RichC | December 8, 2011
A few days of travel away from decent Internet connections has me appreciating my questionable home cable Internet connection (either Time Warner OR my internal network isn’t perfect). I ran a few tests of both the marina BeaconWi-fi and my tethered Sprint Palm Pre and have come to the conclusion that I need to treat […]
RichC | December 7, 2011
While escaping the rainy Ohio weather this week, I enjoyed a couple of days in Florida doing boat chores, helped settle Brenda’s mom and dad back into their Delray Beach winter abode … and watched my slip mates next boat over at the marina doing some mast top work. Hubby Mark sent (hoisted) his wife […]
RichC | December 5, 2011
After weathering the hot summer and safely making it through hurricane season, our sailboat Encore demonstrated that wind and rain from “unnamed storms” can still find its way into a closed boat. One of the port above the book rack dripped some water onto a few books … a couple of them headed straight to […]
RichC | November 19, 2011
As mentioned before, I’m not an active Facebook user but I do check in on my account whenever I receive the cursory email (too many from FB BTW). After noticing an incorrectly tagged photo …twice ….yesterday I made a couple wisecracks to my nephews about it. At about the same time I was sorting through […]
RichC | November 18, 2011
Our old house and 5 acres of property on Stow Road in Hudson Ohio On my trip to NE Ohio this week I had both the chance to enjoy dinner with my daughter in Columbus (always a pleasure) and meeting with Mark Goloback, an old friend from when we lived in Hudson, Ohio. I recently […]
RichC | October 31, 2011
A reader knowing that I’ve posted pictures of kayakers and whales in the past forwarded me a link with a couple humpback whales off of California that looked to be uncomfortably close to this guy (click image for larger). Someday “we humans” are going to get a little too close … I personally will not […]
RichC | October 10, 2011
It was a rough night for passengers on a big ship. The Norweign Cruise Line’s Freedom of the Seas was never in danger according to the company, but a passenger aboard Freedom told Cruiseradio.net a different side of the story: “It was crazy. The ship was on it’s side, everything broke all over ship, medical […]
RichC | September 16, 2011
This skipper and his sailboat have something in common by going under the bridge in this way. I’m impress with both the ingenuity and boldness. How to get an 80′ rig through the 65′ bridges of the Intracoastal Waterway using two tons of water. The balls get swung out with an initial turn to port […]
RichC | September 3, 2011
… we’ll just live on the boat (WSJ video below). Not supported video content
RichC | August 15, 2011
Couldn’t resist dreaming of exotic ports of call and far away anchorages … this one is from the Chagos in the Indian Ocean (he archipelago has the largest expanse of undisturbed coral reefs in the Indian Ocean, as well as rare and endangered species of birds and other wildlife. There are strict conservation rules, which […]
RichC | August 6, 2011
I started trying to make my own J-hook fitting in order to create a quick release/connect attachment point for the forestay on Encore. My 3/8” thick blank of 6061 aluminum proved to be too much for my bandsaw blade (hopefully due to age) last night so I’ll need to order a replacement. Every once in […]
RichC | July 27, 2011
After an evening mowing the backyard grass on Tuesday night, a cooling dip in the pool was in order. The 90 degree water was a bit warm, but still felt refreshing. Besides cooling off, I “launched” (chuckle, chuckle) our hard dinghy we call Trinka and “moored” it in the pool. It is out of place, […]
RichC | July 19, 2011
Clipping and archiving to the blog. I could have just marked it private but figured I’d share just in case someone has an opinion. Length 9′ 10" Beam 5′ 1" Weight 114 Lbs Capacity: 4 Persons or 992 Lbs Maximum Motor 10 hp (Maximum motor weight 99 Lbs) Manufacturer recommends 8 hp (15" shaft) Tube […]
RichC | July 17, 2011
Although the photo doesn’t show the dodger and ac awning down just yet, all the canvas that should be put below has been stripped. I’ve rigged the extra dock lines, but have left the solar panel up (but tied to the lifelines). Besides prepping Encore for the potential of a storm, I was able […]
RichC | July 16, 2011
I busied myself on Friday enough that I’m almost too tired to update the blog. As I sit yawning and pondering the “to-do” list for Saturday, I’ll at least post a few photos from the day. I spent the morning stripping the sails and putting them below on the settee below (top left photo in […]
RichC | July 15, 2011
I’m reading my email and posting on another warm night after a day that did not include any sailing … but sailing wasn’t in the plans either. In between thunderstorms I watched the full moon is beam thru the companionway hatch (note top right of photo) and ate some Chinese carry-out for dinner. Besides spending […]
RichC | July 13, 2011
One of the problems with being dockside during a hot and humid Florida day is that the cabin temperature can climb to a pretty uncomfortable levels. Since we are tethered to the dock, we have the advantage of having enough electricity to run appliances such as air conditioning – something not all that easy when […]
RichC | July 12, 2011
In keeping with my previous theme of photography and space, my sailing acquaintance Fred Roswold currently working on his sailboat in South Africa posted his photo the June eclipse of the moon. His did a little Photoshop composite work after taking a series of shots 10-20 minutes apart. Great image Fred. The settings, for any […]
RichC | July 10, 2011
Thief gives a CCTV camera a clear view of his face before stealing a dinghy My sailing friends will appreciate this … my nomination for a Darwin award — such as with this “dingy” or “dinghy” thief. Of course this is unless his case will be decided by the jurors who heard the Casey Anthony […]
RichC | June 16, 2011
Many who know me are well aware that I enjoy following sailors who set out on voyages across the oceans of our world. One couple, Mark and Judy Handley, have been exceptional at posting daily updates and making their travels both easy and interesting to follow. I’ve corresponded with them over the years and have […]
RichC | June 6, 2011
In a conversation with a sailing friend last week, I happened to correspond by email with an acquaintance — talented photographer and liveaboard sailor, Linda Sandbo. I wanted to highlight a link to her work on my blog … and with permission she sent me a most appreciated photograph. I wish I had half the […]
RichC | May 19, 2011
Who needs a dinghy … fly instead! Nice views … (Check out PercyMichael’s YouTube clips of the Krucker amphib)
RichC | May 18, 2011
Brenda and I made a multipurpose trip to Florida to enjoy a little sailing with our soon graduate from medical school daughter Katelyn and two of her graduating friends Laura and Ashley; we also planned to do a little work on our boat Encore (projects and maintenance will never end). Besides the personal recreation, we […]
RichC | May 17, 2011
I’m trying to work through my checklist this afternoon on the boat since Brenda is off on her way driving her parent north for the summer. They will soon find out how well my son has been managing the house, feeding pets and knocking off the short chores list we have given him after his […]
RichC | May 14, 2011
Thankfully I’m feeling much better and was able to spend the day working on the boat. The sun has been hot so attempted to set up a Shadetree branded awning with many broken parts. I was at least successful enough to have weathered the first wave of wind and rain squalls Saturday night. Besides taking […]
RichC | April 1, 2011
I thought I had posted a photo of Taylor and his friends heading to their college fraternity formal last year (2010), but I must have sent it only to Facebook … I was probably thinking it was a better way to maintain privacy between just “friends and family?” I’m changing my mind this year, unless […]
RichC | March 29, 2011
Although many in our government advocates for green or sustainable transportation, something tells me that driving a sailboat on the roadways around here … with sails up … would not be applauded by our city police or state highway patrol. This nationalclass.ru YouTube video clip made me smile 🙁 Content removed
RichC | March 20, 2011
Although my ‘supermoon’ photo from Saturday night isn’t one of the better ones from across the country, I did head outside to admire the “brightest moon since 1993.” The moon appear in its full phase just 50 minutes shy of the orbit that brings it closest to the earth … perigee. According to what I’ve […]
RichC | March 19, 2011
I worked on one of the many items I brought home from the boat this past week – the Magma stern rail grill. I took the layer of greasy grime off both the inside and outside, cleaned up the burner and gave it a good warm up … so much that the wooden lid handle […]
RichC | March 13, 2011
It was a slow trip driving back from Florida this past weekend especially through Atlanta; it took an hour just to inch the miles it took to get through downtown (photo left). With the unrest in the middle east and recent revolt in Libya, the prices at the pump were up significantly. Besides seeing $5.29 […]
RichC | March 12, 2011
Although the weather in Florida this week has been a bit temperamental, we’ve enjoyed our father/son week together. From strong winds and cold fronts to a full day of torrential rain … and yes some sunshine. We never knew what the next day was going to offer us. As for temperatures, they were mostly mild, […]
RichC | March 10, 2011
With a front moving through bringing rain all day on Thursday, it was a good day to tackle some non-essential ‘interior’ boat projects. After replacing the autopilot a month ago and waiting to see if all was good, I finally replaced the ceiling access panels — not as easy of a task as it sounds. […]
RichC | March 9, 2011
The week of great weather and a good time sailing with my son continued today; we’ve been blessed with sunny skies and warm weather for our week together. After our day out sailing on Tuesday we both took naps after returning to port – obviously we’re not use to the fresh air and sunshine. […]
RichC | March 7, 2011
So far so good with enjoying our time together on Encore. Taylor has taken to the ‘boat-life’ although commented that the after hours activities near the marina are non-existent (they are … the streets roll up by 10PM). Of course that didn’t matter tonight since the fresh air and sun has zapped the energy out […]
RichC | March 6, 2011
After a late night, early morning drive to pick up my son from the airport in Orlando for his Miami of Ohio spring break, we hit our ‘berths’ without planning an overly ambitious Sunday. One of the more interesting time-killing photos I ‘tweeted’ while waiting for Taylor’s plane to arrive was of some fuel price […]
RichC | March 5, 2011
My son Taylor is spending his spring break with his dad … moi … and I’m anxiously waiting for his flight to make its connection in Washington DC before heading to the airport to pick him up. I know he is looking forward to coming down to Florida and getting out of rainy Ohio. The […]
RichC | March 4, 2011
I spent the day working on boat projects … and enjoying the sunny 70 degree temperature of Florida. The winds have been blowing and gusting and making the forecast less than attractive for sailing as my son is coming down over his spring college break (the reason I’m here). Still, there is plenty of work […]
RichC | March 3, 2011
I appreciated and enjoyed the excellent kabobs and great company as sailing friends Mark and Darlene Jones had me over for dinner last night. They sure seemed to be enjoying their time aboard their sailboat Zola traveling leisurely up and down the intercoastal waterway. Thanks for inviting me to dinner; what great slip mates – […]
RichC | February 28, 2011
On the heels of a tragic ending for the Americans traveling on s/v Quest, another sailboat has been taken by Somali pirates. According to news reports, the pirates have hijacked a family (parents and three children) as well as two others onboard. Report translated from DR.dk News: Danish sailing ship hijacked by pirates A ship […]
RichC | February 22, 2011
I was sad and angry to hear that the sailors aboard the s/v Quest off the coast of Oman in the Arabian Sea were killed today. Americans Scott and Jean Adam, along with sailing friends Phyllis Macay and Bob Riggle, were taken hostage by Somali pirates last week and as their captors headed toward Somali, […]
RichC | February 20, 2011
While doing a few chores around the yard on a bright and warm-ish Saturday afternoon, I decided to hook my old Garmin GPS 75 (early 1990s) to a solar panel scavenged from the boat to see if they both still worked. Besides being clunky, and slow to acquire the satellites, the GPS worked after putting […]
RichC | February 14, 2011
I’m had a problem with my speed/log and particularly depth sounding Navman instruments on the boat this last trip and I brought back both the instrument ‘heads’ (transducers are in the hull) and the teak mounting pod from above the companionway. Although I’m not sure what is wrong with the instruments, I’m running them in […]
RichC | February 7, 2011
We took our shakedown sail on s/v Encore a couple days ago on our “new to us” sailboat last week. The weather in Florida couldn’t have been better for the first “real” sailing (my previous seatrials don’t count since Brenda wasn’t with me). Unfortunately as with most older boats, there are issues that need to […]
RichC | February 4, 2011
The skipper and her first mate Gilligan sailing somewhere in the gulf stream. It’s much nicer than shoveling snow. 🙂
RichC | January 7, 2011
Those who have worked on older boats know that most of the time a new owner finds a rats nest of wiring that was either left after rewiring when new equipment was updated or part of a new installation. In my case I really just wanted to diagnosis problems with a non-functioning autopilot … the […]
RichC | January 3, 2011
A good friend, Clyde Witt (My Witt’s End), teased me with a few interesting and historical photos from the east coast over the holidays. His friend has a home on the shore which ‘had’ an old wooden mast used now to hoist a flag. It was ‘stepped’ securely in the rocky shoreline and has mark […]
RichC | December 30, 2010
I saw a photo of a couple of crazy sailors (are there any other kind?) that reminded me of my teenage years with high school friend Charlie “Kamakaze” Matthews sailing the “Fiberpile” in late winter and early spring. We were so anxious to get back on the water that one of us would bounce up […]
RichC | December 18, 2010
Christmas has come early for me as we finalized the closing on the “new to us” sailboat – 1986 36’ Westerly Corsair called Encore. Although Brenda and I have been looking at boats for years, we realistically planned on putting off owning our next boat until both kids were out of college and comfortably on […]
RichC | December 14, 2010
Congratulation Roz (previous posts) … you are National Geographic’s Adventurer of the Year for 2010. (and she’s working on another book about rowing the Pacific) The Rower Roz Savage solo rowed the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans—the first woman ever to do so. Before she rowed across two oceans, Roz Savage was a management consultant, working […]
RichC | December 14, 2010
I started to clear a little snow away from the pool skimmer lids this evening and fitted my compressor to blow out the water lines … but it’s just too cold to continue on. It might be better to wait a couple days and keep the pool from freezing by running the pump. I was […]
RichC | December 9, 2010
Encore – and UK built 1986 well equipped 36’ Westerly Corsair CC I’ve been offline and a bit out of kilter the last couple of days … I could say I was busy Christmas shopping, but then what I’m doing sort of stretches any Christmas present budget that I’m aware of? I headed to sunny […]
RichC | November 4, 2010
The Maritime and Coastguard Agency reported that the crew of mostly 14 year old sailors from Poland arrived safely in the U.K. after their tall ship was battered by a storm. The Fryderyk Chopin lost both its masts when it was hit by gale-force winds about 100 miles southwest of the English coast on […]
RichC | October 29, 2010
Checking on a couple more sailboats this October and nearly convinced that we’ve found one that have me reaching for my wallet and counting pennies. I wish I could say that the timing for a boat was right, although I don’t really know when that time is. Too soon and we don’t have the time […]
RichC | October 6, 2010
While celebrating our dog Tootsie’s 13th birthday on Tuesday – she’s a teenager (born: 10/5/1997) – I caught the last few minutes of an Animal Planet program “Weird, True and Freaky – Lost and Found.” I remember mentioning the story on my blog about a cattledog that fell off of a sailboat and survived on a […]
RichC | September 30, 2010
While stopping for lunch today I shared some sailing highlights from the MedCup in September 2010 with my son who loves extreme ‘go-fast’ sailing. Although my interest in ‘racing’ wind powered machines has dimmed as technology plays a significantly larger role in decisionmaking aboard very today’s sophisticated boats, I’m still intrigued with those who do […]
RichC | September 10, 2010
A couple sailing friends currently spending time cruising northwestern Madagascar are enjoying the area around Nosy Be. While doing a little map checking on the area, I ran across a couple interesting photos with someone doing some maintenance on a different kind of tourist oriented watercraft (click for larger image). Having just returned from Bermuda, […]
RichC | August 29, 2010
A few years ago Donna Lange sailed alone around the world on her small well built Southern Cross 28 sailboat (see PDF Brochure). I enjoyed staying in touch with her and posting on my blog. Brenda and I also enjoyed catching up with her as well last year in Annapolis for a boatshow and get […]
RichC | August 6, 2010
Far be in from me to discourage sailing, cruising and voyaging around the world … but at some point a parent will go too far in supporting a parent’s a child’s dream. Personally speaking my childhood hero was Robin Lee Graham who set sail at 16 for his around the world voyage – and there […]
RichC | July 27, 2010
A 39 year old Italian solo circumnavigator finished his non-stop sail around the world voyage in the smallest sailboat to do it on July 22. Alessandro Di Benedetto and Mini, his 21 foot boat, set sail on October 26, 2009 from Les Sables d’Olonne France on the Bay of Biscay and finished the voyage with […]