Happy Birthday Zachary!  It’s day two and we are off to a slow start.  The wind is nonexistent and the drum of the motor is dull.  The water is flat, and the light is dispersed into a sundrenched fog that…

Today we christened the oven!  Get your mind out of the gutter because we christened it by making and eating banana bread.  Honestly, the hardest part was getting all of the ingredients onto the boat.  So far, cooking is pretty…

This is getting real. Eeek!  We left Peekskill, New York for good this morning and every single thing that we passed on our sail down the Hudson River, including our hometown for twenty years, we will not see again by…

I bet it sounded dramatic Romantic, crazy, fanatic The idea of going for a sail To create a tantalizing tale The logic takes a little time Reflection, and a pinch of rhyme I bet you get it now, just try!…

Thank you Gerty for lifting us up and freeing our minds.  There are moments every day that we focus on you, instead of our situation.  You are the ultimate distraction! Gerty, you are a gift that we gave ourselves three…

For Valentine’s Day Michael got me a new alternator, a freezer, and some type of supersonic antifouling paint for the propeller (Propspeed).  Isn’t that romantic? You may be laughing, but a better alternator equals more power and more power equals…

I’m blogging from my sofa today while I prep for my first colonoscopy.  Did we mention previously that not everything about sailing is glamorous?  There is engine maintenance, the importance of freezing flour, so weevils don’t appear, laundry in a…

For the first time in a long time, I am sitting still long enough to write a blog post.  I have peeled off three of the six layers I put on this morning in preparation for what I thought would…

While Gerty was under construction we insisted on having the dorade vents upgraded. The standard plastic vents were very low profile and did not look functional. Unfortunately, this expensive upgrade to welded aluminum dorade boxes with Vetus cowls has proved…

September 1 Mmmm, the smokey smell of sawdust is radiating from the port-side lazarette.  My nose is thrilled with the savory blend of campfire, old cedar closet, and marshland.  Never mind the blaring sound of the jigsaw that is profoundly…

Overfilling the head holding tank is messy. A mistake that one only has to learn once! To help assure our tank is not overfilled I recently installed a tank monitor. A bright red light now comes on when the tank…

Since getting Gerty, lifting the centerboard had been a chore. The load on the lifting line was substantial, requiring the slower winch speed for adequate leverage. We were told by the factory that this was normal and for the last…