Category Archives: Preparing to cruise

We’re Still Here! Happy Solstice to All!

Posted on by

Apparently the world is still here, at least so far. The Winter Solstice, the day I look forward to starting on June 21, has arrived and, at least as of this writing, Earth is holding its own. No fanfare, no nothing. Oh, except all the ‘End of the World’ parties. I prefer to think of this time as ‘The End of the World as We Know It’, and based on the horrible news of this week, we can only hope that this is true. If we’re in the beginning of a new cycle, indeed, then let it be one filled with joy and hope and love for all creatures.

In the smallness of our own lives, I celebrate the return of the sun, as well as the birth of the Son, by reflecting on all that is good here at home. This includes the fact that we will be with both of our children on this winter day. Our plan is to spend this metaphorical end to the world, and beginning of the new world, by going to see the King Tut exhibit at the Pacific Science Center in Seattle. I plan to be in awe and inspired and to meditate on how we are all connected to this rich history in one way or another.

Here are some images from this special winter solstice day in 2012. May we all find our own peace on Earth.

I am not allergic to fake trees. I revel in the Dr. Seuss quality of this tree.

Love this Coral Bark maple.

Winter hydrangea

Anna’s Hummingbird. We have many of them and they fight over the feeders. They are hilarious!

Grevillea victoriae, a shrub from New Zealand that blooms almost the entire year here. I originally grew it for the hummingbirds, but now I love it for itself.

The entertaining and personable chickens. They now come running to me when I go out, clucking loudly.

A final note, in case you were wondering, this is where Santa’s elves live during the year. I took this with my phone, in pouring rain, in a moving car. Hence the hideous quality. Still, now you know.

It’s Our Anniversary!

Posted on by

It’s the one year anniversary of our blog! Since our first blog post last October, we’ve posted 90 times, had almost 250,500 views, and increased our traffic to an average of 3000 hits per month. That might not sound like much to people who’ve lived in the blogsphere longer, but to us it represents what can happen if you just keep plugging away. In spite of the fact that I do most of the posting, Mike holds the record for the number of hits on a post in a single day. His post with the photos of Orcas in Commencement Bay got 646 hits. I have yet to forgive him for that (both the record number AND the fact that he was alone on the boat when those Orcas surfaced right by him).

This is still the goal.

As anniversaries are times of reflection, I thought I would do a sort of interview about our progress in the last year.

Question:  How happy are you overall with your blogging experience so far?  What is the easiest thing about blogging? What is the hardest thing? 

Melissa: Well, overall I am surprised at how much I like it and how many ideas I can come up with to write about. I think that’s the easiest thing; coming up with topics. Since not all of them are any good, choosing what to write about can be challenging.  I never thought of myself as a writer, so it’s a whole new world.

The hardest things are keeping the length of the posts down to a mild roar, and also sometimes keeping a light and upbeat tone. I can have some dark days in this process, but no one is going to want to read about that.

Mike: I’m at a 6 out of 10 in terms of happiness. The hardest thing is keeping up with the patches and fixing the bugs. The easiest is writing posts, but I haven’t written that many.

Question: What is the most enjoyable part of blogging?

Melissa: It’s the feedback from readers and making friends with other bloggers, hands down. I know we have a lot more readers than we do commentors. I wish more people would post comments because without them it’s like putting a part of yourself out into a black hole in the universe, never to know where it lands. It sort of like that philosophical question: It a tree falls in the forest and there is no one to hear it, does it make a sound? I think the answer to that question is, ‘Who cares?’. Same think with writing a blog. If no one reads it or comments on it, then who cares?  I also like the way blogging makes me organize my thoughts. That’s a benefit I would not have predicted.

Mike responds:  Getting nice comments from readers.

Question: What have you not liked about blogging?

Melisssa: Sometimes I can have a pretty twisted sense of humor. When I’m writing, I have a certain tone in my head that sometimes does not get translated well onto the page.  I always assume that people will know when I’m being humorous, but sometimes they don’t. I guess that’s part of the learning process for me. Believe it or not, my sense of humor is nothing compared to my kids’.

Mike: Trouble shooting the site.

Question: Reflect, if you will, on how satisfied you are about your progress in reaching the goal of voyaging. What feels solid to you? What frustrates you?

I’ve given away all of my yearbooks. I don’t miss them one bit since I photographed all the pages that had anything relevant to me. Here I am as a senior in high school, doing actual school work before the invention of the personal computer. Dinosaur days, to be sure.

Melissa: That is a complicated question. This year we have done a good job of paring down our possessions and simplifying how we live in our home and we are still in the process of doing this. We’ve been married for 30 years and raised two kids, so we have a lot of stuff. We’re pretty much normal Americans that way. So there is still much to do.

On the other hand, we will still be living in this house for a few more years and I’m finding myself unwilling to give up everything as though I’m going to live on a boat, when the ‘living on a boat’ part isn’t in sight. I don’t want to live in a house with no furniture or give up all my craft things before I have to. And we got rid of our truck too fast. With the property we own, we need a truck. So now we are going to have to buy another one. That pretty much sucks, if you ask me.

Mike: We are making progress but I am looking out five years and that still feels far away. It would be nice to have the right boat that we could start making ready for our cruising life so that we could be working on and putting money into that boat. Of course, if we decide to cruise on Moonrise, then the money is going to the right place already.  I think our experience and confidence for blue water voyaging is actually pretty good and while finances will always be a little vague, I know that we will be able to make this adventure happen.

Frustration comes from not having certainty about having the right boat and the need to continue working a few more years.

Question: What decisions remain to be made in putting your cunning plan into place? Why have you put these decisions off?

Melissa: The thorn in my side is setting the date for casting off. We know from more experienced people how important it is to set a date and just go, but so far we have been unable to agree on a date. The problem is that Mike wants to go when he retires, which is in 5 years. I will retire from my practice when Andrew graduates from college, but Mike’s is the ‘big’ retirement. Five years feels like an eternity to me, especially when I think about all of the life events that could easily happen in that amount of time that would inevitably delay our departure: things like family illnesses, grandchildren (however unlikely), or our own health (even though we are both quite healthy now). I feel a bit like a woman who has waited too long to have a baby and is now too old to easily conceive: every month that passes is another month I will never get back.

This time last year I was having fun looking at boats, anticipating selling Moonrise. Now it’s possible we’ll keep her. We aren’t sure anymore.

Believe it or not, I also worry that I will lose interest. It seems impossible now, but there are lots of things I’ve been really into for several years, only to be done with them at a certain point. I remember meeting some people at a local cruising club raft up who just sail around this area because they have lost interest in going  further. They said they don’t want to be hot, or be cold, or be challenged anymore. They just want to relax and have fun. They were in their 60’s. The tone in their comments and glances at each other was that they didn’t think Mike and I would ever go if we waited that long.
That tone fell on the fertile ground of my own fears.  People grow and change throughout their adult lives and interests grow and change along with that. What I do know is if I die before I do something this cool, I am going to be one really pissed off ghost roaming the seas.  I soothe these fears by planning to be reincarnated as a child of a wealthy family who sails around the world as a lifestyle. Maybe the Bumfuzzle children will grow up to be  sailing vagabonds and one of them can be my new parent. They seem to come from good genetic stock, and the Bumfuzzles would probably be fabulous grand parents.  Hey, whatever it takes to get me through the night. Probably the more we get out there and sail together, and I mean sail away from Commencement Bay, which is getting to be a little boring at this point, the more I will remain interested.

 

It’s hard to take care of this yard when we’re on the boat. But it’s harder to walk away from this property when values are so low.

The other decision we haven’t yet made is what to do with our house. Aside from being our family home, it’s the only property investment we have. Mike thinks we should sell it; I’m not so sure. Much will depend on property values when the time comes, I suppose. We are in a great area for rentals and we have a friend who manages rentals to military families. If we could turn the management over to him, we would have someone we trust to keep watch over this property, and maybe we could eventually derive an income from it. I hate to give that up. And yet the possibility of being able to leave with no financial liabilities is very seductive, and it is doubtful that we will come back to live in Lakewood. We can’t really make that decision until we see what the market is going to be like in a few years.

Mike: We will need to know which boat we are going to voyage in within the next two or three years. If we can make Moonrise bluewater-ready, then we will be in pretty good shape. If we decide that another  boat is needed, then we have to adjust our finances to pay it off and get it ready.  Then there is the house. Do we sell or rent? Income during our retirement has to be considered. Which pot do we draw from while we are cruising and still relatively young? These decisions are put off because I have more questions than answers. As usual.

Question: So what’s the next step for you?

Melissa: The next step is to continue honing down our belongings a bit at a time, keeping the goal of voyaging in mind as we do so and simplifying our lives the best we can while still living comfortably in our home. We’ve taken Moonrise off the market for awhile, although we’d sell her to the right buyer. Meanwhile, Mike has been doing a lot of projects on the boat and his skill level with wood working is really improving.

Mike: The next step is to find out if we can make Moonrise the boat we will take. If it is, then I can continue to work on improving her and preparing for the major upgrades (Sails, Windvane, Rigging, Tankage etc) .

 

Last Christmas I cut down on the crazy gift giving. We didn’t miss it. This year I plan to cut back even more. If I put it in writing, I have to do it.

 

Best Sailing Gloves Ever Invented

Posted on by

These gloves allow me to hold the wheel with one hand and the camera with the other. That is not an antenna sticking out of my head. It is a backstay attached to Moonrise. Cheap headphones allow me to listen to my book and also keep my ears warm.

I love it when I read product reviews on other people’s sailing blogs. We learned about Tate and Dani’s new Boss anchor (and other important things) on their blog, and about all kinds of good things over at The Ceol Mors. We appreciate knowing people who are just that far ahead of us in outfitting a sailboat for extended voyaging.

So how about outfitting the sailor? When you sail in the waters up here, protection from the elements is always a consideration. How I would love to be able to just hop on the boat without giving a thought to how cold the water is, how cold the wind is, how hot the sun might be on my bare, middle-aged skin while the rest of me is freezing. Our sailing friends who live in warmer climates have commented in the past on how we’re always wearing jackets and hats in our sailing photos. Know how we can tell that it’s summer when the above photo was taken? I’m not wearing two hats and a wooly scarf around my mouth. Sad, isn’t it?

The scenery is worth it (and also the whales, of course) but one cannot take these things for granted so whenever I’m out and about I’m always on the lookout for new and improved ways of being comfortable while under sail. And I have a decided tendency to think ‘outside the box’, refusing to be limited by product marketers who label things as ‘marine’, or ‘sailing’.

Thus, while shopping for fishing gear at our local Sportco I stumbled upon what have turned out to be the perfect sailing gloves: the [amazon_link id=”B0040GJ7V8″ target=”_blank” ]Madgrip Pro Palm Knuckler Grip 100[/amazon_link]. They were pink and less than $10.00! I figured I could gamble with ten bucks, especially since I can always use new gardening gloves if they didn’t work out.

Have you shopped for women’s sailing gloves lately? A quick Google search will bring up a ton of possibilities, none of them for less than $25.00. I am not averse to spending good money on good gloves if they do the job nicely. But I have some ‘sailing’ gloves produced by one of the leading makers of sailing clothing that leave me less than impressed, to say the least. Price is no guarantee that the glove will suit my needs, I guess. So what do I require as a sailor?

I want a glove that is made of breathable fabric, that protects my hands from wind and sun, that offers good grip to the wheel and extra cushioning for my joints, and that is flexible, allowing for decent manual dexterity. I don’t want to have to take off my gloves to mess around with my mp3 player. And I sure as H-E-double-toothpicks don’t want a glove that will get wet and soggy if water happens to splash into the cockpit. Call me picky. I’m not too worried about them being waterproof, but I do want them to work even when wet, and I want water to drain from them, not make them nasty. Also, I’ve given up on ever finding a glove that will keep my hands warm, other than wool. There is no glove made that will turn my body into a heating machine. That’s what husbands are for.

I am madly in love with these MadGrip gloves. Sorry, Mike.

I am madly in love with these MadGrip gloves. Sorry, Mike.

So I couldn’t wait to try these MadGrip Pro Palm Knuckler Grip gloves on our last trip. My gosh, the name alone is worth the price! Final rating? Excellent! This glove grips like a deprived child given an ice cream cone and surrounded by older siblings. I barely even have to hold the wheel, which is great because after hours of motoring with no wind, my hands get pretty sore from constant steering (yes, we DO need an autopilot). I’ve been known to steer with my feet. The glove is lightweight and breathable, easy to take on and off, and the fingers are the right length for me. As a bonus, the inside of the glove is soft and supple, almost comforting to the skin. At this price, I could have several pair in different colors just to shake things up a bit, which appeals to the girly side of me.

The only downside to this glove is that the cushioning material used actually seems to make my hands colder, like somehow it soaks up the heat from my already cold, lifeless fingers. But, again, I cannot hold the glove responsible for this since my hands are always cold anyhow. Besides, once they reach a certain level of coldness I can’t feel them anymore so what difference does it make? It’s a small price to pay for the incredible cushioning and grip these gloves offer and the sense of protection from the great Mother that they give. If my fingers get too cold to grip the wheel, these gloves will keep gripping it for me.

Attentive readers may have noticed in a previous post that Mike was wearing huge orange gloves while sleeping in the cockpit.

These gloves are nothing if not a bold fashion statement. They allow Mike to look serious and masculine, even when sleeping after a long, long night.

These manly gloves are worn by professional fishermen in this area. They are heavy, lined with fur-like substance, and offer no dexterity at all. But they do keep the hands protected from wind, cold water, and the more dangerous parts of fish. That is, they offer protection from cold water unless one happens to have the misfortune of getting water down inside the glove. And then the gloves will never, ever be dry again without turning them inside out and exposing them to a heat source. Just try getting them turned right again afterwards. Just give it a go. Still, Mike appreciates them on an overcast, cool day on the water. And at less than $20, they are pretty cheap. We also have some unlined ones, which I wear with a polypropylene liner. Those are probably better.

So far, I like the MadGrips much better than any of the dedicated ‘sailing’ gloves I’ve bought.  If you need a good, everyday sailing glove that you can wear home and use in the garden, too, give them a try.

 

Another post script about WordPress: Why is it messing up my photos? Last week it sent everyone an email for an old post, and this week it’s posting photos in weird places and I can’t make it stop. Grrrr. This blogger is getting a wee bit frustrated. I wanted to get this posted, so if the photos are weird, try to ignore it while we determine what the heckfire is going on.