27 Sunday Sep 2015
Posted in Eastcoast Southbound
Or something to that effect…. and we only managed to snap these shots with our new hotshot camera. It was a super blood moon lunar eclipse and they only happen 5 times a century.
West of our anchorage
Me sitting outside with my blanket & hot cocoa Listening to Dark Side of the Moon.
26 Saturday Sep 2015
Posted in Eastcoast Southbound
We sailed to Block Island from Newport. Not much to report aside from the usual unusual Mike & Kirsten-ism; my over-exaggeration of waves and Mikes sudden awareness that If Gaia is gaining on another vessel…. we can race them (and he goes from a wine and cheese cruising mentality of ‘we get there when we get there’ to barking commands ‘Trim the gennie! Edge up the traveler windward! We got em!’).
There were 4 foot seas and rounding the Northern tip of Block Island was, as always, a welcoming view. There’s a shallow spit of land that curves out like an arm from the Block Island bluffs that are even more beautiful from the top. We anchored in the salt pond, which has a VERY narrow cut of water that funnels into the harbor.
It was my third time letting out the anchor, which can be, as I learned, a delicate process of lowering at the right moment and letting the boat rest to get your bearings. Mike tied different colored string on the anchor rode every 10 feet so you can see how much rode you have sitting out. This is a GREAT idea and I highly recommend it to anyone anchoring…. But do note that over time the first 80 feet becomes coated in mud and the old neon colors before are brown. So when Mike asked me how much rode we had out half way through… I dunnno…( I guess I need to practice counting or something).
Block Island Saturday/Sunday
Julia and Amy ventured out to the great BI of RI! Our friends still remember us! And they brought beer!!! Saturday morning meeting Julia & Amy was the first time Mike & I came ashore. I had forgotten how timeless and close everything was for walking distance. A 15 minute walk and we met them from the ferry ride over. Our first order of business was to get some serious boat napping & relaxing in, afterall, they did take the first ferry in to BI. We then had ourselves a classic BI beachday. Frisbee, beer, meandering, beach. The day ended in a wet dinghy adventure to cocktails at the infamous ‘Oar’ and somehow… about 4 hours later… we emerged for another dingy adventure across the great pond.
Sunday we made it our mission to find the maze. The maze is for lack of words, really neat.
It’s an intricately woven network of grassy paths that lead you to the BI bluffs, a few ponds, beaches, and always seems to end and begin in private property to some extent. P.S.I have never gone into the maze and not found myself lost at some point. The larger the group, the better the confusion. With a happy go lucky crew of Amy, Julia, Mike, and myself…. This was by far the closest we have ever come to not getting lost. We did, however, manage to miss their expected ferry back home… but nbd. We were all in BI.
Again it was bittersweet to see more friends come and go.
man with red hat parks boat on rocks
18 Friday Sep 2015
Posted in Favorite Posts, Predeparture
It’s 6 days before we leave Boston and Mike decides to replace the entire steering cables. I know it needs to get done… but to wait 6 days before we want to leave is where I begin to wear my defiant look of ‘Good grief Mike! You wait this long!’.
Edson is our manufacturer in this project and let me just take one second and extoll the greatness of Edson…. Not only is Edson Corp the original manufacturer from 1979 but they have been around making steering mechanisms since 1859! Put that in your pipe & smoke it GE Corp (GE is about 40 years behind the game of Edson)! Okay so they’re still around that’s great , we can get replacement parts and it’s distribution is in Mass…. Mike you’re luck is astounding.
I felt like we had to reflect on what we were doing and soak it all in…. but in all the last minute trips to Home Depot, “final” storage runs, and dozens of last minute fixes… it just felt like another 10 hour day of boatwork no big deal.
When people commented on how excited I must be for the journey, I did however, feel a pang of sadness or at least the stark perspective of my reality. It was not going to be happy-go-lucky all the time. It occurred to me, I’m going to be leaving all of THIS! I had already left a safe and happy job. I had no secure income and no idea of what future work was to come. I was about to leave the most amazing crew of lively climbers, hikers, sailors, bikers, artists, runners, kayakers, yogis, programmers, soccer players, musicians, and partiers. Okay, I’ve painted a fairly bleak picture… oops. I was uneasy about having this sense of loss upon the brink of an amazing journey. I’ve never been one not to dive head first on a journey partly because I had never created a home, a community built on years and years of good friends, trips, and familiar bars where everyone seems to know your name (queu music, you know the tune). In all my preparation over the past years, I always dreamed of the places I’d see. It was only now, days prior to departure, when I was face to face with the people and places I’d leave did it hit me.
“I might travel far to seek what I need, but I always return home to realize where it really is.” – Unknown
02 Thursday Jul 2015
Posted in Predeparture
One day I closed a thruhole before leaving for a long hiking trip. I had never done this before so Mike explained the safety reasoning & where all the thruholes were on the boat. He explained, if a pipe directly connected to a thruhole were to fail (aka break) & we were gone, it would potentially allow for the boat to sink. I immediately googled thruholes and read this little tidbit of information “A three inch diameter hole twelve inches below waterline can emit 177 gallons of water per hour (gph)…”. I was horrified to realize someone had intentionally put holes in my boat. I understand how silly and ignorant I was but back then this information was revolutionary to my fear of living on a boat. Proof that ignorance is bliss. A week later Mike left for a business trip. This left me on Gaia, on a mooring, by myself, for a week (can you feel the impending drama building???). I tell ya, I surprise even myself at how many things I found to keep me up at night. My Dad would always joke saying ‘leave one foot on the ground when you sleep, just in case…’ . I’m embarrassed to admit I wasn’t that far away from trying it – I mean WHAT IF the bilge pump broke and the VHF radio didn’t turn on, AND the dinghy was stolen…..
Fast forward a boat season or two…..
We hauled Gaia out at Admirals Hill. And while others could slap an undercoat of paint on or polish the hull over the course of a few days, Gaia always seemed to become a semi-permant resident in whichever marina we were being hauled out. This haul-out was no different. This seasons haul-out was dedicated to thruholes or “seacocks”. Mike replaced 5 thruholes, and filled in three we deemed unnecessary, and together we rebeded one stubborn thruhole… (fun story there).
Kirstens brief overview…..
Overall, after hearing it so many times, I admit it…. It’s not as scary as you may think.
Last bit of this story is; Mike replaced and touched up every thruhole EXCEPT ONE (which was a lot). When it was time to put us back in the water the travel lift operator sat Gaia in the water and we eagerly jumped onboard to check for any leaks. “Looks good”, “looks good”, “looks good” rang back and forth between Mike and I as we checked each thruhole with headlamps. I thought we were in the clear and then we heard the bilge pump go off … crud. There was a leak somewhere. Mike shined his headlamp at the ONE thruhole he didn’t touch and sure enough that little bugger was leaking. We had an emergency haul out and we were put back on the stilts. The marina operator gave us one hour to fix it and get back in the water. There was a lot of cursing and blow torch action but we got it done like we always do.
01 Wednesday Jul 2015
Posted in Predeparture
It had never occurred to me people lived on boats until I met Mike McLinn. And like anyone that opens your eyes to a new and exciting possibility that resonates with your interest and desires…… he became a kind of mentor. He also happened to become my climbing buddy, hiking friend, boyfriend, and, in due course, my husband.
We have been living on our 424 Pearson (42ft LOA (length overall) for over two years. Her name is Gaia and make no mistake, a slight against Gaia is slander against a good friend.
Over the last five years in sailing Gaia, I learned a few things from Mike, experience, and comparing her to other sailboats. Gaia is a ketch rig, so, double the fun with masts! It makes her interesting to sail and balance out the mizzen (smallest sail- in back) with the genoa (our largest sail that’s in front on the forestay). Jibbing with a ketch is also a bit more interesting because the mizzen sail can act against you in crossing the wind (if you’re not tactful enough). Ketch rigs tend to be heavier and more seaworthy, ideal for long distant passages in my mind. 424 Pearsons (ketch as opposed to the cutter/sloop design) also have a lower mast (51 feet), intended to fit under bridges “easily”. Another perk is our keel; it’s a modified full keel so our draft is only 5 feet for a 42 foot vessel (not too shabby). And did I mention how much water we can carry….. 170 gallons of water…. Let’s review: low mast, shallow keel, seaworthy vessel, with lots of water storage.
Over time, I realized something…. This boat was not meant to sail circles in Boston harbor.
It was then I began to appreciate the 3 large solar panels mounted on the davets and wind generator for power. I began to love that Gaia never smacked into forceful bounding sea swells the way that faster boats did with a flatter haul design. I enjoyed taking down the main sail just to see how Gaia would sail with just the geny and mizzen. At some point in those five years, I became a salty sailor.
