Contact Us

We’re happy to hear from you if you have questions about our boat or our posts. You may contact us via email at Michael at Geekboys dot com.

35 thoughts on “Contact Us”

    • Jenny, It was a pleasure meeting you and seeing Ed again. Enjoy your stay in Washington. We’ll be sure to check out kate’s blog.

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  3. Loved your blog. I was so surprised to know the orcas were in the South Sound last week and I missed them:( Thanks for sharing your beautiful pictures. Your blog is awesome. We are moored over at the Foss Harbor Marina and cherish every day in the Pacific Northwest. We live in Brown’s Point and so admire your adventurous life:)

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    • Hi Dana,
      We’re glad you found us and like the blog! We hope you stick around and continue reading. This week we are in La Paz, Mexico trying to have more adventures. We hope to be blogging from here this week.

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      • Enjoyed your site. I am in Florida seeking a Westerly. What was wrong with the one you guys looked at? Trying to get an idea of what to look for. Thanks!

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        • Thanks for visiting our blog shawn. At various times we have looked at a number of Westerlies. For Melissa and myself, we were looking at the SeaLord. We both really liked this boat and found that besides being in need of the usual updating of rigging and electronices, it was a good comfortable boat. I understand they are pretty fast as well. Melissa had some concerns about the standing rigging, but that would come out in a survey. We are still thinking about the boat we visited in Blaine but first we have to sell Moonrise.

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          • My concerns about the Westerly 39 we saw were around the considerable water damage in the head close to the v berth. The damage looks like it could possibly be related to damage to the deck around the standing rigging and appears to have been going on for a long time. My impression from the broker was the boat has been all but abandoned by the owner. It definitely is a ‘fixer’. The Westerly Cirrus we looked at also had water damage to the point of wood rot. It, too, had been let go. I’d look for one where the owners have been engaged in sailing the boat, myself. These two boats had been let sit for a long time.

  5. Hi folks:

    We are the couple who bought Arabella (Hans Christian 38) and coincidentally also loved Andromeda. She was unforunately just too much boat for us as a couple.

    Our blog is finally up and running, so here is the address:

    http://www.adventiabeforedementia.com

    You have been an inspiration, so I have put your site as a link on our wordpress.

    Enjoy your project!

    Tony and Karin

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    • Tony and Karin,

      We just checked out your blog and fully approve of your plan. Arabella is the perfect boat for your South Sea cruise.

      Once we get Andromeda repowered and fit for sailing we will are thinking a trip to Barkley Sound would be a firs good cruise. Perhaps we will see you somewhere around Vancouver Island.

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  7. Hi we are a Canadian family of 5 on an Olympic Adventure. Currently just arrived in South Africa, bought the boat in 2005, had it in the driveway for 2 years renovating, left Canada in 2008, just had our 6 year anniversary at sea. The kids were 6,7 and 10 when we left, now they have to duck to avoid hitting there heads. Plan to sell him (Gromit) when we finnish next summer. See us on Sailblogs under Gromit. Contact us on sailinggromit@gmail.com. We have hull number 1 which premiered at the Annapolis boat show in 1974. We still have the original Westerbeke engine. We have had a vast array of failures at sea, so we can tell you the weak links in the boat.

    Michael

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  8. Hi Melissa,

    We just got back from a week in the Gulf Islands. I ordered a wi-fi hotspot from RoamMobile that they sent directly to the Port Sidney Marina where we cleared customs. C$15/day for unlimited 4G data where there was service. It worked great in the mornings and afternoons but slowed down in the evenings. We dropped it in the mail on our last day at Ganges. Five devices could connect at once which kept my crew happily connected.

    Cheers,

    George
    S/V COHO
    Bham, WA

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    • Hello George and many thanks for that information. We will put that resource in our file for future reference. The availability of service on the west coast of Vancouver Island is spotty but that would certainly be a good way to go when we stay on the inside where reception is better.

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  9. Hi, enjoyed poking about several of your blog postings but missed a link to subscribe via email or Pinterest? Plz advise…
    Thank you!
    PW

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    • Hi there, there is an email ‘subscribe’ box on the homepage. Now that you mention it, we should probably put that on each page. Thanks for the comment! Just go to LittleCunningPlan.com and you should see it.

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    • Chris,

      We read about Flying Gull and the violent end to the man aboard this morning. While these kinds of events happen with some frequency, our connection to the boat makes this story much more personal.

      Melissa and I still think of that boat and the potential it had. We would drive by her slip on Lake Union and see if she was still there and being taken care of. While she was absolutely the wrong boat for us, we both fantasize about what we could have done with her. With deeper pockets and a different schedule, she would have been magnificient.

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  12. I saw the “Flying Gull” for sale at auction site PublicSurplus.com, thought you would like to know. It would be nice if someone gets the boat and restores it.

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    • Thanks for posting that. I’ll take a look and if it’s still there, put the link on our facebook page. Yes, I do hope someone restores that beautiful boat.

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  13. Hello,

    I just found your blog and you are doing a great job. I was wondering how your refrigeration system is working and how you like the mods you made to the fridge space on the boat. I am now in the market for a new boat for the family and the Olympic 47 is up high on our list. I previously owned a Whitby 42, so having another Ted Brewer designed boat would be nice. I was wondering if you knew of any problem areas with this boat design and build? I have not found any during my searches, but with only 27? boats out there, maybe not a lot of information to be had.

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    • Hi there Dan, Glad you found us. Be sure to look for the Olympic Adventure 47 Owners facebook page. You’ll have direct access to several other owners of these boats. I have no complaints, really, about the design of our boat except I cannot understand the reasoning for the drainage system on deck. When water comes on the deck, it goes through deck drains which go through the boat, giving us ample opportunity for water to leak into the boat from the deck. Why? I’ve not figured this out and if we ever win the lotto we will have that corrected so water drains directly overboard. The other complaint we both have is the lack of on deck storage. there is a huge lazarette on the aft deck, but because it’s so big and cavernous, you basically have to unload everything in order to get to anything. You might look back at June and July 2017 on the blog to read about an issue we had with severe leaking underneath the mizzen mast. The mast step was poorly designed and had cracked severely, allowing water to pretty much pour into the aft cabin. We spent much time repairing that bulkhead and getting the fiberglass repaired. The step was redesigned to avoid this problem in the future. In addition, we had wood rot underneath the windlass. Considering that the wood there is probably 10 inches thick and we had maybe 3 inches of rot to remove, it had been going on for some time. Mike will also reply to your email with his own takes and we will be happy to answer any and all questions you may have about these pretty awesome boats.

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    • Dan,
      The mods to the refrigeration box have generally been successful. We have made some modifications to the original design based on our usage and experience. In the Reefer Madness article I did not refer to the fact that I wanted to make a split freezer/reefer system by employing a divider in the box to keep the holding plate side at below freezing. If you have visited the cool blue site or this is a common approach to creating a freezer fridge with just one holding plate. To that end, I built a movable divider out of FRP and we used the system like this for many months.

      But The freezer side of this setup was marginal and even when cruising in the Pacific Northwest it could barely keep up. So, before we left for the big cruise, we bought an Engle Freezer and use that for our frozen food. That freezer works well but it is yet another drain on the batteries. We then converted the main box into a refrigerator only system, removing the divider and raising the temperature on the holding plate so that the the box is now one large refrigeration box. The box is pretty large and we have developed techniques for placing items in the box to keep some items like meat cold and other items like salad a bit warmer.

      Now that the Cool Blue system is just for refrigeration, it is more efficient but we have yet to use the system in the worst of the hot weather.

      We have generally found the Olympic Adventure to be a great boat and I can’t really think of any show stoppers. You may have read about our exhaust riser issues and so I would make sure that you check how the engine exhaust water is handled on any boat you look at. Our boat has the exhaust system line run all the way to the stern of the boat, a very long run of hose containing a lot of water that could potentially rock back towards the engine in rough water. I have heard that some boats have the engine exhaust running out the Port side of the boat. That would make for a shorter run of hose but may have some other negative consequences.

      We are also trying to figure out how to make the mainsail handling a bit easier. The boom is quite high and in a seaway it is a challenge to raise or douse the main. As a result, we have not used the main as much as I’d like.

      If you have any specific questions,feel free to drop me a line.

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  15. Re insurance after nonrenewal – we had same situation when we got back to WA and marinas/yards all needed it. We went to our house insurance company who had long experience with us and they wrote a liability only boat policy for us. Price was great, and it was quick. Another boater had mentioned having done that a few years before, so we had that bit of info knowing others had done it for a starting point in our conversations. If you haven’t resolved it, it is well worth trying.

    May Fair winds be with you to Hawaii & on with a perfect N Pacific high in your future. Your posts are so enjoyable to follow – thanks for doing & sharing them and especially at this time with life so different here with staying home and social distancing dictates, etc. Sharing the rare and incredible experience of sailing across an ocean is a beautiful gift you are giving… know that you are feeding the hopes and dreams of future voyagers… and
    rekindling memories for other past voyagers. Onward!

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    • Thanks for your helpful comment, Julie. I’ve sent you an email to follow up. What a nice way to put it, that we are feeding the hopes and dreams of future voyagers. I do hope that is true and we are always available to have encouraging conversations with any potential voyagers out there. We feel extraordinarily lucky to be doing this, especially right now.

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  16. Hi Michael and Melissa,

    I had tried emailing you at the address listed above, some time ago in regards to Flying Gull, but I didn’t ever hear anything back. As your new posting about Flying Gull shows that this beautiful boat, such an incredible design, is still in your hearts and minds, I thought to try you here in the comments section to make contact with you. I too have been in love with this particular boat, its design, and history, and it has been occupying the majority of my thoughts for quite some time.

    You mentioned in the post that Flying Gull was bought by someone who wanted to bring her back, and that she may be up for sale again soon.

    I wonder, would you be able to put me in touch with the owner?

    My best regards,

    Nathan

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  17. I miss your blog and am a little worried about you guys… it’s been over a year! Is everything ok I hope?

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