Category Archives: Preparing to cruise

Goddesses of Protection

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If you’ve been following along at Little Cunning Plan you’ll remember that I’ve been working on some crafts that I’m hoping to sell through this website. I wanted something that I could enjoy doing, would be able to do on the boat if I wanted to, would be easy to ship, and would be attractive to cruisers; even something that I might trade for goods or services, or give to a host in another country.  Most of the craft stuff I’ve done recently involves large batches of cement and hundreds of bottles of paint. That’s out, naturally. I had to come up with something different.

I’m not even going to try to explain how my mind works. It’s a mystery even to me. Suffice to say I came up with an idea that is rooted in the mythologies of many countries: the myths about goddesses that protect ocean voyages, fishermen, and sailors. The idea started off with mermaids, those universally loved beauties of the sea of The Little Mermaid fame, and evolved from there.

Celeste is the last one I've made so far and I'm pleased with her overall. She has recycled sari silk for hair, a fabric head and painted face, which I've been learning to do, toille fins, and a real amethyst in her belly button. I'm pretty happy with the techniques for this doll and am working to refine them. I like the fabric heads and faces, but still want to learn how to do felt ones.

Using wool felt and the down time given me during the recent storm, I created a mermaid and called it good. The idea would work. Then I decided to play with fabric and other materials, combining them with the felted wool. ‘Personalities’ began to emerge in the dolls.  When that happened, the real fun began. By ‘fun’ I mean the gathering of supplies, reading of books about techniques, practicing said techniques and making them my own, then getting fancy with all the stuff.  Fun, to me, is challenging the limits of materials to see what I can do with them. I’m always challenging limits. Just ask Mike. (And any of my previous bosses, or even my mother.)

The result is only a beginning, but I’m liking the progress so far. I think the dolls just keep getting better as I refine techniques and become more experienced.  I’m hoping that cruisers will be attracted to having a ‘boat goddess’ the same way we used to have kitchen ‘witches’ to watch over the cooking of our food.

Milicent, the pregnant mermaid. Made completely of felted wool. She is very hug-able and would make a good doll for a young child.

Some will be made in the image of actual goddesses from mythology such as Mazu and Nehalennia, and Amphitrite. Even Isis, the Egyptian goddess, was the patron goddess of sailors. Others may be made as generic goddesses that will offer their protection if offered a name and place on a boat. Perhaps I might even make an ocean goddess that would match a boat’s name and ‘personality’, as described by the owners. For instance, I have a vision of a goddess for our new friends aboard S/V Emerald Lady. She’s all blues and greens with matching beaded accents and long, flowing fins to match the lines of the beautiful boat. She’s mature and elegant, with dark hair,  not unlike the Empress from the tarot.

 

Sekou. This one didn't have a face for a long time. I didn't want to ruin her by putting a wool face that didn't look good. I was experimenting with squid-like tentacles on this one, using lichen in the hair to mimic seaweed, beading, and fabric clothing. She's pretty fancy and needed a fancy face. So I sewed one on. I can refine that technique quite a bit, but I think eventually it will work. I'm not sure this face really works with this doll, though. I may need to take it off and do another one.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are samples of what I’ve been working on. Obviously they are not ready for the alter of retail yet as I’m still working on technique and design. But I think I’m getting close and would like feedback from the readers we have. What do you like about them? What doesn’t work for you? Do you have any ideas that would expand or refine any aspect of the overall plan? If you are a cruiser, is this idea something that appeals to you? In terms of marketing, they’ll be available through this website, but likely will be linked to this one from other sites such as Etsy, Ebay, and Craigslist. Let me know what you think. And thanks for the input!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A Photo Tribute to Moonrise

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I’m beginning to feel terrified. We have all these plans, and they all hinge on the releasing of attachments to land based things for awhile so we can go and see the world. You see, our children are more well-traveled than we are, and we just cannot let that stand. We want to go to Mexico, and Central America, and down the coast of South America, even to Antarctica. We want to go to the South Pacific, to New Zealand, and to the Great Barrier Reef. We want to sail in Europe and around the British Isles. And being the kind of people we are, we want to go to those places on our own terms and stay away from the touristy crowds. We’ve already established that Moonrise isn’t going to be our world traveling boat.  So now, I’m getting terrified because we’ve put her up for sale. We’re about to be boatless, and we don’t know when, or for how long. Yikes! If you are not a sailor, it’s hard to help you understand just how bad that’s going to feel.

It's hard to get shots like this if you don't have a boat.

You cannot get to this awesome sea cave without a boat.

Being boatless means I won't be able to see things like this, which make life worthwhile. I don't want to go whale watching with 40 strangers in orange jumpsuits for 1 hour. I want to spend the whole day watching them from the deck of my boat.

Part of our preparation for the cunning plan has been purging the house of extraneous stuff and this has forced us to reckon with the idea of ‘sunk costs’. You know: the costs you’ll never recover,  like the fact that we bought something for 1500$ and then sold it for $500. That 1000$ difference is just gone. Poof! When Mike began to tally up all the time and money we’ve spent on Moonrise in the four years we’ve owned her, it became crystal clear that we were going to have to find a way to accept the energy we’ve sunk into her as just par for the course. It would have been great if we had known when we bought her that we would someday want to sail the world and needed a boat designed for blue water. But life has a way of being messier than that, and we wouldn’t have been ready to buy such a boat at that time.  So what do we have to show for those sunk costs?

Plenty. When we bought Moonrise we were still pretty novice sailors. Having Moonrise allowed us to gain skills in ways we would never have done on the Saucy Sue (our Catalina 27). Different boats are made for different things. We sailed in conditions we would have shied away from on the Sue, just because Moonrise made us feel safe and secure. We learned we could sail in 30 knots of wind and 10 foot waves, at night, to cross the Strait of Juan de Fuca. You would have had to hog tie me to the mast to get me to do that on a 27 foot Catalina. Then you would have had to clean up after me. Not pretty.

Mike, fueling up for his turn at the wheel during the night crossing.

Three reefs on the main, just a tiny jib up. Everyone harnessed to the boat, no one allowed on deck. We did three hour watches, two people in the cockpit, one below napping.

Andrew at the wheel during the night crossing, checking the compass heading. Don't ask about the scrub brush behind him.

We learned how to work as a crew together.

Mike and Andrew trim the sail. I'm at the wheel.

And we learned how to use our cruising spinnaker.

On days like this, I think Moonrise is the prettiest boat on the water.

While Saucy Sue was a great racer and day sailer, I would not have traveled extensively on the Sue. She just was not a comfortable boat.  Moonrise is the perfect coastal cruiser. We took extended trips on Moonrise, with her comfortable cabin and sleeping arrangements and complete galley. She encouraged us to venture further each year. We were soon learning to anchor in places the guidebooks didn’t talk about, until we finally braved the Pacific side of Vancouver Island and Barkley Sound.

Nothing but big Pacific ahead.

 

The foggy west coast of Vancouver Island.

One of those anchorages that is not in the guidebooks.

Sailing experience is not all we gained for those ‘sunk costs’. We also gained experience working on boats. Moonrise has a lot more to offer her new owners than she did us. We’ve learned how to ‘remodel’ the boat interior, and how to not be too mortified at the idea of cutting into fiberglass and wood. Mike, especially, has really cut his teeth on Moonrise when it comes to working on boat systems and improving them. We know, now, how to have a boat hauled out and how to sand and paint the bottom ourselves.

Moonrise's lovely bottom.

As hard as it is to look at the tally sheet of expenditures on this boat, how much would it have cost us to have someone teach us these things? How would that even be possible? No, I feel sure that this is money well spent in the end. Sure, we are selling the boat, but we are not selling our experiences, our learning. We get to keep those. And we have the memories of being on this boat together in places we would not have seen otherwise.  And those are priceless.

 

What’s Your Favorite Color?

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Money Money Money!

Mine is green, the color of sweet, sweet moola. When Mike and I got serious about the cunningness of our little plan, we looked at all the ‘stuff’ we were going to be tossing out and realized just how much money we actually throw away on things we have barely used, not to mention all the crap we bought our kids that THEY hardly used. So up went the Craigslist ads and back onto Ebay I went. We opened a savings account and dedicated all of our funds from the sale of our junk to that account. We don’t even buy a latte with that money.

Thanks to our dogged determination to list things until they sell, and the magic of the interweb, our account is growing. Today we sold a sewing machine and an old ship’s porthole that’s just been sitting around in my yard. We’re getting quite a nice little nest egg started in that account. If I had to spend that money on a boat thing I could buy a sail, or a set of new cushions, or new running rigging, or half of a new autopilot, or radar, or 2/3 of a head sail furler…  Suffice to say that I am easily pleased by any progress we make at this point.

To date, here is what I deeply regret having tossed out: Nothing.

Here is what I marginally regret having tossed out: Nothing.

I believe I am ready for the Great Purge, Part 2. Anyone need an old dresser to refinish? I’m your girl. $125.00. Burled maple. Beveled mirror. Cash only. You pick up in my Lakewood location.

Really great old chest of drawers needs new home. Maybe yours? Because I know you need a project.