By Rich
If something leaks on a boat (or a car or a house or literally anything) never plug the leak from the inside! Quoting Taylor Swift (to whom we can look for advice on all manner of topics):
Like … ever.
Continue reading Lesson Number 5,001(?) In How Not To Repair A Boat
By Rich
Time to haul out and get to work. Here’s our recipe for a productive winter!
Our bottom paint was toast, so despite having been cleaned by a diver just weeks before, she came out of the water looking like this. Start with a good power wash. Continue reading It’s Winter Boat Project Season!
By Rich
Powerboats like my good friend Chris’ Hinckley Talaria 44 are faster than sailboats right up until the weather conditions go completely pear-shaped.
When you’re out in the ocean. Trying to get somewhere. Continue reading Taking The Fast Road: Newport To Annapolis By Hinckley Power (Including Severe Weather Adventures!)
By Rich
It’s pushing 7PM on Tuesday night, and I’m lying on my side, on the sole of the Sabre, with my arm submerged halfway in cold, smelly, oily bilge water and extended to its limits under the flooring as I work to fasten a new bilge pump float switch to the hull using only feel and instinct. My fingers work in the darkness while I stare up at the headliner and reflect on the percentage of fix-it projects we’ve had to take on aboard the Sabre through no fault of the factory but as a result of past over-confident / under-skilled do-it-yourselfers or lousy “professional” yard work. It’s got to be the vast majority. Two of last winter’s biggest projects, in fact, were taken on for just this reason: replacing one of the cracked holding tanks and re-bedding the poorly installed stainless opening portholes. Those projects are still only half complete; this winter the aft holding tank gets replaced and two of the six portholes are left to go. Continue reading Lesson Number 5,000(?) In How Not To Repair A Boat
By Rich
Here’s a fun cruising idea we’ve really enjoyed a couple of times this year: choose a destination for the day that’s only a few miles from your departure, and then sail there even when the winds are light enough that you’re only going 3-5 knots through the water. After all, what’s the rush? Continue reading Taking The Slow Road
By Rich
Before long, we’re going to be convinced that if we do this cruising thing long enough, we’ll have seen pretty much everything. This weekend we cancelled our planned overnight cruise to St. Michael’s in the face of forecasts of strong northerly winds for Sunday. Why choose a destination to the south that would cause us to beat our brains out coming back uphill to return home? Instead we decided to power north to Rock Hall for a return visit to the ridiculously picturesque anchorage in Swan Creek so we could be driven back downhill on Sunday. The Creek was absolutely everything we remember it being from our trip last year and rivaled many of our New England destinations on the bliss-o-meter. Continue reading Snakes On A Boat!
By Rich
We’re back in Annapolis after an (almost) uneventful passage from New York City during which we were almost exclusively under power. Continue reading Back In Annapolis!
By Rich
If one is going to deliver home from Newport to Annapolis via Long Island Sound, then a transit through New York City is in order. We decided to make a night of it and have Brian take the train up to join us in the wee hours of the morning so we could begin the final leg of the trip home. Continue reading Cruising Through New York City
By Rich
Seawanhaka was my childhood yacht club, so I think it only fair to disclose a personal bias right up front in blogging about a visit there. Having stated that caveat, and even adjusting for personal bias, our visit to Seawanhaka made for one of the best evenings we’ve experienced this summer. That’s quite an accomplishment given that we’ve had one hell of a great season cruising New England waters! Continue reading Cruising Seawanhaka Corinthian Yacht Club
By Rich
Take one part ferry terminal port, one part tourist village and one part scenic mooring field, mix it all up in a pot and you have the somewhat odd concoction that is Port Jefferson. Located on the north side of Long Island about half way down the Sound, Port Jefferson is a great stopping point for cruisers making their way from one end of Long Island to the other. And odd though it may sound conceptually, Port Jefferson ‘works’ really well as a scenic cruising destination all its own. Continue reading Cruising Port Jefferson
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