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Viking

Certifiably Surly
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Posts posted by Viking

  1.  

    57 minutes ago, troph said:

    I’m 2 years out still and I’m thinking Thanksgiving through June some time if I can swing the logistics vs cost of keeping it there year round.  My likely time down there is dec 15-jan 15 and June 1-30 with sporadic spring break type trips until my youngest graduates. If I can find a fla west coast town I like I might split the year. Fla for a long weekend is easy. Miami ain’t my thing and east coast and keys aren’t as safe, which defeats the purpose of moving it to some extent.  

    Getting a boat from Florida to the VIs is a pain in the ass. You're going against the prevailing trade winds so you're basically waiting for a good weather window that might occur every few weeks to get you 100-200 miles east and south and then you wait again. You should look into storing the boat in Grenada during hurricane season. Getting it back from VIs to Grenada is super easy as it's a beam reach both ways.

  2. On 10/24/2021 at 10:24 AM, troph said:

    @G650 @Sbbruin @Viking  what do we know about Hanse sailing yachts? 

    looking like I'm about a year out from being legit (3-4 ocean excursions under our belt by then and plenty of certifications and training), and I have a sneaking suspicion that I'll want to put a boat in a marina in the PR/USVI/BVI area just to get started.  found some nice and well sized Hanse yachts in our possible price range.  Looking at 2010-2016 time frame, in the 50-60 foot range, with enough conveniences for easy two person sailing, thrusters, electric wenches, etc.  We would plan for a month long liveaboard 2-3x a year while we would be down there.  A newer oyster would still be my long term goal, but that's more like 7-10 years out.  we may end up with a cat but I'm not so sure.

    anyway, Hanse, what do you know?

    Hanse isn't a catamaran so I say no. You want a Leopard 44-46.

    I've actually not been on a Hanse so I can't comment on those specifically.

    I'm curious as to keeping it year round in the USVI or PR. Lots of boats do that but the insurance has to be $$$ during hurricane season.

  3. 15 hours ago, troph said:

    I truly think I’m ready for sailing in protected waters, maybe a tad more experience what keeps me up at night are the problems. I want to be able to deal with them when they come up. Instructor today said something really interesting, he said it’s probably a lot like learning to lawyer, you don’t know what to do then you try and figure it out. He was like, chica, it’s ok just get out there and do it.  That was after we sailed together for a little while.  I’m feeling good about BVI. I’m ready to get on with the rest of my life. 

    In the words of the great Captain Ron, "Well if anything's going to happen it's going to happen out there."

    • Hook 'Em 1
  4. Getting antsy. We've been in TX since May and will return to the boat in a few weeks. We'll spend 3-4 weeks getting ready and then head down to the Keys.

    I didn't share in May but while we were docked at the St Augustine Municipal Marina we got hit by 55ft power boat. The current in St Augustine can rip at max flow and some captains underestimate it. This boat was docked directly in front of us and was backing out and quickly got sidewise to the current. They hit us once and were then the wrong direction to get out of the marina so they powered forward, hit another boat, managed to turn around, and then hit us again on their way out.  The other boat that got hit was hit again two days later. 😠

    The damage was both rubrails on the bows were ripped off, anchor and anchor roller were pulled out of the deck and twisted, bent anchor bridle padeye, and a bent pulpit. Just 5k in damage! Not bad! Fortunately the dude had money and just sent me a check. My insurance broker when I asked him what to do: "Do not get the insurance companies involved! Work it out between yourselves first." Ah insurance companies that don't pay out... it's the american way.

    IMG_20210512_150853854.jpg

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  5. We renewed in person at the Tarrant County Courthouse in Arlington. One really nice covid change is that the passport office is now on a scheduling system. Previously you'd show up, take a number, and wait hours to be called. Now you show up at your scheduled time and you're the only person there and get help immediately. We chatted up the lady working and she loved it. No longer does she have to deal with customers that are bitchy because they had to wait hours.

  6. The % of sailors, even seasoned sailors, who don't know how to tie a cleat hitch is way higher than you'd suspect. They think that a cleat hitch keeps it on but it's the wraps that do. Thin dinghy painter + big cleat = you need lots of wraps. Every year in the Bahamas a couple of dinghys get lost. The owners blame the locals on facebook ("Our dinghy was stolen!!") and half the time the dinghy is found days or weeks later by another cruiser on an island with outboard still attached.

    I never let another boater tie off my painter for that reason. Except one time this year I handed my painter to a buddy who's been a liveaboard for 6 years. I figured he for sure knew how to tie a cleat hitch. We were drinking in the cockpit of his boat (a monohull) and two hours later I noticed that my dinghy was gone. Fuuuuck. We grabbed a flash light (it was around midnight) and set off to find it in his dinghy. Even that alone was a big risk as if his outboard went out then we'd be turbo fucked. It took us an hour but we finally found it about a mile up the island. The current from the outgoing tide kept it pretty close to land fortunately.

     

  7. On 8/4/2021 at 11:58 AM, dlatin said:

    I’ll also say I felt a bit of pressure being responsible for 9 (2 families). I didn’t sleep as well on this trip as I was always listening, feeling, getting up to check on things. We also had a pretty dicey situation on Day 9 that made me really need to step up and take charge with decisive quick decisions as we got caught in a pretty big storm as we were sailing down wind with a lot of sail out. The winch set up was challenging and they were lacking clutches I thought was needed to perform tasks efficiently. Then at the end of that same day we had another crazy situation I had to handle that was for me just as scary if not more. I learned a lot about my abilities and was proud of how i captained the boat.

    If the boat still floats and the crew is all alive then you did good! What was the second crazy situation?

    Most casts lack backstays, so sailing deep down wind just freaks me out. The swept back shrouds just don't seem like they are back enough to provide that much support for all of the forward forces on the rigging. Yet somehow the masts don't fall down. Fucking magic I guess.

  8. Hey the first one had the teak decks already replaced. That's a 50k+ expense that you don't have to worry about for another 20 years!

    Get a cat. 800-1200k buys a badass 45+ft cat. The newer ones have a ridiculous amount of space. I've got a buddy with a Lagoon 450 and you could put 30 people on that boat and not be crowded. There's room for 10+ forward, 10+ in the cockpit, 6-8 inside, 6-8 on the hardtop. It's just amazing.

    The sailing, at least comfort wise, is so much better. There's little heeling and even when you beat towards weather it is not as bad. I've got a vid of a mono buddy boat that was bucking into weather and they were fucking miserable. Most of the family was throwing up. Our boat had a little slamming but otherwise it was comfortable.

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  9. 51 minutes ago, Brew said:

    Unless something falls apart tomorrow or a better option becomes available, look like I’m picking this one up on Saturday. Don’t think that drive is what my wife had planned for our 22nd anniversary that day, but shit happens

    There's no better anniversary/birthday/christmas present than a boat.

  10. Sailed from the Abacos to St Augustine this week. Had a great sail except that the 1st reef line chaffed through so we had to sail on the 2nd reef a lot of the time which is slooow as snot.

    Bonus of the trip was that we were 25 miles from Cape Canaveral when a Falcon 9 was launched. Pretty cool to see and I'd love to be even closer to a launch next year.

    IMG_20210504_150223017.thumb.jpg.617c47d2c5d59be70cd1e66aa78be495.jpg

    • Hook 'Em 4
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  11. 15 minutes ago, Landomatic said:

    Yep this is me too.  I love a sailboat.  I respect people who run them.  Hell I’m even probably somewhat mesmerized by them if I’m being honest.  I just wouldn’t ever want one of my own. Just seems like an awful lot of work and I’m there to relax.

    I promise you there's few things more relaxing on the water than sailing along at 5-7kts in a 10-15kt wind. Just heaven. I almost never give up the helm seat on our boat because I can sit there for hours and hours just enjoying the ride.

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  12. 3 hours ago, Gil Bang said:

    In a crazy market like y'all are discussing, I wouldn't advise using a buyer's agent to find a house.  I'd advise dealing directly with the listing agent. 

    When I take a listing (I take them at 5%, sometimes less), the seller agrees to pay me 5% of the sales price.  I, as a "Realtor", and Member of the local MLS, agree to "split" that commission with an agent representing a buyer (not always an even split, but agreed upon in advance).   If I represent the buyer ("dual agency"), I "keep" the entire 5%, effectively doubling my commission on that given home.  

    So, although the ethics are questionable, who's offer to you think listing agent "Jones" is going to push the buyer to accept...the offer written by agent "Smith" or the one that Jones wrote himself?   And, who's in the best position to advise the seller what to offer?  Hint: It's the guy that gets all the other offers sent directly to him.

    I had neighbor that did this plus told the listing agent that if his offer was accepted that he'd use the agent to sell his house. It worked.

  13. 15 hours ago, troph said:

    any tips on a log book app?  specifically one useful for converting to a resume for bareboat charters?  US Sailing apparently is still in 1973 with their technology.  I know or have read that manual log books are actually a legal thing but yeah, not gonna do that for lake sailing and other experience accumulation for charters.  what say the 3 sailors on surly? 

    I would get into the habit of maintaining a real log book now. Probably not a whole lot to log doing small lake sailing (start and end time, wind speed and direction) so it seems silly but do it anyhow. I've just been using a notepad but next season I'm getting a dedicated log book.

    • Like 1
  14. 5 hours ago, riloh05 said:

    May 27-31st

    I've not been to Eleuthera yet (but will in a week or two) so no recs there. Exumas though are great. Shroud Cay in the Exuma Land and Sea Park is amazing. Anchor on the north end and take the dinghy up the mangrove creek to ocean side. You'll see turtles in the creek and end up on an amazing beach. Just a magical place. The south end of Shroud is also beautiful.

    Thunderball Grotto at Staniel Cay is also a can't miss.

  15. On 3/2/2021 at 10:40 AM, riloh05 said:

    headed there for a sailing trip...have done the BVI's so going to do something similar in the bahamas. Eleuthera and Exumas is pretty much the itinerary. Any recommendations where to drop anchor. thanks, i will hang up and listen.

    I'm just now seeing this thread and your question. When's your trip?

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