Project BlueSphere

My dreams are growing near as we prepare to sail for the San Blas islands of Panama. Ever since I made the decision to sell Namaste in Tahiti I have been longing to return to the tranquil islands, and people of these magical islands.

Once Sam and Guin entered my life my dreams became more defined as I didn’t just want to share the beauty of the islands, but the magic and freedom that comes with an extended stay away from electricity, phones, and any sort of system that shapes us. The indigenous people (Kuna) have a system that really works for me. Everyone basically governs themselves, nobody “owns” the land, however every island has a chief that is a respected elder. I cant wait for Guin to be running around the islands playing with the children, dolphins & sea turtles. For me…, the San Blas are paradise, and that is not a title I easily give away.

We are planning on leaving later in the week. I believe the 200 mile trip will be slow and squallie, but we will certainty have no shortage of fresh water. When a squall comes Sam, Guin, and I strip down to the bare minimum, shower, and wash Splendid’s decks, we like the squalls, they provide us with water.

We will return to Cartagena as soon as we have some coin for boat projects. I’m planning on having Splendid hauled, stripped, and painted (hull & bottom) as soon as we can. As soon as I can afford it I’m going to have stainless chain plates made and strapped to the hull, as well as fabricating a boom gallows for a main sheet track, and designing an arch for the stern to hold a few more solar panels and wind generator.  My main sheet is attached to my mizzen by a strap and I’m not happy with the system at all! At the very least I need to put 2 anchor points on either side of the aft cabin house and use two Boom-vangs as my main sheet system. I’m also searching around for another winch for the roller furling  line. Eventually I’ll get Splendid rigged the way I want, but for the time being, ‘she’ll do’!

Our plan is to spend a few weeks in the San Blas before sailing for Isla Linton which is a nice protected anchorage about an hour from Portobello, and 4 hours from Panama city. I still have friends there that can watch the boat while we do a few day trip to the city to provision for a longer stay in the Islands.

I have a few charters tentatively scheduled for the San Blas over the next few months. If anyone is interested in spending a week or so let me know. We may also be shuttling backpackers between Panama ($400 each) and Colombia. They cant transverse the Darien gap and like to visit the San Blas on there way North or South. It’s a good way to make a few bucks. I used to do it the last time I was here. I used to only take two passengers, but with Splendid we can take 4 or 5. I’m sure Guin will be quite the little tour guide.

Peace everyone.

Sail far and live slowly.

Alex

Will it work, or will we have to hand-steer the next 250 miles? I’ve been working on the “tiller pilot –  windvane” project for a few days. I’ll eventually have something fabricated out of stainless and make it pretty, but for now a 2×4, some paint, u-bolts, and a piece of plastic will have to do.

The important thing is that the tiller pilot is actuating the windvane in a fashion I believe will steer the boat. God only knows I’ve been wrong about things before, but we’ll see.

We are planning on Leaving Cartagena on Monday or Tuesday for the Rosairo Islands where we will wait for some wind. And as soon as possible we are off to the San Blas. 

I finally found the serial number of my transmission and was able to take a picture of a mirror reflecting it because of the way it was positioned under the engine. I then had to flip it in photoshop before emailing it to PRM in England. I was pretty surprised to hear how old the transmission is. It is original (1973) and was fitted to Splendid’s first motor, a Westerbeake. Splendid was repowered twice since then with Perkins 4108s. I don’t think I will be able to get all the parts I need for the rebuild so I’m going to have to start thinking about alternatives, I don’t know so much about gear boxes. A buddy of mine has a new Hurth gearbox for a 4108. It was dropped before being installed on his boat and a piece is cracked, supposedly it is something easily replaced (about $100)  and I could pick up the tranny for $400.00. In the mean time I’m going to have to go easy on the one I have. It isn’t making any grinding noises or anything, I just seem to have lost about a knot at cruising speed (2000 RPMS).

We have really enjoyed our time in Cartagena and will be back as soon as I have a few bucks to haul and paint the bottom and hull. Cartagena really is a good place to have work done on the boat. It beats anywhere in Panama and is cheaper as well.

Well that’s about it for today. Oh yeah, Sharne Andree won the Charter raffle, Congratulations, looking forward to having you visit for a week :)

Cheers everyone.

Sail Far and Live Slowly.

Alex

 

 

 

 

 

 

I decided to take a day off of working on the boat to show the girls the old city yesterday. We took a taxi to the old “walled” city of Cartagena.

Sam and Guin are amazed at how wonderful Cartagena is, and I had forgotten how much I love this city.

We walked the old cobblestone streets of “old town” as burrows pulling carts strolled by. Guin sucked on a lollipop sipping cold freshly pressed orange juice from a local street vendor (25 cents). We took a break and found a empty bench in a square and Sam and I had 2 nice espressos from a street vendor, both about .25 cents each, and It was some of the best coffee we’ve had. We had lunch at a local street side cafe and people watched as the city unfolded before us. All I can say is ‘What a splendid day’! There is a peace here that feels good to be around, Tranquillo (tranquil) is an appropriate word.

Sam and Guin practice their Spanish on anyone who will listen and sometimes people who wont. “Ola”, “Gracias”, and “banyo” are common words but they are picking it up quickly. Guin doesn’t get treets unless she asks in Spanish, and trust me when I tell you she knows how to say “Can I please have one ice cream?”.

Sam and Guin have also occupied their pallets with fruit. We like to go the the local supermarket’s fruit & yogurt bar for breakfast. Sam had 3 new fruits yesterday morning which she had never had or even heard of before, one of which might be her favorite ever. The fruit here is superb, truly!

Today I need to deal with my transmission again, I’m a bit worried about it. When we were coming into Cartagena we were doing 3.8 – 4.5 knots @ 2000 rpm’s. In a “no-currant” environment we should be doing 5.5 knots. Either we had a fair current or the gear box isn’t putting out the power it should. I don’t have a mechanical speed sensor (over water) so I cant measure current. I’m going to get a new hose and flush it again. If I still have a problem I’m going to have to think about staying in Cartagena until I get the parts, strip it down, and rebuild it. The “up-side” is this isn’t such a bad place to be, and we are out of hurricane season.

I’m coming across old friends here and there that are still sailing this area, and I recognize many of the boats.

I must say I’m quite pleased to be here. I feel like I’ve made it back to the cruising life that I’ve been missing so much and its nice to share it with Sam and Guinevere.

Sail far and live slowly.

– Alex

Wow, where do I start…? ‘I guess at the beginning’.

We left Port Antonio Jamaica at about 3:30 am last Tuesday morning. We ghosted out of the harbor in complete darkness. No moon was to be found and I was relying on my chart plotter and Garmin charts. I knew they were accurate as I checked them coming into the harbor and could follow my old track back out to sea.

Our friends on “LOLO” were going to leave after us later that morning. They have a 3 year old boy “Teddy” and Guinevere is quite fond of him. I think we will be traveling together for a while.

We motored east along the northern shore of Jamaica to a beautiful sunrise. We were heading to the eastern point to round it for a way point South. I had decided to head for Cartagena Colombia and make a decision for the San Blas when we were about 150 miles off of the Colombian coastline. This would increase our rum-line by about 50 miles to the San Blas but the advantage being we could still do the shorter trip (90 miles) to Cartagena if needed, and if we didn’t want to stop in Colombia the run to the San Blas would be down wind and sea. Well as it turns out we did stop in Cartagena.

Anyway back to my story. After we rounded the eastern tip of Jamaica we had a nice days sail. However the wind increased to 25-30 knots and the sea picked up to 9-12 feet, ‘good brisk sailing’! We were expecting 5-7 foot seas and 15 knots of wind. However Splendid likes wind as she is a medium to heavy displacement boat and needs a fair amount to get her going full steam. She also handles larger seas quite well. Truthfully I would have been happy with 15 knots and 6’seas, but we have to make the best of it, right?

I knew I made a mistake when I had my second cup of coffee that morning (too much acid). My stomach went off and I knew sea-sickness was coming. It wasn’t long into our second day before Sam and I were both feeling really lousy. Guin of course was bouncing around our bed watching movies all day. At one point she popped her head out of the hatch and giggled “2 sick parents and a healthy kid”. She went back to her movie and Sam and I managed a smile on our green faces. She really is the best kid!

It wasn’t long after that that our Auto Pilot’s drive failed, “$#!T” I shouted. “Oh man, 350 miles to hand steer”. When you’re sea-sick the last thing you want to do is hand steer, that means being upright. Sam knew this meant we would be taking 2 hour shifts steering the boat. Then I remembered we have a Aries windvane (Mechanical, non-electric steering). I had never used it and planned to play with it soon. I did fully rig it though…, would it work?

Let me just say this, ‘No proper boat should be without a windvane’, and if you are going to get one get an Aires. I had named her “Gina” after my childhood dog, and ‘Thank GOD for Gina’! She steered us the next 250 miles without a hiccup. In fact…, with the way she steers to the wind she steered us around a quite nasty squall. Our friends on LOLO were stuck in it and had a lot of lightning. We were in contact with LOLO via the SSB radio twice a day.

I have a small tiller pilot a friend gave me (Thanks Craig) and I’m going to hook it up to Gina so we can use her in light or no wind situations. Windvanes need wind to work but some people have found that hooking a tiller pilot to it works wonderfully in motoring and no wind cruising. Anyway, our wind died about 120 miles from Cartagena and we decided to visit Colombia. The old city is an amazing piece of history and I really wanted the girls to see it, we’ll post lots pictures and video:)

If you’ve seen my first film I ended it in Cartagena Colombia. I loved my visit here and it was one of the most memorable in all my travels. That being said I must say I’m a bit heart-broken.

The city and all is still the same but corruption and greed are taking their toll on sailors visiting Cartagena. I hate writing anything negative but the Government is trying to take over Club Nautico by not renewing their lease. I’m sure they want to make it a “Public” facility and keep the revenue for themselves. The people who run Club Nautico hand built the docks & Facility and always made a stay in Cartagena fun, memorable, and enjoyable for the visiting sailor.

I also find the fees for visiting Colombia have become offensive and vulgar. I believe I paid $40 5 years ago for 90 days which included the yachts entry and cruising permit. 90 day extensions were $20 bucks. Well the Agent charged us $80 for 10 days and if we wanted to stay longer we would be looking at a minimum of a few hundred more dollars. I had hoped to stay here for longer as i have some boat projects but I can’t afford it, and even if I could afford it I wouldn’t support it. We will be off to Panama within 10 days.

I don’t think I’ll be able to return to Cartagena if the Government takes over the Club Nautico facility. The owners have poured their lives into making it a wonderful facility and its just wrong. I would have to boycott Cartagena with a heavy heart. They tried to take over when Club Nautico was in the process of remodeling and all that stands now is an office, cement and rebar. The beautiful bar, restaurant & club house, laundry is all gone. It’s quite disturbing if you knew the old Club. The vibe is completely different and the magic is gone.

All that being said the city is Glorious and the girls are having a blast. We went out for a big dinner with the crew of LOLO (Peta, Rosanna, and baby Teddy) last night to celebrate our big 500 mile/5 day sea passage. We went to an Arab restaurant and ordered 2 big steaks and 2 HUGE plates of falafel, stuffed grape leaves, hummus, various meats rice and kababs, as well as plates for the kids. It was a feast fit for kings, seriously! The whole thing cost $80 for the 6 of us, beer & wine included. It’s time to get back to being frugal but the girls really deserved a big night and we had been dreaming of the meal for days in the big seas of the Caribbean. I have always eaten in this restaurant in all my trips to Cartagena, it’s wonderful! I believe this is my 4th time here.

I’m having problems with my tranny over-heating. When i installed the new oil cooler I used the only radiator hose I could find in Jamaica. Well it turns out it is too flimsy and implodes with the suction the the raw water system demands, and restricts the water flow to the engine and oil cooler. I have to find a good piece of hose while we are here in Cartagena. I also have to figure out a way to rig the tiller pilot to the windvane so Sam and I aren’t stuck in an eternity of hand steering shifts. New drives are a few grand and I need to look into having this one repaired. At the very least we will be without it for a few months. I need to get it back to Raymarine, and figure out how to receive it in Panama.

I also blew out my knee during the trip. I don’t know if you remember but I had a MRI back in Jacksonville and it revealed a torn meniscus. Man I hate getting older! I must say ‘Life is good though, and Tylenol goes a long way’.

Anyway we are all well and will be off to the San Blas soon.

We didn’t get a chance to choose the winner of the raffle as the sea was too big and will be doing it later today. Good luck to everyone who bought tickets.

If you check out our currant position you can see the track we took.

Sail far and live slowly.

Alex

Well…, we are off in the morning or later today. Humpty dumpty is all back together, our spirits are high, and we have visions of the San Blas islands dancing through our heads.

The weather along our route is good until about Friday/Saturday. The last few days may be light wind and squallie. We may head into Cartagena if the weather deteriorates and spend a week in Colombia.

Watch our spot I’ll be lighting at least one off a day.

Jamaica has been great but its time to go.

I dont think we will have internet access in the San Blas so updates may be limited until I get minutes for the sat phone. If we go to Colombia there is internet at Club Nautico.

Life is great, we are excited, and the sea is ours.

Thanks again to the friends that helped us through the transmission mess.

We will do the charter raffle drawing while we are at sea and announce the winner ASAP. Good luck everyone, Guin will be picking the name out of my straw sunhat.

Sail fare and live slowly.

Alex

It’s nice to be sipping fresh Blue Mountain coffee:)

Well I’m making way on the transmission project. It was certainly the oil cooler. It was mixing sea water with the gear box’s oil. At this point I’ve got another oil cooler installed after a lot of running around, finding parts, and sweating in the Jamaican sun. I’m spending a fortune in oil trying to flush the gear box but after all this we may be able to get moving next week, fingers crossed! I spoke to the engineer in England about the transmission and have decided we had a 2-part problem. I thought the tranny was slowly failing and finally burned up at sea. Now what I believe to be true is that we had water in the tranny that was causing the clutch plates to slip, hence the hunting RPM’s. The RMP on the motor would increase with the absence of load on the prop. After driving for a while under these conditions I got snagged in the net. Anyway, that’s the story I’m going with.

Sam, Guin, and I took a break for mothers day. We took a bus & cabs up into the mountains to ‘reach falls’. The river water was cool, clear, and clean. It was such a nice treat on a hot Jamaican day.

I have to say just one more time ‘Thank you’ to the guys that helped out with the donations it made getting out of here possible. I was starting to have crazy ideas run through my head like leaving the boat here and going back to the states to find work. That would have been such a bummer! We have a number of people interested in chartering with us in the San Blas and are scraping by until we can get that whole charter thing under way. We may also run backpackers from Panama to Cartagena and back. They don’t pay so much but the work is okay.

Guin has turned out to be such a swimmer, we just cant keep her out of the water. I think she was starting to fall asleep in this picture. She prefers snorkeling in the sea but the pool is really good for now. I must say it is such a treat having a pool and endless water not to mention hot showers.

Sorry for the ridiculous monster face picture of the 3 of us but I just had to post it. We were feeling really good at the end of the day yesterday after I got the new oil cooler installed and were a bit punchie.

Also check out this military boat (HSV 2)that pulled in. I met one of the guys on the boat and asked how fast it goes and he told me it was “Top Secret” but it does in excess of 47 knots, WOW.

Anyway, I’m off to buy more oil and keep flushing the gear box. I’m also going to have some new oil lines made as the ones on the cooler are cracked and about to fail.

Peace from Jamaica.

Sail far and live slowly.

– Alex

Believe it or not my prop is under this knot of net. I got in the water today with a sharp razor knife and started hacking away at the mess. I did manage to give myself a good cut in the process.

I was hoping to cut the net away and sail off in a few days, but that is not the case. After cutting the mess away and re-tightening my shaft packing my prop does turn, horary! and we are not leaking sea water anymore. The bad news is, the transmission is leaking seawater into the oil chamber. All I can do at this point is contact the manufacturer and try to get some parts. It must have over heated and fried some gaskets or something. Once again I’m doomed to the engine room in extreme heat, ARRRGGGG!

I must say it isn’t such a bad place to be stuck for the moment. The Errol Flynn Marina is a beautiful haven for cruising sailors. Guin has a pool to play in every day, we have good WIFI and food in Jamaica is not nearly as expensive as the Bahamas. We do have to pay $12.00 a day which really is a HUGE bargain but still an expense we were not planning on. How does the saying go. When you were planning on doing something life happens? I always like to say ‘Ship Happens’ and it always does. 

That being said, Sam, Guinevere, and I are going to make the best of it. Jamaica is a beautiful island, we are cruising (Fixing your boat in exotic locations), and living well. We are happy, healthy and free.

What does tomorrow hold for us? That is the question that makes it all interesting.

Peace everyone.

Sail far and live slowly.

Alex

Well…, we are here in Port Antinio Jamaica, and it is GLORIOUS!!

The Bad news is that I unknowingly got a fishing net caught in the prop and fried our transmission. I dont know what we are going to do. We have stamped in for 3 months with a possible 6 months. I dont have the money for a new tranny and I’m going to have to figure out how to fix the one I have or find a used one for our Perkins 4108. Real bummer eah?

It took 26 hours to sail 60 miles often doing .5 of a knot, really frustrating. I radioed ahead and friends met us 3 miles off shore and towed us in. Big thanks to Britta and David on “Anam Cara”, and Roy and Michelle on “Dream Odessy”. Thanks to Russel on “Aspara” also. They came to get us after midnight so we didn’t have to spend another few days at sea waiting for wind to sail in here.

Well all I can say is I don’t know what our plans are. I know the tranny is fried and I want to leave for San Blas as soon as possible. Time will tell eah?

Peace from the crew of the good ship “Splendid”.

Sail far, live slow, and stay out of fishing nets!

– Alex

Well…, we are here in Port Antinio Jamaica, and it is GLORIOUS!!

The Bad news is that I unknowingly got a fishing net caught in the prop and fried our transmission. I dont know what we are going to do. We have stamped in for 3 months with a possible 6 months. I dont have the money for a new tranny and I’m going to have to figure out how to fix the one I have or find a used one for our Perkins 4108. Real bummer eah?

It took 26 hours to sail 60 miles often doing .5 of a knot, really frustrating. I radioed ahead and friends met us 3 miles off shore and towed us in. Big thanks to Britta and David on “Anam Cara”, and Roy and Michelle on “Dream Odessy”. Thanks to Russel on “Aspara” also. They came to get us after midnight so we didn’t have to spend another few days at sea waiting for wind to sail in here.

Well all I can say is I don’t know what our plans are. I know the tranny is fried and I want to leave for San Blas as soon as possible. Time will tell eah?

Peace from the crew of the good ship “Splendid”.

Sail far, live slow, and stay out of fishing nets!

– Alex

Well this is it. We checked out of the Bahamas today. We are off for Jamaica in the morning and the Caribbean sea :)

All I can say is we have had a blast. We’ve maid friends, swam, sailed, loved, and laughed. What more could you ask for?

We went into Matthew town this morning for provisions. The harbor was full of ship wrecks and Haitian fishing boats. These guys are amazing, true sailors. No motors, every square inch of the boat packed with drying fish or a fisherman. The sails are maid from old sheets and banners. I saw a plastic sail that had part of the Pepsi logo on it, and another one that said  Ford. There were also some ship wrecks that made for nice photo opportunities.

I was here checking out and leaving for Port Antinio Jamaica back in 2004. So much has changed. I have much bigger boat, my 2 glorious girls, and a lot more experience. Life is damn good! I remember so many people giving me hell when I was in Tahiti for selling Namaste. So many people said I was “throwing in the towel” and giving up a great gift. All I can say is I made the right decision. My life took a big turn, but one for the better. I have it all, and I’m king of the world. Well at least my little 40’ world :)

I’ll pop off a spot or two during the days so you can follow our progress. I’m planning to be in Jamaica on Friday but the wind is forcast to be light, we’ll see. I’ll get airtime for my sat phone soon so I can post logs from sea again.

 

Take care everyone.

Peace, love and the Bahamas.

Sail far and Live slowly!

Alex

 

 

Well we left Clarence town (Long Island) on Thursday. We had a stiff 20 knots of wind from the East and made it to Acklins island at about 21:00. It was beautiful sailing in under a nearly full moon. Guin and I spent most of Friday fishing off the stern using a barracuda I caught at sea for bait. We caught little groupers & snappers, sharks & rays. We didn’t keep anything.

I got up at 3am Saturday and started our 90 mile crossing for Great Inagwa. We had stiff wind 18-22 knots of wind from the ESE. Splendid doesn’t point so well so we were right on the wind all day. I hate going to weather! Guin got a bit sea sick and was just quiet all day. Sam and I were pretty quiet as well. Splendid did wonderfully though and beat into the wind at about 5 knots all day. This should be our last beating all the way to the San Blas. From here to Jamaica its a broad reach and from Jamaica to the San Blas it should be a reach. Man did I have a fish on the line yesterday. I used one of the old lures that came with Splendid. It had a wire leader that looked a bit rusty. I thought it would be fine but it wasn’t. The reel went wild and as soon as I increased some tension to the line a huge bull Dorado (about 6 feet) jumped out of the water about 300 feet behind Splendid, my eyes and belly went wild. I only had him on the line for a few more seconds before he broke the leader, AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Anyway, that was the one that got away.

We pulled into Man of War Bay here in Great Inagwa at about 23:00, it was quite dark and I couldnt see much. I had been sailing for about 21 hours and was bush wacked! Sam and I got the hook down and it was off to bed.

We got up this morning and can see the salt pans of the Morton salt company. They run the show here. Great Inagwa is not a tourist town, and everyone pretty much works for the salt company. The cool thing about the island though is it is the home to the largest West Indian flaming flock in the world. over 5000 live and breed here.

We are going to hang out here for a few days and leave for Jamaica some time Tuesday through Thursday. It should take us about 50 hours to make Port Antinio.

Peace from Great Inagwa. Check out the satellite photos of where we are under the members tab, current position.

Sail far and live slowly.

– Alex

What a glorious time we’ve had. Conception island was magnificent, secluded, and peaceful. We had the island to ourselves for the first day, then another few boats showed up…, we never met them. We snorkeled every day and Guin got to snorkel with a baby sea turtle, it really made her day. She is really becoming quite the swimmer, its hard to keep her out of the water.

The big news is Guin is starting to read. Sam spends a lot of time home schooling and it is really paying off. She has little “see spot run” kind of books with her phonics course that she is starting to read, it’s so cool. I wrote the word “pancakes” on a piece of paper this morning and told her if she could read the word she would get the surprise, she did. Sam makes some mean Pancakes, ‘yummy’! She is also doing well with her math and has achieved all of her kindergarten milestones.

We are anchored in Clarence Town. It’s a beautiful spot with about 150 people in the village. I think we are here till Wednesday or Thursday waiting for the wind to turn back to the east. Once it does we will head for the windward passage (passage between Cuba and Haiti) and make way for Jamaica.

Today we hiked up to a church and walked around the island. On the way home we stopped into a restaurant looking for a cold drink. Have you ever had “Sky Juice”, wow that’s good! If you take gin and coconut water mix it with sweet milk and nutmeg you get something pretty tasty. I had one, Sam had a rum punch and we got cheese sticks and an order of Mahi Mahi bites. I cant remember the last time Sam and I went out and spent 32 bucks on a restaurant. Its funny I remember paying that much to park in New York & LA. Times have sure changed for me but all for the better.  I’m really excited about getting to the San Blas. Panama is such an affordable and easy country to live in.

We are anchored in 20 feet of water and can see the bottom at night with about half of a moon over head. That is pretty clear water!

BTW it is the Chinese symbol for wind. Once we paint the hull this symbol will be painted on Splendid’s stern. Splendid is Chinese after all (built in Hong Kong 1973) and we want to try to keep the wind astern.

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.

-Mark Twain

Peace everyone.

Sail far and live slowly.

Alex

Well its time for us to continue our journey South. We will be away from internet for a while but our spot will be on, be sure to check out our position as we travel. We will be leaving today for Clarence town which is about 75 miles away. The wind is light and progress may be slow.  We may go to conception island or rum key is the winds choose it. After Clarence town I’m looking at possibly stopping in the crooked islands or Great Inagua for fuel before we make the final push for Jamaica.

Here is who is up for the raffle drawing, Guin will pick the winner once we get to Jamaica:

Richard S, David T, Jeff M, Sharne A, Jim F, Glenn T, Kirk H, Darline N (2 tickets), Lazaro R, James C, and, Luis C.

We still have 18 tickets available and the odds are great of winning. If your interested go to our store and purchase the “charter donations” for $50.00 each. Good luck to you guys!

The price point on the BlueSphere films really seems to be working. We have been consistently seeing a few downloads a day. If we can keep up the pace it will really work out well for us. If your interested in watching my films please choose the links below.

Thanks guys.

 

 

To download my first film “California to Columbia” click here.

To download my second film “Finding Freedom” click here.

 

Peace everyone.

Sail far and live slowly.

– Alex

You guys want to see something cool? Check out Aquagen’s diesel watermaker, Refrigeration compressor, alternator, emergency  150 gal/min bilge pump and more setup! This thing is awesome!!! If I had the money I would most certainly buy this. I’m not interested in having a generator onboard. I don’t like 110 on a boat. The little 110 that I do use is for tools, computer and so on. My inverter handles all my 110 needs. I don’t use air-conditioning or anything that demands that kind of power.

What I do want is a watermaker and to be able to charge the batteries and run my refrigeration compressor. My little kubota diesel (4.5HP) motor only uses 1/8 of a gallon of diesel an hour and is incredibly reliable and economical. My main engine uses a gallon an hour and I cant afford to run it just to charge. I don’t usually need to charge as my solar panels keep my batteries fully charged.

Well guess what, I have the same motor that runs it all, and freshly rebuilt too. I also

have a cat pump (picture below) for the watermaker end, and the refrigeration compressor to run my big fridge. I have an extra alternator and I’d like to add the emergency bilge pump at some point. I guess it is all a matter of getting 12v clutches, pullies, belts and designing a way for it to all work together. It also looks like there is some sort of belt tensioning device on the AquaGen. I dont know much about this sort of thing so if anyone has any advice please clue me in. I’m talking to cat pumps now to get the specks. I think I can put a pully and 12 clutch on it.

Man if I can get this whole thing sorted out what an awesome addition to splendid.

 

Cheers from Georgetown.

– Alex

 

 

Wow, what a cool new feature.

Producing DVD’s is an expensive way to deliver content to an audience, not to mention slow with the added expense of shipping and handling. Now you can download the BlueSphere films to your computer or iphone for only $9.95 each! I love the internet!

We also still have 20 raffle tickets available for a San Blas charter. The odds of winning are really, REALLY good considering we have only sold 10 with a max of 30 to be sold. A week in the San Blas eating fresh fish, lobster, and Sam’s baguettes will be worth every penny, trust me. There is also the lounging on the beach, sailing and snorkeling thing. If your interested please visit the store today.

Cheers from Paradise.

Alex

As allays I air on the side of safety. Not that sailing in 30 knots is dangerous but not as comfortable as I like, yup, I’m a whimp :) We are waiting another week before sailing South. Hopefully the wind will cool off a bit.

My ear infection is still bugging me and I haven’t been in the water for weeks. It really blows because I love snorkeling with Guin. Here is one of the reasons I love living out of the country. I went to see a doctor today and the visit and two prescriptions cost me $41.00, nice!

Guin still has all her friends here and it sure is a nice place to be stuck another week.

All is well in Paradise.

sail far and live slowly.

– Alex

This is a test sent from the orbcomm satellite network.

What a great Easter. Sam and her friend Britta organized a pot-luck / Easter egg hunt. The kids were in a group running around the island  like a pack of dogs. They ran the stretch of the beach a hundred times, jumped off the docks, played in the sand, it was really a beautiful thing. It was also her friend Taylor’s birthday and Guin had a sleep over on “lilly-may” last night. Sam and I are both so proud of Guin jumping off the dock. She was scared but did it and now she is a jumping fool. I’ve been trying to get her to jump off of splendid with no avail. Perhaps she’ll give it a go today? She is turning out to be such a little beach girl. She has a “copper tone” tushie, so cute. I need to get a picture!

Sam and I had a sun-downer on another boat last night and discussed Panama. We met some nice people that just bought a house there. The fell in love with Panama as they were cruising there as well.

It is quite windy today, the trades are blowing well. I love the Trade winds and they will always remind me of sailing across the Pacific, I dream of the day I do it with my girls.

We have 21 raffle tickets left and about a month to sell them in. If you want a taste of the life pick up a few today. You can buy them at our store.

We are going to take it easy today. Tomorrow I may go back to George town ant start provisioning. I need to buy about 30 gallons of diesel, 10 gallons of gas, and fill up our water tanks.

Life is grand.

Sail far and live slowly.

– Alex

Happy Easter everyone.

We are having Easter on the beach with friends today. Everyone is bringing a dish and we are hiding eggs for a hunt. All the kids are coming.

We are looking at departing later on in the week after the east wind dies and making way for rum key.

Ive been dreaming of a nesting sailing and rowing dinghy. I like the idea of rowing and sailing much better than enduring the expense and maintenance of an outboard. I really like the CLC Passagemaker take apart (nesting) http://www.clcboats.com/shop/wooden-sailboat-kits/

I’m also interested in the nestaway trio http://www.nestawayboats.com/page4.htm

I’m thinking to build a nesting dinghy that I can easily sail and row in Panama. I’d really like to teach Guin to sail it as soon as possible. It would be cool if she were sailing before her 6th birthday.

Have a wonderful Easter day.

Sail far and live slowly.

Alex

 

I really don’t know how to explain how wonderful our days are. We are making so many new friends. Guin is going to the beach with Taylor, Jackson, Owen, Avery, Kayley, Alina, and Madison today. George town has really turned out to be “kidtastic”. In this picture Guin and Owen are swimming on the ocean side of stocking island.

Today is a big learning day for guin. She is starting her “reading in 100 easy lessons” book. She should be reading in 3 months at a second grade level. There is a funny thing about home schooling. All the home schooled kids we have met are at least 1 or two grade levels ahead of their age. I think it is due to the one on one learning experience.

Our friends Terry, Shelly, Jackson, and Taylor showed up yesterday. We met them in Jacksonville a while back and Taylor (7) and Guin get along famously. we have also been spending a lot of time with our friends Britta & David who are joining us on our journey to the San Blas, and Rian & Diane from “Thursday’s child”. There son Owen is the one in the hammock with Guin.

I’m out of the water for a week or so. A few days ago I developed a ear infection, OUTCH! I started a 10 day stint of Amoxicillin. I’m prone to ear infections because of my “divers ear”. I spent far too many years in California diving in the cold water with no hood.

I’ll be getting the boat together this week for a departure next week. The cold fronts seem to be gone for the season and clear skies should be ahead of us. We are all starting to dream of our time in Jamaica. I couldn’t afford a trip to the blue mountains last time I was in Jamaica, but if we can this time I am going to try to get a car for a day so we can trek up there and buy some coffee.

Don’t forget to watch the new video I posted. And if your interested in a charter buy some “Charter donation” tickets by clicking here.

Sail far and live slowly.

Alex

If you go to “BlueSphere TV” under the members tab you’ll see “Log 12” on the right side under recent videos. It’s a bit over 13 minutes long.

Sam’s mom is here and having a blast. We are doing the usual swimming, snorkeling, cooking, laughing and so on. Today was racking day and we bottled 6 gallons of wine and put it in the bilge. Diane is leaving on Tuesday morning and we will probably spend another week here before moving on. From here we will go to Long Island, possibly Conception island or Rum cay.

Hope you guys enjoy the video.

Life is good.

Sail far and live slowly.

– Alex

Three days of hard work and I’ve painted the bow and did the non-skid. If I only had more paint I could finish the boat, ARRRGGG! I’m using mothane and love it, it’s a really good paint and under $100 a gallon. I’ll have to have some shipped to Panama so I can finish the job the way I want to. The second picture is what the deck looked like in the morning sun today. I really cant wait to have Splendid’s hull and decks painted. I’m thinking hard about a black hull. I know, I know, it’s going to be hot. But I’m thinking of painting it black for the same reason they did in the old days. If the inside of the boat is a few degrees warmer then the ambient temp outside it wicks all the moisture out of the boat. When you have asthma like I do and a little boat mold can really set it off you might think the same way. I want a dry boat. If you have ever cruised the tropics you would know what I’m talking about. I’ve spoke to a bunch of people with black hulls and they all say the same thing, they don’t mind it, not to mention Splendid would look pretty darn sexy.

Our days have been filled with swimming and Guinevere playing with her friends. Sam and I have been knocking out a few projects, I must say life is good.

We are having the drawing for our raffle in May and we have only sold a handful of tickets. If you want to buy a ticket go to the store and purchase the charter donations (we had to call them donations for Paypal). Each $50.00 ticket will be put in a hat and drawn by Guin for a week charter in the San Blas. Trust me, a week in the San Blas is worth every penny of a charter or the risk of buying a few tickets. Any of my previous charters would agree. And every 2 tickets sold gets me a gallon of Mothane, well almost, I’m sure shipping will be a killer.

Peace everyone.

Sail far and live slowly.

– Alex

I must say, I really like Georgetown. Georgetown itself isn’t much but Stocking island is great. It seems that the harsh cold fronts may be gone for the season and some moderate cold front are blowing through. The cold fronts provide good opportunity to sail south and east as they provide South, west, and North winds. I suspect we will still be here for a few weeks. Sam’s Mom is coming on the 27th for a few days and possibly Guin’s Dad in early April.

I hope Sam’s Mom comes more often. In the anticipation of her arrival Sam has painted both bathrooms, and I have painted 1/3 of Splendid’s deck and coach house. I’ve used a bit of the local sand for non skid which has come out quite nice. It is a bit aggressive buy I like the idea of more non skid then less. More aggressive non skid holds a bit of dirt and is not as pretty but we are not going to slip on the deck.

Guin is swimming and playing with her new friends every day. She really is turning out to be a little fish. I’m amazed at how much better of a swimmer she is then kids a few years older then her.

Anyway, I’m off to paint.

Cheers

Sail far and live slow.

Alex

Wow, it’s hard for me to put the last month into words. I’ve felt so disconnected from cruising over the past few years but I feel at home and free once again. The days are slowly drifting by to the sound of laughter, wind, and the taste of salt on our lips. We gaze at the brilliant colors of the turquoise waters during the day and an unpolluted sky filled with brilliant stars at night. Guinevere and Samantha are as happy as 2 peas in a pod. All Guinna wants to do is snorkel, snorkel, snorkel. Guin got the opportunity to swim with a giant spotted Eagle ray the other day, she cant stop talking about it. I cant wait for the warm waters of the San Blas where she will not have to get out of the water after thirty minutes or so. Even in her little wetsuit she gets a chill after a while. She was crying in her mask and snorkel the other day because it was time to get out, it really was the cutest thing. Sam is knocking down books like nobodies business. She also makes us 3 baguettes a day so we always have a good supply of bread around. Guin and I are chomping at the bit to taste the piping-hot baguettes as soon as they get out of the oven. Life is so good it almost hurts. These girls really have stolen my heart, I love them so very much!

I’ve been learning how to sail a ketch since we left Miami. Balancing the boat is not so easy, however I’m sure I’ll get get the hang of it soon. I’m also trying to get the windvane up and running. I’ve found myself on more than one occasion sailing with just the jib and mizzen. I really need a new set of sails. I don’t like the high-cut of the jib and the mizzen is worn and has no reef points. The main is okay but only has 2 reef points and I don’t like where they are and the cloth is a bit light. If I can ever afford it I’ll order a new set of tanbark sails. I’ll also look into the kits that are available from sailrite and do the stitch-work myself. I don’t have a main sheet track as the main sheet is just connected to the mizzen. A common configuration, but I’d like to have a few vangs to give me better control of the main sheet system. All that being said I’m not complaining and I’ll happily make this all work for now.

George Town is really cool. The anchorage at Stocking island is beautiful and the holding good. There are about 250 boats here and plenty of room for everyone to have enough swing. It doesn’t feel so crowded and Guin is easily finding other children to play with. There seems to be more kids cruising around these days, or perhaps I’m just more aware of them?

I’m not able to post logs as often as I’d like. I couldn’t afford to get a card for the satellite phone (email modem) before I left and the orbcomm system is down for the moment. I have to rely on internet cafes when they are available. I am working on another video to upload and you should see it in the next few weeks.

We will continue South in mid to late April. I’m going to work on a few projects while we are here.

Sam should have a new log posted as well.

Sail far and live slowly.

Peace, Love, Sam & Guin.

– Alex

Wow, no internet connection for a while. We are in Little Farmers kay just 40 miles north of George Town. I’ll post a big blog and pictures, wow, so many great pictures when we get to Georgetown in a few days. Guin is an Expert snorkeler and today is her birthday, she’s 5, I cant believe it. She swam with a huge spotted eagle ray the other day. Snorkeling is her favorite thing to do now, she does not stop talking about it.

Cheers

Life is good :)

– Alex

This is what my sunrise looked like this morning.

Believe it or not I managed to find just enough of a WIFI signal to squeak out a log this morning. The Ubiquity Bullet was a really good choice for me and I’m quite happy with it.

We found friends from Nassau at Norman’s and spent some time with them on the beach yesterday. Actually we walked around the little island in the picture and found hundreds of baby conch. We were invited to their boat for dinner and had a lovely evening.

Today really feels like my first day home (back in the sea). There are just a few boats in this pristine anchorage, and starfish can easily bee seen on the bottom of the 12’ deep turquoise water beneath our floating home.

Today we are going to go searching for a sunken airplane and find Conch for a big salad tonight. It’s a bit cool in the wind for swimming but our ventures south will surely remedy or desire to be warm. Guinevere swam for about 10 minutes yesterday but got cold. Today I’ll make sure she wears her wetsuit. I got her a wetsuit a few months back and she has just grown into it, Perfect timing.

I can almost feel a fish dangling from the end of me spear :)

Sail far and live slowly.

Alex

Well…, we have been in Nassau for a week or so now and it is time to move on. The Exumas are a spot I missed for the most part on my last trip through the Bahamas. Many say they are the most beautiful cruising grounds around, we’ll see. I will be able to start fishing on a daily basis and Guinevere will start her long awaited snorkeling campaign. We will be a bit more out of touch from the world :)I will be doing short updates from the Orbcomm system, but we will not have internet,phone, or access to the bigger shops for a few weeks. We need to be in George town by the end of the month as Sam’s Mum is coming for a visit. Dont forget to check out the “Current Position” page and check the satellite photos of where we are.

On a side note, I need to vent a bit. If anyone has a suggestion on a bank please let me know. AHHHHHHHHHHHHH, I”M SO FRUSTRATED WITH HSBC! I’m so careful with the little money i have, but my bank feels the need to steal money from me in the form of over draft charges. They will not give me over draft protection because my lack of credit, nor will they decline a transaction for insufficient funds, sounds like robbery to me? I don’t believe in credit or find the need to owe anyone anything and as a result I’m not worthy of overdraft protection, how does that work? Am I being penalized for being responsible with money? I always make sure to only spend once it has posted to my account and they still seem to find a way to hit me with the OD charges ($35.00) each. If anyone knows of a reasonable bank, no matter how small, please let me know.

Anyway, I’m going back to the peace of the island mon.

Cheers everyone.

Sail far and live slowly.

– Alex

I woke up this morning with quite the smile. Splendid is happily anchored off of the Green Parrot bar & grill (free WIFI) in paradise, and my family is centered and happy. What else could a man ask for?

I have to talk about Guin a bit today. She really is such an amazing and well adjusted child. For so many years people have been contacting me and telling me they are waiting for there kids to get older or out of college to take them cruising. If you make this statement to any cruising kid, or cruising parents they  would cock their head and give you a strange look. Guinevere did something yesterday that really touched my heart, she married Sam and I. When we got back from the Aquarium she went in her room to play for a while. After half an hour or so she came out with 2 silver heart rings (I’ve never seen them before) and proceeded to marry Sam and I. I’ve never been much for the legal or religious implications of marriage, but when a 4 year old marries you I think it really means something. That being said Sam and I now wear small silver heart rings on our necks. Who would have known? Sam had a rum cake in the oven at the time and Guin let us know that it was our wedding cake. That being said, it really was the best dessert I’ve ever had. The picture of Guin was taken at The Atlantis resort on Paradise island.

Sam is into baking and is really interested in learning local flavors as we travel. Yesterday it was rum cake. We looked at one in a store and it was $19 bucks. It would be hard for me to imagine that a store bought one could be any better. Anyway, here is the recipe she used. Even if you don’t bake I strongly suggest you try this at home. Many recipes call for starting with a yellow cake mix, this recipe is to make it from scratch.

Today we are going to do some swimming at the beach, Study the local historical monuments of Nassau, and visit the zoo. It’s really funny to hear Guins impersonation of a local accent mon :)

BAKE THE CAKE! It will do your heart some good.

 

Sail far and live slowly.

– Alex

Wow, what a night! The wind started blowing a gale around 11pm.

I don’t worry so much about dragging because of our 85lb Supreme. A boat next to us was getting quite close and I was worried about hitting. I got in the dink and drove over to him. Looking at our GPS I noticed we were holding firm.

The guy was having problems with his anchor and could not get it up. His windlass failed and he had lines on the chain running back to the winches. It took him about an hour to get his anchor up but when he did we started dragging. I looked and Sam “no way we are dragging”! Well as it turns out he had caught my anchor with his and pulled it up. The situation was deceiving as the current was against the wind and my anchor was 90 feet behind me.

Our boats came quite close to hitting. I’m not so worried about hitting either because our finish isn’t so fine and Splendid is a tank. but he had a beautiful finish and freaked a bit. I saw the guy anchor too close to us from the shore about mid day, but by the time I got back it all looked okay. The reality was he dropped his hook on us. Sam and I got the anchor up and found a different spot away from all the dragging boats and excitement.

The weather has not been so good. I hope the cold fronts die out soon as we want to head south. I think they fizzle out in March/April but we will see. Until then I’ll be looking for anchorages protected from the South, West, and North. When the trades fill in we will head for Jamaica and Panama.

Cheers everyone.

– Alex

Sam, Guin, and I had a great day walking around Nassau yesterday. We had some ice cream, a few beers (not Guin), and walked till we couldn’t walk any more. Nassau is not the peaceful island retreat that we have been searching for but will do for the moment. We will be off to the Exumas mid next week after a nasty stretch of weather rolls through. Nassau has a nice protected harbor and will be much more comfortable than an exposed anchorage.

Guin loves the clear water and wants to swim despite it is a bit chilly. We are anchored in 9 feet of water and can see every grain of sand under our keel.

I still cant believe we finally got out of the country and are cruising again. It is still setting in.

Thanks to everyone for all the kind words. It has been a long haul the past few years and I’ll be getting lots of great pictures, videos, and words posted on the site. I’m hoping to get Sam to write more, she is allways so busy with Guin though. I dont know how she finds the time to take care of everything she does, ‘Amazing’.

I’ll be spear fishing within a week now.

Life is good.

– Alex

A new day. This is what our approach to the Bahamas looked like Sunday morning from Splendid’s cockpit.

Our first night was peaceful however the wind decided to blow once again. We have been greeted with wind and rain. The wind is blowing hard 30+ from the South and I am very thankful to have the doctor (85 Lb  Manson Supreme) holding our home in place.

Another cruiser came into the gray and windy anchorage this afternoon after a beating in the gulf stream. I watched them for over an hour trying to get there hook to bight. I really cant recommend the Supreme enough. If your planning on cruising buy one from me, or someone else, just get one! It is such a lovely piece of mind. You wont regret it.

I tossed some leftovers overboard this afternoon and the sharks came, Guin was so excited. None were over 3-4 feet long, but what a sight for Guin. She laughed and did a little shark dance. Despite the weather we are all so happy to start this new chapter in our lives.

I’m going to pick up the doctor in the middle of the night and take advantage of the west wind behind this cold front. It’s about 65 miles to Chubb kay and we should be there tomorrow afternoon. We haven’t checked in to the Bahamas yet, nor have we left the boat. It will cost us $300.00 to check in (OUTCH!). If we were to check in here at Cat Cay the marina would charge us an extra Benjamin as a dock fee. We will go into Chubb or Nassau.

Man it’s good to be here.

Watch our spot tomorrow as we cross the big bank and enter the “tongue of the ocean”.

Cheers.

Alex

Woot, we’re here. We left Dinner key at about 1am and arrived at Cat key arount 3:30. The wind was on the nose and the waves would knock our speed down to just a few knots at times however the ride across the gulf stream was not so bad. I’ve done bad in the gulf stream and this was nice. The girls faired well and Guin slept most of the time. She has a bit of a sugar hang over today after spending a fun filled day with her dad at a Turkish festival yesterday.

I feel like I’m having a complete mental melt down. The weight and stress of preparing my beloved Splendid has paid off, 2 years of hard work and we did it.

I’m going to pass out and crash for 15 hours now. I’ve only sleapt a few hours in the past few nights.

Peace.

Alex

Well, Sunday looks like the day to cross the gulf stream and to the Bahamas. The winds will be light from the east, shifting to the south Monday, and north on Tuesday.

Today I’m going to top off the fuel and water and head over to no-name harbor on Key Byscane. Guin’s Dad is comming to visit her tomorrow and spend the day with her, she’s really excited.

The trip to the Bahamas should take about 12 hours and I’m planning on leaving about 2 am to arrive at cat cay the following afternoon. I’ve already got my fishing pole ready with a nice fat squid patiently waiting for a Tuna, Dorado, or Wahoo.

It looks like 2 years of work is going to pay off.

We have only sold 5 raffle tickets at this point. If you go to the bluesphere store you can buy the “Charter Donation” tickets for $50.00 each. Our raffle has really good odds of winning. So do you want to come sailing for a week?

Cheers everyone.

– Alex

In one more day Splendid will be perched in “no-name” harbor waiting for a weather window to cross ovewr to the Bahamas. It dosent look like we will see a good window until early next week, maybe the weekend. We cant have any wind with a northern component

We had a nice day with friends yesterday and visited peanut island in Lake Worth. Guin played with her cruising friends and we had a nice steak aboard “Lilly-May” with our friends Terry and Michelle.

Tonight we will be anchored in Lake Sylvia in Fort Lauderdale. We may spend the day tomorrow, there isint really a rush to get any farther south.

I can almost taste the fresh fish and conch salad. Not to mention feel the warm sand and water beneath my feet.

Life is good aboard Splendid.

Cheers.

Alex

Wow…, have we been busy the last week. Splendid is provisioned. I have extra belts, hoses, oil, and filters. The cruising kitty is pretty slim but we have enough food to last us 5-6 months.

We are off to Lauderdale / Miami this morning. By mid week we will be looking for a window to cross to Cat cay. From Cat we will go to Chubb, Nassau and the Exumas. Florida is far to cold for me. It’s 50 degrees in the cabin, this is for the birds, and not the kind of birds I can relate to (Parrots & Tucans).

Does any one know the one thing I forgot to buy? It’s the one thing that will keep us held up somewhere waiting for a part. I wish I knew what it was.

Anyway, time to make breakfast for the girls. I’ll have the spot running as we travel.

Cheers.

Sail far and live slowly.

– Alex

The last step before taking a long trip is provisioning. Sam found a great discount grocery here in Stuart and we have fully taken advantage of it. I’m not 2 proud to say we shop at Good will (it’s awesome) and discount food stores. We are working hard on doing what what I wanted to do by getting a bigger boat, filling it with stores. We should leave here with a good 4 months of provisions and fully laden with fuel and water..

I wanted to leave at the end of this week but as you can see from Saturdays Grib file it is not looking so good. I’ll be keeping a sharp eye on mid to late next week. I’m still not sure if we are going to do the northern Bahamas or not. It all depends on where we are when the window presents itself.

I cant believe I haven’t shot a fish for a few years now!

Cheers

– Alex

I know, it’s funny…, why should I be stressed right?

I always get stressed before a trip. I was a stress monster leaving Panama to cross the Pacific, and as well when I started my journey in 2003. Now I have a whole new boat and a family. It’s just part of it I guess, I hope I don’t drive Sam out of her mind, God knows I tax her sometimes. She is turning out to be a natural when it comes to varnish, she has the patience and temperament for it. 

Sam and I drove up to Jacksonville the other day to pick up my little motor from my friend Bobby. We drove up with my buddy Eric and his girlfriend Susan. It was about 4 and a half hours each way but so worth it. I love this little engine. Funny to think I was about to pitch it in the sea a few months back. It uses about an 1/8 of a gallon an hour and is just over 4 horse power. I’m going to load it up with my 130 amp electromaxx alternator and smart charger. My entire electric system makes sense to me now. Eventually we are going to get a 12 volt water maker. The nice thing about this is If I do need to burn diesel to charge my bank I can do it quite conservatively.

I have a desulfator and I’m excited to get it connected. It’s a small unit and may take a few months to condition the batteries but once I get them up to par they should stay on top of the situation.

Man the weather stinks. I don’t think we will be leaving at the end of the week as a big cold front will be going through the area later in the week.

Here is a tale of a great deal. A guy contacted me through the internet because he just bought a 1973 Cheoy Lee MidShipman. He had a bunch of questions and he is in for a good amount of work. His boat has the original masts but guess what he paid for it? FIVE GRAND! So if you are planning on getting a boat and have the money go shopping before the market turns around. The business at the boat shows is starting to pick up and the screaming deals will not be around too much longer.

 

Cheers.

Sail far and live slowly.

– Alex

One of the best parts of Project BlueSphere, from my perspective, is I get to converse with a large pool of sailors and I need some advice. Here is the question:

I have no way of equalizing my batteries and I can tell that my 1 year old bank of Trojan T-105’s is not holding, or accepting a charge as it should. I have 4, T-105’s which are 6 volt batteries. They are hooked up in series to create 2 12v batteries, and those 2 batteries are wired in parallel to create my house bank.

I don’t have a smart alternator regulator and have no way of equalizing my batteries. I’ve recently discovered battery desulphators and I want to know if anyone out there has any personal experience with them. From what I have read they seem to really be the answer to sulphation problems. Here is some text explaining how desulphators work:

“The units utilize patented technology to produce a wide range of high frequency pulses known as RFP ™ (Random Frequency Pulsation) designed to dissolve both old and newly formed sulphate. RFP™ technology, sweeps the entire frequency range known to cause sulphation crystals to resonate and then safely dissolve them. Sulfuric acid, the main component in the sulphate crystals, safely returns to the battery’s electrolyte. The Specific Gravity (S.G.) of the electrolyte is now higher and able to generate more electrical energy-storage capacity than the previously sulphated batteries.
Additional advantages of using sulphation-free batteries include extended alternator and belt life, as the vehicle’s charging system no longer needs to work as hard trying to charge batteries that will not accept high alternator output current due to sulphation build-up. Much lower output current is now demanded from the alternator to keep clean, sulphate-free batteries fully charged”.

To further confuse me here is another link I’m looking at:

http://www.courtiestown.co.uk/batteries/batterydesulfators/batterydesulfators.htm

I’m also interested in the liquid “Equalizaton” treatments like the one at the following link:

http://www.batterystuff.com/battery-restoration/fluid/BE12oz.html

If anyone knows about this stuff please let me know.

I’m heading up to Jacksonville with a buddy of mine late next week. It sounds like he will be crossing with us to the Bahamas as well.

Man is it been windy!

Cheers.

Alex

It’s always one more thing isn’t it?

The last real thing I have to do before leaving is get back up to Jacksonville to pick up my little 1hp diesel Kubota motor from my friend Bobby who just fixed it. I’ll be going up there later in the week. I’m not going to install the motor before going to the Bahamas, that will be a project for a later date. I spent the morning looking for buses and trains from Stuart to Jacksonville and I’m thoroughly confused. I also looked in to carpooling and ride sharing. I’ve decided that public transpiration in Florida is the devil! I cant believe there isn’t a real good national carpool website. Talk about a good way to save some fuel & money??

The hard freeze we had last week did a lot of local damage. There are so many dead fish floating around it breaks my heart. I must have seen over 20 large snook, not to mention angel, puffers, snappers and the like. You cant spit without seeing dead fish.

Anyway, I took apart the mobile fuel polishing station that I built and installed the Racor 1000FH filter (big one) for my main engine. The last thing I want to do is deal with dirty fuel once we set off. I’m also running a 2 micron filter in it.

I should be getting my new Mack Pack early in the week, and I cant think of much more to do before we leave. We are going to do some bulk food shopping next week and stock up for the trip.

Guin has been off with her dad for the past week and Sam has been sanding, varnishing, and painting in the cockpit like a mad woman. It’s going to look soooo nice :)

We tried the hard cider for the first time last night, Yummy, I don’t think I ever had hard cider before.

Want to come for a charter? We still have 37 raffle tickets available, only $50.00 each. If you want to get one visit the store at http://neo.projectbluesphere.com/Store.aspx and buy 1 or more charter donations. Spending a week sailing, fishing, drinking home made wine in the islands wouldn’t be such a bad thing :)

Cheers

Sail far and live slowly.

– Alex

Believe it or not I am going to get back into posting videos, it is what I do. I found a new technology that allows me to post them directly in the blog and I wanted to try it out. Here you go:

Anyway, let me know what you think. If anyone has some old Bahamas cruising guides they want to sell let me know.

Cheers from the crew of Splendid.

– Alex, Samantha, and baby Guinevere

The list of “must’dos” is dwindling and the anticipation of points south is on the tip of our fantasies. The other day Guin was walking around the cabin in her snorkle and mask. I cant wait to swim with her every day and teach her about fish.

I bought Sam a big 22 quart pressure canner today ($30 on Craig’s list). She also found a recipe for one of my favorite Ukrainian childhood dishes, ikra. It’s an eggplant spread, soooo yummy! Sam made a batch today and it really set me back a few years. I had a bit of a reality slam. I stepped in the boat and the air smelled of my childhood. Sam and Guin were playing the wizard of oz and i had to stop myself and hold back a tear. I really am such a lucky man, these girls are so special to me!

We are watching our pennies like hawks and finding new ways to save money. Sam is convinced canning will really work for us. Not only to save money, but to increase the quality of the food we eat. She’s making bread every few days as well as hummis, pesto, and pasta. I really need to get fishing to supplement our protein budget.

Speaking of expenses I’ve really been stressed about the email thing. 500 minutes for my satellite phone costs about $700.00. The phone and Data kit costs about $1200. Any lower denomination of minutes expires in a few months. Irridium is kind of expensive. I do have an old MagellanGSC 100 communicator (http://flbarcollc.com/) on the orbcomm (LEO) network. The Magellan GSC 100 is great for small email and texting, but difficult to type long messages on (logs). I started searching around and found orbcomm modems on Ebay for $20.00, that’s right, TWENTY BUCKS, check it out (http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-OrbComm-Stellar-ST2500-Satellite-Data-Communicator_W0QQitemZ170428110913QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item27ae4e9841). If your interested in lo cost email you may want to contact John at TC Decisions ( http://tcdecisions.com/index.htm ) and pick up one of these modems. For me…, treading lightly on the pocketbook is uber-important especially now that I have a family. I know there are a number of people out there looking for an inexpensive email solution and this very well may be it. The GSC 100 is cool because it is portable. The stellar ST2500 is cool because you can use your own computer and be inside. Perhaps in 2010 we should be looking at some older, proven technologies for email. You cant send or receive attachments, just plane text, but that is plenty for me. This may be worth a look for you?

We are just waiting to get my mainsail back from the guys at mack sails and my asthma medication from India (Generic Flovent).

It’s a bit warmer today and the solar panels got to work a bit.

Cheers everyone.

Sail far and live slowly.

Alex

Freezing temperatures and rain have been the norm of late. I did manage to get the main down and off to Mack sails the other day. I’m getting a 3rd reef point and battens. I’m also getting a Mack-pack. It is nearly impossible to get the sail cover on and off with my huge bimini.

I’ve been knocking out inside projects to protect myself from the cold. I had to wire the Engel into my shop to get it off the counter and down low, I also installed a board on my shop bench so that things will not fall off it at sea.  We are finding spots to stow everything, it’s not so easy. I’ve also put the finishing touches on my SSB install and all seems to be working well. My propane and jerry jug mounts are finished and I’m just waiting for a package from India and a few parts.

The weather has not been conducive to cross the gulf stream anyway, I’m hoping it will cool off soon, BURRRRRR!

Here is a cool thing, we are just about to have the BlueSphere films available to download to you iphone.

There are still 36 raffle tickets left http://neo.projectbluesphere.com/Store.aspx

Cheers from Stuart.

Alex

It was 41 degrees this morning what’s wrong with Florida?

I spoke to Panama on the SSB the other day, it was good to hear some old voices and make sure the old SEA 225 was working, I’m sure its much warmer there.

Splendid now has her own WIFI system. Guin has educational things (learning games) that she uses the computer for and I’m always dealing with the website. I got a nice Linksys (B/G/N) wireless router on Craig’s list for $45. It works with our Ubiquity Bullet (http://www.ubnt.com/products/bullet.php) and now we have our own onboard WIFI system. It really is a great setup for the boat and all 12v. The funny thing is I’m always trying to get away from technology but it seems find its way into my home. I never thought I’d say this but I’d like to get an older iphone at some point. Skype makes an application for the iphone and we could have a phone on as long as we had a WIFI signal (no computer needed). I’m not so into having a phone but it’s good for Guin talking to her dad and Sam talking to her family. The cool thing about the iphone is we could also use it to check email and surf the internet without having to turn on the “power consuming” laptops. I’m also looking into wifi SKYPE phones. If any one has any comments on this technology please let me know.

I need to do some more fuel polishing. I don’t know if you guys remember but I made a mobile 170 GPH fuel polishing system a while back. I’m going to run all my fuel through a 2 micron filter before taking off. All i really have to do is install a mackpack (http://macksails.com/mackpack.htm), finish my mount for the jerry jugs, and get my weather fax working before we leave. I’m waiting for some asthma medication to come in the mail and hopefully it wont take more that 10 days.

With all this cold weather I’m thinking I may not do the northern Bahamas and head for the Exumas and George town. I’d like to be in George town for Guins birthday in March. I’m really done with the cold.

Charter tickets are still available at http://neo.projectbluesphere.com/Store.aspx. We call it a ‘Charter donation” because paypal doesn’t like the “raffle” verbiage.

Believe it or not I’ll have a video posted in a few days.

Cheers everyone.

Sail far and live slowly.

Alex

Life seems a bit funny some times and I often feel quite blessed.

As you guys know Sam and I try to make the things we need and waste as little as possible. There is a certain comfort in making the things we need and living simply.

We were sitting around yesterday talking about making and waxing cheese. Making a batch of mozzarella is quite easy and can be done in about an hour. There are plenty of good youtubes on the subject. We then started talking about making pasta from scratch, not too hard we thought. We are all all about anything to save money while living healthier.We needed to go to the store for a batch of cilantro and garlic so Sam could whip up a fresh batch of pesto. We went to shore, assembled the bikes, and went out for a ride. Sam spotted a thrift store and drug me in. I love thrift stores and Good Will and think everybody should shop in them. I cant remember the last time I bought a pair of shorts or T-shirt in a regular store. Anyway, I was walking through the isles and poking threw boxes. I couldn’t believe my eyes. In a small box there was a beautiful stainless steel pasta press for $8! I called Sam over and she was equally as excited. We went to the farmers stand for pesto ingredients and hurried home.

I’m not such a big fan of whole wheat pasta but Sam made a batch of whole wheat dough and we rolled and cut it with our new machine. I’ve bought the “pseudo-fresh” pasta in the super market before but never had pasta like this. I’m not saying this out of love for Sam, but ‘DAMN’ that was the best pasta I’ve ever had!

It’s been a long expensive road over the past few years but we really have the tools and knowledge now to live very simply. I’m really looking forward to conveying this knowledge through my next film. Cruising is more than just sailing around the world, it’s an opportunity to live the way we were meant to. That may mean many things for many different people. For me, I just wish to be healthy and live a simple and peaceful life with my girls.

I’ve posted raffle tickets for sale in the store. If you are interested in a charter this may be a good opportunity for you. I will be selling 40 $50 tickets between now and May 1st. The winner will get a 1 week charter for himself and family (Couple and 2 kids) redeemable any time after May. Sam and I will not be doing “luxury” charters. But teaching like-minded families how to live simply on the sea. You get to pick your destination based on our voyage. I’d strongly recommend visiting us in the San Blas. I’ve done about a dozen charters over the years and every one has been a great success. If your interested visit the “charter donation” category in the ships store and buy a $50.00 donation or more. Good luck.

We are getting Guin back today. We put the Christmas lights from the tree up in her room. I think she will really like them.

Cheers everyone.

Sail far and live slowly.

– Alex

The good ship Splendid is back in Stuart for the final touches of her refit before leaving for the Bahamas. She looks pretty pulled together, eah? She still needs paint and some pretty work but all in due time.

Sam and I are planning a quiet New Years onboard with some bubbly and nice cheese.  She posted a new log today so check it out and give her hell for not writing more! I know I need to post more video but I like doing it well and it does take a bit of work. I’ve just been really busy with boat projects, soon to change though.

Happy New Year everyone, lets make 2010 a hell of a year!

Sail far and live slowly.

– Alex

Guinevere went to her fathers on Saturday and Sam and I have been taking it quiet and slow. Sam’s spending the days reading and I’m at the helm making lists and planning our escape to the Bahamas. Sam has made 3 loaves of incredibly wonderful bread and a big batch of fresh pesto.

The morning we left Saint Augustine I pulled up a piling with the anchor chain.  There was an under-water hazard listed on the map but after scanning the area with the fish finder I decided it was a good place to drop the hook. If you look at a chart on the South side of the bridge of lions you’ll see a shallow spot in the anchorage with a under water hazard, I think I removed it for everyone :)

Anyone know why a diesel motor would leak oil with a dirty racor (fuel filter)? It makes no sense to me but my oil leak slowed substantially after replacing a really dirty racor. I cant really come up with a theory so if you have one let me know.

2010 is upon us. It’s time to make some serious resolutions that better our lives. If you’ve been dreaming of cruising there is no time like the present. We are in a really awful economy and if you can swing it, its really a buyers market in the boating world. I cant believe it but people seem to be giving their boats away. That goes for you Ross and Buddy!

we should arrive in Stuart on New Years day. I’m sure i have a week or so of projects but we will be off to the Bahamas shortly. This all seems like a dream come true to me. I cant believe my good fortune in finding Splendid, Sam, and Guin. Splendid has been a 2 year project but I believe her to be sound although still missing fairing work and paint.

We have a sound ship filled with all the latest safety gear (Epirb, Spot, Life-raft, etc…), hearts filled with dreams, and shallow pockets, just the way I like it. Its time to live on fresh bread, home made wine, beer, tofu, soy milk, and pesto. I’ve asked Sam to keep an accounting of our expenses and will share the real story. We are going to travel lean and self-sufficient.

Happy New Year everyone.

Sail far and live slowly.

Alex

Guin sez “Merry Christmas”!

It’s festive on “Grandma Splendid. That’s how Guin refers to our home. As you can see on the left side of the picture the furnace has been burning as it’s been quite chilly lately. We have a small Christmas tree which is decorated with ornaments that Sam and Guin made from cut outs from magazines.

We decided to spend Christmas in St. Augustine. It’s our favorite town in Florida and a good place for the holidays. Guin’s Dad is coming to get her on Saturday, and we will most likely start out way to Stuart on Sunday. 

Cheers, and Merry Christmas from team Splendid.

– Alex, Sam, and Guinevere.

Well shouldn’t it be?

Sam, Guin and I have been having a ball being off of the dock. Our days are filled with dinghy rides, cooking, and spending good family time together. Not to mention sweating some bullets in the engine room!

This is kind of a cool picture of Guin standing on the hatch to her room. She really wants to get South so she can swim all day as it’s a bid cold now.

St. Augustine is a really beautiful town at night. Christmas lights dawn the streets along with vendors, musicians, and magicians. Tomorrow we are off to help a friend in Jacksonville. We’ll start trekking South on Wednesday. I want to visit sailors exchange on Tuesday as they are closed on Monday.

Our plan was to be in Stuart by Christmas but we are taking our time.

My friend David has thrust us into the gaming world by giving us a Wii system. I looked into it a bit and there are some cool games for Guin like Dora and some Disney princess games. I’m sure it will be a hit. I promise we will not be spending the days playing video games but it might be some good nighttime entertainment and more “family” interactive than a movie. 

We are going to let the extended family know about the Wii games. The only other thing she really likes is legos if anyone is reading, hint hint! I want to get her a spear gun but it may be a bit too early :)

Sam found a great store when we were in Houston and bought all sorts of PC learning games (Spelling & math). I had an old laptop stashed away and was going to load it up with all the programs and give it to Guin but moisture got to it from a leaky chain plate (fixed it today), and well…, It’s done. There is no shortage of computers on board though. I have two, Splendid has one as well as Sam.

Happy holidays everyone.

Peace, Love, and Sailing.

– Alex

It must have been nice in the old days not having a motor. Splendid is a fat ship and not so good in light air and in tight spaces like a river, or inland water way. Once we leave the country it will be a long time before splendid ever sees a river. She will frequent proper anchorages and sail in the sea.

I spent the day yesterday changing  a broken alternator belt and fixing a fresh water leak on the engine. At some point I have to address the oil leak and pull the motor apart and replace the front, rear, and oil pan seals. Perkins 4108 are notorious for leaking oil like the old Harley Davidson’s were. That being said they have more marine instillations than any other motor and are the proven work horse of the industry.

I’m thinking I’m going to try and recycle my leaky motor oil. If it leaks into a clean pan I don’t see why I cant reuse it if I keep the oil filters up to date? there is a well under the motor and I’m thinking to rig a pump and some sort of filter.

I found a place that makes synthetic seals for the 4108, if you have the same problems with your 4107, or 4108, you may want to check these guys out.

http://www.foleyengines.com/Info.aspx?DeptID=129&PID=21

My buddy David hooked me up with a cool new way to post my blogs so you’ll see some cool ne features like this one. Here is an aireal photo of the anchorage in St Augustine where we are now.

That’s all for today folks.

Peace, Love, and sail far!!!

 

– Alex

It’s really good to be moving again. The weather is horrible and we are in St. Augustine.

We are just hiding out on the boat today. Sam and Guin are baking cookies and making ornaments for the small Christmas tree in our cockpit.

I’ve been huddled in the aft cabin working on the internet all day. I have a bunch of tech issues to work out with the web-store.

I got a new wifi system for the boat and I LOVE IT!!!!! I’m using a Ubiquiti bullet M2-HP, if you add a 9Dbi antenna, a power over Ethernet injector, and enough direct burial Ethernet cable to reach your mast head you’ll be in business with a 1 watt wifi system for about $150.00. I’m going to add a wireless router to the boat so everyone can surf. I’m keeping my eyes open for a used wifi skype phone. That way I wont need to have a computer turned on to make and receive calls. As long as the bullet is getting a signal I’ll be in business. Kind of techie stuff but really cool. If your interested in making one for your boat here are the links:

http://www.wlanparts.com/product/BULLET2-HP/UBIQUITI_BULLET2HP_800mW_WIRELES S_AP_or_CPE_OUTDOOR_80211bg.html

http://www.wlanparts.com/product/OD24-9/OD249_9dBi_24GHz_Omni_Antenna.html

http://www.wlanparts.com/product/EBU-101-01/Power_Over_Ethernet_Injector_EBU 10101.html

It takes a bit of work and a small learning curve putting this all together, but it is a really nice system.

It’s funny that I need to do all this sort of thing to keep the site going. Truthfully I’d like to pitch all the electronics and the head aches that go with them.

Sail far and live slowly.

Alex

All is good with the world.

Sam, Guin and I are back home. The solar panel instillation on my friends boat came out really well. We also got a chance to see my friend David (The bluesphere web Guru) and meet his family.

The down part of the trip was Guin got her little finger caught in a door and had to go for stitches, OUCH. It was her first real baby booboo and not so fun. She is just learning to ride a real bike and the idea of all the future scraped knees is kind of a bummer. I’m learning how incredibly resilient children are, they are fun to have around.

This is a picture of us with Jamie and Lisa at the Beach Marine Christmas party last night, What a blast! The people who own Beach Marine really do a good job of creating a wonderful environment for boaters. If you ever sail or motor by you should stop in for a spell. The end of month party is worth spending the time here and you’ll meet some really great people. I’ll be sad to leave this place behind.

I came across a funny interview of Jamie, he looks so serious. It was shot just before he rounded cape horn. You can watch it here:

http://www.onthewater.com.au/Videos/OTW2008-2-Possibilities.wmv

I’m going to try and be out of the slip in the morning. A cold front is coming through so maybe the next morning. We are going to sail up the Ortega river because I owe a friend a days work. We’ll be heading down to Stuart in a few days. We’ll be heading for the Bahamas just after Christmas, CANT WAIT!!!!

Peace everyone.

Sail far and live slowly.

– Alex

Jamie, Lisa, Sam and I drove 5 hours to look at an interesting boat on Fiday. It was a Morgen 45 OS (Off shore) race boat. It had 18 sails and was really built!! It was small (thin) and not so roomy but really looked like she would be a race horse in the sea. Jamie likes her despite she needs everything including a motor, he’s up for replacing it back in Austraillia. The only down side is they are about 7k from cutting a deal, we’ll see.

I’ve also managed to finish the mizzen mast steps and putting up my home built radar mount with Jamie’s help.

We are taking off on Wednesday to Texas. I’ll be visiting old friends and Sam gets to see her sister before we leave for the Bahamas. I’m also making a few bucks during the trip so it all really works out. Jamie and Lisa will drive around florida looking at boats when we are gone. The seats in the back of the car go down so it’s good for car camping.

Splendid is…, Well…., Splendid. She’s really shaping up and it’s nice having company. Jamie and lisa visiting really gives me a good idea of what future charters will be like. Splendid is really comfortable with the 5 of us on board and everyone has good privicy. She is exactly the boat I wanted to buy when I made my mind up to get a new boat in Tahiti. The only surprise was the girls :)

I’m off to see the knee surgen in the morning and probablly going to schedule a scope to fix a miniscus tear in the next couple of weeks. After that we are off like a shot.

Sail far and live slowly.

Alex

My buddy Jamie is here for a spell.

We are off to look at a Allied ketch this morning. I don’t like to buddy boat but I’m really excited about the possibility of traveling with Jamie again for a while. He recently finished his circumnavigation on a little 25′ boat (possibilities), and did it around all 3 capes over 10 years. Hi has also acquired a wonderful partner (Lisa) and is looking for a bit bigger of a home to travel on, funny how that works. Sam and Lisa are hitting it off well and Guinevere thinks she’s the cats meow.

Ultimately Jamie would like to find a cruising boat with a good keel for under 6k. He likes a simple boat with windvane and no bells & whistles. Just a good rig, solid, with a full, or modified full keel. It doesn’t need paint or varnish or lots of lights at the nav-station. If you know of a boat let me know as he wants to buy ASAP.

I put a new starting battery in Splendid the other day and feel good about having 1000CCA to turn over the motor. I still need to do some wiring in the engine compartment and mount the radar dome but leaving to go south is just around the corner and the sweet smell of cruising fills the air. Sam and Guin are as excited as I am and Guin is learning all about the Bahamas. She sits with me as I pour myself over charts and cruising guides.

Sail far and live slowly.

Alex

Well guys here is the beginning of my new store.

The concept of the store reads as follows:

Our pledge is to sell real cruising equipment to the prudent and practical sailor. Believe it or not our main goal is not to make money, but to sustain while providing a real and informative service to fellow cruisers. I’ve found it hard over the years to weed out all the crap sold by the various ship chandeliers and mega boating stores. If you find it here I really believe in the product and I’m not just selling it to make a buck. Cheap or faulty cruising equipment may be a nuisance to the coastal sailor who can call sea-tow when their engine or rig fail, but to the serious cruising sailor inferior equipment can be life threatening.

I really mean it, we are only going to carry good, solid equipment.

One of the products I’m really excited about is our line of Griffin fuel filters. Having a dual fuel filter doesn’t need to cost thousands of dollars any more. Our Griffin filter housings take racor elements and for $455.00 you can get into a dual filter setup. I’m putting the G500DM on Splendid. These filter housings are built to the highest standards and are used in boats all over Europe and in industrial applications like the Miami Airport backup generators. At $455.00 it really is an important safety addition to any cruising boat.

I’ll be populating the store over the next few months so please keep checking in. If you have any suggestions on something we should carry please let me know.

Cheers everybody.

Sail far and live slowly.

Alex

I finished the radar mount for the dome yesterday, I’ll get it put up next week. One of the guys here did the aluminum welds for me. There really are some great and helpful people here at Beach Marine.

I also finished putting a queen bed in the master state room, it’s awesome. It really makes the boat and Sam is tickled. She is doing lots of organizing and re-arranging.

I got bad news from Acer yesterday they are not covering the computer that I got water in on my last delivery, ARRRG I just bought it. They want as much as a new one costs to fix it, I decided not to fix it. I did order some silicone keyboard skins for my other laptop on eBay yesterday. If you have a laptop on your boat I think it is a really good idea. Check eBay for keyboard skins.

Sam, Guin, and I are going to the Ortega Yacht club for turkey day today. We have friends there and I hear there will be some kids for Guin to play with. It’s been really rainy the past few days but we have a nice blue sky today.

I’m on a mad throwing out and organizing binge. It’s hard to think of everything we’ll need for out trip but I know we have all the important stuff.

Anyway, gobble, gobble.

Sail far and live slowly.

Alex

I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed with all the things I have to do in the next few weeks. I still need to get my radar dome up and I need to add a starting battery to my 12v system. My house bank really needs to be equalized and I really need to figure out how to do it. On Namaste I had a Ballmar regulator. I’m thinking to get an old style “dial” external regulator to equalize, they are cheap and I’m sure it will last a lot longer than the Ballmar. I went through one every few years on Namaste, I was using it on a daily basis though.

My friend Barry gave me some extra solar panels and Splendid will have a ton of solar power. If I can find the real estate for all the panels we will have just over 700 watts. Barry also threw into the mix a few charge controllers and an inverter. He smiled and said “pay it forward”, I surly will. In fact I’m going to contact the “Make a wish” foundation before we leave and see if I cant help with some free charters. Speaking of charters. I’m going to have a raffle for one shortly. I’m thinking $50.00 a ticket with a cap of 40 tickets. We are going to launch the new store within the next few days, thanks David. Guin really likes the idea of the “family” charters as she might get a built in friend or two.

We will leave Jacksonville by the 15th of December and head down to Stuart. We are going to hang out in the states so Guinevere can spend Christmas with her dad. We will also see Darrin and check out his new boat. After that our plan is to explore the northern Bahamas.

I also have a friend here from Australia (Jamie), he is looking for a boat. If anyone knows of a great deal on a full keel cruising boat please let me know.

We are off to check out Sailors exchange in Saint Augustine today. There are a few odds & ends I’m looking for.

Peace from the crew of Splendid.

– Alex

Sam, Guin, and I just returned home last night. I’ve barely been here for 2 months and it is so nice to hang my hat back on Splendid. We only have a few weeks to get our ship together and head for the Bahamas and beyond. The last delivery turned out to be much longer and complicated than I had expected. It’s good to be home!

Sam already has the boat torn apart and is organizing and getting ready for our trip. I have a few critical things to do but feel good about Splendid. I have to send off a SSB and computer off for repair today. I killed my laptop on this trip along with my GPS, WIFI adapter, and 2 pairs of sun glasses. Man did we have some windy weather towards the end of the trip!

I’ve got a million things to do today, BZZZZZZ, I love coffee :)

Cheers.

Alex

If you guys were watching the spot and saw us tun around, here is why. Fasaga’s mast is 61′ tall and the Julia Tuttle bridge is only 56′ tall.We had to turn around and head back to Ft. Lauderdale where we are anchored in Lake Sylvia dancing at anchor in 30 knots on wind.

Fasaga has a in mast furling for the main and I haven’t been able to get the main out, ARG! I worked on it for a while today and managed to fix it (I think). There is too much wind to fully bring out the sail at anchor but I did get it started. The wind should abate on Tuesday, and we will make the last stretch to the keys, it has been a really long delivery and I really want to get back home. The up side is Sam and I have had the last 10 days to ourselves and it has been really nice. We are both missing Guin and she comes home today.

I’ve also managed to spend countless hours pouring over cruising guides and planning our trip south. Sam and I are both getting quite excited to do the Bahamas, T&C’s, DR, and beyond.

Whats up guys, my last log had 4 comments and Sam had 16? So thats how it going to be eah!

Sail far and live slowly.

– Alex

i’m not capitalizing anything today today because i’m copying sam’s writing style. today marks sam’s first log (thanks david). If you guys go to the members tab above and scroll down to sam’s blog you’ll find it.

there are some changes on the horizon. we will be launching the store soon and i’m going to get into a monthly news letter. sam will be writing, as well as guin as as soon as she is able. i really want to turn this into a family cruising adventure, and we will be cruising soon!

We are also starting production of the next dvd shortly.

anyway, check out sam’s blog and don’t be afraid to make a comment.

cheers.

sail far and live slow!

– alex

I know I’m probably killing you guys with pictures of my beautiful girls but here is another. Sam and I went out yesterday and bought running shoes. It’s time to start getting in better shape. We walked a few miles to the library the other day and I was pretty whipped. Today we did a little jogging and took a nice walk to a cafe for internet and a smoothie. How do you get a 4 year old to jog? Sounds like a joke but I’m planning to get Guin some runners as well.

We should be off in the morning. A mechanic came out and pulled the exhaust apart. He should have it back on first thing in the morning and Sam and i will start heading South again. I cant wait to get back to splendid and start getting our “ship” together for some cruising.

My buddy Chuck took off for Puerto Rico this morning from Stuart Florida. If you want to see his “SPOT” page, check it out here:

http://share.findmespot.com/shared/faceshttp://share.findmespot.com/shared/faces/viewspots.jsp?glId=0qWQhHgqO2y6TehfZGCftISnndz9QjvCt

This is Chuck’s first big trip so lets all send him some good vibes!

Peace everyone.

Sail far and live slow.

Alex

Well I must say I’m happy I “bit the bullet” and renewed my SeaTow for the year.

Sam and I were sitting in the cockpit motoring down the ICW when I smelled exhaust in the cockpit. When I smell exhaust in the cockpit it is a telltale sign that it is start time to cut the engine and sail as the wind is behind me. Well I looked up at the windex and saw that the wind was indeed still ahead of us at about 15 knots…, ‘strange’?

Well when I opened the hatch to the engine room I found the problem. The exhaust elbow was in two pieces and exhaust and colling water were flowing into the engine compartment. I cut the engine, dropped the hook, and called seatow. They brought us to a marina where ‘Fasaga” is resting.

Sam and I are enjoying the time alone as Guin went to her Dad’s for a week. It is so strange without the little one around. We are sitting in a little cafe, sipping coffee, eating quiche, and enjoying the morning.

I’ll be calling around Monday morning looking for parts (Yanmar) and hopefully be off in a few more days.

My buddy Chuck is sailing for Puerto Rico tomorrow. It’s his first big trip and he is really excited. I’ll get a link to his spot and post it.

Cheers all.

Happy Halloween.

Alex

There are days, then there are days. There was the man who had the “golden gun”, Jerry Luis was the King of comedy, and Howard Stern is the king of all media. Obama is the president of the United States, and there are plenty of guys with more than enough money and power, but Alex Dorsey is the most fortunate man in the world. Really…, how is it I get everything I want, my life is a friggin’ great movie!

We had a great day sailing down the ICW to St. Augustine. We played Uno and charades in the cockpit watching birds, kissing, hugging and loving the world around us. Dolphins played at the bow and good music played on the radio.

Let the rain and wind come, nothing can touch me, all i hope for is health for the people closest to me.

I took some really cute pictures of Guin. My favorite is her mean face with the Latitudes & Attitudes tattoo.

Marty, the chicken tortelinni was a hit tonight.

Peace, Love, and Love, Love, Love.

Sail far and live slowly.

– Alex

Sam, Guin, and I are taking off this morning. It looks like fog, rain, thunder and lightning, OH MY! We’ll have a few days of crappy weather but it is what it is.

Michael (Guin’s Dad) is coming to pick Guin up for Halloween and the weekend. He’s having a big party at his house and Guin is really excited. We’ll meet him along the way.

Sam and I are going to take our time (50-60 miles a day) getting down there and enjoy the time and scenery. We are on the lookout for Roseate Spoonbills (birds). We saw some on the way up and thought they were only around the Sanibel area. We saw some wood storks (endangered) here at beach marine yesterday. I love nature!

Anyway we are getting a late start due to weather but I need to get going, we will anchor south of Saint Augustine (oldest city in the USA) tonight.

Peace, Love, and Coconuts.

– Alex

The crew of “Fasaga” pulled into Beach Marine last night just in time for dinner at Fast Boys (great wings). Fasaga is birthed next to Splendid. I cant tell you how happy I was to see her masts over the trees as we made our final turn off the ICW. I really had a good time sailing with Marty and David.

I think Splendid is as excited to shove off for the Bahamas as Sam, Guin and I are. Guin does a cute “going to Bahamas BABY” song and dance whenever we talk about it. She really enjoys traveling on the boat and is looking forward to the clear water and swimming.The girls are coming home on Sunday and we are going to sail Fasaga down to Marathon. “Sam, don’t get used to the generator and AC”! Actually I think I’d be more apt to run them.

I’m really looking forward to the girls being home, it has been a weird month traveling. I like delivering boats but it tears my heart away from home. I’ll be really happy when we are chartering and making a few bucks as a family. I plan to get back to writing and Sam is going to give it a shot as well. We will also start production of the 3rd Project BlueSphere DVD ” A family cruising adventure”. I don’t know where we are going, just that we are leaving. It’s been a stressful year and a half putting Splendid together, it’s time to enjoy the hell out of her with or without paint!

The last real big thing I had to buy was an EPIRB and I got one on eBay. It just went through ACR recertification and is good for another 5 years. I’ve been thinking of trying to buy parts to build a water maker (about $1,500) but I may hold off for a while. It will be nice to have the extra cash and rain water is abundant. I’m going to build a nice catcher from an old spinnaker.

Anyway guys,

Peace, Love, and Love.

Sail far and live slowly.

– Alex

I’m told the last 4 days have been the first nor-easter of the season, ARRRG!

Marty (the owner (picture)), David and I left Deltaville Virginia on Thursday in the worst conditions I’ve ever seen on the Chesapeake. IT WAS BLOWING HARD, and it’s still blowing like hell 3 days later. We really pushed the boat the first day and took a good ass kicking. Marty was happy about it, as it was a good shake down as and he had never run it that hard. The second day we made it to Norfolk and transited the great bridge lock.

On day 3 we were really chilled to the bone with no relief. I decide to make hot buttered rum. I called Sam for a recipe and made a batch. It really warmed our souls and put a nice smile on everyones face. I made them with water, brown sugar, honey, oranges, raisins, and a healthy shot of “sailor Jerry” rum with a pat of butter on top, YUMMY! They were steaming hot!

That night we ran hard aground just before dark in the alligator river trying to enter an anchorage. The GPS showed us in the center of the channel, oh well. It added a bit of excitement but we managed to get off using a full jib in 25 knots of wind. We managed to get into the anchorage and had a really rough night in 35-40 knots of wind and rough conditions. Nobody got much sleep.

Well its day four and we just pulled into Slade creek North Carolina. We have good protection from the wind and sea but it’s still cold. Marty just got the generator going and the heater, time to thaw out and get some dinner on.

Tomorrow we may make it to Beaufort, or at least close. If we get a weather window we will head off shore and make a run for Jacksonville.

I’m having a great time but I’m really missing the girls. It’s been hard working away from home for the last month. It’s good to know we are going cruising soon.

If anyone can put in a request for some warmer weather I’d appreciate it.

Cheers.

Sail far and live slow.

– Alex

Sam, Guin and I showed up at the boat I’m delivering last night around 10:00 pm. It is a really nice hunter 380 with generator and heat, good for this time of year. We managed to figure out the television/satellite system and we watched a family movie before bed. The owner is showing up this morning and Sam and Guin will be driving back to Jersey and coming back to Splendid when I’m done working. I cant wait till I can start chartering, I really hate leaving these girls.

We have about a day sail to get to Norfolk and start our trip down the ICW. The owner and his buddy will be joining me. It’s wet and cold out this morning and I’m sure my fowlies will get good use. I have to remember to get some green tea this morning so I can make batches for warmth.

Anyway, I need to sit down and make up some routes, check weather and so on.

Cheers.

Sail far and live slowly.

– Alex

Sam, Guin, Tommy, and I attended the Annapolis boat show yesterday. We walked through all the booths and I realized something. Attending a boat show with dreams of cruising can be somewhat overwhelming, especially if your on a tight budget. The last time I attended the show was before I went cruising and I wanted one of everything. This time, there were only a handful of things. These are all the things I plan on carrying in the new store. I got to have a little chat with Jimmy Cornell which was really cool and say ‘hi’ to some of my product supporters. Can anyone loan me 2 million dollars? I wouldn’t mind buying the new Tayana 67,or was it 65? It has my name all over it.

All I was really looking for was a good deal on an EPIRB and no one had the one I wanted in stock. I think I’m going to go with the ACR 406 without the GPS. Some of the smaller personal EPIRBS are cool but only have a 24 hour transmit time as opposed to a 48 hour time. I learned something cool about the smaller EPIRBS though. You can turn them off, so what people do is transmit for 6 hours, and turn it off for 3. This not only extends the battery life, but gives you a small device that easily fits in a ditch bag. All this being said our life-raft and EPIRB will most likely never see the light of day or ever get turned on. It’s all just insurance. We will also have a satellite phone, SPOT, SSB, and Magellan communicator on board. We have all the latest & greatest safety gear.

I need to be at the boat I’m delivering on the 14th, we’ll be shoving off for the keys on the 15th. I’ll have the SPOT running again which is always fun.

I’m going to chill for the next few days with my girls. I CANT WAIT TO SHOVE OFF SOON. I’ve pretty much made the decision to do the Bahamas. It’s a good cruising ground to break the girls in on. George Town is like kid central and a good place for Guin to make some friends.

Peace everyone.

Sail far and live slowly.

– Alex

I’m sitting in the Philly airport yawning, waiting for Sam and Guin to show up. I’ve been up since 3:45am and paid $60.00 for my cab this morning, OUTCH!

I’m really excited to see the girls. I have a sock monkey hanging out of the pocket in my cargo shorts, I think it is going to get Guin’s attention. My flight arrived about 25 minutes early, so i decided to write a log with new found time.

I’ve decided to launch a store front at Project BlueSphere. We are going to focus on proven, tested, and practical equipment for the cruising sailor with a spin of green power. It feels really good to live off of the grid while producing clean power. I’m going to try and make equipment choices clear-cut, and backed with instillation and maintenance videos. I’d like my clients to feel comfortable with their equipment decisions as outfitting a boat for cruising is such an important process. I’m going to focus on critical systems such as safety gear, clean fuel, dependable ground tackle, sound rigging choices, refrigeration, R/O systems, solar and wind power, and so on. I’m amazed at how much crap is out there, and more so, how often I see it on cruising boats. A cruising boat is no place to waste money on faulty gear that you depend on! Your neighborhood marine store is not a good place to get advice. They are in the business of selling and making as much profit as possible.

I’m also planning on taking the newsletter monthly. I will start taking on a boat project each month that I hope other people will follow with their own boats. I think this is a good idea for a number of reasons. Most importantly I think it will motivate people to get their boats ready to cruise while making sound decisions. Secondly, if we have 10 or 20 people tackling the same project at the same time, we could save money by buying equipment together. It will also make a good venue to share ideas. It will take a few months to roll out though.

I’m really psyched about attending the Annapolis boat show on Sunday :)

To get off the subject of boats I must say I’m very proud to be an American today. I cant believe Obama won the Nobel prize for peace. That is such an amazing award and it feels good that my president is looked upon so positively by our world community. It’s about time!

Peace, Love, and more Peace. Man I’m all about it!

Sail far and live slowly.

– Alex

Tick Tock, Splendid will leave the country soon. I’m working as much as I can to stash money in the kitty. I’m working for a really nice guy bedding hatches, working aloft, whatever. He’ll be heading South about the same time we will. In fact I have a bunch of friends heading south at the end of hurricane season. My buddy Ken who I bought Namaste from, my buddy Chuck and his family, Crag and family, and a few others. It will be a flotilla. Darrin might be a little behind. I think he is upgrading to a bigger boat (Alberg 30), we’ll know soon. I know he is going to have to find a new diesel engine and tranny. If anyone has a line on a cheap (needs rebuilding) 25-30 hp marinized diesel motor, let me know.

I’m going to fly up to Philly on Friday or Saturday. I’m joanzin to see Sam! We are going to the Annapolis sailboat show on Saturday or Sunday, I’m excited. I hope I don’t spend all my money there :) After that we’ll have a few days together before I start my delivery on the 15th from Norfolk to the Keys, I’m thinking that will take 10 days or so. I’m hoping to have good weather.

I LOVE THE ENGEL. It’s really nice to have a fridge. If it took more power I wouldn’t want it but it really is perfect for us.

I also got a Coopers home brewing kit today. I was going to make it before I took off thinking it would take 3-4 weeks to ferment like the wine. It works in 4-7 days depending on temperature, how cool is that? I’m really looking forward to making some beer!!!

If your going to be at the boat show look for the scraggly looking guy with the two beautiful blonds. One will be on the short side, say hi!

Cheers everyone.

Sail far and live slowly.

– Alex

Money, Money, Money, WOOT it’s nice to spend a few bucks.

Today was like Christmas, our ENGEL CAME! I went shopping and put a few prized perishable items in the small refrigerated compartment. Basically it is 2 keep protein, chicken, fish, meat, and tofu. I can always sneak a beer in for a sundowner. The nice thing is it is a freezer as well so we can freeze a bunch of food for a trip. This is the most conservative means of refrigeration on the planet, I’ll be running it with solar power :)

I’ve been working on my SSB installation and radar mount. I’ve manufactured all the parts to the radar mast mount and just need to weld them up. I don’t have any aluminum stick but one of the guys here is going to do a couple welds for me 2morrow with his TIG setup.

Our 6 gallon batch of Welches grape juice wine is almost ready to rack. It is sitting at 12% alcohol and is more than palatable. It’s not great, but on the + side of good. As you guys can see from the Coopers logo to the left they are hooking me up with some home brewing kits for the trip. Captain Woodie from Latts & Atts turned me on to them. He swears by them, and made their brew during his circumnavigation.

I also got a chutescoop coming. After a lot of research on spinnaker furling gear I decided to go with the chute scoop. Most everyone goes for the ATN setup but after talking to some folks who have had chutescoops and ATN socks, they think the chute scoop is perfect and the ATN setup is a waste of an additional $300.

I’m off to do some work on another cruisers boat tomorrow. Sorry I haven’t been checking in more but believe it or not I’ve been keeping a schedule. I’m looking forward to dumping it soon.

Cheers everyone.

– Alex

I got back to Splendid yesterday. It is Soooo nice to be home.

Sam and I met her possible paternal father the other evening for dinner, it went really well. He is a really nice guy, really! He has been really open to this whole thing and interested in finding out if he is indeed Sam’s biological father. They did the home DNA kit after dinner and we will know the results in 3-5 days. in the picture they are swabbing their cheeks to get DNA samples. For his sake he should hope it comes back negative. He’s an amazing cabinet maker and if he is in the family I’m going to hit him up on helping me re-design Splendid’s master cabin. Sam and my bed is basically a single, it’s really a tight sleeping arrangement and only one of us can be on our back at the same time. It really is a “must fix” as sleeping can be tough in the heat. My plans are to widen the port birth, or take them both out and put in a center queen. I’m also going to build a nav-station and put in some extra drawers and cabinets. We have a lot of wasted space in the aft cabin and need more storage.

I’ve got some small projects going on today. Tomorrow I’m finishing up the WIFI install here at Beach Marine, and the following day I have an appointment at the Mayo clinic to have them check out my knee. It’s really been flaring up lately.

Anyway, thats it 4 today. Happy Sunday

Sail far and live slowly.

– Alex

Well my delivery went well and turned out to be a bit of an adventure. Here is a picture the owner took of me as I was leaving the slip in Rock Hall.

The first few days went flawlessly. The weather was wonderful the entire trip. I spent my first day in the Sassafras river in the Chesapeake. The following day I transited the C&D canal and sailed down the Delaware bay with the morning tide. With full sail up, and the tide I managed 9.5 knots for a few hours, it was really fun. I spent the following night in Cape May NJ. I was up and out the following morning with the first sun. I had a beautiful day sailing to Atlantic City. My alternator quit and pulled into a slip so I could charge up for the following days voyage. I left Atlantic cit early for Manasquan NJ. A few hours into my trip I was motor sailing along and the Motor sputtered to a quit. “AHHHHH”, All the frustration I had with my Volvo MD11-c came back. This particular motor had a complete rebuild in 2005 and looked and ran like new. Well a seal failed and I lost compression. I called sea tow and got a ride into Manasquan. I called the owner and he decided to come down for the last day of the trip. We had a nice dinner and got the motor running again. We felt it would last us to Jersey City which was only a 40 mile trip.

We left the next morning and could only run the motor at about 1100 rpm’s. With light wind and a little motor we managed 4-5 knots, it was a beautiful day and we had a nice sail.

I had timed the tide at Sandy hook to bring us up to jersey city, but it seemed the low-tide never came and we fought a current the entire way from Sandy hook to Jersey city. I still cant figure that one out. “Our time” chugged up the river under the varazzano bridge and past the statue of Liberty. We turned into our canal and the owner (Mark) throttled back a bit. Well the RPM’s just continued to decrease until the motor died and we were adrift in the canal with no wind or motor. There are two very busy ferry terminals there and seatow never answered the VHF. I dropped the hook and set the anchor before we hit the rocks. Ferries were blasting by at 20 knots in the dark throwing large wakes. It wasn’t the best situation. Mark and I managed to get the dink in the water in about 4 seconds and get the outboard on the back. We tied the dink fore and aft on the port side, started the motor, and were under way quickly. We were in the slip 10 minutes later, laughing about the whole thing. We tied up the boat and took a train to the city for wings and beer.

This delivery was demanding at times (no auto pilot, cold nights, and electrical and motor problems) but most importantly I feel like I made a new fried. Mark and I hit it off and I hope we keep in touch.

The following morning Sam and Guin picked me up and we spent the day in Manhattan. We took Guin to the Central Park zoo and had a beautiful day. It’s good to be back with my girls.

I’ll be heading back to Jacksonville in a few days. First and most importantly Sam is meeting her birth Father for the first time tonight, kind of cool! We are both looking forward to it.

Peace everyone.

Another successful delivery!

– Alex

The delivery is going great.

I had to get out of my warm bed at 6am and drive over to the Western shore with my cousin. I hated leaving Sam as she’s been really sick and just starting to get over it.

I met with the owner (great guy) around 9am and we went over the boat, got fuel, and provisions. I had a few options for crew but nothing panned out. I need to get the boat up to Jersey City on Monday or Tuesday. If Sam’s feeling better she may join me in Atlantic city or Cape May for the remainder of the trip.

All is good. I left Rock Hall Maryland around noon and motored north for about 6 hours. This is a picture of the sun setting behind the boat next to me.

After the Delivery I’m going to see Sam and hopefully meet her Dad in Philly mid next week. Then I’m returning back to Jacksonville for a few weeks. I’m going to get some projects done and I have a doctors appointment on the 28th to check out my knee. I had knee and back surgery years ago and my knee can really act up sometimes. My back does as well but if I do yoga and sit-ups for a few weeks all the pain goes away. I cant seem to make my knee work better though.

Anyway. I just wanted to check in and share my sunset with you guys.

Peace!

Sail far and live slowly.

Alex

I’m really happy to be delivering a boat this week, and another in mid-October. I really want to stash as much cash as I can into the cruising kitty before Splendid sails in a few months. If anyone has any delivery work or boat projects they need help with please let me know. I have friends who are pilots and have free airfare available to me and can travel around the country.

I’m bringing the Spot and will run it during my delivery from the Chesapeake to Jersey city, keep an eye on it.

As you guys know I’m crazy into green power. Sam, Guin and myself live almost 100% on it these days. I still don’t have a wind generator but it’s coming soon. I often think ‘What will I do on cloudy, non-windy days’. Well I’ve found the answer and I’m really excited about it. As you know I carry 2 bikes on board and have often wondered how to convert the bike power to electricity. It’s not a complicated thing but maximizing the power output is. I’ve found the answer. Check out:

http://pedalpowergenerator.com/index.html

I’m thinking of demonstrating it at the Annapolis boat show this year.

I have read so many articles over the years about exercising onboard, well here is the best option. You can exercise your way to cold beer and natural power, how can you beat that?

Cheers everyone.

Peace, Love, and pedal power.

Sail far and live slowly.

– Alex

Check it out. 1000 square feet of glorious spinnaker, Thanks Tom!

I’m really excited about this. I really wanted to go with a drifter but this beautiful spinnaker found its way into my life. The material and stitching is all good. It has some water stains which look like white clouds on the light blue/purple back drop. Guin is going to freak when she sees this much purple. All I need to do now is get some hardware, line, and figure out how to fly it. I’m going to try and get a sock. It really is a HUGE sail! I’m sure we’ll make friends.

I’m leaving on Tuesday to do a delivery from Rock Hall MD to Jersey city. It’s looking like it will take me 6-7 days, 4 of which will be sailing. Sam and Guin went to visit family in Jersey so it works out well, I can visit them before returning. I have some work here when I get back, and then I’m doing another delivery between Virginia and the keys the second week of October. All is coming together nicely.

I must admit I’ve been pretty stressed lately. Money has been super tight. My DVD sales have really dried up, all I can think it’s the economy and the lack of peoples disposable income or perhaps I’ve saturated the market. My film sales have allways been good for 3-4 hundred a month. I was really stressing getting a light air sail, a refrigerator (Engel), and putting away a few bucks for the kitty. It all seems to be falling into place though through work, friends support, and good karma. I also want to get an extra 5 gallons of epoxy and a few extra gallons of white paint for Splendid. I’m also looking for a few vangs (fiddle blocks) that I can use for preventors for the main and mizzen and need to buy an EPIRB. We have the spot, but I’d like an EPIRB as well.

I’m working on building a mount for my radar dome with the help of some friends here at the marina. I cant believe people pay $250.00 for mast mounts, they really are such a simple things to build. Basically its 3 pieces of aluminum and 2 welds, not rocket science.

Once I’m out of the country I’ll be looking for charter gigs, I’d like to focus on the San Blas first.

Does anyone know about hornet wind generators?

http://www.hydrogenappliances.com/windturbinetypes.html

Any feedback would be appreciated.

Cheers everyone.

Sail far and live slowly.

-Alex

It’s 2pm and my batteries are in a float charge. A bit earlier I saw the controller putting 17.2 amps into my battery bank. What am I going to do with all this power besides get a refrigerator going?

I met a really nice cruising couple who want to trade me 2 50watt panels for some fiberglass repair. I’m really excited, I’ll have 500 watts, not 2 shabby!

As you can see my mount for the aft 2 panels is very simple. 2 pieces of stainless tube, 2 ends, a deck fitting, and a cane tip that goes in-between the panel and the tube. I can lower the panel flat to catch morning, or evening sun, WAHOOOOO!

I get the girls back 2day :)

Cheers.

Alex

Weird…, I’m alone. Sam and Guin went back to Ft. Myers to visit family for the long weekend. It’s so strange with it being quiet around here. I was nice for a few hours but I’m really ready to have them back, funny how that works : )

With all my alone time I’ve really been able to focus on getting the 2 new solar panels wired up (24v), and installing the MPPT charge controller that I bought a few months ago. I had 2 old 30 amp shore power cords onboard that I cut open for the 10 gauge wire inside. I don’t have a shore power cord anymore but I never plug in anyway. I’ll have to find one at some time in case I want to plug in and use a lot of juice but the addition of the 2 new panels was much more important, and I just didn’t have the money for wire. I checked eBay and you can find used 50′ cords for under 20 bucks which relates to 150′ of 10 gauge copper strand wire. It’s a pretty nice way to save a few bucks. I’d like to buy a few for future wiring projects, God only know Splendid can use a lot of new wire. It’s funny the things we throw away without thinking. I’m the first one to admit that I’m a “Dumpster diver”. I’ve come across so many useful things in the dumpster in Fort Myers. It’s funny that I put a good working Television in it. I don’t think anyone needs an extra TV!

I need to go to west marine today to get some fuses and a threw deck fitting (wire), but I should have my project finished today. I’ll be putting out 400 watts of clean solar power at 24 volts, how sweet is that? I have a 500 watt controller and want to find another panel at some point but I’m pretty happy now. The new panel will have to be a 100 watt 24v panel, or I’ll have to find 2 12v 50’s? I’ve only ran the motor 3-4 hours in the past month and I’m hoping with the new panels I can get that down even more. We just had a cloudy 3 days and solar energy has been scarce. I’m really looking forward to a wind generator to fill in the gaps. When it’s not sunny, its usually windy.

A really nice guy came by that I’ve been speaking to through the site for years. It looks like he has a spinnaker he doesn’t, WOOT! It’s funny he mentioned “pay it forward”, what a great concept, like my “operation TRAKS” (Totally Random Acts of Kindness). I know a lot of you think I don’t have much but I’ve given so much away as well. I always help the sailors that have less than I do with equipment, tools, and time. I think it drives Sam a little batty because I save old stuff that we really don’t need. I have a few old VHF radios, GPS’s (all working) and other stuff (hardware/line) on board which are earmarked for give-away. I don’t know if you guys remember but when I was at the Ahi atoll in the Tuamotos I gave one of the local guys a VHF radio and antenna for his small skiff. The squelch didn’t work but he loved it. It turned out that he was a pearl farmer and came by the following day with a weighty handful of black pearls for me. Kindness and generosity are like a boomerang, it always seems to return. Thanks Tom!

Maybe you guys could go out of your way to help someone and post in in the comments below. Perhaps it will inspire other to take the time, think forward, and help someone else? Eventually I’ll have the TRAKS section up on the site and we can all boast about how much we went out of our way to do something kind for someone. It really is something to be proud of.

Anyway, it’s 9:30 and I want to get to work.

Peace everyone.

Sail far and live slowly!

– Alex

I’ve been really down over the last few days. My uncle is loosing his house to a tax sale. My grandparents paid off the house in the 80’s, but for whatever reason he has not able to pay taxes on it for many years. The hammer falls on Tuesday and he needs to be out, they lock the doors. I grew up in that house; most of my childhood memories took place there like Christmas and learning to ride a bike.

He lost his store a while back and is old. I’m going to try and find out on Monday if there are public options for his shelter, it’s all really quite heartbreaking. He tells me he doesn’t have an ID card or a birth certificate so I don’t really know where to start. I think his heart and mind are starting to wander with age and I don’t really know what I can do.

It’s got me thinking though. Sam Guin and I are so safe on Splendid. No one is going to come and take her away, we are free to live as we wish, and if we don’t like it, we can just go to another island or country. It also enables us not to be tied to a job or need to make much money.

I don’t remember the quote from Pirates of the Caribbean but it was something to the effect that “a ship is not just wood, decks, line, and cloth, a ship is freedom” and it’s quite true! Splendid gives us the opportunity to focus on the important things in life such as food, love, and keeping our hearts and minds full of dreams and laughter.

I know I’m still part of the system, but I make that part as small as possible. That philosophy means having little, and not being dependant on fossil fuels (i.e. refrigeration, cars, or heating). I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. My goal is to have as little as possible. Why is it that so many people feel the need to acquire as much as they can? When I worked in Hollywood I was one of them, and I must say, as soon as I changed my view I’ve been happy ever since. We all need to weigh our success with happiness, not financial gain, we’ll be better men for it.

I feel a bit guilty today. I have less than $50.00 (didn’t get paid yet) and I’m scouring the internet looking for a spinnaker. My uncle has less money than I do and is trying to figure out how to put a roof over his head and is at the bottom of his world. What’s wrong with this picture?

Sorry to vent a bit, I just write what goes through my head…, well actually my heart.

Sam and I had a fight last night which isn’t like us. This morning I realized I just need to let it go. We all have our paths to follow and I hope my uncle finds his. I can tell you that more then once when I thought my world was crashing down and something wonderful came from it.

Peace everyone.

– Alex

Well the life of a work’n man is pretty good. I really enjoy the people around me and the environment is great. We are going to light up the marina with WIFI, KEWL!

I’m already doing some shopping in my head. The biggest and most important item on the hit list is a down wind sail. I’d like to hear some suggestions. I had a drifter on Namaste and used it all the time. A drifter isn’t like a traditional spinnaker as it has a wire in the luff (from head to tack) and is more of a light-air jib. It had plenty of UMPH for Namaste and kept her going in 4 to 12 knots of wind. Splendid is a phatter girl though. I do have a spinnaker pole and track on Splendid but have never owned a spinnaker. I’m trying to figure out if I want a traditional symmetrical sail, or an A-Sym??? Don’t really know. Any input would be appreciated. I want something that I can handle by myself if need be. I also want to be able to reach or deep reach with the sail.

I also want a storm main on a separate track. As soon as I have the money I’ll build a bowsprit for Splendid. I’ll move the jib forward and put in another furling for the cutter. I’m also thinking of putting a roller furling on the triatic. I’ve seen a few ketch’s rigged like that over the years and the owners swore by the extra sail. I saw a boat like that in Panama. My friends and I all paid homage to such a cool rig every time we passed in the dinghy.

I’m putting the idea of fixing my generator out of my head, SIMPLE,SIMPLE,SIMPLE! I want splendid light, simple, and as nimble as she can be. She isn’t a light displacement boat but that doesn’t mean I can’t keep her lean & mean. If I could get away with never turning over the motor again I’d do it.

Peace everyone.

Sail far and live slowly.

– Alex

Sam and I had a huge cleaning, organizing, and throwing out party yesterday.

I got the 2 new solar panels mounted on the stern life line. All I need now is some hardware and stainless tube to hold them up, and to wire it all in. All I did was drill 2 holes in the panels, take the turnbuckles off of the lifeline, and run it through the panel. The nice thing is they will flip down when I need to maneuver Splendid into a slip or anywhere the panels might be in danger, like going through the canal! I’m going to run the panels (4x12v) in series to make it a 48 volt bank. My charge controller can handle it and I’m told it is the most efficient way of harnessing the solar power. Obviously the MPPT controller will put out 12v.

Sam managed to clean out the aft head (closet) enough for me to get our 2 bicycle frames into it. I hate cluttered decks. I emptied the 2 lazarettes and reorganized everything. I had so much space when I was done I could fit 4 bike tires and a bunch of scrap material I had lashed to the deck. I also made a bag of extra anchor line and chain. I had 300′ of anchor line in the lazerette and put it in a bag with 30′ of chain. If I ever need to throw an extra anchor out in a hurry it will be an easy and quick procedure. All I need to do is attach a shackle to one of the 3 extra anchors onboard and baddabing, Bob’s your uncle!

As far as weather goes Anna looks like it still might be a problem but Bill (first hurricane of the season) looks like it’s headed for Bermuda.

Sam and I are getting antsy and need to do something. There may be an opportunity for us here or we will be heading north shortly. I’m hoping Anna tracks to the West.

Cheers everyone.

Sail far and live slowly.

– Alex

Well it looks like Anna is heading south and doing what I hoped she’d do and turn into a gulf storm. Actually I hope she dissipates as I have a lot of friends on boats south but you get the idea. I’m hoping “Bill” follows suit. If that is the case it can give the crew of Splendid a shot to continue north.

Here is some text copied from the NOAA site on the mariners 123 rule regarding hurricanes, I think it is good advice regarding their forecasting:

The Mariners’ 1-2-3 Rule, or “Danger area”, is indicated by shading. The 1-2-3 Rule, commonly taught to mariners, refers to the rounded long-term NHC forecast errors of 100-200-300 nautical miles at 24-48-72 hours, respectively. The contour defining the shaded area is constructed by accounting for those errors and then broadened further to reflect the maximum tropical storm force (34 knot) wind radii forecast at each of those times by the NHC. The NHC does not warrant that avoiding these danger areas will eliminate the risk of harm from tropical cyclones.

Users operating in the vicinity of these systems are advised to continually monitor the latest Forecast/Advisories from the NHC and proceed at their own risk. Areas are also shaded for systems in which NHC forecasters believe there is an adequate chance of tropical cyclone formation within the next 48 hours.

All is well on Splendid. I’m going to mount the new solar panels today and get a few other small projects done.

– Alex

Here is Splendid as she has sat at the dock for the last week.

We are planning on taking off in the morning, but of course there is a tropical wave that just popped up that I want to keep my eye on (http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/).

I’m really bummed about my generator. I’ve never met a diesel that I haven’t been able to get going. Maybe there is a problem with the head or something? I’ll play with it a bit more when I’m up in the Chesapeake.

I’m going aloft 2day to put the new running lights up. I’ve also got to get the dinghy on deck and organize a bit.

Hay I’ve made a few bucks with the peoplestring thing. If your interested check the link out above. It’s all free to join and you get paid for checking your email and going to the websites that you all ready go to. Make it your home page and put all your links on it. It’s kind of handy.

I have the dryer on the back deck. it’s just under 150 degrees inside and is drying some papaya at the moment. I hope to dry a big fat tuna or mahi-mahi shortly.

Cheers

Alex

I’m not usually one to give up, but I’ve had it with the small Kubota! I have over $300.00 into it and I’m walking away for now, it just will not fire. I know, I know, “Fuel, Air, compression” It must be on the compression end and I’m not going to put any more time or money or time into it, its going in a box!

I bought a charcoal smoker yesterday and converting it to a food dryer. I’ll take some pix of it once it is installed. Sam and I are both excited about drying food. We are also going to start canning at some point in the near future.

You may have noticed the peoplestring logo above. My friend tells me he is making money with it. It’s like a community like facebook but also a Internet portal where you can check your email and surf the web through it. They say you get paid for checking your existing email (gmail, hotmail, whatever) and get paid for it. I’ve heard a few good thing about it but don’t know, you may want to check it out. My buddy suggested it to a few people and runs all his surfing through it. He sez he just made $400 with it, kind of cool. I’m going to try it for a few months and if it turns out to be a dud, I’ll take the logo down.

I’m psyched to get going. I want to get to the Chesapeake and get “Splendid” fair and painted.

Cheers everyone.

– Alex

I had the worst day stuck in the engine room yesterday. It was in the high 90’s and HOT, HOT, HOT in the engine room. I changed the oil and internal fuel filter. The oil is a piece of cake but I had to bleed the air out of the fuel system to install the new fuel filter and kept getting air in it. It took a good few hours to get the motor running again. The good news is I feel really comfortable with the fuel system, the bad news is I must have sweat a few gallons and was quite miserable, AHHHHHH!

I got the new LED running lights and anchor light, they are AWESOME!!! The locking ring to my aqua-signal light broke and I had to order another one. $44.00 for a plastic ring, ARRRGGG! I had to have it 2 day shipped but at least I’ll have the running lights dealt with!

Today its clean up and organizing. We are planning to leave on Wednesday. I still have to visit the fuel dock and fill up with water.

It will be nice to be under way again.

Cheers everyone.

Alex

I’ve ordered the LED replacement bulbs for the anchor and running lights; they really draw a lot less power.

Being at the dock is cool, we are just 2 houses down the street from Chuck’s house. Guin is running around and swimming every day and I have time to get stuff done. I’m going to get this diesel motor for the generator running but I don’t think it will generate power. Sooo much rust has fallen out of the generator part. I either need to get a new one or just hook it up to an alternator at some point. I’m going to be in the market for a little Honda generator as soon as I can find and afford one.

Today I have the nasty task of changing the oil and internal fuel filter in Splendid’s main engine (Perkins 4108), ARRRGGG!

I wanted to be out of here in the next couple days but Guin’s Dad is coming for a visit and I have plenty of projects to do. I’m hoping early next week.

Darrin spent his last few dollars on a used main with 3 reef points, he’s psyched!!!

All is good. I’m keeping a close eye on the national hurricane center page (http://www.nhc.noaa.gov/). I’m hoping for good weather on our miles north.

Peace everyone.

Sail far and live slowly.

– Alex

Well the main mast has mast steps. I was aloft all day drilling and pop riveting. I got a nice sun tan : )I still need to do the mizzen.

The main mast is much higher than Namaste’s rig. I got used to it after a while but felt uncomfortable a few times. I stayed up as it got a bit windy from a near by squall, however it was a bit cooler. I like to use a mountain climbing harness as opposed to a bosons chair. The chair is more comfortable but not as snug. I like to swing around a bit and the chair freaks me out sometimes. I have both.

I’m hoping to get going soon. We still have a long journey to the Chesapeake and quite a few sea miles to make. We are waiting on some provision orders that Sam placed (TVP, Powdered soy milk, wine making stuff, etc)they will be delivered to our friend Chucks house. I’d also like to get the generator running.

I hope everyone can do some sailing this weekend.

Sail far and live slowly.

– Alex