to have a great rest of the season.  Hopefully you enjoy our experiences as much as we do.  Welcome aboard!

A Rough Day On The Water

We woke up about 3:30 AM with rough waves and wind blowing through the harbor.  I managed to get back to sleep but Captain got up around 4:30 to check on things.   After letting me doze for a while, waking up off and on, Captain woke me at 6:00 and asked if I wanted to get going soon. I was surprised, as we usually take out time, enjoy a nice breakfast at the mooring and listen to the radio.  But he has listening to the weather report and thunderstorms were predicted.  I quickly hopped out of bed and put on some clothes and a hat and helped get us underway.  I also made sure that I put on my Sea Bands and pop a motion sickness pill.  It was going to be a rough 6 hour trip home.

The ocean was very very choppy and the swells were 5-10'.  It's always the swells that get me.  While I didn't get sick, I certainly needed to keep my eyes on the horizon and not watch the boat bob up and down the swells.  I needed fresh air too as the diesel engine lets off a few fumes.

I did manage to snap a few pictures as we left the harbor.  I only have 3 pictures here as I couldn't take anymore after this!    At the end of the post, you will see a video that Captain took, this will give you an idea of the conditions we were sailing in.

We don't normally sail with our life jackets, but today we did!

There was some rain and we saw a rainbow!

This is a video I took, you can see the choppy-ness of the water and a storm off in the distance.

This is a short video that Captain took.  It shows the swells the best.

My Favorite Time

My favorite time of day is at the end.   When it gets all quiet and everyone is coming back from their daily fun and getting all ready for dinner.  The sun starts to set and you feel good about all the "stuff" you got done during the day.  I love the sky as the sun starts to set, the water starts to calm down and everything becomes peaceful.

Sebasco ~ By Land

Captain bought us some fold up bikes for Christmas last year and we brought them along with us to take ashore at Sebasco. What fun we had biking around the resort! We simply used the launch service to take us and our bikes to land.  Here are some pictures when we were biking around.

Sebasco ~ A The Mooring

Fun at the morring...fishing, reading books, relaxing...Captain took the new dingy for a spin. 

The person next to us even brought their on Paddle Surf board and paddled around the harbor.

And we made ice cream for desert!  My mom gave us a very cool ice cream "ball" last year.  You simply fill one end with ice and rock salt, the other with the ice cream mixture.  I premade the ice cream mixture at home, so the flavors could all come together and I had only one container to bring with me instead of many different ingredients.  We deiced to made banana chocolate chip ice cream.  Soo simple!   Once you add the ice and the ice cream mixture you just shake, shake, shake for about 20 minutes and you then have ice cream!  It is soft and a bit melty, but that is just how I love my ice cream anyway!

Yum!

Sailing To Sebasco Harbor

We head out to Sebasco at least once a summer.  We love the old fashioned feel of the resort.  Our sail out to Sebasco was delightful!  We saw several dolphin and enjoyed a nice even sail.    We were sure to make reservations and I was able to pick up the mooring on the first try (I can't remember the last time I missed, I am very proud of that).    Here are some pictures from our sail over to Sebasco, which takes us about 6 hours.

Message In A Bottle

We were sailing last week (more on that in a bit) and threw a simple message in a bottle in the ocean.  Using one of Captains empty Beefeater Gin bottles, I wrote a little note telling of our location and our email address and tucked it into the bottle.  Hoping that it will make it around the world and we hear back from someone!

I bought this fun poster for my Captain.  It's a surprise!  Don't tell....  Isn't it great!?

Summer Has Begun....

Summer is officially here.  But it is a sad start for me.  Memorial Day weekend marks the beginning of summer here in New England and our Monday holiday felt the heat....we had 81 degrees on the thermometers and often it felt hotter than that.  But sadly,early this week my father, of only a mere 62 years young, died.  He enjoyed sailing his own boat and often came out with us for a sail each summer.  he was soo happy that I became and "adventure" type of girl and was comfortable with trying new things and especially at home on the water.

Here he is last summer, behind the helm of our boat Sea Mist.

I will miss him soo much.

V-Berth Sheets

I realllly wanted custom v-berth sheets but after getting a price quote and it being higher than the cost of a expensive plane ticket to Florida, I decided that it may be something that I could do myself. 

Often when making up the v-berth I use 2 flat sheets.  They work great, but there is alot of extra sheet at the bottom, where the berth tapers into the bottom of a "V" and is a mere 15" wide.  Tucking in all that extra sheet leaves the foot area of the mattress bumpy.

First I took measurements, and thought that I could simply lay the sheet on the floor (in the house) and measure and cut.  But I wasn't that secure with my measurements and angles (not my strong point, but I'm great at other things!) so I abandoned that idea.

I simply brought the sheet into the boat, laid it out on the V-berth and simply cut with pinking shears the size I wanted.  Then I brought it in and sewed a simple hem all along the edges. 

This custom made flat sheet will serve as our bottom sheet and wrap around the mattress.  I will secure the sheets underneath with sheet "suspenders".  I did the same for the top sheet, so we don't have as much bunched up around our feet.  Perfect!

Away She Goes...

The hauler came on Monday the 18th of April.  The earliest in our boating history.   Here are some shots from the process.

The truck, backing in. I personally think we have the easiest driveway to do this type of job.  Short, flat and clear of trees.  Easy-peasy!

Backing under the boat...

Backing up more and more...there!  Perfect.

Up go the hydraulic boat pads to support the boat.

And she's off.  This whole process took only about 15-20 mins.  The hauling company was prepared to haul 5 boats on this day and we were the first.  They arrived at 7:00 AM and were gone by 7:30.  Sea Mist was delivered to the boat yard and immediately put on the travel lift at the marina and put in the water.  The mast and rigging was put up immediately as well.  Pictures to come!

New Lettering

Up next, new lettering.  Captain is measuring for some spiffy new letters.   The boat went the whole season last year with "Kittery Point" on the stern. We don't live in Kittery Point!  The boat will go in the water tomorrow but Captain will still be able to apply the lettering while at the dock.  We really have no choice as our lettering "guy" is out of town this week and the boat has to go in when the boat hauler says so.  To be continued....

Lattitudes & Attitudes

Those of you that read my soap blog know that I also like to cook. And bake. I combined the sailing and the cooking interests and submitted some recipes to my favorite Sailing Magazine, Latitudes & Attitudes. The magazine chose me as one of their feature cook in their "Galley Gourmet"! Here is a shot from the magazine:

I will post the recipes too. I think you'll enjoy them. Super Easy Beer Bread, Chocolate Pudding Cake and a Cheesy Rice & Bean Bake. I was sure to make them all in my little on-board oven in my tiny galley on the sailboat. I wanted to be sure that these could indeed be made on a boat successfully. I listed some shortcuts for easy cleanup and multiple ingredients (with limited space on board, these tips were helpful). It was fun! I am working on more recipes to submit to the magazine again.

12 Volt Power Port

Captain also installed a 12 Volt Power Port outside in the cockpit near our stereo speaker and helm.  The idea here was that we can now plug in and charge cell phones, VHF radio, emergency GPS etc.  Running wires from the Busbar (is electrical power distribution ) in the Starboard locker to the helm was not to difficult, and took him only about a 1/2 hour.

Very few supplies needed for this project:

He placed it under the Auto pilot, seen here, which is very close to the helm.

800 Watt Power Invertor

Another added luxury we have on board is a flat screen TV.  Yes, I know, a TV, on a boat.  But we enjoy our chilly nights inside the cabin watching a movie or Saturday Night Live while enjoying cocktails and playing scrabble.  We often had trouble with the current inverter just not being powerful enough to run the TV for more than 30 minutes or so.

See, it's just a small TV.

So, Captain installed a more powerful one.   This project took a couple of hours as he ran wires from the v-berth closet (TV wires) to the battery area (in the Galley).   I will surely enjoy this extended TV/Movie time with my Captain!

Let The Music Play!

Captain picks up all sorts of great deals on stuff that we will someday use.  And this was one of his finds.  He installed a exterior, weatherproof, West Marine speaker.  This way we can now listen to music from our Radio/CD player while outside in the cockpit without having to crank it up very loud at the system down below.

Not only that, but he installed a special switch that allows us to turn the outside speaker on or off!  This way, if we are not outside but listening to music inside, the whole mooring field/boat yard/dock doesn't have to listen to The Dave Matthew's Band or Jimmy Buffet every time we do.  He's soo clever to add those special touches!

New Battery Charger

Captain installed new battery charging system.  The boat didnt' have a charging system the batteries only charged off the alternator. Now when we are at dock we can charge the batteries using shore power.  It is a brand new unit given to us by our friend and Marine Surveyor, Mark Corke of On Board With Mark Corke fame.   It is specially made for Marine Batteries and "normal" chargers will not charge the batteries well enough.

Captain installed the system in just about a couple of hours.  Installing it easily inside the batty compartment under the sink.  Captain simply installed it and wired it up, that's it!