A Dummy's Guide to Packing For A Sailing Holiday!

Not my tittle but yet a great article.
Good reading if you are planning any type of sailing vacation.
Click on this link for the full article from Sail-World

The aging of man!

If any of our readers have taken the time to wonder what the aging process can do to the appearance of a man simply look at the photo and scan from left to right. We start off looking good and end up acting great. It just takes time.

How To Age Gracefully!

100th Running Of The Chicago To Mackinac Race!

This weekend is a very big event at the Chicago Yacht Club. It marks the 100th Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac web site (www.chicagoyachtclub.org/racetomackinac)



This has been a big event for us for the past nine years as this is the 10th consecutive year that my son, Shane, has been racing in this event.



I was fortunate to be able to join him a couple of years ago and then also be with him as we brought a racing yacht back to Chicago after the race. My very good friend, Mike DeGeorge and his son were also on the MacBack trip.



Shane's sector starts at 12:20 this Saturday afternoon. This will be a busy week for him as he prepares his gear, boat, crew and supplies for the race.



The boat is owned and captained by Clark Pellet of Chicago. The Admiral and I have had a great time sailing with Clark and his crew and they placed 2nd in the Mac race last year.



You can track Shane's progress this weekend as he will have a transponder on the boat. He will be sailing to Mackinac Island on Saturday-Monday July 18-20, 2008. The boat will be equipped with a transponder to illustrate real time location in juxtaposition to the fleet and other boats in our section. The section is the J105 section. Yacht: Sealark Sail Number: USA 349 Captain: Clark Pellett Type: J105



Click Here For Race Tracking



The crew of Mary Rose wish Blue Sky - Deep Water - Fair Winds to the race crew of Sealark!



Get plenty of rest this week - you will need it!

New Panel And More.

The "to do" list seemed to grow faster than we could get items crossed off. Well it finally seems as though the list is shrinking. We have made a final list of items that must be accomplished before we leave this fall for a 1 - 2 month extended sea trial in the Caribbean. The wiring is now complete. Recent improvements include, several new DC outlets (auto cigarette lighter style) so we can plug in chargers, a 12 volt trouble light and any thing else that need 12 volt dc power supply. I built a new engine gauge panel and installed new Murphy mechanical gauges for greater reliability. See Photo. New fans, for comfort, were installed in the v-berth and the galley. We can use the fan in the galley as a exhaust fan to get heat from cooking out of the cabin. A very handy engine compartment light was installed to help make inspections easier. I cleaned and painted the engine and completely re-wired the engine. See Photo. The new cabin lights are installed. They are really sweet. Each light has a high and low setting in both red and white. The red is a must for night sailing to keep from damaging your night vision ability.





The big items remaining are:


- new extended double rail pulpit


- new stern enclosure to support wind and solar energy generation


- security alarm


- new laminate on galley and head counters


- finish the wood and bright work on the cabin top and companionway


- install new potable water lines


- install new fuel take and revamp fuel supply system





This list will be completed by November to ensure a safe and comfortable sea trial and winter vacation. We will keep you posted on progress.

Well, the blogspot is not letting me upload photos right now so I will place the photos on later.

Father's Day Break

Yes I know it is a bit late for a dad's day post but I am just getting caught up on the blog. I need to do a better job of regular updates.

We took a break the week of Father's day to get some much needed R&R. As you can see from the previous post, The Admiral's son and family came for a visit. After Brandon's visit we drove to the panhandle of Florida to visit my Shannon (my youngest daughter), her children (Alex and LeeAnn), and Shane (my son) and his wife Cristina. Diana (the children's mom) and her mother, June were also there for a few days. The place was beautiful. Four stories tall and right on the beach. I think I counted 6 bedrooms and maybe 4 or 5 bathrooms. We had a great time and spent most of the time in the ocean and pool. We played some serious "Texas Hold'em" and Alex cleaned me out in short order. LeeAnn is a marine lover and was always on the hunt for crabs, jelly fish and yes SHARKS! She loves SHARKS! She is going to be a great sailing mate and SCUBA diver buddy. Shannon used the time for a much deserved rest and I fixed a "big o daddy breakfast." Eggs, bacon and yes it was complete with biscuits and gravy. We ate our meals on the patio porch facing the ocean. It was a wonderful time and I appreciate Shannon inviting us. Shelly (my oldest daughter) and Jeff, the elder son, were unable to attend this famfest. Hope they can make the next one. We drove the long way home and took our time enjoying the nature coast of Florida. We even saw two black bears by the road in the national forest. It a was much needed mini vacation and very relaxing. Well enjoy the photos and more to come.

The Little Things in Life

Amazing how we can sometimes become so wrapped up in the seemly unimportant things of life and forget how important the small things can be. During a recent visit with my son and grandon, Haiden. Haiden reminded me just how important the small things are. Going for a walk, running barefoot in the rain, standing under a tree in silence as we listen and watch the rain fall (without thunder & lightening of course), sitting on the dock fishing at sunset, falling asleep sitting up from sheer exhaustion, hugs, kisses and I love yous. The excitement of learning something new... (congratulations Haiden for learning how to swim!!) Thanks to Capt Don for the swimming instructions.

Thank you all for your friendship, support, encouragement, love and hugs.

Remember

Rule number one: don't sweat the small stuff

Rule number two: It;s all small stuff

Love life and most of all remember..

... it all works out in the end as it is meant to be.

Happy wishes to all

Rewire project complete!

Thanks to all of the faithful blog readers for your emails asking for updates on the rewire project. It was 99% complete last Friday night. Lana's son and family arrived on Saturday so we have been beaching it and site seeing for the past week and have been away from the computer. After Brandon returned to KC the Admiral and I joined my youngest daughter Shannon, her two children and my Son Shane along with his wife Cristina on the emerald coast near Santa Rosa Beach, Florida. Shannon rented a 6,000 sq ft beach home and needed some help filling the bedrooms. So we were happy to oblige. We had a great week of R&R after 3 long weeks of crawling around every nook and cranny of the boat pulling new wires and hooking up new stuff to the new power panel.





The photos show the new panel along with the old panel and the backside of the new panel to give you an idea of the amount of circuits involved in a boat of this size. I also took the opportunity to upgrade several items while doing the rewire. We installed an auxiliary bilge pump as an emergency backup with alarm. This pump has a capacity of 3700 gallons per hour versus 2000 gallons per hour of the primary. Of course we hope we never have to use the emergency backup pump but it is prudent to have it ready in case we need it.

One really nifty upgrade was hooking the flatscreen TV directly to 12 volt DC. So now we can check the news when we are at anchor. We also have a DVD player attached so we can watch movies also.

The only wires we did not replace were the internal wires in the mast and the cabin lights. I checked the voltage drop on the cabin lights wire and it was well within the limits of acceptable drop. I did wire all the way up to the mast base but the mast internal wires will have to wait until I can lower the mast and do the job right.





The next major projects are new alternator on the engine and engine rewire, install a the wind generator, solar panels, water maker and a new keel cooled refrigeration system. When these items are complete we will be ready to take off this winter for a month or two in the Caribbean for a long term sea trial of our systems.





I plan to work on my handyman projects the entire month of July to replenish the funds and then start in again in August on the boat projects. Of course there are some small projects that can be completed in the evenings and on weekends such as minor wood refinish on the cabin top.





I would also like to take this opportunity to thank our dear friends that have made generous donations to the Jerr Bear project that will help us deliver shoes to children along the way. If you would like to know more about this project just look for the FAQ's posted in May.





Be sure to post your comments here so other readers will be able to enjoy them.





Have a great day!





Cap'n Don