Where'd we go?

So often when we read blogs, the writers post a flurry of entries written over the course of a few weeks or months, and then suddenly - nothing.

What happens?

In our case, late in 2009 we lost our NYC apartment, winter was setting in, Honey Trout was on the hard on the East River and not even close to being ready to float again. We bought a cottage in St. Petersburg, FL with the idea that we would truck her down there, finish her and launch from down there.

But once we were down there we realized that, after all of that money and work, Honey Trout just wasn't worth rescuing. And neither was our relationship. Neither were strong enough to weather the storms that we faced.

I sold Honey Trout on eBay. Three times. It seems that people get caught up in the dream while watching the clock count down, bid, even pay the deposit, and then sober up in the morning and walk away. None of them even came to look at her. I spoke to one of the three guys on the phone. He said that he decided not to buy the boat. "No, that's not how eBay works. You already bought the boat. That's what that whole auction was last week." He was belligerent and argumentative until finally he broke down and admitted that he had lost his job the day after bidding on the boat, and that feeding his kids took priority over buying a boat. I can't argue with that.

I sold her for pennies on the dollar to a young guy who wanted to sail her around the Caribbean. Instead, he flipped her to another guy with the same idea. Come to think of it, I bought her from a guy who had a plan to fix her up to live on her with his family.

Honey Trout is a vessel for dreams more than a sailing vessel.

Now it is 2016. After stints in Florida and Washington DC, I am back in Brooklyn. My son Theo is a senior in high school here, about to graduate. Belinda is dividing her time between Tacoma Park, MD and India, teaching yoga and ayurveda. I'm still occasionally crewing for Andrew Kennedy, a friend who races a J-105 out of Annapolis Yacht Club.

I am a paper sailor again.

But that dream of sailing around the world still sits back there, simmering.

The Land of Misfit Toys

The "yacht club" in Queens where we keep our boat in the winter, where Honey-Trout is now during her rehabilitation, has inexplicably been featured in the New York Times today.

Paul, in the photo, is a dear friend of ours. (Belinda is convinced that he is my birth-father, that we are too alike to be a coincidence. The timing and location work.)

And already a Japanese public television station has seen the article and sent a producer down. On Thursday they are sending a camera crew and want to shoot us working our (very disassembled-looking) boat. "Our Japanese viewers love this kind of stuff" she said as she waved vaguely toward Honey-Trout. I can only imagine what their narration will say.

Accomplished a lot on Honey-Trout today

We started Sunday morning out overwhelmed by the very long list of things to do to Honey-Trout.

I started off by cutting two very large holes in the foredeck and getting ready to install two new Lewmar hatches in Theo's v-berth. His soon-to-be bedroom had no windows or portlights, and was terribly dark. Making him live in there would have been some kind of child abuse. Now there are two beautiful skylights, and a wonderful cross breeze.


Today was the first sunny day in weeks. Its been an ugly June, a rerun of April really. So I thought it would be a great idea to split open our water-logged rudder and let it dry out in the sun. We had read about how to do this in one of the Don Casey books, which went something like "Step one: slice open rudder around the edges. Two: separate halves (made this sound as hard as pulling apart a hard boiled egg.) This is the part that brings back memories of when Theo was a newborn and we read about how easy it is to Ferberize our baby. If I had met Dr. Richard Ferber then, I would have punched him. I'm better rested now, but I may still cause a scene. So three and a half hours later, Belinda and I finally great the rudder apart.
It definitely needed to come apart. At some point the previous owner had run aground, whacking the rudder and cracking it open and filling it with water, and bending the steel rudder post. And then it sat in the water for a couple of years. Considering this, it was in surprisingly good condition. And surprisingly well built.


The more that I take Honey-Trout apart, the more that I come to respect the O'Day's design and construction. Maybe this small ketch can take us farther than I first thought.

There are a few glaring exceptions to that, such as the deck/hull joint. But we have a plan. We'll come back to this later.

And then late this afternoon, as we were getting ready to pack up for the day (it is a school night), Richie came by asking if I was ready to pull the engine out. Now? Weeks ago had talked about making arrangements to pull out the old, deceased Atomic 4 engine using a crane. If he was ready to go now, then I wasn't going to say no. As he brought over the ancient crane truck, I had to get the engine ready to be lifted. The trick here is that the engine is bolted to the floor well inside of the engine room, underneath the cockpit. The Atomic 4 has to be unbolted and dragged out into the aft (bedroom) cabin, where the crane could reach it. Forty-five minutes of applying various theories of how 2x4 levers and fulcrums could persuade this 400 pound behemoth into the daylight, and the hardest part of this whole project was past us.


Richie, with Paul and I guiding, had the engine out and on the ground in a moment.


Not a bad day on Honey-Trout.

What did we buy?

It turns out that we didn't buy a boat, so much as a pile of broken parts that came in the general shape resembling a boat...

We are moving our focus, and our blog

The same day that we met the couple that ultimately bought Daria, we bought another boat.

It is not the boat that can carry us around the world, but we think it can carry us around Caribbean. This is going to be a stepping-stone, not our ultimate dream boat.

We have also changed the URL of our blog to CircumnavigationSailor.com

Read about how we are rebuilding this new boat for the open water.

Daria is gone

Daria has been sold.

We put her in the water on Friday, and her Yamaha 9.9 outboard started up right off.

On Saturday we delivered her to New Rochelle, where the new owners will be mooring her. The weather report promised a beautiful sailing day. Instead, we motored into strong winds right on her nose the whole way, three foot seas, a couple of nauseous women and finally a really hard sounding grounding on the rocks just outside of Echo Harbor.

When we pulled into the slip and stepped off of Daria, they looked as white as a ghost, and I'm not sure they are ever going back out on her again.

At least this is not Honey-Trout

I took the dink out to the mooring where Honey-Trout is on City Island, and came across this:



The different between comedy and tragedy is ... well, you know.
Honey-Trout's engine may be dead, but at least she is in better shape than this boat.

"Honey-Trout"

Bill:
One of the things I thought about on the way to City Island to buy the boat was that I would finally get to ask the owners "what in the world does "Honey-Trout" mean?"

Kathrin said "I have no idea. That's what the name was when we got her.
And I'll tell you, it hasn't exactly been a selling point."

Daria was a good boat, for starter sailors.

Theo:
Daria was a good boat, for starter sailors. Its small but its easy to get used to. She is sort of broken but is nice to sleep in at night. Daria can smell really moldy but the smell is easily gotten used too. the most its gone is about 8 knots. We are selling it so you might want to buy it, if you haven't sailed or are a bad sailor its a really good boat to buy.

Theo Moree
Age Ten

What have we done?!?!?!?

Belinda:

We bought her. Yes, we are now the proud owners of "Honey Trout," a 1974 O'Day 32. Yes, yes, I know a 32' sounds small for a family of 3 to live aboard. She needs a lot of TLC and some engine work, but she's a solid boat with a ketch rig. I'm beginning to think Bill and I are a little crazy...

Yesterday was a beautiful day and we spent most of it showing "Daria" to prospective buyers (I think we have some interest). Then we got a call from "the guy" we've been trying to call for weeks. Our friend Jay introduced us to a 1974 O'Day 32' that has a center cockpit and two cabins for sleeping.

We bought her from a family of 3 who lived on her for 2-3 years until they moved up to a 41'. We're still looking for a 42-46' but I'm so relieved that we have a place to live when our lease expires July 1.

This morning, I was waking up in our sun drenched bedroom feeling a bit sad to be leaving our beautiful apartment. Then I thought, wait, in July you're going to wake up and have ocean front property. I'll be able to stick my head out of the hatch, smell the salt air and feel the warm sun on my skin. What could be better?

Now comes the fun part. We need to tinker with the engine, pull her out for a short haul, paint the bottom, and then start cleaning up the inside and making her our home.

And, where will we live? Well, I guess you can't figure everything out in one day... 

Brochures for the S25, circa 1979

Click on the images to enlarge.

Right click to download.

 

 

Finally listed Daria for sale

We made the decision to sell Daria a month ago. And then we did absolutely nothing about it, dragged my heels for several weeks. Changed my mine several times, and back again.

Well, we finally listed Daria up for sale, for sail:
-------------------------------
25' Sailboat, excellent condition, family fun - $2500 (College Point)
Date: 2009-04-22, 9:55AM EDT

Seidelmann S25 sailboat for sale
Its an excellent sailboat, fast, a nice cruiser/club racer, easy to sail.

Our family has sailed her these past three seasons, and we have spent almost every weekend on her, and several extended trips.
As a day sailer, we've taken up to eight people out.
We have done a lot of work on her, and she is great shape.

We have three foresails included with the boat:
a standard jib,
a larger jib about 120 or 130%,
and a really great, large, very fast genoa. This sail keeps us moving in the lightest of breezes, which is very typical on the Long Island Sound in July.
and also includes two mainsails.

Includes a Yamaha 9.9 4-stroke engine, lifting motor mount,
swim ladder, sail cover, bumpers, everything that you need. Even life jackets.
Brand new interior cushions (never used yet!), of new foam and new Sunbrella cloth.

Its on the hard in College Point, Queens, ready to go back in the water.
The annual costs to own this sailboat for us has been about $2000 per year. This covers summer mooring at our small yacht club here in New York City (or on a mooring in Oyster Bay) with easy access to Long Island Sound, and winter haulout. DMV registration and annual tuneup of the Yamaha for $150.
That's all it costs to own your own sailboat in New York City or Long Island Sound. If you want, we can help set you up with everything that you need to know.

We have spent more on renovating and improving her over the last three years than we are asking for her.
But we have decided to look for a much larger boat to live aboard, and so Daria will have to find a new home.
She is the perfect first boat for a beginner or intermediate sailor. Simple to understand and operate, but very capable and brisk sailing. Inexpensive to maintain, very manageable.

Asking $2500, negotiable.
Please let me know if you may be interested.

A mooring is also available for her.
* Location: College Point

The more we think about the O'Day...

...the more we think it could be workable.

Cheap.
We can live on it while we save money.
We can fix it up.
And we can practice the techniques of sailing a ketch.

We need something in order to be out on the water for the summer.

As much as I'm not looking forward to selling "Daria", she's finally almost at how we want her and the last three years with her have been the best for our family, the fact is she is just not big enough for our next step. There has been a lot of interest in her, and I think she'll sell soon. That will be a bitter sweet day.

Is that the one?

Our friend Jay told us about this boat. He said his friend was asking very little money, but he didn't know how big it was or what kind it was. We have a very specific kind of sailboat in mind. We want it to be between 42-46', full keel, ketch rigged. Bill, Theo and I can't believe how cheap it is and we wondered if it still floats. 

So today we went out to City Island to look at the boat. Our friend walked us to the marina and then started to walk through a yard with lots of boats. I kept thinking, "Is that the one?" as we passed each boat. But no, it must be on the water because we headed out onto the docks. We approached a wooden boat that needed a lot of work, and I thought, "Oh no, not a wooden boat. We'll never be able to cruise, we'll spend all of our time working on that one." Jay kept walking, and I thought, "Whew!" Each boat we passed, I had that same question in my mind, "Is that it?" or "Is it that next one?" Finally, we're almost running out of dock when we come upon an O'Day 32'. I think, "Oh no, an O'Day, no wonder it's so cheap." But then, we get on board. She's solid in the water, not tender like Daria. She's a center cockpit, so that means there are 2 cabins (bedrooms), a salon, a galley (a very small kitchen) and a head (a very small bathroom). She's not in bad shape, and her decks seem sound.

She seems like a good possibility for a temporary live aboard. Most of the work she needs is work that we've already learned how to do on Daria. Could our family of 3 live on such a small boat? Jay told us the couple selling the boat lived on it for 2-3 years with a son whose now 5 years older than Theo. 

She's an interesting possibility, but not what we were looking for. Now we just have to wait to talk to the owner. Maybe Jay misunderstood how much they would be asking for the boat...

Looking at boats. A lot of boats.

Today we went to City Island to look at something that we knew nothing about, other than Jay said we should look at it, that it was going to be short-money. A Brotherhood hook-up.

As followed Jay out on the dock, we would approach a boat and Belinda and I would love at each other. "Is it that one?" and Jay would walk past it. "This one?" As we got close to the end of the dock and we were running out of boats, we approached a large wooden ketch with not a lick of paint still stuck to it, sagging deeply in the water. "Oh, God, not that one!" You could tell it once had beautiful lines, but I think the only thing that kept it afloat today is the fact that it is wood. At what point do you stop calling it a boat and start calling it driftwood? And still Jay walked on.

At then near the very end of the dock was a center-cockpit, a ketch. As we approached, it was in surprising good looking shape. Sail covers were bright and new. A roller furler jib.
And then the label right there on the side: "O'Day 32". My enthusiasm sank. I don't know much about O'Days, but I think of them in the same class as Hunters and Catalinas. Coastal cruisers for weekend sailors. We wouldn't be sailing this sailboat across the Atlantic. Not even across the Gulf Stream.

We looked and poked. Soft decks in front of the stays, both port and starboard. Delamination is a problem. Had that problem on Daria, a lot of work. There was more, but basically it comes down to this: It is a center-cockpit, but it is small. There is only the V-berth, the central main cabin and galley, the exterior cockpit, and the walk-over aft cabin. Can three people live on a 32 foot sailboat? I mean without killing each other?

Is there enough storage? Large enough water and fuel tanks? All of our questions will have to wait until we can track down Otto, who is out of town.

This is not the boat that I want. But it may be the only boat that we can afford for now.

Looking at houseboats in Washington DC

My dear old friend Amy (meaning she's been my friend for a long time, not that she's old) came with me to look at a couple of houseboats that are for sale at Gangplank Marina in downtown Washington DC.



Belinda and I would never really want a houseboat. But the trick here is that legal liveaboards at Gangplank are limited, but you can buy a boat that has its legal status grandfathered in. And once you own a boat with liveaboard status, you can transfer that status to another boat. It seems that the boats that have the legal status are selling for a premium of at least $10,000 over what they would be worth without.
It feels like the old days of "fixture fees" and "key fees" on the lofts that I lived in in New York City back in the mid-1980's.

A Canadian woman is asking for $35,000 for a very small, shabby houseboat with one seized engine. She implied that she'd take $29,000. This thing, without the status, would be lucky to get $5000.

Joe at Gladys Marine has another houseboat, also a liveaboard, much larger and very comfortably laid out. Although a bit rough at the moment, he promises a long list of repairs that his crew will take care of as soon as someone buys it. His price is firm at $45,000. And I'm sure he'll get it.

I don't think that a houseboat is in our future. For our $45,000, we'd rather just buy a 40' project sailboat.

If we had $45,000.


While we are here, I'll mention that I was pleasantly surprised at how nice the facilities are at Gangplank Marina. The bathrooms and showers have been recently refinished, and have marble counters and nice fixtures. More like a yacht club than a marina. Add with parking, washers and dryers, and dogs allowed, and it would be a nice place to live. If you could get legal liveaboard status.

"Daria" is for sale

"Daria" is for sale.
She is a 25 foot Seidelmann S25.

Currently in the New York City and Long Island Sound area, she is the perfect boat for these waters.
Fast, beautiful and easy to sail, she is a great first sailboat for someone with intermediate to beginner experience sailing.

Completely renovated, a lot of work has gone into her. (A full list will be coming soon, but email us in the meantime.)

Now that she is finished, and beautiful, we've decided to live aboard with our ten year old son, and we are going to need a much bigger boat.

Most of the S25's are listed around $5000, and all of those are not nearly in as good a condition as Daria.
Until April 15th, we will sell her for $2500, fully equipped.
For $3000, will will include her mooring/ball and our ideal mooring spot in Oyster Bay for 2009. You will be completely set for the entire 2009 season.

Please email us for more information.

Deciding. Commiting. Crazy.

I'm not sure how it started.
But we decided.

We are going to sail around the world.

Spent the night on the boat, first time

May 6-7, 2006:
We spent the night on Daria for the first time.

We spent the weekend sailing out to Manhasset Bay, and valet docked for dinner at Louie's Oyster Bar. Crowded with people watching the Kentucky Derby on TV, dressed up and drinking free mint julep's. (Those mint juleps being given out as marketing samples for some liquor company. It might have been more effective marketing if I could remember what liquor company.) A horse won the race. I wasn't following too closely.

It was a calm, peaceful evening. After dinner, just as the sun was hitting the horizon, Belinda, Theo and I piled back into Daria and motored off to the spot that we had picked out earlier to anchor for the night. We had picked a nice spot in the lee of King's Point, near the house on shore that Andre calls "the Taco Bell".

Except that in the short span of time of leaving Louie's dock and getting to the anchorage, the sun sank now well below the horizon and the flat, calm afternoon became quite brisk. The wind came about from the opposite direction and became quite strong, and the flat bay was suddenly kicking up two foot waves. Instead of sitting snug in the lee of the land, we were now trying to drop anchor hanging precariously over a lee shore. We were now trying to drop our anchor - for the first time. We hadn't gotten to trying to set the anchor before today.

We also learned what it is to drag anchor. In this case, what it is to drag anchor with the lee shore beach coming closer and closer. We circled again and tried to reset.

Daria is a light displacement boat, slightly more than a large dinghy. And although it doesn't sound like much, in a two foot chop she bounces around quite dramatically. As this happens, her little 9.9 outboard engine's prop pops out of the water at the top of each wave. The engine over-races loudly and the feeling of forward thrust is suspended, until Daria falls down into the next wave trough and there is a guttural groan as the prop catches water again.

All of this being our very first time - the now deepening darkness, the sound of waves on the beach somewhere behind us, the pitching of the deck in the chop, the groaning and racing of the engine, the dragging anchor, the tangle of its line - it starts to become a lot to take in.
And there is my seven year old son standing in the gangway saying "are we there yet?", although the look on his face looking at his parents said something more like "is this the way it is supposed to look, Mom and Dad?"

And then I see a large white unoccupied mooring ball. It looks like a resident of one of the big mansions behind us had already set out their mooring ball for the season, but hadn't yet launched the boat that would spend the season here. We came around once more and I picked it up. Moored now, the chaos calmed down. Belinda looked at me with that look of "are you sure about this?" No, I'm not sure about this. Its rude, we are parked in someone else's parking spot without permission. But its better than camping on the beach tonight, and now we have a break to regroup. And time to sit and wonder if the resident had really recently put this nice, newly checked mooring anchor out, or if it was one that had been neglectfully left out all winter and could snap at any moment. Which would bring us back to camping on the beach tonight.

Belinda and I went below to warm up and try to relax, but the boat was bucking back and forth. We sat on the bunks facing each other, ready to lose our cookies any moment. As long as we don't show Theo that we are concerned, he'll be alright. But Theo seemed oblivious and dealt the cards. We came here to relax and play cards and damn it, that's what we are going to do.


There are a number of lessons here to take note of:
- Perhaps it would be better to not be quite so rigid about sticking to the plans that we made.
- It might have been better if we had picked up and moved across the bay to be in the lee of the wind, which was no longer here, but was now over there.
- It would have been good to have more (or any) experience with our gear, like the anchor. (But that's how you get experience, by going out and doing, so I'll negate this one.)
- It would have been better to get the experience with the anchor at a time that wasn't pitch black, like during the day.
- When I ask myself "This will probably work. What could go wrong?" then I should actually listen to that answer. Don't take those "little chances" that could result in losing the boat.
- Always settle in to an anchorage for the night earlier than we did. Like 3pm. Anchor, stow gear, go for a swim, eat, then enjoy the sunset. In that order. We should have either anchored and taken the dinghy (note: we didn't own a dinghy yet) to Louie's, or gone to Louie's for the brunch special.


(Started 5/7/06, finished entry 6/11/09)

---
"Daria" is our new sailboat, a Seidelmann S25. Fiendish forum floggers have derided the later Seidelmanns, but Daria is one of the prime original designs by Bob Seidelmann, and we love her. She lives in and on Long Island Sound, as perfect a sailboat for these waters as you could ask for.

Maiden Voyage

Today was our maiden voyage on Daria. We brought her back to the Williamsburgh Yacht Club from Huntington Harbor. With no wind at all -Long Island Sound was made of glass- almost all of the trip was under power.

Theo read, played and slept.

Our friend Matt Dywer helped us bring her back.

Belinda and I took turns at the helm and navigating.

And now starts a long list of renovations and repairs. And learning. And fun as a family.