Messing About In Sailboats

Our First Weekend Sailing on Poetry

We sailed our new acquisition, Poetry, a 1988 Sabre 38 both days this weekend. On Saturday, we had 18 kts gusting to 23. With a single reef and a reduced headsail, she handled beautifully and we had her up to 7.8 kts.

On Sunday, the winds were even stronger. We headed East with 15 kts on our stern. Our friend's Phil and Joy joined us for the second outing. Joy was at the helm and pointed out the at the wind was up to steady 25kts and gusting up from there. It was an interesting ride home to windward. We tried putting in the #2 reef on the main but the shackle holding the bock to the foot of the mast exploded. At this point we dropped sails and motored home. Thankfully and touching wood, the 33HP Westerbeke worked well.

Somehow I cut myself in the excitement and dropped blood all over the place - Appropriate for Halloween. You could say we really blooded Poetry.

Below are various photos of Poetry, yours truly, the missus and our friends. If you look carefully, you can see blood on the binnacle.

Good Omen?

A nice coincidence happened yesterday afternoon. My sailing buddy, Eli took this shot of a rainbow over Staten island at around 4 pm. It popped up on Facebook. He shot this from the dock at RYC. The boat in the distance with the blue main-cover, is our new boat, Poetry, which had literally just been delivered to the mooring about 20 minutes before. It was the first time we saw the boat at her new home. We are hoping it's a good omen!

Sailing Photos Of The Day - Rolex Middle Sea: Passage at Pantelleria Island

Photo: Carlo Borlenghi

Sailing Photo Of The Day - 2010 Sloop Tavern Fall Regatta

2010 Sloop Tavern Fall Regatta, originally uploaded by Walkabout Wolf.

Sailing Photo Of The Day - Rolex Middle Sea

Stromboli Passage for Esimit Europa
Photo: Carlo Borlenghi

How to Buy a Used Sailboat in Five Steps

For as long as we have been married, my wife and I have always had the dream that some day we would buy the boat we would own and sail for the rest of our lives. Over the last twenty years we have owned a couple of small, old boats that were good for a day sail or an uncomfortable weekend but limiting in where and how far we would sail.

In the last year, we have become empty-nesters and we decided to take the plunge and buy a boat we could cruise with more ambitiously. And it has taken a year to buy that boat. Over that time, we read a lot, researched extensively and were given great advice from various sailing friends and a few professionals whose advice we came to trust. For the benefit of anyone who is buying a boat, I thought I would share our experience. Is it the definitive advice on buying a used sailboat? Of course not but it worked for us and we are happy with where we ended up.

And here she is. Her name (well her current name) is Poetry and she’s a 1988 Mk2 Sabre 38.

Over the next few weeks, I will be sharing the experience of buying our boat. For convenience sake, I have broken it down into five phases.

Step 1: Figuring out how you will use your sailboat. This is a crucial step that you cannot spend enough time on. I have heard so many stories of people buying brand spanking new 50 foot cruisers only to find that the rest of the family gets seasick or hates sailing. In this section, I will take you through the process we went through and share some experiences from other boat-buyers who ended up in a different place.

Saling Photo Of the Day - Sandi's Wings' Sunrise Departure

Sandi's Wings' Sunrise Departure, originally uploaded by mainsheet99.

 

Boat Dogs to the Rescue! Photo of the Week | YachtPals.com

via yachtpals.com

This post about dog-rescuers is awesome. Happy Friday. Woof

Song For Friday: Sail On Sailor - Mark Ronson and Sean Lennon

Sailing Photo Of The Day - October Sunday

October Sunday, originally uploaded by Isisbridge.