Seafever has a new life on the Great Lakes 

I am not going to die but my health is no longer up to Sailing

Seafever needs a new keeper as my health is forcing Sailing to taken a permanent timeout

Keep Seafever Sailing


One day your doing doing 44 miles the next week your hobby becomes doctor visits don’t put off your dreams I certainly have no regrets

My Last 44 mile run

Seafevers BFS to Greenport and Back

Well we did some great sailing this week with only one day of needing the motor which is the best week of sailing luck i have ever had

It became apparent the weather was going to be crap on 7/25 and 7/26

As the crap weather and perfect timing of the flood tide home was setting up a sail home that may never be topped we went with it as 70 miles is a long day

We left Greenport at 6 am and had a nasty ride out to plum gut and after turning west the sled ride begin and the boat would just not go slower than 8 knots with regular surges to 12 knots and a peak speed of 13.2 knots

In a fair bit of great luck we on the mooring in Northport at 4:30 PM

The barbecue

Well i cant bring myself to trust the pressurized stove or the 1700 dollar price of a modern one so 120 dollars on sale seemed a good deal except it was another 60 something dollars for a marginal mount to hold it on the boat that was rated for light duty



Being able to draw and make your own parts does have its advantages




So now we have a solid HARD TO REMOVE unit

Mount Marcy

So we like like to hike and do soemthing really hard here and there and as we had taken the time off and thee was NO wind it was are plan B

Depending on which guide you read its hard or easy :)

WITH MY LONGEST DAY HIKE THIS YEAR of 32 MILES I CAN ASSURE YOU ITS THE HARDEST 15 MILES YOU WILL EVER WALK :)



So we start with something resembling a trail and have a pleasant first two miles



After reaching the now defunct Marcy Dam and Lake its a perfect day and on we go





At 2.1 miles we come to realize were gonna be rock hopping for 4 miles which is incredible difficult on your brain as every step has to be thought out






1.2 miles to go how hard could it be now :)



Apparently it can get a LOT harder as while you expect some difficulty you would also expect the Trail guide to mention that you would be scrambling a LOT and i cant even Imagen getting caught up there in the rain and do some of the sections



So we got up and down safe and it as a great day BUT it was HARD

Sailing Vs Motoring

If you know me my predominate mode of sailing is racing or day sailing which pretty much means the boats only get used when there is wind :)

However as we progress with Seafever as a second home and started cruising more it becomes easy to see were the does anybody sail anymore starts

From my racing experience on Long Island Sound most stuff starts in the afternoon so there is wind and are favorite is the Stratford Shoal distance race at 34 miles

Over the years i have lost count of how times many BUT we raced in 2008 2009 2010 and 2011 in conditions from


to


Taking between 6 and 8 hours to cover 34 miles THEN i had to go and start cruising

For 2012 we have done three overnight trips

TRIP ONE PORT JEFFERSON

Wicked rain and wind on Friday so we put it off 24 hours which just happens to be the 2012 Stratford Shoal race day

As we do not like to get arrive in new ports in the dark we left about 10am for a 21 mile trip :)

So after sailing off the mooring and reaching the sound the wind is still out of the east form the worst possible direction and a VMG above 3 knots is NOT gonna happen

So 23 miles into a 21 mile trip its 5 PM and we have no wind and nine miles to motor IF we ever want to reach Port Jefferson so for the first time in a long time we motor

Now its Sunday after a great stay in Port Jefferson and there is absolutely NO wind nor is any going to happen so it is a 21 mile motor home

TRIP TWO OYSTER BAY

Same deal except we decide we do not wish to motor 21 miles ever again :)

Its Friday afternoon and the trip is short enough we can wait for the wind to fill in

After sailing off the mooring the wind direction allows us to sail :) to the Oyster Bay mooring field at which point we use the motor 5 minutes and all is well

After another great evening we kill as much time as possible including walking 3 miles for breakfast and again the wind is NOT gonna happen

So we motor out a bit and are able to sail about 1/2 way home which is not what we want but as good as it was gonna get

TRIP THREE NORTHPORT To NORTHPORT

Saturday and we really do not want to motor AGAIN so we bring dinner and start late and the wind just never happens so we never even leave to mooring

After a great evening of flat calm the wind starts to blow like stink at 3 AM in the upper 20s as it woke us UP

Come Sunday we tidy up the boat its still blowing a bit and by 10 Am it is dead flat again i guess the good thing is we did not use the motor

I can only conclude if you want to travel by sail on LIS you better be lucky on the days you pick

TRIP FOUR

We had taken off August 23 and 24 for a four day weekend in which we figured we had to be able to sail at some point NOT

The wind forecast was really bad and correct so we used are plan B which was a Mount Marcy summit hike in one day and there was NOT even wind at 5400 ft

The thumb is doing much better

Now 42 days in cast number two and now a custom splint to stop me from using the thumb

I am now out if the splint and in PT to regain movement and it's a lot of work BUT with about 1/3 of the movement back it is looking good



The big danger of infection has passed and that is huge hurdle to get over

Danger at Land 2012

I cut weld and grind everyday safely and i had to have a lax second with a hand powerd tool





I wont post the nasty pictures i took during the surgery but I LET A SHEETROCK KNIFE get out of control and severed the tendon in my right thumb so i gotta wear the cast for 3 months

having fun

getting out a lot and enjoying

Safety At SeaAt Sea 2012

My self and two other boat owners friends went to the 2012 New York area Safety At Sea which was sold OUT due the upcoming Newport/Bermuda Ocean Race requiring at least 1/3 of all crews attending in the last 5 years



It was a really LONG 8AM to 6PM non-stop day of well organized training done in modules that groups rotated to


8AM
And ER Doctor / Sailor spent and hour on handling medical issues and what the appropriate training would be to raise your skill level


9AM to 10:30

MOB drills on the water with a with a cadet in a dry suit serving as a real victim

10:50 to 11:35

Damage control with the main focus on techniques to stop BIG leaks FAST and it was WET :)

11:35 to 12:20

Emergency Communication with the speaker being and active CG Co-Pilot on what really works and why it works and the things that would allow him to find you once they get in the general area

A fast lunch with more speakers

1:30 to 2:15

Pyrotechnics were you will see how kind of useless all the basic single stuff is compared to the SOLAS equivalents

2:15 to 3:00

Fire Fighting with real fire and extinguishers and general advice about the team work needed to do it safely

3:10 to 4:40

In the pool in full foul weather gear to see how hard it is to be in wet gear and try and board a life-raft which a LOT of people could NOT do without a LOT of help

5:00 to 6:00

What else Weather and how to use whats out there to stay safe

SO a LONG LONG day of interesting stuff

A bit of work life again

One of my instrument installs with 20 temperature sensors and almost 6000 YES 6000 feet of wire as 10 sensors were on 500 foot runs

Weight loss goals

the North shore of Long Island has some really steep hiking trails The whole getting in back in shape for 2012 deal has worked out well with a now 30 pound weight loss and the upcoming big event the Greenbelt 32 mile one day hike The Blogger upgrade kind of sucks even by My real bad standards and misplaces all the text

The solar system has been working well other than ME blowing up the first genasun control due to less than stellar instructions it was settled in a fair way and i am very happy with its peek output of 2.7 amps from the 40 watt panel and even on a cloudy day early in the AM it puts out.5 amps


To make the best use of my limited battery bank i invested in Sensibulb LED Light Bulbs

While 160 dollars is a LOT of money for 4 bulbs my boat interior is now well light on .6 amps VS the conventional bulbs draw of 4 AMPS

They do not look like much compared to some of the competition with insane amounts of led units BUT They are really bright with a nice color And the draw is LOW

Flex-O-Fold Prop

Well

I hope it works as good as it looks and now i can put the rudder back on next weekend

Solar Power Project

Well i needed a boat break and i had gotten a BIT fat letting myself get back up to 205 pounds so i spent January and February dropping 22 pounds and getting back in really good shape

I met some people while out walking and got hooked on the quest to do the Greenbelt 32 which is the full Long Island Greenbelt Trail of 32 mils in one day and we worked up to 16 miles in under 5 hours with the big day coming in May

On of the really great sources on DIY boat projects is Mainsail

http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/boat_projects

And like everything else he wrote up a GREAT solar panel guide

http://www.pbase.com/mainecruising/solar_panel

Which really took all of CRAP that did not work out to well out this project





So we have a 40 watt Sunwize panel mounted to the boat in a nice out of the way place that collects a good amount of sun with a bunch of stainless hardware that cost as much as the panel :) But we really do NOT want it falling off so gotta use the good stuff



The real key part is a good MPPT Control to get the most out of the panel



And we do not want leaks so a Blue Sea cable clam and a BUNCH of pain running the wire back to the control

Winter Projects

The big one this winter is the new Flex-o-Fold prop which i will have to shoot some pictures of as it is a piece of artwork

The old prop and shaft are out and after i lap the new prop on the new shaft there really wont any old stuff on board except the refurbished motor



I am plugging up all the old worn out instrument holes but it got a bit to cold for the glass work so it will get finished the next 50 degree weather streak

I refinished the old cabin top teak sliders for the hatch and they look really nice and will take a shot after there back in

The boat is all ready for winter the interior is removed and the fiberglass repiars from the boat hitting me over the summer are about 1/2 done



It would not be fall without a giant pile of leaves

winters work begins

During todays snow storm i warmed up the motor changed the oil and winterized the motor and water system



The custom hole on the transmission cover allows about 95% of the old oil to be removed

A good way to end the season

As the sun sets on the 2011 season




The old folks club took home another first in the Main and Jib division on the second weekend of manhasset bay fall series 2011

a short weekend trip

Well summer is gone and I wanted to make at least one overnight trip on the boat this season so to oyster bay I went

It was a MUCH better day than the forecast plenty of wind and NO rain on what was supposed to be a washout so sometimes it pays to take a chance



On Saturday night there was a huge fireworks display for some unknown reason as i did not thing October 1 was a special day ?



The most impressive thing was how clean the water along the shore was