Many ideas from the past few months now seem very optimistic:
1. Thinking I would be able to dutifully update a blog and write a thesis
2. Pulling everything thesis-related together in time for a March graduation (just barely missed it!)
3. Having the boat ready and feeling prepared to leave for the Caribbean in April (this we might still pull off)
In any case, I have not been updating the blog. We also haven’t been doing anything very exciting on the boat this winter. We finally got the heater running reliably, that was good. There was a bit of a fiasco involving gas in out diesel engine…but we recovered. We’ve taken the boat out a handful of times, usually running into some problem when we did. The engine died on us and we discovered how effectively we can sail in no wind with no sails up (surprisingly well!). Lee has been chipping away at the long list of projects and installations including a new auto pilot, wind generator, solar panel, batteries, and various electrical things. We settled on a sailmaker that we’re very happy with. Hood Sails is making us a new main, 125% genoa, and light-air MPG. They are also modifying our old no.3 jib and storm jib for use on a solent stay. More to come on our new sail inventory. I’m very excited about it!
Meanwhile, it rains. It snows. It’s windy, icy, and of course cold. We’ve weathered the various blizzards, some of which rivaled the Colorado snow I’ve experienced. It’s plenty cozy inside Pirat, though. We have spent quite a bit of time with Lee’s parents in Maine. There’s nothing like a house with a bathroom you don’t have to walk outside to get to and a bed that’s bigger than an extra-long twin.
All in all, it’s been a fun winter! I spend a lot of time at the local coffee-house with my computer working on the thesis but now that’s pretty much done except for lingering corrections and the defense itself. The end is in sight! and the beginning…we are still planning to leave in early April to make our way south, aiming for the Caribbean. We hope to make it to Venezuela (below the hurricane belt) by early June when the hurricane season starts. If that doesn’t work out we’ll be cruising the East Coast until November and then heading south for real. We’re flexible and trying to be open-minded.
Here’s a shot from our troubled voyage this morning. We were headed for the ocean and maybe even Block Island but the wind was a lot stronger than predicted and we had some issues with the jib/roller-furling. Lesson learned: headsail raising on Pirat is next-to-impossible for 2 people with no autopilot in 20 knots of wind. But, we can sail 7 knots with just our main up!
A bow wave!
I’m flying home to CA for a visit at the end of this week. I’m looking forward to some sunny weather and seeing people I haven’t seen for a long time!
Pirat is starting to feel like home. Lee and I are getting better at walking around down below without hitting our heads on everything. We’re used to the slight roll of the boat in strong gusts of wind across our beam. Lee has been working on various projects and seems to have the heater working reliably now. The water heater is a work in progress and next on the list is an AC power panel and outlets.
I have been dutifully working on my thesis for a few hours in the morning almost every day. Yesterday I finished the second half of my theory section and sent it off for editing. It was quite a relief to finish that before my mom arrives today for Thanksgiving.
Last week I learned one of the most important lessons one can learn living on a boat: keys don’t float. Lee’s car keys, our only set, fell out of my pocket as I stepped onto the boat one day. Lee tried retrieving them with a magnet and then by diving down between the boat and the dock (burrr!). No luck. Fortunately Lee’s parents sent us the valet key, which will do for now.
Me (Rachel) at the helm on our first sail. Click for more photos.
We also went for our first sail last week! We chose a nice calm day, timed our trip with the tides, and of course ran into all kinds of problems. Getting Pirat out of the slip was tricky since the boat is so fat and we didn’t have much room to maneuver. We also discovered that the headsail we planned to use, the biggest genoa, was too big for the roller furling. I jury rigged a tack below the furling drum. We had figured out our height and the height of the bridge we had to go under to get into Mount Hope bay. We knew we’d make it but the bottom of the bridge looked so close!
After about an hour of sailing in the steadily dying wind we found ourselves becalmed and headed in. We had to anyway if we wanted to get back at high tide. Watching our depth sounder as we entered the marina, there was sometimes less than a foot of water below our keel. The Marina manager had us come into a different slip where we wouldn’t be blocked in for the rest of the winter.
Yesterday afternoon we decided to go out and just motor around since we didn’t really have time to get the boat rigged to sail. Lesson #1 on that trip: the wind dictates how you get out of the slip. We are in a crosswind slip and had our bow facing out when we left yesterday. The wind was coming from the direction we wanted to go but there was no way the bow would turn into it so we attempted to turn downwind as we headed out and then back up the channel. That proved more difficult than it looked. Between the piling off our starboard bow, the protruding bow of the boat next to us, and the dock at our stern we did not have a smooth exit. I ran around fending Pirat off of everything and Lee tried desperately to get the boat to turn the way he wanted it to. We did finally make it out with some help and practiced maneuvering in the brisk breeze out in the bay for a while. Our return was much smoother. We came in bow-first with no problems but still aren’t sure how best to get out of here the next time we want to go for a sail.
Our crazy set up on the road.
Lee and I made it to Maine. We arrived at Lee’s parents house on Tuesday night but were eager to get down to the boat so we left for Rhode Island the next day. The leaves have all changed color and are still falling out of the trees. I have never experienced this kind of fall before and I’m in love with it already. Everything is so crisp and bright.
Pirat was in a slip in Pirate Cove Marina when we got there on Wednesday. It looked a little shabby and forlorn but it’s definitely a beautiful, quality boat. We got to work figuring out the electrical system and plugging into shore power right away. The next priority was to get the diesel heater working. When we first turned it on it whirred for a second and then shut off. After the batteries had charged for a few hours, though, there was enough power to get the heater started.
We spent a couple nights on the boat, exploring Aquidneck Island and making a list of the enumerable projects to tackle. Without a propane tank, though, I had no way to cook and thus became frustrated with boat life pretty quickly.
Now we’re back in Maine for the weekend, enjoying a couple beautiful fall days. It’s nice to see that Monster, our cat, is happy here with the Magnussons.
It’s time to head back to Pirat tomorrow. This time I’m armed with a propane tank and a pot to cook in. Hopefully the stove works!
Pirat in Pirate Cove (Click to see a whole album of pictures)
Lee’s parents visited Pirat in Rhode Island last weekend and were kind enough to send pictures of our boat in the most assembled state we’ve seen it in so far.
Moving day is a little more than a week away and there is plenty to do. There are boxes to pack for the moving van, more to pack for the trailer, and lots of stuff to get rid of. I also still need to come up with pirate costumes for our day of driving on Halloween…or maybe not.
We are spending the weekend practicing climbing anchors with the Colorado Mountain Club in Golden and then Lee will be out of town for most of next week. With all this going on I still feel like I should get some work done on my thesis before we leave. The clock is ticking!
After several more delays, Pirat officially became our boat today.
A captain moved it to Pirate Cove last Friday despite a leaky propellor shaft. Hopefully the boat’s not sinking as we speak!
Everything is wrapped up at South Wharf and the only thing left to do involving the previous owner (wow it’s satisfying writing that) is to pick up a bunch of gear that goes with the boat from his storage unit. Lee’s parents will probably do that this weekend when they go check on Pirat.
Now that the boat is there waiting for us, all Lee and I have to do is whittle down and then pack up our remaining possessions and drive 3/4 of the way across the country. No problem! Actually, it’s not looking too difficult after the gargantuan task of moving out of the warehouse.
I sent a carload of stuff to my mom’s house over the weekend. We drove to Oregon and dropped my dog, Doc, off with my cousin Kirstyn. It was strange leaving him there but he has a great new home.
Countdown to departure: 18 days!
“Watch out for pirates!”
“Aren’t you afraid of, like, storms?”
“How long will you be gone?”
“Do you know how to sail?”
“I didn’t know people really did that kind of thing.”
The list goes on. Most reactions are positive. Some are amusing. I figured out pretty early on that I really enjoy seeing people’s reactions to what Lee and I are doing. It reminds me how exhilarating it is to be quitting my job, buying a boat, and sailing south without much of a plan or agenda. When the logistics of buying the boat and the prospect of sailing it through all kinds of weather gets a little intimidating, I look at the alternative: life going on as normal. Friends and family get excited about our adventure and I feed off of their excitement.
Days till departure from Denver: 31
Here it goes! Countdown till we leave Denver and start our new life as sailing bums: 34 days
When Lee and I decided we wanted to quite our jobs and go sailing part of the motivation was the current market condition and potential for getting a good deal on a boat. Shopping for boats from Denver was difficult. We relied on the internet and remains open about where we could find a boat.
We talked to our dads, both experienced sailors, about boats they liked and features we would want. Books were also helpful and we quickly went through all the cruising literature at the Denver Public Library.
The first few boats we looked at in person were in Monterrey, CA on a random trip. We went aboard an old Sparkman & Stephens and  Halberg-Rassey Rasmus. Both were good, solid boats but the S&S would have required a lot of work to get going and the Rasmus felt a little too much like a cabin cruiser to me. They also both felt rather cramped.
From there we jumped up in the market a little bit and started looking at classic Swans. We checked out a Swan 43 in San Diego while visiting family there over July 4th weekend. While definitely not cramped, the Swan was rather run down and just didn’t feel right.
We also looked at our first couple Baltic 38’s on that trip. It wasn’t love at first sight, probably because the first one we saw was really neglected. After going onboard a much nicer example, though, we were hooked. Lee and I went home to find out as much as we could about Baltics.
Almost 3 months later we are finally closing on a boat We wanted see everything on the market, so we looked at every Baltic 38 available back East and out West. It eventually came down to 2 boats. After a disappointing survey, it was down to one.
Pirat, in South Dartmouth, Massachusetts is a custom built Baltic 38. It is configured for racing, with flush decks around the cockpit and a taller mast and narrower shroud base than it’s sister ships. I’ll save the gritty details for later. Right now, all that matters is we believe we’ve chosen the right boat for our purposes and it will formally become ours in a few days (knock on wood… nothing could possibly go wrong now…although I’ve said that before!).
Follow us, a wandering family with a sense of adventure.