Bella the Agility Dog

Bella here.

Check it out—I just graduated with honors from Agility School!


Why, you ask, would a delicate Poodle subject herself to this torture? Well, here’s the deal. Sailing with Cap'n Mike is like being on an obstacle course. The boat is heeling, stuff is flying all over, and I’m usually getting snapped at the end of my tether. And that’s before the boat leaves the dock!

So, when our neighborhood dog training academy offered an Introduction to Obstacles class, I jumped on it. After 6 weeks of intensive training by no-holds-barred drill sergeants, this dog has the cat-like quickness to handle just about anything Cap'n Mike can toss my way. Check back later in the summer for an update.

Caribbean Bound

I will wrap up my second career in a few short years and head for warmer waters before winter arrives in the great Northeast. In anticipation of the annual migration south, we’re scouting the Bahamas and Caribbean for suitable anchorages. The requirements are quite modest: tropical climate, steady breezes, sandy beaches and fun!

The latest scouting trip was to the island of St. Maarten compliments of good friends Joe and Donna who graciously made their villa available for a week in March. St. Maarten is part of the Netherland Antilles. It's located about 185 miles east of Puerto Rico, 1,000 nm ESE of Miami and 1,600 nm SE of Albany as the crow flies. The weather is rather boring—sunny and 85 degrees every day with steady 15 knot winds from November to April.

There's a great anchorage for Serena at Simpson Bay with an adjacent lagoon that offers fabulous protection from bad weather. The St. Maarten Yacht Club is near the entrance to the lagoon, along with several fine restaurants, shops and a grocery market. The Princess Juliana airport is within walking distance in case there's a need to return to the states to escape the “boredom” of the island.

Here are some photos of this wonderful island that's definitely tops on the list of cruising destinations.

Wild Hogs

The annual Donovan outing, in the finest tradition of the Griswold Family Vacation, took us back to Orlando, Florida this year. As good forture would have it, our vacation coincided with Daytona Bike Week. After checking into our rental house, we headed over to Orlando Harley Davidson to see if they had bikes to rent. We left with a Softail and a Classic and headed east toward the Gulf Coast. Here are a couple of photos we took along the way.

Take a close look at the 2nd photo. Notice that the "Wild Hogs" are hanging out at a popular biker joint - Subway. Check out my bike in the foreground - the one with the pedals and ice cream wagon attached to the front!

When it's too cold to sail . . . go skiing !!

When the water freezes and the boat is on the hard, it's time to go skiing. So, we tossed the skiis in the car and headed into Pennsylvania to the "Jacobs Family Ski Resort" on Masthope Mountain.

It was a great day with plenty of sun and fantastic snow. The kids ripped down the mountain, followed by the judgment-impaired adults who still think their bodies are limber enough to cut, jump and turn. Meanwhile, the clear-thinking adults with sound judgment stayed behind in the warm, comfortable ski lodge sipping life-restoring beverages.

Here are a few pictures of the weekend festivities.

Davits

We're growing weary of hoisting the dinghy with the mizzen boom so we're working with Kato Marine in Annapolis, MD to spec out a pair of davits for Serena's stern rail. We posted the following photos of Serena's stern to help the folks at Kato figure out the best configuration.

2009 Project Highlights

Upgrading the chartplotter was at the top of our list of projects for 2009. A Raymarine E120 with GPS, Sirus Satellite Weather and AIS replaced the old Trimble which had been on life support since the Y2K date change when it could no longer recognize dates. Apart from that minor annoyance, charts were no longer available rendering the unit obsolete. It it were a bit more hefty, we would have recommissioned it as a boat anchor. However, it found its final resting place in the dumpster.

Hooking up the Raymarine E120 reminded me of my old 1971 MGB. The MGB shop manual was cryptic at best, laced with expressions like "drive the trunion with a suitable drift". When MGB went out of business, their tech writers must have signed on with Raymarine. The wiring instructions for the GPS antenna were especially confusing, so I was not surprised when I powered up the E120 and had no GPS signal. To make matters worse, the GPS receiver is affixed to the gimballed radar mount two-thirds up the mizzen mast. After a couple of climbs up the mast to whack the GPS antenna "with a suitable drift", still no signal.

Discretion is the better part of valor, so I called our good friend Hugh Lupo at New England Marine Electronics. Hugh knew exactly what the problem was - the ground wire for the GPS antenna was connected to the E120 instead of the battery circuit. After switching a few wires, we were in business. The E120 performs like a champ.

Here are a few pictures of the installation. We're also replacing the access plates, gaskets, pickup tubes, and depth sensors for our fresh water tanks. We completed the installation on the starboard tank this season and will have new plates for the port tank and day tank ready to go next spring.

Spreek je Nederlands?

Do you speak Dutch? Not really, but we learned a few words and expressions when a flotilla of Dutch sailing vessels arrived at the Albany Yacht Club on Sunday, September 20th. They sailed to Albany to cap off the Hudson River Quadricentennial before returning to the Netherlands. The Dutch vessels will be loaded on a transport ship in early October for the journey across the Atlantic to their homeland.

We rolled out the red carpet and scrambled to move boats to provide space for them to tie up at the Club. They returned the favor by welcoming us aboard their ships and regaling us with their stories. Their sailing vessels are like works of art. Here are a few photos.