RichC | August 26, 2015
It is the time of year when the tropical weather in the Atlantic tracks across the Caribbean Sea and Leeward Islands. These tropical storms can grow into hurricanes and blast the US east coast or continue on into the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico. The previous tropical storm turn hurricane for a very […]
RichC | June 7, 2015
We're continuing to learn about the movement of Great White Sharks near the eastern U.S. and coasts since Ocerea has been tagging a few. It has been shocking to see the number of miles they travel and just how near these large sharks occasionall get to beaches and shallow waters. John Dickinson and his wife […]
RichC | May 1, 2015
Sharing and archiving a little left over video from our recent trip sailing on Encore with our son Taylor last week. He stretch out a week using some of his vacation time (wisely … more later) while coaxing Brenda and me to do the same for a few days. We had great spring weather (80s) […]
RichC | April 25, 2015
We are so fortunate to have great kids, steady employment and the flexibility to escape once in a while to enjoy the fruits of our labor … AND to recharge our batteries for a few days. Taylor flew down to Florida from North Dakota and met up with Miami University friend Paul for the weekend […]
RichC | April 13, 2015
It was interesting while it lasted … the launch of the SpaceX Dragon CRS-6 Falcon9 was scrubbed this afternoon and scheduled for tomorrow, April 14 at 4:10PM; weather could be a problem again. My daughter Katelyn and her husband Drew were at Kennedy Space Center (photo below) to watch it on their 2nd wedding anniversary […]
RichC | March 30, 2015
After the rain on Friday (above), the weather improve for a weekend finishing up a long drawn out engine work (plus a few other repairs) to Encore at the marina in Florida. The weather improved and was high 70s on Saturday and Sunday but with the north wind felt cooler in the shade. I wasn't […]
RichC | March 2, 2015
Just as it was in the French Revolution, I’m back and forth telling A Tale of Two Cities and “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times,” so to speak. I spent the weekend taking care of a condo rental issue in Delray Beach, Florida and of course was staying on […]
RichC | November 26, 2014
Took this photo while enjoying a warm and quiet evening relaxing in the cockpit before heading for home and back to less attractive weather, but it will soon be Thanksgiving and a time to be “thankful.” I’ll need to keep reminding myself that when the snow starts to fly! On the positive side, having a […]
RichC | October 27, 2014
What a wonderful life. I’ll let our video speak for itself. "God is good, God is good all the time. All the time God is good." from the movie God is NOT Dead. But it applies …
RichC | October 25, 2014
Brenda and I enjoy a lunch out at GoodFella’s for cheesesteaks with our friends Mark and Darlene Jones on Friday and walk along the new bike and pedestrian walk along the Fort Pierce inlet. The city did a great job of making it attractive and include cute features including mosaics of all the fish […]
RichC | October 23, 2014
After our 16 hour drive on Wednesday from Cincinnati to Florida, Brenda and I were welcomed by our liveaboard friends Mark and Dar with a cold drink. They had already turn on our refrigeration making it convenient to repack a few items from our cooler box into the galley. I sure appreciate them keeping an […]
RichC | October 12, 2014
Somewhat an excuse to slip in a Hank Williams song, but the Dome Homes article was intriguing because we explored this area with my college buddies in the late 1970s every Christmas break. I’d still like to get back there by sailboat and anchor for a few days …weeks … or maybe months … and […]
RichC | September 1, 2014
Here’s a “large, hungry” Hammerhead Shark feeding in the clear “shallow” waters in Destin Florida … as viewed from a balcony.
RichC | August 30, 2014
The past week had me on an enjoyable but quick trip to take care of a few sailboat maintenance items in Florida. The sails were re-stitched and needed to be picked up from South Sails as well as new halyards spliced and hoisted. Unfortunately the summer sun has been hard on every exposed part … […]
RichC | August 28, 2014
I picked up the repaired sails from South Sails this week and had initial success after stitching in a nylon thimble multiple times (I’m learning) into Encore’s new jib halyard. I still have the main sail halyard to go, but hopefully it will go smoother after the practice? I noticed the old halyards were oversized […]
RichC | May 20, 2014
While working on the boat this weekend, I also headed down to finally finish up the repairs on the cabinets after replacing a refrigerator last year. It wasn’t an expensive project, but did require a little wood putty, sanding and matching of paint. By the way, Home Depot deserves a plug for how they handled […]
RichC | May 19, 2014
The title of this post sounds a little risqué when I say it that way, but since a boat is a “she” I’m not sure how else to word it (I’m sure I could find a way.) Anyway, I burned a cheap ticket before it expired in order to finally pull Encore and replace […]
RichC | May 13, 2014
The team at Ocearch tagged a Great White Shark they named Katharine off the Cape Cod coast of Massachusetts in August of 2013, but this 14+ foot 2,300 pound “immature” female has been checking out the Florida coastline and yesterday a beach near Sebastian. A few more miles south and we might see her poke […]
RichC | March 18, 2014
In wrapping up the “work trip” (cough, cough) down to Florida … I figured the trip would not be complete without at least a walk on the beach. Sunday afternoon sunshine made a good excuse to see how the sand felt on my feet – nice (panorama with the iPhone 5 above – click for […]
RichC | March 17, 2014
Above is an iPhone panorama photo of the aft of Encore but it was so distorted that I had to try and tweak it in Photoshop. Better than it was, but still a quirky perspective. The fenders used to keep boats from bumping together or into docks and pilings take abuse and get pretty weathered. […]
RichC | February 5, 2014
It is about time that I wrapped up the numbers for the recent Florida trip in order to work on the boat. One of the “high level” decisions that I had to make (snicker), was whether to drive my own car down and back with my 300 or so pounds of batteries and gear, or […]
RichC | January 28, 2014
While using my Freedompop hotspot on the boat on Monday night for a Skype video call with my son on his XBox, I wondered just how much data I was burning through. I wasn’t too worried since I’ve been paying $3.99/month to accumulate some data, I still I knew video would chew through data pretty […]
RichC | January 11, 2014
It’s been interesting watching the track of Katharine, (a GPS tagged 14’2” immature 2300 pound Great White Shark) this week along the north and central coast of Florida using the global shark tracker iPhone app from Ocearch.org. In previous posts watching Mary Lee (a 16 foot 3456 pound Great White) we saw her well south […]
RichC | November 12, 2013
The excuse I made for putting the boat in the water this week was that I would purchase a new refrigerator and have it installed in the Howard family condo before our snowbird tenants arrive in January. Sounds like a simple enough plan, right? Not so this week. The buying was easy enough as I […]
RichC | November 8, 2013
Our sailboat has been out of the water far too long considering the hurricane season was a bust this year. I think we would have been better in the water. The hurricane forecast models aside, it has been far too long since Encore had her keel wet even with all we’ve had going on. (Katelyn […]
RichC | July 11, 2013
As the trial of George Zimmerman in Florida nears deliberation this week as attorneys for the prosecution and defense wrap up their arguments regarding the use of a gun in the killing of 17 year old Trayvon Martin in February 2012. The media did a disservice to those paying attention to this case both before […]
RichC | February 3, 2013
Sunday afternoon was another lazy day at the beach relaxing in the beautiful Florida sunshine before heading back to my in-laws for wings, pizza and the Superbowl. Since we are from the east coast and the Ravens are in our division (Bengals, Browns), we’re pulling for them. So far, we haven’t been disappointed as they […]
RichC | January 9, 2013
Jacksonville, Florida beachgoers (although it is a bit cold for swimming) have had a large visitor named Mary Lee the last few days. I seems a 16-1/2 foot 3500 pound great white shark has been wandering very close to shore. Ocearch, a shark research group, has tagged and is tracking “Mary Lee” on a website […]
RichC | October 12, 2012
You know those scary campfire stories that we’ve all told or heard while growing up? Well here’s one that could be adapted for beachgoers along the Atlantic coast of Florida – Jaws was getting old anyway. I’m going to ask a good friend who’s daughter is a marine biologist … but until then, the […]
RichC | May 22, 2012
I found this one on my phone, another one on Brenda’s Kodak Zx5 camcorder gizmo and the other couple that included yours truly from Katie’s huge album on Facebook (Taylor’s friend)… a really enjoyable memory seeing all of her photos.
RichC | May 15, 2012
Headed home after a quick few days with Taylor and his friends on the boat. Project were minimal but we had a great time and had some interesting stories – the one about “Rick” would have any parent giving a lecture (ah … memories). Surprisingly I found the time comfortable on the boat even […]
RichC | March 13, 2012
Strange story about the Loop Current that runs around the southern tip of Florida and a three month voyage of the abandoned Lucky Dog (previous story). PONTE VEDRA BEACH, FL – A boat that sank in the Gulf of Mexico in December has reappeared – on a beach on the east coast of Florida. […]
RichC | March 11, 2012
After the long overnight drive home here’s a wrap up post from my trip to Florida with my son Taylor over his college spring break. We had a mostly great father-son time and I for one was glad he chose to spent the week with me rather than other friends or SigEp fraternity brothers – […]
RichC | March 5, 2012
… and hopefully sailing. Since Taylor is on spring break and isn’t heading with is Fraternity buddies to a drinking location with half of Miami University (and that half may be an under-statement), I suggested he and I drive down to Encore and spend a few days on the boat. Cheap trip for him, worthwhile […]
RichC | February 9, 2012
Just archiving a few photos from our wind blown day on the beach Wednesday and rough day sailing on Thursday – winds were a bit strong from the NE and 4-6 foot waves not all that much fun. Cloudy mornings – sunny early afternoon turning back into overcast and clouds later. We had a good […]
RichC | February 8, 2012
As for sun and sailing, we did head out in the morning … but between the rain and the associated wind gusts with every batch of wet weather we gave up “the fun” and headed back to our home port. We did visit the fuel dock to both pump out and top of our fuel […]
RichC | February 7, 2012
All is good so far as some R & R goes, but the drizzle and rain has been with us for the past 48 hours. I’m looking at the forecast and current radar (Encore’s radar photo on the right) and it looks like less rain with isolated thunderstorms tomorrow. We’ll see. While the girls watched […]
RichC | January 31, 2012
Intrade.com is probably one of the more interesting ways to track/trade the election. The ups and downs of a campaign are pretty clear to see … from the Gingrich surge after South Carolina to the precipitous drop we’re watching in Florida. If I had to vote today, I’m not sure I would even go to […]
RichC | January 19, 2012
My college friend Dallas on Marco Island BEFORE it was developed – 12/1978 Who doesn’t enjoy reminiscing a little bit about “the good ol’ days” after looking through a couple of old photos? Here are a few from a trip to Florida over Christmas break back in 1978 … whoa, we were young. This […]
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 16, 2011
In keeping with short blog posts, I’m picking up a few bugs over the miles and know I’m going to be griping when it’s time to get the WD-40 out and start my cleaning. The windshield isn’t much better! EDIT: On my return trip I added bugs to bugs!
RichC | March 31, 2011
The annual Sun ‘n Fun air and trade show is a rite of spring for many pilots who regularly enjoy one of the premier fly-ins in the country. This year the weather in central Florida (Lakeland) did not cooperate and sent heavy ran and damaging winds through the airport ground. Early reports indicating that people […]
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 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 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 | 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 1, 2011
Should I show this to my wife (or hold back) before she heads out for her hours of long distance swimming off Florida’s Gold Coast? I’ve never seen that many sharks in one place and am surprised to see that many migrating in such tight schools along Florida’s east coast. Pilot Steve Irwin has quite […]
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 | October 28, 2010
Brenda and I are spending just a few days away from Ohio and work as we’ve often done in October and are enjoying time together in Florida. Besides relaxing on the beach, Brenda has succumbed my desire to look at a couple sailboats (we missed our annual trip to the Annapolis boatshow). The weather has […]
RichC | March 12, 2010
Since the weather has been wet and windy here in Florida, we decided to take a road trip north from Delray Beach towards Fort Pierce. Our plan was to putter along and check on a couple sailboats. We opted to drive the A-1-A route along the shore and stopped at several of the pull-offs along […]
RichC | March 9, 2010
While I do enjoy a routine that includes focusing what’s going on in the world, it’s nice to escape and check out for a few days. After a perfect ‘beach Monday,’ our day Tuesday was cloudy and smattered with sprinkles, although temps were in the 70’s. We spent the morning hiding from the rain, but […]
RichC | March 8, 2010
We’re enjoying a relaxing spring day listening to the wind and waves in the Florida sunshine. It is a welcome change from the 2009 – 2010 winter that seemed to have lasted long enough, at least in our corner of Ohio. Hopefully we will return in a couple days feeling regenerated … I’m sensing my batteries […]
RichC | July 1, 2009
According to Palm Beach Post reporter Susan Salisbury, the biofuel company Ag-Oil is planning to build a biodiesel production facility in the Agricultrual Reserve west of Delray Beach Florida. (MP3 Audio — really just testing for my Palm Pre) The facility has the potential to produce 15 million gallons of biodiesel each year from jatropha, […]
RichC | June 20, 2008
Ok, so I used ChaCha.com to figure out the spider in this post, but its a bit more challenging for a ‘non-snake’ loving guy to figure out what this snake is? We’re in south Florida if that is any help, but I wasn’t going to inch close enough to this fellow/lady to try and figure […]
RichC | June 18, 2008
My own family has ganged up on me in a ‘vacation’ game of Risk. Its been an enjoyable few days on vacation and we’re all getting plenty of sun — although it has been raining on and off here in Delray Beach, Florida. Today was particularly nice as we topped off the day with a […]
RichC | June 16, 2008
Enjoying some R & R and a semi 19th birthday trip with Taylor … although any downtime is spent by my son Taylor in getting comfortable with his new notebook Macintosh computer. One would think it would be easy to pull him from the computer to go to the beach, but pretty focused on updating […]
RichC | February 23, 2008
Demand for fuel is down, but prices are up to a near all-time high in the U.S., says a USAToday article. Diesel hit a record high of $3.54 per gallon, and unleaded gasoline is up to a $3.11 national average price, which is an increase of more than 6.2 cents in two days. The previous […]