Sailing Life
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Pine Island
Sitting in the cockpit, as the sun was rising, enjoying my first cup of coffee, I heard a sharp exhale of air, like someone or something breathing. As I glanced across the anchorage at Pine Island, I noticed several dolphins swimming around the boat. This was going to be our first longer term anchorage along Continue reading
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Departure Update
On Facebook, when I published last week’s post, I wrote that we were hoping to leave for St. Augustine the next day. I later posted that it was not a full blog post, but that we didn’t get to depart. The more I’ve thought about it, there really is a story there that I think Continue reading
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Everything breaks…all the time…it’s a boat!
When we first made the decision to sell everything and buy a boat for travel, my grandmother said, “Don’t do it. Your grandfather was always fixing something on his boat. Everything was always breaking. You’ll always be working on it.” I thought to myself, well, I’m always fixing something in the house, how can it Continue reading
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Hurricanes and sailboats!
Hurricanes! Every day, from the beginning of June until the middle of November, I wake up and as I am making my coffee, I go to the National Hurricane Center website. It’s the go to place to see about upcoming tropical cyclone activity. After that, I jump over to PredictWind so that I can see Continue reading
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Persistence, grit, determination …it’s all needed
Persistence We have been visiting family and friends lately back home. Something that has come up more than once is people’s amazement at our persistence. I’ve heard more than once, “From what you’ve written, I would have bailed a long time ago! I’m impressed by your persistence!” This has been a difficult year. Without a Continue reading
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Living off grid…you need power!
Let’s talk a little about managing power on a sailboat. When we lived in our house(s), I walked in, turned on a light and left it on. I would stand in front of the fridge with the doors open wondering what in the world I wanted (even though I wasn’t that hungry). Run the AC Continue reading
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Storm prep…Hurricane is coming!
As I am writing this, Hurricane Helene is barreling toward the big bend of Florida. The track looks like it’s going to take it right over Tallahassee, or nearby there. The width of the storm is over 400 miles and we will catch the outer edges of the storm sometime later in the evening. Daily, Continue reading
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Headed for a hurricane!
Keeping up with the weather is critical in the sailing world. I know that sounds obvious, but it’s really true. As we all know, things with the weather change, sometimes very rapidly and you have to have a plan for when things change. In late June I joined a boat, we were supposed to go Continue reading
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We found out how good our anchor is!
One night, on our second time at anchor, we discovered the significance of being able to anchor properly and have good ground tackle. Dark had just settled in, and I noticed the wind picking up. The stars were no longer as visible as the clouds rolled in and the boat began to shudder as the thunder clapped Continue reading
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Navigating Setbacks: Restoring and Testing the Sailing System | The Great Wander
When we set out on this adventure, my grandmother warned us that my grandfather was always out there working on his sailboat. Everything is always breaking she said. He was always buying parts for it and going out to the dock to fix it. She’s not the only one to have said that. I’m pretty sure that every YouTuber Continue reading
The Great Wander 