The Travels of S.Y.Pilger

well, That's All, Folks!

2012-02-21T09:49:00.000-08:00

We pulled out the Planning Chart a few days ago, just to make sure Cuba was where we left it. And we decided that it would add too many more miles to the trip. So Cuba and the Greater Antilles will have to wait for another time.
We will go back through a few different places, some old favorites and hopefully lotsa sea miles so we can put bigger chunks of mileage under the keel.

Georgetown, Exuma Bahamas

2012-02-09T08:42:00.000-08:00

So! I have not made a post in a lo-o-ong time. It's because my camera croaked and even I don't like to read blog posts with no pictures. I hope this very short post will satisfy;
The cruise has gone well so far. Two sets of freinds have joined us for a time, and now it's just the two of us. It was always really great to have extra bodies around to share the work and extra brains and psychies to converse with. It was fun.
Jim calculated we have come around two thousand miles from Nova Scotia, that's already a good long cruise! So even if we turn around now, it's been great! But we will press on towards Cuba. Another cruiser asked why Cuba was so appealing, why did we want to go there? It took a minute to form a good answer (but I think it was taken), ...because it's there! And March is the time, so off we will go. Then I might tell you if it was worth it. Incidentally, it is only a long day-sail to cross from the bottom of the Bahamas to Bahia de Vita, Cuba.
We have done a lot of fishing, a little catching & eating, some snorkling and lots of swimming. Apparently the fishing & lobster catching is even better in Cuba, we'll see if Jan & Cam have left us any!
If I find any wifi in Cuba, I'll letcha know how the crossing went!

Florida

2011-11-21T12:52:00.000-08:00

It's been fun re-visiting some of our favorite places, we pick up where we left off and go deeper. This time we found a great National Park, Cumberland Island. The good folks of Thomas Carnegie descent thought it best to donate their homestead (4000 acres) to the NP's and allow others to enjoy. We are so glad they did. We saw feral horses, wild turkeys and squirrels, shore birds of all kinds, so cool.

I am grateful that Linda shares her photos with me, this is what she looks like half the time. All these shots are hers. Gotta get a new camera...

Here's Michelle, swingin' her...umm...sandals on the beach! Great shot, Linda!!!

Anyhow, we're getting ready to cross the Gulf Stream and get ourselves over to the Bahamas and further. Jim just sewed up the Jamaican courtesy flag...just in case.

But until then, we're eating well by finding farmer's markets here and there and discovering some new veggies. Collard greens. will letcha know how that one goes!

It's always nice to hear from anyone, so feel free to add a comment

Cape Fear

2011-11-02T09:02:00.000-07:00

We're getting a little bit bored of waiting for weather to make some sea-miles down to Charleston, so we're getting up to all kinds of projects and repairs. And general silliness.

Jim is getting the hang of sewing up courtesy flags for our intended ports, here is the Bahamian flag getting ready to go, next up...Jamaica.

And Linda is just happy to be here! It has been great having a third body around to help with all kinds of stuff, especially just being a friend. We have been enjoying some of her "one liners", teeny tiny poems that will open your mind and help concieve of a collective consciousness.
www.earthoceanheavens.com will take you to view some of her poetic works.

Elizabeth City, North Carolina

2011-10-20T13:32:00.000-07:00

So here we are, three shipmates, gadding about in Elizabeth City. Liz city is known throughout the cruising community as "Home of the Rose Buddies". A certain fellow decided to personally greet the passing Snow Bird Fleet with fresh roses for the First mates (The ladies on board) and a wine & cheese reception if five or more boats were tied off on the free docks. This began two decades ago, and is carried on by the fellow's buddies upon his passing. The Rose Buddies. One of the boats that happened to be there was THE official Army Corps of Engineers Canals Division boat, so we got to meet and chat with the Colonel and his crew at the W&C. We thanked them for the work in keeping the Dismal Swamp (what a mis-nomer!) Canal and the entire Intra-Coastal Waterway open.

Now that we are off the Atlantic and into the ICW, we are starting to meet up with a lot more cruisers heading south. Always someone to chat with!

After verifying the Legend of Pilger's Seven Pointed Star, I will share it with you. Pilger's builder, Deiter Hienz, put a gold-leafed heptogram on the tip of the bowsprit to tell the world he was off on a Pilgrimage of the Seven Seas. The next owners, Don & Sue, had..ahem..removed shall we say... the sprit and changed it from wood to aluminum, but kept the star. Is has lost the gold leaf on its face, but still has it on the edges. See the shiny bits? What a touch of class!

So Jim & Michelle will continue the Pilgrimage. So far, it's been just the one sea, but we'll see what we can do about that!

Having Linda on board has certainly made a difference. Besides sharing the work/meals load, its just plain fun having another friend about to chat with, re-tell your old stories to and make games-night a whole lot more fun!

So please meet Linda; a Peace Poet from Worcester, Mass. Cape Cod, Mass. & Boulder, Colorado, plus many more places. She has got a great website www.earthoceanheavens.com that has some of her photos and literary works. Linda has thousands of miles under her keel, sailing with Captain Joe around this coast and the Caribbean Sea. She has traversed the Panama Canal, cruised Haiti, the San Blas Islands, Panama and Columbia + the Bahamas including long trips to the Berry Islands when they had a home-base in Miami, FL. After that, she moved to Denver, Co, where she met and married Douglass Graham, (now Graem) curator of the JMW Turner Museum. They had a daughter, Isis, who now lives and attends grad school at the University in Stockholm, Sweden.
She was in a good position to ponder life and its fluidity when she introduced herself to us on the dock in Provincetown, on Cape Cod that day. Jim was able to tell her that we were in fact looking for others to join us. She knew immediately that she wanted to come, and after tying up what little loose ends she had, she met up with us in New York City, at the 79th Street Boat Basin.
We look forward to our travels together and the opportunities that having a Peace Poet on board will bring!
A note: the images here are taken by Linda Ohlson Graham.

Cape Cod

2011-09-20T09:32:00.000-07:00

After a six hour sail, we reached The Big Sandy Hook. Cape Cod is quite the geological thing, a giant curl of a sandbar, substantial enough for, well...sadly...development. Welcome to Provincetown, MA.

But if ya gotta develop, why not make it fun? We ran over a few of these lobster-pot floats, thankfully none of them wrapped their stringy-selves around our propeller.

This is called "Pilgrim's Monument", built in granite to comemmorate the first landing of "the pilgrims" in 1620. Given our boat's name means Pilgrim in german, I thought it appropriate to show off a little.

Despite the dull weather depicted here, it is actually quite warm and pleasant. And after quite a few days of constantly moving, we are pleased to find no sailing wind for a few days...we can rest and enjoy the towns we are passing through.

I didn't bother to find you some Cape Cod architecture to ooh & aah over, there is just too much other stuff going on.

Nova Scotian South Shore

2011-09-14T11:15:00.000-07:00

Fadi, Lucia & Jim on the Appetizer Watch.

Jimmy Sez..."That water is &^#&! Cold! Well, this is the Northern Altlantic!

Yeoman Lucia gets into the groove.

We were greeted one morning by a pair of Kayakers. One invited us back to his place to meet his wife, Nalum was happy to have Jim play with their brand new Barbeque. These lovely folks allowed us to use the shower, they fed us a number of times, took us all to town to get to a library for internet, and sent us off with some beautiful flowers...and yet even more food! Thank you Stan & Nalum of Carter's Beach, NS.

And here is the lovely Carter's Beach. Nova Scotia at it's very, very best!

I am writing this from Portland, Maine. We have sucessfully entered our next cruising ground. Sadly, we said "Fair winds" to Fadi & Lucia. They are off to visit some other friends down the coast. Ya gotta love couchsurfing.org !

Next Couchsailor, please!

STILL in Sheet Harbour...but with more friends!

2011-08-28T11:14:00.000-07:00

A big welcome to our Couchsailors, Fadi Asfour & Lucia Terra formerly from Vancouver, now homeless! You are viewing photographic evidence of the kindness of strangers in Nova Scotia. A small fishing skiff pulled up alongside and deposited four huge lobsters onto the deck for Jim & Fadi to deal with, and deal they did! By the time Lucia & I got back from gathering provisions, a fantastic meal was served. I just couldn't believe it!

We are currently awaiting Tropical Storm Irene to pass and for any big seas to die down before we head out to our next stop, possibly Lunenberg.

By the way, Fadi showed me how to put a "location" icon at the bottom of each post...howdya like that?

Departing Prince Edward County

2011-08-20T07:02:00.000-07:00

Bury the garden, check. Visit friends and kids, check, (too short a visit, there). Stuff everything into the Accent, check. Visit library to send off the departing note: we're off to Nova Scotia today to pick up Pilger and get outta here! But not before we party with Jim's family, it's his parents' 50th wedding anniversary. Happy anniversary Don & Elsie!

We're getting ready to Finish the Trip!

2011-03-24T12:56:00.000-07:00

I am writing from Lewis County, Tennesee. Jim & I are just finishing our winter tour of Texas and have pointed the wheels home, thus ending the "Interlude" portion of our Pilger trip. Now it's time to plan out the remaining journey. We will spend the next three months tending to the Mini House, some employment and getting ready to go...again!
Pilger is in a much better place to begin this next leg, so we're feeling pretty good about sailing the South Shore of Nova Scotia, then down the Eastern Seaboard. After that, the Bahamas, Spanish Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic and Cuba.
We are also looking for crew to join on any of the many legs to this trip. If you are intersested, please get a hold of us! Look for my email address on My Profile sidebar, or our posting on www.noonsite.com (under James Lambton). More soon!

Farewell to Nova Scotia

2010-11-13T09:49:00.000-08:00

So we're all cumfy-cozy with our new next-door-neighbor, Young Matt aboard S.V. Tavoy and his pop Bruce. Our boats, both schooners, are rafted off nicely and going up and down with the six foot tides. Sheet Harbour is five miles long and surrounded by highlands, so is well protected. Having someone around to keep an eye on things is added value. Can't believe our luck!

The first picture is of the folks who took us in while we fretted about how to get home, buying the van and keeping moving. Wayne & Wendy, we can't thank you enough! If you're ever in a jam, I hope you are in Nova Scotia, because the people there will take exeptionally good care of you!

We'll keep you posted on our next move; a possible trip via VW Eurovan to Mexico then BC...

An Interlude

2010-10-30T08:08:00.000-07:00

You wouldn't know it by some of these pictures, but it's been getting colder wetter and windier. Add shortening to the list, and you get to asking, "Why am I doing this?". After trying to make Halifax a few days ago, we realized that we would be running at night to make some of the long passages to get across the Gulf of Maine and down the coast. Ew.

So we have decided to put the rest of the trip on hold. Sheet harbour is a great place to tie-off for the season, and we can come back to Picton, at least for a while. We are now trying hatch a plan to travel on asphalt until we return to the boat in May.

I will be putting a last post up with a nice picture of Pilger soon. And for the record, we are feeling pretty good about this. Looking forward to a Spring/summer tour through Nova Scotia, New England and the Chesapeake Bay. Hopefully we can make the Greater Antilles November.

For up-to-the-minute updates, find me on Facebook!

Sheet Harbour, Nova Scotia

2010-10-23T08:33:00.000-07:00

I am writing from yet another excellent library, this one located in a renovated primary school. The community of Sheet Harbour has 800 people right in it and more around, so finding something free to do is quite easy: just look at the bulletin board at the Post Office! So tomorrow we shall attend a church service at a united church right beside where we are anchored in The NorthEast Arm, Sheet Harbour. Then at 3, there is a free concert at the local pub featuring more gospel, hopefully a choir. I don't have any photos just yet, sorry!
We are waiting for better wind to go to Halifax, but none is scheduled to come for four days. If we get the right wind forecasted for long enough, we must keep going, however, and make some serious tracks south! The weather patterns have featured four days of west at 25-35 knots, whew! That's a lot of days at a stretch to be socked in! But all is well on board, the skipper always seems to find great places to anchor to hide out from big wind. And I am so very glad I brought lots of nice yarn to play with! I have finished my custom-piece for Rose Haven Farm Store and have already cast on a pair of merino-alpaca socks. And they are for ME! yay.
The people we meet are so very friendly, offering rides to get provisions etc, giving us hardwood from their own pile, just being human!
We are starting to see Christmas Consumables in the stores now, even more impetous to put the jets on. Please indulge me in some low-carbon Christmas meaning: give something hand-made that you don't have to pay a lot of money for. Sometimes we are moved to give something special to a certain person, but not everyone, it's true! Let it be! The rest of us will feel great for that special someone, so don't worry about "playing favorites", it'll save you lots of time and money not having to shop out of guilt for the rest. Trust me.

Les lles de Madeleines

2010-10-16T16:44:00.000-07:00

It's really different in Les Illes. They are so far from anywhere in the Gulf of St. Lawrence, they are able to remain true to themselves; Acadian. Deeply French. The names of people and places, their sensibilities, the way they take care of each other, even the landscape.

The first picture shows the great care people take in making sure nothing can blow away in some of the terrific winds that can blow through. If anything is left outside (rare), it is actually tied down. Although the lobster fishery seems to be alive and well, we could not afford a feed, but we have enjoyed halibut steaks, cod feesh, shrimpies and pan-fried haddie.

Picture #2 depicts the general feel of the place. House paint is bright and cheerful, cheeks are bright red like the soil and people look you in the eye to say "Bonne Journee!". #3 shows a developers' sense of humour. Or the photographers'. #4 has a church on a hill with its ubiquitous lighted cross for mariners to take a bearing and come into the harbour on.

While we waited in the harbour at L'Etang du Nord for some rather strong winds to pass, we were adopted by a retired fisherman, un pecher, and his wife. Gaston et Margot took us into the town of Cap aux Meules for groceries and to do our laundry. On Thanksgiving Monday, they came by to take us for the only forest walk on their island and a turkey dinner back at their place. With our very best french, we admired how they had such a small, sensible house for a retired couple, using small amounts of the earth's resources and such. It was not until I took a good look around that I understood they funny look on their faces. ALL the homes are small. Very small! It costs so much to ferry building supplies over that in general, most homes are very, very small. Way to go Les Illes! Make it work!

I am writing from Port Hawesbury, Nova Scotia right now. We left Les Illes (a term not unlike the way we call our own island The County) and landed in Souris, Prince Edward Island for the night, then headed here the next day. We were so long in French Speaking Canada that we began thinking and dreaming in French, so the switch back to English was rather abrupt, but we got through OK.

Now we are in yet another harbour, waiting for weather to get our heinies to Halifax. We are beginning to feel very pressed for time and are realizing we need to move a LOT faster to stay ahead of the colder weather. Also, we don't feel ready for a passage to Bermuda, and have decided to sail coastally so we can make shorter hops rather than 6-12 day passages. Autumnal instability is with us, and we are beginning to lose more days to opposing and high winds than are getting fair weather, so our motto has now become "South, south SOUTH!!"

Don't be surprised if my next story is posted from New York State!

Remember; eat locally and pay a bit more for good food, it's worth it for your health and also the well being of other Canadian families.

Ste. Anne de Mont

2010-09-28T06:43:00.001-07:00

While visiting Matane, we were told by good authority that Matane is, indeed, the center of the world. 4000 miles from Panama, 4000 miles from Vancouver, 4000 miles from Europe and serving up the best shrimp in the world. After a couple of Boreal Extra-Fort, we were believers!

Pierre Morel drew the map, pictured on the previous post, the depicts our route henceforth.

I am writing now from Ste. Anne de Mont in the Havre Polyvalent, hating to spend the money to tie-off for the night, but there are no road-side places to anchor, and no more coves for a while. So we get to meet more people and have hot showers, there are benefits.

Yesterday, while sailing along from Matane to Ste. Anne, I was at he helm while we passed between two mountains. The 20 knot wind focused there into 30 and by then it was too late to bring our huge mainsail down. But we tried anyway. *snap* went the boom! After we came out of that wee spot, the wind died down considerably, and there we were! Needing a huge sail, but not having one. We were planning on comming into this harbour anyhow, so we arrived and Jim made the repair. I made some yummy raw-hummus and we had a big snack, then strolled the boardwalk through the town. Methinks the government has invested big bucks in these farflung places to keep them attractive to us tourists. The harbour itself is in good shape, the facilities look brand-new. The boardwalk itself looked new, too. There was an Artists Work-Day here, this past summer, and there are sculptures and installments on the walkways. My favorite is the "Sunburst". The second photo is of "The world's largest vertical-axis wind turbine" at Cap-Chat. There has been farm after farm of tubines, spinning away on the mountains. The last shot is of La Knorr, a Viking replica that actually made a historic voyage from Europe to Labrador.

It's really been great so far.

For today, we shall put the cured boom back, bake some bread and catch up with communication with you all, seeing how this is the first time I can use my own laptop and the wi-fi actually works! "Talk" with you all soon!

We`re Actually in Matane

2010-09-25T12:21:00.000-07:00

The trip has been just great so far, but right now we`re having a rain day. We decided to take a marina for a couple of days to wait for some high, opposing winds to die down. So, I am writing from the clubhouse at le Club de Yacht de Matane! It`s a rather lovely building, all wood and rafters, warmth and folks about. The best part has been the folks about. We ``fete-d`` with some of the members last night; the Commodore made us all sushi which featured the locally-caught shrimp and smoked trout, what a feed! We warmed up to our Francais, but it was good to have some help in conversation from our new friends. The club has a mascot, an Irish Spaniel named Lila. Apparently she came from Toronto and learned to speak french, too, so if she can do it, we can too! So far, no one has bust-up laghing, so it cannot be that bad!

We are in much bigger water now and have been travelling rather speedily. We averaged 6.5 knots to get here, 8 in a nice gust with just the foresail up. It`s good to make some tracks, as it`s getting a little nippy now that we`re so far north. Only a bit more Northing then we get to turn more south.

I hope you can make out the Harbour Seal in the top picture, he was pretty far away. They have a surface-profile that appears like a floating bowling ball, and they are all curious about our boat, but so far only one barked at us. We have seen Belugas feeding, you can only see their white backs as they dive. Jim saw a baby one, all grey and wrinkly in his spotty jammies, I saw one thing in mid-dive twice, really black with a dorsal fin and a pointy jaw. I looked him up and found he might be a Minky Whale. Impossible to photograph, sorry!

I`ve making a lot of soup-y stew-y meals, good food to keep warm. We have been enjoying our wood-stove as well, we bought some charcoal to help the wood off-cuts out, good dry heat.

The scenery has been spactacular, of course, worth every mile. The founders of the region have given pictoral names to some of the Cape, coves and bays. We spent two nights in Le Anse a L Orignal, Moose Cove. As we approached it more closely, you could make out a perfectly formed moose face, pushing up out of the water. We anchored between his snout and left eyeball! Alas, I was at the helm, so could not photograph it.

(This, BTW, is a french keyboard and I cannot find certain puntuation marks, so no points off for these things!)

Looking forward to the next leg, Le Gaspesie proper. The north shore has just departed from view, bigger fetch you know, must be careful of our forecast. Gotta go to a shop up the raod and get another pair of these great long johns!

The wifi is hard to come by, so you might not hear from me until we pull in to another marina, and who knows when that will be!

Also, a happy Birfday going out to Renée The Jay, a whopping 24, wow! Party-On, Née!

Montreal

2010-09-17T12:40:00.000-07:00

This is going backwards a little, but it`s the only way to get these photos up,

These shots are of what we found romping around Montreal, busy place!

And, BTW, I am duded-up in my foul weather gear during a bit of a shower, chicken that I am. The weather has really been quite nice, the odd bit of rain.

Quebec City

2010-09-16T10:04:00.000-07:00

Well, we came through the St. Lawrence Seaway intact, through all the big locks, passing and being passed by big, juicy freighters. Everyone behaved themselves and all were very happy. The weather had been marvellous for that stretch. It began to get a little more cloudy and cool after that, but cool weather is great for walking and touristing. Linda, the pears all ripened at ounce! We were giving them away to other boaters tied off to the Waiting-Wall! Delicious!
No pikkies today, dummy here forgot to load them onto my memory stick so when we came across a beautiful library that provides free computer/internet use, whadya know! Anyhow, we have reached one of the highlights of our trip, incredible Ville de Québec! We are anchored off Québec yacht club, still a good ½ hour walk from Bas Ville, but what a discovery. We exit the Yacht Club and find ourselves on a bike path that takes us into le Viex Port. Today, we found a great set of stairs, Les Escaliers de Cap-Blanc, that took us up to the Plains of Abraham. We then noodled our way to a tourist bureau, looking for directions to the closest library, where a young gentleman told us he was not allowed to give non-tourist info, and besides, he said, it was too far a walk from here. So we asked a group of young people on the street where the library was. It was almost around the corner! Those young folks, incidentally, were promoting alternatives in transportation with fossil-fuel conservation in mind, way to go, les jeunes!
So here we are in one of the most unusual libraries we have ever been in, it was originally St. Matthew's Church, built in 1772. The alter, baptistry and Choir are off limits and still intact. The vault is all wood, quite lovely. Then there all the library stacks, racks and bits that are rather utilitarian, being that office-putty colour.
Montreal was great, too. We anchored off La Ronde park and had a beautiful view of La Grande Ville, complete with the lighted cross on Mt. Royale.
If we wait out a nasty north wind here, I`ll come back and fill the blanks in with some photos.
The next leg of our journey will take us through much wider water, smaller towns and mountainous regions. We learned that Quebec has a burgeoning cruise-ship tours industry, little doubt why. If any of you need a four-day getaway, this is indeed the place! Find the cheapest auberge you can, (maybe there is a hostel here?) and walk around for a few days.
A plustard!

Iroquois Marine Service boatyard.

2010-09-05T15:56:00.000-07:00

A very calm day on the St. Lawrence. We were going to anchor off Brockville two nights ago, but it was so busy with jet-skiis, fishing boats that we decided to keep going on to Prescott. I am so glad we did! What a pretty waterfront, complete with downtown farmer's market, a many-kilometered walkway that could take you to either end of town and then some, and some interesting things going on. We anchored off the old town wall, away from the jet-ski-crowd, but not far enough from the trains, freighters and walkers. While enjoying our cocktails at sunset, we heard a small comotion in the water and looked to see a person swimming across the river, complete with fins and a waterproof bag on his head. Hmm. The next day took us into Iroquois yard, where we hauled Pilger and commenced painting her bottom. Jim had contacted some old friends, who joined us just this evening. Gerry & Judith plus Gratton Sheely, both parties shared with us their experiences of sailing this route. Got some good anchorages, towns to visit and seafood in season. It was an extension of last Sunday!

Oh, and by the way, Linda, the pears are wrapped in newspaper, not ripe yet. We are ripening them slowly.

A fancy shot of the Prescott Municipal marina. The lighthouse has a beautiful Fresnel lens.

And here's yours truly in the galley. See the sprout-locker behind me? Full of good things! We are enjoying our partial-raw diet, feeling pretty good. Lotsa energy! For you recipe-addicts, this salad has julienned carrots, zucchini, thinly-sliced red onion, grated garlic, sprouted mung-beans, fennel & radish. Dressing is juice from one lime, grape-seed oil, salt & pepper and a wee hint of ginger. Nothing fancy. I prepare food like this twice a day, every day, so I can say that practice makes perfect.

Today was much cooler, so we enjoyed a soup that featured sauteed onion, carrot & celery, thyme, grated garlic, & potatoes. Add a bit of water to cover, simmer veg until cooked. Add some fresh diced tomatoes, basil and whatever other seasoning you like, bring back to simmer. Add beans that have been soaked a sprouted two days or so, just until the wee roots form. Steam very lightly, serve immediatly. Yummy! And the sprouted beans & seeds have a different nutritional make-up than cooked beans, they deliver protein that is much easier to digest, plus includes all the right enzymes to further aid better digestion. And they cause less flatulence.

I am sure Erika Wolff won't mind me sharing her website with you all: http://www.powerofraw.com/ , she has some beginner's recipes and some useful info. She specializes in workshops and has those workshops in Prince Edward County. I was very glad to get a book she reccommended, Living Cuisine, by Renee Loux Underkopplfler.

Tuesday, we get launched again and head right out for a two day trek to Montreal, can't wait!

Kingston, Ontario.

2010-08-31T14:00:00.001-07:00

Well, we left on a fair breeze after all. After a marvelous send-off from Little Bluff Beach, we sailed under main & jib into kingston to finish the last of the provisioning.
It was good to have a familiar trip as our first leg. We had spent that morning scrubbing Pilger's bottom, to get rid of all that growth that tends to slow a boat down. We discovered that when we froze Pilger into the ice in Picton Harbour that some of her bottom Paint got rubbed off, so we have booked time at Iroquois Marina to have her hauled out so we can put on her annual coat.
Tomorrow, we are heading towards Iroquois. so will write more then.
Thanks again all, for making yesterday such a good time!

Pilger's Big Beach Party, Photo Section

2010-08-31T13:47:00.000-07:00

Two Homes

2010-08-16T08:48:00.000-07:00

The two-weeks-until-departure countdown starts today We have stuff sitting around the house that is going to the boat and stuff on the boat that must come back to the house. So much stuff!
There will be many differences between this and our previous voyage, the biggest being auto-helm. That is a device that uses a compass to talk to our, telling it what course to steer. We could also plug in a GPS co-ordinate and it would head the boat there. It will be like having a third crew member, I am very excited.
Another difference will be our diet. Since meeting Erika Wolff ( www.powerofraw.com ), we have tried some of the recipes on her website and liked them quite a bit. We don't have enough electricity on board to power a dehydrator, but everything else is do-able. The first thing I learned is not to over-power the delicate sprouts with zingy dressings, but to keep it mellow. I'll keep you posted on my further attempts.
If any of you have some advice on how I can put a visible track on this blog, please let me know, as I would like to let you all know exactly where we are, where we're going, etc.

2010-03-29T12:27:00.000-07:00

Well! Needless to say, we're doing it again! This is the press release, the first word out. If you are one of our employers, please don't bo terribly alarmed, we won't leave until Sept. 1!
Having done this once before, we feel we are a little more prepared for even better trip. The biggerst difference between then and now is that we will be taking crew with us to help handle the longer passages. A few friends have stepped forward, but we have need for at least one more to join us on the Picton-Cape Breton (Straights of Canso) leg, if you're having a good time, we'll head to Bermuda and beyond.