Tag: Sailing

Tuesday’s Two Thoughts

So this is the last week we will be here in the marina. Hollywood, the trawler we were working on, is finished and it is time to head north before the heat and bugs come out. I hope to be home by April. There are many places we didn’t see because we were running from the cold.

My daughter is here and we are having a blast, other than her plane was six hours late.

We are going fishing in the river close by today on the boat it should prove to be an interesting ride.
My first thought today is in Florida they do not let the small fishing shops sell the fishing license – you have to call and do it over the phone is what the man at the local bait shop said. Then he also said with a frowny face, “You can go to Walmart and purchase one there, the big chain stores get to sell whatever they want I guess.” So I wonder why the state would want to hurt the small bait shops, isn’t it small business that makes this country great or am I just thinking too old school?

This Friday we should have everything finished and then we throw the dock lines and start our trip north and head home. So far there have been no glitches but as usual Murphy hasn’t stepped up to the plate yet …lol

The boat is in good shape, the divers have cleaned the bottom and changed the zinks, some of the lines have been changed and some of the rigging has been changed or fixed for better performance. We even added a deck light so when we are at anchor we will be able to see well out on the foredeck.

Thought number two is should we go through Georgia or skip it? It’s a long ride but it is nice so I guess I have a few more days to decide. The ICW twists and turns so much in Georgia they could have dug a six foot connecting channel in some places and saved us ten miles in some areas. All fun things seem to come to an end and now the new adventure home begins 🙂

Have a great Tuesday
Wolfbernz

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Tags BlogDumps, Sailing, Top Sites Tuesday Meme

New post Sailing Top Sites Tuesday

Two Warm Thoughts

This week has gone by so fast it is incredible, work will do that to you I suppose. We have been working super long hours and trying to finish this motor boat so we can get going on the water again. It has been nice here, a bit chilly – you know fifty degrees – but a lot of the time it’s T-shirts and warm sunshine.

I was told it was fourteen degrees this morning on the farm, so my first thought is wow am I glad I am not there! I really do not want to be that cold or shovel snow or anything that goes along with it. The farm is beautiful this time of year but that’s cool they can send me a photo :}

My second thought this Tuesday is it is really sunny today and it is going to be in the seventies the rest of the week. It is really hard when it is like this to not just walk over start the sailboat and throw the dock lines and go south.

We pulled into this marina to get fuel and wait out a storm for just a few days to find we will be here for two months… It’s funny how life just kinda goes that way. This marina is nice, full of amenities like the gym, sauna, showers, laundry and the best part – floating docks. If you have ever been on the water you know what I am talking about… No climbing up and down the dock to get on and off the boat everything just goes up and down with the tides.

There should have been photos all along but we all know how good I am about that. I am going to take my phone to the boat today and take some photos so I can post them here on the blog.

Only a few more weeks and it will be time to kick the dock and leave, I can’t wait.

Have a great Tuesday,
Wolfbernz

Tags boat work, Sailing, Top Sites Tuesday Meme

Atlantic ICW New post Sailing Top Sites Tuesday

Tuesday’s Two Thoughts

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Its hard to only express two thoughts today. I have so much on my mind, I know you find that hard to believe…lol!

I have missed posting on our trip south for some days now. All is well and we are in South Carolina, it has been very adventures and fun. So many things to see and so many navigational hazards – one cannot take things lightly on this trip.

This brings me to my first thought. We traveled through an area today that back in the eighteen hundreds they blasted the rock to connect the ICW here in South Carolina, the only issue is they did not clear out all the rock so they call this the rock pile… Many boats have been lost here to unseen rocks and the narrow channel. One must make a security call to make sure there is not another vessel coming the opposite direction because you cannot pass in this area. I was glad we made it through just fine and we were able to get in and get tied up before this big cold front comes through tonight just south of Myrtle Beach SC.

My second thought of today is, I received a call from one of my Sensais that my other Sensai had passed away yesterday. He was my Sensai for 12 years. Why is it that the good guys – some of the finest – have to be the ones that get hit the hardest. He was the man, not only just in the martial arts way, he was there for everyone teaching football at the local high school, the girls softball team, and held a karate class for twenty years or more and he was a great family man. It’s hard to understand at times. As I wrote earlier on my Facebook wall…

You taught me respect, you taught me how to be humble and compassionate towards others and to show them a better way. I learned how to accept constructive criticism and grow to be a better person. I am so glad I was your friend and even more you were my teacher- My Sensai. You will be dearly missed by us all… Rest in peace Sensai Sheets.

Wolf

Tags Life, martial arts, Sailing, Top Sites Tuesday Meme

Atlantic ICW Sailing

So We Are In Oriental NC.

Post author By Wolfbernz
Post date November 23, 2011
No Comments on So We Are In Oriental NC.

We never made it out of this area…We were going to leave at first light and just keep going but a slip on the free dock was available so we stayed.

I am glad we did this is a wonderful town, very boater friendly. Some much needed repair was done along with an oil change for the engine, it was a simple chore we had it done in a half hour.

The repair was to the front bow rail, it was broken at the base and there was no way to refasten it. Not being at home at the shop where I could just fabricate the pieces I needed it was off to the local store to find a piece of stainless and hope I could do something with it.

Trina was at a local hardware and it just so happened the lady’s husband was a fabricator, what luck right! So I made a cardboard template and not only had the rail fixed but now the anchor has a great place to tie into also. Should have taken a couple photos but maybe at the next stop – we leave at first light in the morning.

It has been a nice couple days this is a must stop if you are in the area.
Want to see the area check out the town dock webcam we are the boat on the right side if you look at today’s photos.

Have a great Thanksgiving,
Wolfbernz

Tags ICW, Sailing

New post Sailing Top Sites Tuesday

Tuesday’s Two Thoughts

We left the anchorage at Bear Creek at dawn and headed south it was a nice morning we even saw a deer crossing the river. I never thought they could swim so fast!

We did not get far we were in need of some fuel and there was a marina very close to the ICW, easy access so we pulled in it was only about eleven o’clock in the morning. I asked how much to get a slip for the rest of the day and we would leave tomorrow… Come to find out it was a great deal if you get a slip you get a discount on fuel and the pump station was free. They had a loaner car to take to town, hot showers, a swimming pool, laundry and happy hour from five to… all for thirty six bucks plus fuel. Well that was a no brainier – we stayed the day and left Monday morning early after a good shower and coffee of course.

It was a beautiful morning! We were able to sail a good portion of the day and at one point a dolphin jumped so close to me at the helm I could have pet him, it scared the be-Jesus out of me…lol
so we made our way down the coast to a little town called Oriental in North Carolina. It’s a cute town from what I have seen just before dark.

This brings me to my first thought, there is a marine consignment shop here and we need butt cushions. I am not sure I want a used one just the thought kinda make me -well, you get the idea. So I am going to the West Marine store and purchase a couple new ones I think this is best.

My second thought is where is this recession? There have been so many super expensive yachts that have one thousand gallon fuel tanks and have full time captains that are paid well. They fly down the inter coastal waterway like there is no tomorrow burning two hundred gallons or more of fuel each day. It’s just incredible to think of the cost just so their boat can be in warm water in case they want to entertain… Really? I guess we will stick to sailing our boat down the coast, the wind is free and I use an electric motor on the dinghy that I charge with a solar panel all day long or until I need to use it.

We leave for Morehead City in the morning early so I will let you all know how that goes, we are trying to beat the cold front that is coming in.

Have a great Tuesday!
Wolfbernz

Tags Sailing, Top Sites Tuesday Meme

Atlantic ICW Sailing Top Sites Tuesday

Tuesday’s Two Thoughts

It has been tough at times on the water, we got beat up pretty good the other day – there were thirty five knot winds and we were going to weather… Cold and wet.

This brings me to my first thought today. I woke up to a warm and cozy, quiet marina anchorage… Looked out the window at the nice waterfront of downtown Norfolk and the oldest naval hospital in the US in town of Portsmouth Virginia. I didn’t want to even get up after yesterday’s dodging ships and naval vessels trying to get where we are now. But to no avail, it was time to get up and make the decision of the day, do we stay or go… Next stop is about forty or fifty miles from here depending if we go through the Dismal Swamp or the Virginia Cut, the fast route that is more developed.

My second though is Trina and I have had some fun doing the history that is abundant in the Chesapeake and the ICW. We have had the fun of visiting the river that leads all the way to Washington DC and walked the roads of old Virginia that had homes circa the seventeen hundreds. We crossed the area that the big water battle between the Monitor and Merrimac was fought in the civil war. I am enjoying the fun of seeing these areas. I did not understand some of the history of this area until I came out to the water and started this trip – for some reason it all just started making sense.

I have missed a few days in posting but that’s the way it goes sometimes, all has been pretty good out here. We have been lucky and made some good decisions that have made some of the last crossings very nice… Except when coming into Hampton Roads at night that was a bit difficult to navigate with all the ship channels, flashing buoys and Trina telling me to “head more to the flashing red buoy” from down below when I could see fifteen of them… Yikes – That’s not what I really said, LOL it was more like “Which damn red buoy and what are it’s signals?” Each buoy has it’s own signal – flash one time every three seconds or flash three times every five seconds and so on.

I know it sounds like we aren’t working but sometimes I could use a good day at work to get some rest, LOL

So We are headed South as I publish this post and if you want to make my day just push the make me number one button below.

Wolfbernz

Tags ICW, Sailing, Traveling

New post Top Sites Tuesday

Tuesday’s Two Thoughts

What a beautiful weekend we have had, the only thing that could have been better was a little wind so we could have tested the sails on the boat bringing it home.

This brings me to my first thought this Tuesday morning, yes I slept in and am late posting.

There is no place like home and your own bed to sleep in! I started my post yesterday ( the first two lines) I was going to finish it last night but we arrived home, unloaded, and I found myself blurry eyed and laying down at home in my own bed.

At one point I used to complain how I should get a new one but last night I have never felt better than to just lay there and enjoy being home. Have you ever felt this way, just couldn’t wait to get home?

The parrot was so happy to have someone to talk to, I finally had to tell him “I missed you too but hush, let’s get some rest.” He was so happy when I got up this morning. He is courteous enough to wait until I am awake to start our morning conversation. Yes he does talk and and has a never ending vocabulary. I startled Timothy (the parrot) this morning when I finally woke up because I had fluffed my pillow and flipped it over and there was a spider… It ran about a foot from me, turned around and gave me a look like what’s your problem we have snuggled all night! Snuggled or not, I said ” Your dead Mo Fo!”

The second thought for the day is we really lucked out when we arrive at the marina. It was late and we docked at the wrong area. A nice guy came down to the dock and asked how long are we going to stay… I replied “We have a slip reservation” he said not here you are on the city docks so I need thirty seven fifty for staying the night here. He told me the other marina is on that side of the channel… a hundred feet away! So I asked do you have any slips here. He said yes and I asked can you beat the price of the marina. Of course he had to radio in and do the back and forth thing with the office, I don’t know why they had empty slips everywhere. So he finally walked back and said yes we can. The savings was a hundred and twelve dollars a month. So the lesson I learned was sometimes it pays to make mistakes and park in the wrong spot…LOL

The boat is in a nice slip right up front by the park near the pavilion and BBQ so we are very happy with the way it all worked out. The best part is because of all the things I do I had all the parts to do the work and had to purchase very little items to get the job done 🙂

Here are a couple photos of the boat finished and back in the water.

Rudder Under Repair

The sailboat finished

Putting it in the water

Have a great Tuesday

Wolfbernz

Tags Sailboat Work, Sailing