Sail Grey Hound

Our new blog site is..........

2012-01-28T18:11:00.002-05:00

If you want to continue to see what we are up to please go to:

http://svnati.blogspot.com/

We have just begun to write the new blog but we'll get better, promise!!!

The times.......they are a changing'!

2012-01-21T16:23:00.000-05:00

As some of you may already know, after 12,610 miles on the water and 13,000+ miles via trailer over the course of 7 years we have made a change in venue. The days of trailering, stepping our own mast and driving all over the eastern part of the US is now behind us. The last night on board our beloved Grey Hound was New Years Eve and then the next day we pulled her from the water and hightailed it to IL. The new owners were waiting with a smiles on their faces!

First to summarize our recent changes:

We put into the Chesapeake Bay at the end of September and cruised around the middle part of the Bay while visiting Amy, Jason and Evan James.
In the middle of October we headed south down the Chesapeake and into the ICW which eventually took us to River Dunes Marina where we kept Grey Hound for a few weeks while going back north to visit family.
In late November we departed River Dunes and were chased down the coast by cold weather and we decided to make time by jumping outside at Georgetown and two days later made it to Jekyll Island.
From there we went to Melbourne to see Tom and Jean and that is where we got into trouble. Our first view of the new boat was there.
Next stop....here is Stuart where we ended up selling Grey Hound and buying Nati, our new (to us) Maxim 380 catamaran.

First......after we sold Grey Hound we had to drive to Green Cove Springs to get the truck and trailer. 450 miles.
Then we put Grey Hound on the trailer and moved all our "junk" into the Best Western in Stuart so Cruz, the most spoiled orchid didn't get cold!
Then back on the road we went. 1,100 miles to Olney, IL. We said our goodbyes......
Then back south and eventually made it to Stuart again. Another 1,100 miles.
Then a survey for Nati. All was OK.
Then a move onto our new vessel. It's amazing how much stuff you can have on a F-33!
Oh, by the way we sold GHP, the Tundra last Wednesday. For the first time in over 40 years we have NO vehicle for the road!!

Tomorrow we leave to head south........another adventure is about to begin!

Over the next week we will be starting a new blog and end this blog. Stand by for the next generation of fun on Nati.

Our new boat.....Nati

Friends are all around us in Stuart

2011-12-29T11:09:00.001-05:00

We have only been doing this cruising thing for 3 years so it is amazing how many people we have met and a perfect example is right here. We are surrounded by people we have met before and they come from all over the place.

AJ, Lisa & Tinker on their new Seawind

Don, Margaret & Tiller on m/v Rufuge

Reiner & Renate on Nati

Jon, Arlene & the Aliens on Kasidah

How many lives does a cat have?

2011-12-29T10:59:00.000-05:00

On Refuge they have a cat named Tiller. As you can see he knows no fear.....he likes going around the mooring field keeping an eye on everything.

He is pretty good at keeping on dry land but he missed the dinghy the other day and Don had to fish him out with the fish net.

One more life used up.....

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-29T10:55:00.000-05:00

The Chief & Millie came into town for a few days and we did as we said............tried to eat our way through Stuart! Not sure if we accomplished it but I feel 10 lbs. heavier!

On the day after Christmas the marina put on a brunch for the cruisers. Someone in the marina has a son who is a chef locally and he wanted to put on the meal & what a brunch it was!!

- Shrimp & grits (the best ever & I think a Binnacle must have!!)
- Eggs with prosciutto
- Fruit of all kinds
- Sawmill biscuits and gravy (again the best!!)
- Drinks with vodka (your choice chocolate or whip cream)
- Croissants
- Scones
- and much, much more than you can ever eat.........lots of fun for everyone!!

Merry Christmas from Stuart, Fl

2011-12-24T07:12:00.001-05:00

We are on a mooring in Stuart Florida this weekend and are hanging out with the Chief & Millie. They came across the state the other day and we'll try to eat our way through all the restaurants in town.

We wish everyone an enjoyable peaceful MERRY CHRISTMAS for 2011 and a HAPPY NEW YEARS.

Stay tune for more updates and news in 2012!!

Lucky number 13 with Clyde

Goodbye Melbourne ....we are heading south to Stuart

2011-12-21T11:09:00.000-05:00

We have had a great time over the past week hanging out with Jean and Tom. With their Cougar (1986 vintage) we were able to do all the chores that were needed to be done. We even were able to see SU beat NC State!

We were anchored just across from Eau Gallie Yacht Basin and they let us shower, park the car and get water from the marina. Karen, dockmaster is great to deal with and we will certainly go back there.

Ballard Park

We had a fun visit from M/V IAMJEANIUS on the last day. She sure looks like a fun boat to hang out on and she was also spotless!

Next stop is Stuart where we will meet up with the Chief & Millie for Christmas!

Melbourne, Fl

2011-12-14T07:37:00.000-05:00

After a nice sail we anchored in Eau Gallie Basin and it was like old home week. Almost to the day we were in here for our very first sail down the east coast 3 year ago. The basin is small and some question the holding but we have a nice shallow spot right across from Eau Gallie Yacht Basin. The marina is great and has allowed us to have showers and to moor the dinghy there. Jean & Tom has lent us the "cougar " for a couple of days so we can do a good job at provisioning.

daylight version

The area is like a zoo at sunset! We have our own manatee hanging out along with a couple of dolphins fishing nearby. We also have ospreys everywhere, pelicans learning to fish (I am trying to get a video of this action), egrets all over and there is an owl somewhere.

Oh yes, the homes and boats are decorated for the holidays, we get to see it all!!

night version

Finally some good sailing!

2011-12-14T07:25:00.000-05:00

The best sail since the Chesakpeake! Onward to Melbourne.....

There is one constant in coastal sailing..........

2011-12-14T07:19:00.000-05:00

.................make sure all plans are in pencil! Things will continue to change and they did the following day.

We catch the 10:30 bridge to head out to the inlet and when we get there all we see is white. As in white, large breaking waves covering the entire inlet. We have already enjoyed Winah Bay Inlet along with St Andrews Inlet and were really thrilled about another wet, bumpy, "lets toss everything in the air" Inlet so we turned around and headed south the "other" way, as in the ICW. The sailing isn't as much fun but it is still enjoyable to see the landscape, particularly since this is our first time. As a side note when we caught the 11:00am bridge the other way a boat moored next to us the night before went out and a half hour later I called them. They did go out but had already decided we made the better choice. They said it was very ugly and would have come back but once in the current going out they had no choice but to keep going.

We did get to go by Fort Mantanzas on the way south. It is supposed to be a cool visit but that will have to be another time.

We end up in Sea Ray cut for the night. The Sea Ray factory is right on the water so it was interesting just to see the boats in the water. We did have a very peaceful and quiet night.

The next day we did a long run on the inside (63 miles) and like normal we always see rather unique living arrangements. Now this boat had no roadside dwelling near it and it appeared to be basically tied to a few stakes in the ground. But it seemed to be home to someone!

Just at dusk we pulled behind a railroad bridge near Titusville for the night. Unknown to us at the time we picked a very nice place for the night as we were able to see a beautiful moonrise and in the morning we also had a nice sunrise. The huge building in the sunrise is the Kennedy Space Center and a launch platform (I'm assuming for the shuttle) is beside it.

Time to visit St Augustine, FL

2011-12-08T19:07:00.000-05:00

After our night visit with the Kadey Krogen over the night we headed down to Jacksonville Beach and had a great night at Beach Marina and then it was a quick run to St Augustine. At Beach Marina they really like boaters.......in the morning they dropped a newspaper right on our net! Now that is cool....

On the way across the St John's river we decided to give a slightly larger vessel room to get by us. I do think it was a good idea!

We have heard great things about St Augustine and it hasn't let us down. The municipal marina has a large number of mooring balls and they are much further apart than those in Fernandina Beach. Overall they do a great job with a large dinghy dock, hot showers, a shuttle service to your boat during the day and the town is right at the end of the dock.

St Augustine is the oldest city in the nation (started somewhere in the 1600's and there are many old buildings to see. It is too bad the cold front came through as it made it hard to get off the boat and at night it went back into the 40's.....burrrrrrrrr!!! We will just have to come back.

Bridge of Lions

Cobblestone streets

Now this is old!

This is cool!

Older yet!

Tomorrow it looks like we will have a weather wind to go outside and make an overnight run down to Cape Canaveral and then it's down to Melbourne to harass Jean and Tom for a day or so.

Oh so close......

2011-12-04T21:02:00.001-05:00

When we got back to the boat this afternoon we had our new neighbor come for a visit. We told them if they open the drapes and hand over the popcorn then we would be set. With the current and the wind we actually got as close as 10 feet and then we pulled the bridle up tight and put the daggerboard down. The tide will turn at 10pm and then we can go to sleep.

What does a 39 foot trawler have in common with a 3,500 lb trimaran?

Caution: objects can and will appear closer then they are!

Hi nieghbor....pass the popcorn!

Fernandina Beach

2011-12-04T20:01:00.000-05:00

After grabbing a mooring ball we decided to walk around the town and what a great town it is. The oldest railroad in Florida is here and a lot of "Peg Legs".

I need my own sword!

Christmas is in the air and it is still great to see palm trees with light on them. Even the marina had decor up and the day was fun just walking around, seeing the sights and hanging out. It is much nicer when you don't have to bundle up all day.

At the marina

Christmas in Fernandina Beach

Recap of the last few days on Grey Hound

2011-12-04T19:51:00.003-05:00

We just completed a 34 hour sail out of Georgetown, SC, out into the North Atlantic and tried for Jacksonville, FL. The winds did not cooperate and we decided to sail to St Simon Inlet instead. The sail ended up to be approx. 210 miles and was our first (by ourselves) ocean overnight. It was cold for most of the time (we slept in foul weather gear) and the wind was up and down. The seas, particularly early were pretty good size. GH handled them great and there was no time that we felt unsafe. When the moon set at midnight the night was as dark as any we can remember. We saw no other sailing boats, but a number of freighters went by us. We did hear one boat call our friends on Windward. We tried to take a number of videos of the dolphins as they swam all around us many times but they didn't come out at all. We will need a better camera for that.
Anne saw all the shooting stars at night and even saw a comet go across the sky. Somehow I lucked out and slept through every one??!!
The sail saved us about 75 miles and 4 or 5 days since we didn't have to motor down the ICW.
At Jekyll Island Marina we had a good nights sleep after hot showers and a quick dinner at the local restaurant. The heater was on all night and we slept very well. In the morning we headed over to Cumberland Island and decided at the last minute to anchor in Brickhill River for a night as the wind would have made Fernandina Beach pretty rough.
In the morning we motored down the river, passed by the sub base on the St Mary's River and grabbed a mooring ball at Fernandina Beach.
WE ARE NOW IN FLORIDA!!!!!!!!
Tomorrow I am putting on shorts!!!!!!!!!!!!
Our last few anchorages are as follows:

N 34.02.972 W 077.53.365
N 33.52.346 W 078.34.174
N 33.30.545 W 079.08.761

The anchorages have been very good holding. Thank you "Mr Spade Anchor"!! Also the extra chain does not hurt either. Our last anchorage had a tide of over 6 feet!!
From the Chesapeake to the Florida border we have used 32 gallons of gas.

Georgetown Lighthouse

The sun setting at sea

Sunset at Jekyll Island Marina

And all good plans can and will change!

2011-12-02T20:59:00.000-05:00

Out of Georgetown at 7am. Yes, Kismet, we actually did it!

Had a fun (ok, maybe not) departure out of Winyah Inlet and did a lot of miles going south and west for about 36 hours. But........we are not in Florida!!! But we are close.

Right now we are at Jekyll Island Marina. The offer of super hot showers, power for our heater (low 30's tonight) and the ability to wash Grey Hound off after a 200+ sail on the North Atlantic was too good an offer. We even had someone else cook tonight.

Stay tune for further updates........we are going to bed!!

No bathing suits today!

A new recipe tonight and then we are outta here......

2011-11-30T19:01:00.001-05:00

Grey Hound is set, the auto pilot is installed and we are sitting down to a nice hot dinner that is from Christine's cookbook! "Utica Greens......Grey Hound style"!!! The lows have been in the 30's so it is time to say "haste la vista baby.......that is to you folks in SC.

We plan on getting up early and heading to Murrell's inlet and into the Atlantic for a 200 mile run to Jacksonville, FL on the outside. We have done over 400 miles of the ICW and now it is time to sail!!

Look out JAX, here we come!!

Georgetown, SC

2011-11-30T18:44:00.000-05:00

We pulled into Georgetown a couple of days ago to await our package from Defender Industries. Yes, the auto pilot gave up the ghost. Our loss ended up being a good thing as we have had a great time in Georgetown.

When I called Harborwalk Marina to see if they would accept our package, they could not have been nicer. Both Mike & Chris, the managers of the marina have been above the call of duty and we could only hope that more marinas are like Harborwalk. And of course we like the marina pals....Lucy & Gabriel, the labs. It is FIRST CLASS ALL THE WAY!!

The town itself has done a ton of work cleaning up the waterfront and a boardwalk now extends across the whole town. There are dinghy docks and a number of other docks for cruising boats. The restaurants cater to the travelers and we have yet to meet someone that is not friendly.

We will be back!!

Georgetown Boardwalk

Live Oak drives

Town Clock on Front Street

The Waccamaw River and Thoroughfare Creek

2011-11-30T18:31:00.000-05:00

Since we decided to keep going to Georgetown, SC we did have the opportunity to see the beautiful Waccamaw River area. It is hardly developed and the pictures can tell it all. I don't think one could see the area any other way but from the water so we had the best view!

Our next "chalet" on the water!

Both Windward and GH decided that Thoroughfare Creek would be a great location to spend a couple of days before we trekked on to Georgetown. The weather was nice and it was here that we happened to be the first people on Windward's first trip down the ICW to partake in a "happy hour"! Lots of fun for all and those guys are great!!

Also "Renew-it" took us on our longest dinghy ride ever......... 4 hours of going up the creek to "Exchange", an original 1820's plantation. Not the grandest but still here, looking like something from another era. The live oaks and the moss is magnificent.

The Exchange

Resting Renew-it before the 9 mile motor

You looking at ME??!!

We go south with our friends on s/v Windward

2011-11-30T18:10:00.001-05:00

From Carolina Beach our original plan was to motor to Shallotte Creek. When we got there neither of us like what we saw......too little water and lots of current! Onward.....

Next stop was Calabash. The name even sounds kind of cool so it was much better. When we pulled in we recognized one of the two boats from Mile Hammock. When we went into Carolina Beach, they turned off into Wrightsville Beach. But, now they are stuck with us!! S/V Windward is a great looking Fugi 45 and they have done a ton of work on her.

Morning also brought in fog and we had to wait a little while for some of it to burn off. We pulled out shortly after the shrimp boat went by.

The things people do for golf!

Pulling into Thoroughfare Creek with Windward

Still going.......

2011-11-30T18:01:00.000-05:00

Out of Carolina Beach and further points south. Since the seas and wind didn't cooperate too much and, oh yeah......why is the tiller pilot smoking????

No this is not the Colorado River!

Just lets keep going south so we can finally have warm water and water weather. Sooooooo.... we keep going down the ICW a little longer. Because the current and tide is so strong down here we planned on going down the Cape Fear River with help. In order for that to happen we went through Snow Cut with the water looking like this!

One final blast with the direction finder telling us where to go!

2011-11-23T19:33:00.000-05:00

So far the last 3 days our direction finder (also know as the wind indicator to some) has told us where to go. It's either straight upwind or just plain, no wind! The bridges in this area must enjoy driving boaters nutty as you really have to plan on hitting the bascule bridge right on time or you end up waiting up to an hour for the next opening. With the current with us we even motored at 8.2 its for a couple of miles just to make it to the bridge!

For the last two night we have been anchored in Carolina Beach as the cold front came through. Not too much rain but it is blowing hard now. The cooler weather is returning tomorrow so for Thanksgiving we are going to head out with the tide and keep moving south. Maybe I can spear a runaway turkey along the way!

We dinked into the public docks for a walk and to mail a letter out. No wonder the Post Office is going bust. We could NOT find a mailbox anywhere! At the end we walked over to a Marriott Hotel and the desk said they would send it out with their mail. How crazy.....

Carolina Beach boardwalk

Looking out toward the anchorage

Do you think they are trying a little too hard????!!!!

2011-11-23T19:19:00.000-05:00

Holy pink & periwinkle batman!

A night at Camp Lejeune

2011-11-23T19:16:00.000-05:00

The ICW actually runs through the Marine base and there are times when they stop you if they are doing some shooting across the waterway. We are totally into that thought!!

Mile Hammock is a very pleasant spot to spend the night. We did have some marine boats flying by us. Practice they must.

Target practice anyone?

These guys flew by!!

Sunset at Mile Hammock

Same direction in the morning!

You never know what vessel you'll see doing the ICW

2011-11-23T19:06:00.000-05:00

These guys won't be the last of unusual boats you will see but they are fun to see and we try to take pictures of all the different ones. Big and small...........it takes all kinds!

Exit stage right.......to Adams Creek and towards the coast

2011-11-23T19:02:00.000-05:00

Going through another bridge at Morehead City

Our backyard in Spooner Creek

With no wind we pulled out of Broad Creek and headed up the Neuse River and then into Adams Creek for a motor down towards Beaufort and Morehead City. The day was uneventful and we decided to end the day in Spooner Creek. The entrance is very interesting since you cannot see into the creek until you make a 90 degree turn around a tall concrete wall! Very tight for GH but it was quiet when we went through. The anchorage isn't very big but there was only one other boat (it is rather late in the year you know) in the middle anchored so we had plenty of room.

Last night at River Dunes was a nice start

2011-11-23T18:51:00.000-05:00

So long River Dunes. a very nice place to stop and especially good when you have to leave your boat for a few days.

We will be back!

We're back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2011-11-19T16:00:00.000-05:00

The time has finally arrived and we are back on GH and will start heading to warm weather ASAP. We have enough food to last a decade (not as much corn as Kissy) but we will hold our own for now. Laundry is done and the water tank is topped off.

Lets see, since we left GH at River Dunes, we:

- drove from River Dunes to Annapolis to pick up GHP.
- then north to Syracuse for the weekend...
- Sunday night we then head to Rochester for a Teagan visit.....
- then it's off to Annapolis for a few days with Evan and gang.
- Last Monday I get the trailer and head south....first stop at the GA. border.
- next day to Green Cove Springs to store the truck and trailer.
- taxi to Jacksonville and fly to BWI and rent a car to drive to Annapolis.
- Next day we drive to River Dunes!

Not much over 2,000 miles but ENOUGH!!

NEXT stop............more warm weather, ON OUR BOAT!!!!

Grey Hound at River Dunes Marina

The forecast is for light winds for a couple of days and then another front will visit around Wednesday. Hopefully we can make good time over the next week.

Stay tuned.

One year and counting!

2011-11-11T09:07:00.000-05:00

Evan is now 1 year old. Sunday is the big party and then we head south.

River Dunes Marina & Resort

2011-11-05T12:52:00.001-04:00

After a rather windy sail into the Neuse River we made it down to River Dunes, our home for a couple of weeks. The anchorage in Bear Creek was great and we thought we would have a quiet sail out of Bay Creek and down to the Marina. Wrong!! We now know about Maw Point and how dangerous that area is. Locals know that a NE fetch from Pamlico Sound ends up right at the turn from the Bay River into the Neuse River. Yep, right where we had to go around. Big, Steep waves (kind of like coming out of Simcoe Island cut but bigger) and GH had to go straight into it until we could head downwind. Then (under jib only) we shot right into Broad Creek doing 10-12kts.

Right now we have just finished our 750 mile drive from there, to Annapolis to pick up GHP and then continue to Syracuse. We hope to see friends and family while up here and then it's pedal down because we really want to get into warm weather!!

The Marina is right there.....on dry land!

Blanche II

Very nice!

River Dunes

Nice pool but too cold!

Stand by for new updates as we keep moving all over the country.....

Heading south but NOT fast enough!

2011-10-30T20:36:00.000-04:00

On the way to the North Pole??!!

Yep, it is darn cold here in NC! We will have to make GH go even faster as I look funny with long pants and hats on!

We have had almost no cell coverage going through the state but sometimes we get the Verizon air card to connect like we are doing in our current anchorage in Bear Creek. No phone but Internet!!?? Go figure and it pays to have two different providers I guess.

Time for a change of scene..

2011-10-30T20:28:00.000-04:00

We knew more weather was coming and it was time to hide from the north winds so we went a short ways to Slade Creek

N35.28.417
W076.31.592

The place has rock solid holding as we had some big wind come through. The old spade didn't let us down and we sat there for two days and hardly went into the cockpit as it was cold and windy!

Still.......nice sunset

Dowry Creek

2011-10-30T20:24:00.000-04:00

We anchored in about 6 feet of water as a strong front was predicted. The holding again was fantastic as the front came through like gangbusters around 2am. We had a beautiful day there before the weather changed. Here's a sunset shot.

Sitting pretty

Location N 35. 32.154
W076. 32. 062

We went into the marina to get gas and ice and along the way we met Ben on s/v Loon, Crealock 37 and caught up "Old Rosie", a Bruce Roberts 44 tonner. Last time we chatted with them was in the North Channel at Long Point Cove, Ontario in 2008 and where also we had "INTANGIBLE" anchored nearby.

It's always nice to meet new people along the way but it's really cool to see people we haven't seen in years.........very small world we keep saying.

We were invited by Loon to go to the marina happy hour but that was short lived. If you anchor nearby and don't tie up to the ugly pilings at the marina one gets kicked out of that sort of party. Sooooo....a word to you folks that like to anchor..........don't ask for much cause you won't get much from Dowry Creek Marina!!

East Lake, Durant Island

2011-10-30T20:08:00.000-04:00

We stopped for the night at

N 35.55.023
W 075.54.818

Nice anchorage, very secluded and really good holding. For the night we had light southwesterlies and slept great!!!

Just passin' through Elizabeth City

2011-10-30T20:02:00.000-04:00

South Mills Lock to Durant Island, East Lake

2011-10-30T19:57:00.000-04:00

We dropped lines from the raft-up around 7:30am to make our way south. Next stop Elizabeth City and a really nice sail to Durant Island.

Early morning with a good cup of coffee

Locking up..........easier than locking down

Next stop..........

2011-10-30T19:46:00.000-04:00

Let the rafting begin!

No worries, I'll catch you DeFever 49!!

All tucked in

Where's Grey Hound?

The North Carolina Welcome Center, Dismal Swamp. Well as it works out when there are 18 boats coming through a lock it takes time to get everyone through. So not one of these vessels was going to make it to the next lock before closing. That leaves a lot of boats looking for a place to spend the night in a very small area. It's possible to anchor in the canal but why when you can meet all your "new best friends" at the Welcome Center? Besides the Welcome Center has washrooms and running water.

ooooooooohhhhhhh The Great Dismal Swamp!!!!

2011-10-30T18:41:00.000-04:00

Early (for us anyways) in the morning we pulled anchor and headed south into the Dismal Swamp. We know for fact that we are the first F-33 going through it.

Heading to the first lock!

Leaving Hospital Pt anchorage

The swamp is something quite interesting and there seems to be times when it would be not too much fun in a trimaran but we had calm winds and sunny skies, although rather cool in the mornings and at night. First conceived in the 1700's it is now mostly used by pleasure craft and is 22 miles long with two locks. LOCKS??!! Oh no......

Plenty of room!!

Don't let go of that line!!

We have a little signal but.......

2011-10-28T16:37:00.000-04:00

We tried to upload some pictures but the Internet signal is not great here in Slade Creek, NC. We will wait out the lousy weather here as the holding is great and we are protected 360 degrees.

Stand by for further highlights....

Deltaville and the trip into Norfolk.....

2011-10-23T22:04:00.000-04:00

After Tangier Island we decided there wasn't enough wind to go far so we went over to Deltaville for a night at anchor......This was our neighbor.

Then it was off to Norfolk, VA to get ready for a new adventure........the ICW, also known as the Intercoastal Waterway.

Right now we are anchored about 300 yards inside mile maker number 0 and will start heading south tomorrow towards the Great Dismal Swamp. Hopefully it won't be too dismal for us!!

Our friends as we came into town.......

Note the DeFever 49 in the foreground

LOOK OUT!!

A little more of Tangier Island

2011-10-23T21:56:00.000-04:00

We were able to tour the museum on the island all by ourselves as Dave, the overseer let us in the back door and we had a great time with no interruption.

It was really cool to see some of the old time stuff and especially the old pictures.

days of the past

Milton Parks.....the man who caught our dock lines

Downtown Tangier

It would be a real shame to loose this part of our country......... It may not be fancy but it is very real and good!!

Should we go south or east??

2011-10-23T21:48:00.000-04:00

After the front went through we thought we would head south until we pulled out of Mill Creek and decided to go east to.......Tangier Island!! It was only 15 or so miles and we had planned on this visit for some time.

The sail was not the greatest as it was DDW (dead down wind) but once there we were rewarded to a great time with the island, people and atmosphere.

Tangier Island, VA is a very special place in our hearts. Right now the island is slowly disappearing by 7 acres per year and the Watermen's way of life is really in jeopardy. Between pollution and the inept Chesapeake Bay policies, the future is not bright. How can real working fisherman hurt the environment??? We are talking about 50 boats and most of them are single owner boats going out to make a living.

As of now Tangier Island has a population of about 500 compared to 1200 folks not too long ago. We had our dock lines caught by Milton Parks, owner of the Parks Marina and he is still quite a character at 80 years old. Dad, he is 24 days younger than you!! He has been operating the marina for 40 years and has been a waterman for 60. He and his family have been on the island for a long time!

Enjoy the pictures........

Coming into the channel.....looks narrow for 24 foot beam!

No room for the anchoring......lots of mud at low tide

Crab shacks

Down the main drag at Tangier Island

Can you find the way to go?

The spooning bridge

just very cool

Which mast is GH at Parks Marina?

Waiting out the weather

2011-10-23T21:21:00.000-04:00

N38.13.8

W076.19.5

We stayed in Mills Creek for 3 nights waiting out the weather. Great holding and rather pretty and plenty of deep water for us. Kind of wet also......

OK, how many Mill Creek does this make for us in the Chesapeake????

Ps2 - Just who was Mr Mills anyways?

Just like the big boys!

2011-10-19T11:48:00.001-04:00

We headed out of Solomons Island early (0745) just like all the rest of the fisherman and cruisers. Kismet should be so proud of us as the day before they admonished us for leaving at 10:00am and getting to Solomon Island some how in front of them.

The sail down was OK. As we sailed past the Potomac River the wind slackened and turned right making us go in the wrong direction as our original thought was to go to Tangiers Island. Unfortunately it turned out to be just too far in the wrong direction so after passing Smith Point Light we headed into Mills Creek for the expected front to come through. Us and about 10 other boats spent a quiet but rather rainy night. We will follow this up with an update of the high winds expected tomorrow

Schooner heading north

Smith Point Light

Mills Creek

Hey Jeff & Cathy......this is for you guys!!!!

2011-10-17T20:34:00.000-04:00

At last........a sunset!!

2011-10-17T20:29:00.000-04:00

We know you have been wondering when we would do this again.........well here you go!!!

We're off to Solomons Island

2011-10-17T20:27:00.000-04:00

After a couple of rain delays we finally were able to head out of the Rhode River and go south. The forecast was for SW winds but we were hoping they would stay more out of the west than not. Well......sometimes they did but the oscillating winds (maybe 30-40 degrees) made most of the sail bumpy and rather hard. Towards the end the wind picked up and we flew into Solomons Island nicely.

There are many small anchorages in a number of creeks so we are having a couple of nice nights.......ah, quiet!

The town at Solomons Island is small but quaint. We managed to get our exercise walking from one end to the other. We dinked over to what the cruising guide said is the "world's most famous dinghy dock". We still can't figure out why as it cost us $2 bucks and it was just at the wall of the Holiday Inn.

A good start!! Seems so very good to be moving and seeing new places and things.

Good bye "Bay Bridge" Grey Hound is heading south!

Hello big barge!!!!

Coming into Solomons Island

A very nice looking Schoonerz

Fall is in the air

Busy street in a quiet town!

A marina with no docks!

2011-10-16T08:26:00.000-04:00

Between all the rain the Chesapeake has had and the lunar high tides all the docks around here are under water. This is where we are leaving from this morning, Holiday Hill.

Is this close enough??

2011-10-16T08:18:00.000-04:00

This is one close mooring!

Now Don, Sara and Yoda are nice and all that but come on Don!!

A new captain in the making.

2011-10-16T08:15:00.000-04:00

The first thing he grabs onboard is the jib sheet. Then he turns around and wants the tiller!! But first he will inspect the traveler line for any issues!!??

He could be a tough captain to work for!!

Some of the smaller boats at the show

2011-10-16T08:07:00.000-04:00

A Melvin & Morelli design we think

Mike Horn has certainly made a change in life style. Last I knew he was sailing around the world on a F-28! Now he is on this huge boat is hanging out in Naptown.

Now this is one big and wild looking sailboat!

A New Adventure Begins.......

2011-10-16T07:54:00.000-04:00

Now that we have been in the Chesapeake Bay for a couple of weeks it is time to get moving. This year could prove to be the most interesting yet as we have decided to try sailing down the whole east coast of the US!!!!! Key West here we come!!!!!

But, a recap of the last couple of weeks of Boat Shows, friends coming by and of course Evan James!

First......holy smokes, a ton of friends came into town to check out the boat show and we gave it a good try to eat our way through town...

Felix & Margrit came up from Florida and we had to taste the fine food and beer at the Old Stein Inn.

Next, Marty & Kathy had a friends home to stay in and we went all over the place to find food and to look at boats!!

Don & Sara (F31 Flight Risk) stopped by and said hi!

Tom, Sue & Erika ran through town after a Hobie Regatta to see some boats, visit with Amy, Jason & Evan along with wishing Anne a Happy B-day

Kismet told us about the fine dining at Grumpy's.

We had a happy hour with the gang from the Chesapeake Multihull Assoc.

Re-newit with other boats at Sarles Marina!

Soooooo.......as you can see we had nothing at all to do over the the last two weeks!! Oh yea, did I forget about getting Grey Hound ready for the adventure??!!

Up the mast we go.......

2011-10-05T10:48:00.001-04:00

While in Langford Creek Jim had to go up the mast to fix a windex and I had to go up to get the deck light working. Jim cheated as he has steps leading all the way up! Addendum: I made Jim winch me up the mast.......

While going under the Bay Bridge we had to make sure we stayed out of the channel. This little guy had room at the mark!!

A first sail on the Chesapeake for 2011

2011-10-05T10:43:00.000-04:00

It is trying to stop raining but we finally had to go for a little sail to make sure GH was all back together in a proper manner. So, along with Kismet we decided to head up Mills Creek for a night and then head over to the Chester River to get away from the crowd.

It is the first time we saw Kantler's Restaurant from the water. Pretty cool joint.....

Will it ever stop raining in Annapolis???????!!!!!!

2011-09-23T08:05:00.000-04:00

Jason said they have something like 250% of the normal rainfall right now and it is suppose to rain most of the weekend yet again.

So...........we are hanging out with Evan and stand and look at GH sitting on her trailer.

We should be able to get her in the water early next week. Kismet wants to take a walkabout before the Boat Show.

Time to hit the road.........

2011-09-19T21:23:00.000-04:00

Grey Hound is clean again and back in the driveway. Today we went to the "Center for Play" with Teagan. A whole complex set only for playing. Now that is right up our ally!!

And you want what when???

Mr Potato Head I presume???!!!

Next stop......Annapolis, MD. Time to harass Evan.........and get back in the water!!!!!!

Back in Honeoye Falls.....

2011-09-13T21:40:00.001-04:00

Goodbye Clayton, goodbye 1,000 Islands and hopefully goodbye cold snow!

A few days playing with Teagan and cleaning up GH and we'll be heading south. Grey Hound is plenty dirty and has spiders everywhere so the work is set up for the week.

More action coming soon,..............

Cruising with Dream Chaser....

2011-09-08T13:25:00.000-04:00

Right after our week on Binnacle, Marty & Kathy, on board Dream Chaser, F-24, mk2 and Grey Hound took a little sail around the 1,000 Islands, the whole time being chased by wind and rain. We tried our best to hide and we mainly had cool weather and enough wind to keep us busy.

Day one was to Mulcaster Island where we had a nice anchorage for the night and good steak dinner on board Grey Hound, thank you Dream Chaser........until the rain sent us to bed. Then it was off to Kingston for hot showers, good food at the Brew Pub. Confederation Basin was almost empty. Only us and a little m/v named ZIGGY!

We had to ask......and sure enough, when we were sailing around Key Biscayne last winter these guys were on the radio a number of times hailing various marinas and clubs!! We're betting we will find them again at Annapolis later this fall. They are so lucky to have GH and a neighbor!!

Nice sails on Dream Chaser!

Confederation Basin

From Kingston we decided to head back to Clayton and Dream Chaser slid up on her trailer and headed to Butler and WBUT Radio!!

A couple of more shots

2011-09-08T13:11:00.002-04:00

Fun in the pool!!

Cool Hand Luke??!!

The mighty ship Grey Feather

Some pictures of Binnacle Island

2011-09-08T12:59:00.000-04:00

Binnacle's own pirate!!

More trouble coming our way!!

Another gourmet dinner!

Watch out for those teeth Jason!

Binnacle 2011 - Another Success!

2011-09-06T09:02:00.000-04:00

What looked like a bleak week weather wise actually didn't turn out too bad. We had some good winds from Irene but all the boats were well secure and no problems occurred.

By Monday the people started coming and once again we invented new ways to raft the boats off the docks. Teagan and Evan had lots of fun (Evan told me so Amy & Jason) and I do believe Teagan would like to be on vacation all the time!

Pictures will follow when we have a good connection.......

Thanks everyone for coming!!!!!!!

Not too bad, huh???!!

2011-08-30T08:41:00.000-04:00

Let the party begin!!!!

2011-08-30T08:38:00.000-04:00

We have started to get more folks show up at the Island. Yesterday Amy, Jason, Evan (for his first Binnacle trip) and the Chief showed up. The parking is getting a little tighter but somehow we'll figure out what will work the best.

BINNACLE ISLAND 2011

2011-08-28T09:19:00.000-04:00

Yesterday we pulled up to Binnacle for a week of fun in the sun.......well, not yet as Hurricane Irene is going up the coast and we will get a bunch of rain and wind today.

As of this moment we have:
- Teagan
- Bob
- Steph
- Jackson
- Marty
- Kathy
- Anne
- The most interesting man

Stand by for pictures and further updates as we progress through the week!

Plenty of other life also.....

2011-08-15T16:52:00.000-04:00

On top of the most bugs we have EVER seen there have also been some nice views of some our animal friends....Eagles, ospreys, minks (not sure if it was Marty's mink), loons and deer have been around.

The little black snakes at Thurso we could do without but first I have to research what the darn things were....

And then there were more...................

2011-08-15T16:44:00.000-04:00

From Simcoe Island we did our first sail to Waupoos and yep......we found some "Cheese heads" from Wisconsin! Good ole "Buddy" motored around the point and right into the anchorage. These guys launched from Picton a couple of days prior and some friends there. From there we eventually met up with them again by Mulcaster Island just in time for another t-storm. Unknowingly, we sent them down river right into Pirates Weekend at A-Bay!! Hope they survived....

While at Mulcaster we also met up with our good old friend Les on Cadenzza II. Anne's shortbread is still something to savor!! I can't forget Les's soda bread either. I wasn't able to steal the new loaf in the cockpit.......

Holy Cow!! Where did all the people come from?

2011-08-15T16:32:00.000-04:00

The last couple of weeks have been a whirlwind of moving from anchorage to anchorage and seeing many friends that have made it to the "river" this year. First Tim and Marie christened their new boat, "He Macaria" at Clayton. They then took it down to Oneida Lake for some local sailing.

Tom & Sue came up for a long weekend and we rendezvoused with "Tenacious". On one of the days the wind came up enough to do a circuit of the islands around Grindstone Island. All hands were on deck for the sunny sail.

Then, yes Jim, we found the Northern Frontier "monitor of all things" and he resides on Otium!!! The picture has found him wandering to all the boat at our Simcoe Island anchorage. The legend lives on in the north!!!

Red sky in the morning.........

2011-07-25T16:58:00.000-04:00

I would say this says it all........yep, it has rained and thundered most of today!

Sunset at Clayton

2011-07-19T22:07:00.000-04:00

We still do have good sunsets in the Thousand Islands!!!!!!

Grey Hound's first....."motor"

2011-07-19T22:05:00.000-04:00

At least we got off the mooring.......no wind but we almost made it to an anchorage before a good old t-storm blew through. +40 knots made the only option putting her in neutral and drifting around for a few minutes but we eventually made it to one of our anchorages near Mulcaster Island. Plenty of muddy sand and also plenty of bugs! Yuck on northern bugs!!

Getting back to the hard work..............

2011-07-19T22:00:00.000-04:00

We did work our butts off at getting Grey Hound back to ship shape. I hope she knows how hard the work was but I do think it paid off........

Think she is ready for another season of sailing all over the northern hemisphere????

Finally.........Grey Hound is splashed!

2011-07-12T08:15:00.000-04:00

It seemed like it took forever but we got her done........last Thursday we pulled out of Bob, Steph & Teagan's homestead and headed north. On the way we picked up the repaired dodger and bimini and managed to get her in the water in Clayton, NY before dark. Now we have a sparkling clean and polished boat again. She looks just like new......

Because of the short time period that we will be in the water up here we have worked up a deal to grab a mooring at Islander Marian for two months. They have been real good to work with. We won't be here for a long time so we better be here for a good time!

It feels good to be back at home on Grey Hound!!!!!

Out with the dirt....in clean fresh hulls and stuff

2011-07-03T11:06:00.000-04:00

We have finally started to give Grey Hound her a fresh water bath, her first real cleaning since last fall. Most everything has been pulled out of the boat and Anne has the inside looking like new! She can even get my stains out of the cushions! The "Y" valve is now operational and nothing has been put back on board unless we deem it worth putting back on. It's amazing how much "stuff" one accumulates over the coarse of a year living on a boat. Jeff, the Super Sucker isn't going back on the boat. It makes too much noise and and doesn't work worth it's weight!

The daggerboard has been pulled, scrubbed and new bottom paint is going on tomorrow. Same with the rudder. We have Woody waxed the nonskid and she is starting to look like new again.

Today is "Woody Wax the hulls" day......hopefully 3 coats on the whole boat.

Captain Doug Stein.......

2011-06-20T23:17:00.000-04:00

We have received word that our friend and fellow sailor, Bryan Douglas Stein has died Saturday night at his home in Gulf Breeze, Florida with his wife, Peggy at his side. Doug was 47 in February of this year and a monster called Glioblastoma Multiforme was the cause of his death. He fought the horrible brain tumor right to the end but there was no winning this battle.

Anne & I first met Doug and Peggy in 2000 at one of the Corsair Nationals in Ft Walton Beach, Fl. For some reason we hit it off right from the start when he walked up and wanted to know what a "SATO" (our F-27 at the time) was! Since then we have seen them when possible and it was only less than a month ago that we managed to make it to Gulf Breeze for one more visit.

Doug, you won't have to worry about which boat you will be on next..............your memory will always be with us as we head out to sea!!

Fair winds Captain Doug

And the work begins!

2011-06-16T17:36:00.000-04:00

The PMI work has started at will.........Anne has all the cushions cleaned and waterproofed along with most of the frontrunner cleaned and sparkling, the saildrive lower unit is primed and painted and new zinc's are in place. The inside zinc is not easy but with a new $15 ratchet it finally met it's match!

First coat of primer

Old & new

The bolts are on the outside!

We just finished cleaning the prop, the new anchor eye's have been installed. Next week it will be polishing time!!

Getting ready for spring cleaning!

2011-06-09T10:44:00.002-04:00

The wedding shower that Steph is holding is just about here and next week we will start to work on GH. She will be getting a new bottom, at least 3 coats of polish and a sparkling clean prop. Anne plans on going through the inside from top to bottom and before the end of the month we will have a shinny, almost new boat again.

Overall Grey Hound came through the winter in good shape. But to keep her that way will require a few hours of TLC.

Can anyone find a little girl in this picture?????

2011-05-27T10:48:00.003-04:00

I know Teagan is in there somewhere??!!??!!

The boys are discussing strategy

2011-05-27T10:45:00.002-04:00

Evan has been giving me much needed updates on the Annapolis scene. He is much more versed on the "cool" things happening in Nap'town.

Getting Evan ready for sailing season

2011-05-25T17:15:00.002-04:00

First thing is for all crew members on Grey Hound to be able to swim. Well, Anne worked on that today as the weather in Annapolis continues to be fabulous!

Evan is looking really good in his swimming apparel. He is taking to the water like a natural......

Heading north tomorrow............time to harass more family!!

Presenting Evan at 6 months

2011-05-22T10:46:00.003-04:00

After 1,588 miles of towing GH all over the country we pulled into Annapolis for a few days to see Amy, Jason and Evan. Obviously he is the talk of the party.

Catching up with old friends

2011-05-19T21:20:00.004-04:00

OK, so Gulf Breeze is not necessarily a direct route from Port Charlotte but we just had to make a little side trip to see these guys! Doug & Peggy Stein are some of our best friends. We met in 2000 in Ft Walton for Farrier/Corsair Nationals. They sailed on the F 27 "Just Do It" back in the day. In 2004 Doug and I sailed on a C-36, "Gray Goose in the Chicago - Mackinaw Race and had one heck of a good time, even without any wind.

Since then Captain Doug & Peg have been all over the Caribbean and Med working as Captain and first mate on a number of large cruising cats. The latest one, "Ocean's Seven", a Privilege 585 catamaran have most recently been working in the Med over by Croatia. These guys know their stuff when it comes to multihulls........

DOESN'T GET ANY BETTER THAN THESE GUYS!!!!!!! We love these Guys, please keep them in your thoughts and prayers.

Current location.....Madison, Fl

2011-05-18T07:57:00.002-04:00

Grey Hound loves big parking lots!

On the trailer GH goes

2011-05-18T07:49:00.003-04:00

We made it to the dock just before the skies turned very dark and the storm went on through without issue. Afterwards we put GH on the trailer and made a slight modification to the rig......yes, we are now towing a boat and trailer registered in Florida!

Oh, before we forget.....we are getting another new dinghy! Haven't decided on the new name but this is the end of NU-IT! We feel very bad as Nu-it has served us well.

To Little Shark River & Cayo Costa

2011-05-18T07:37:00.003-04:00

With no wind to help the crossing our plan for a long sail up the coast was fiction only. We decided to hang in the Little Shark River for the night and it has always provided us with a great sunset. We were not let down this time either.

From there we went to another nice anchorage near Indian Key and then on to Rookery Bay for two more stops before heading to Cayo Costa on a good 51 mile sail up to Charlotte Bay. Again, this stop is one of our favorites and we met some infamous boaters there. They said they were the main representatives of the "Trimarans for Peace" brotherhood. Not sure what their mission statement is but they did have RUM!

A recap of our trip back to Port Charlotte

2011-05-18T07:23:00.002-04:00

It's has been pretty much a non-stop affair since we left Lake Worth. We are now on the road, slowly working our way north but it wouldn't be fair to leave out the last part of our adventure for the winter of 2010/11. We met a bunch of nice folks and had a few good sails along the way.

So.......after leaving Key Largo we decided to make it down to Shell Key to enjoy the nice warm, clear water and do some of the last swimming for awhile. The Key has 3 free mooring balls and there was nobody around so we had the place to ourselves. From there it was to Marathon for the last of the provisioning before crossing Florida Bay and up the west coast of Florida. On the way out we spotted a very cool motor vessel. My guess was correct as afterwards we looked her up and she is Steve Dashew's aluminum vessel, "Wind Horse". Very impressive!!!

The crossing of the Bay was much less so ..........see any wind in the pictures?

All American Boat Storage

2011-05-14T17:09:00.002-04:00

We departed Cayo Costa before dawn today in order to beat a cold front coming into the area. We had to motor 26 miles into AABY and we made it with time to spare. Now we are sitting out the storm but we have our sails packed away, the boom is off and most other items complete. With luck we'll have the mast stepped and have GH on the trailer tomorrow if the winds lay down some.

We will do a recap of our trip around the southern tip of Florida ASAP. We've been out of range for a while but it has finally happened.........we are going onto land once again!

Never a dull moment around here!

2011-05-05T10:58:00.002-04:00

Most people, we believe still do not know what a trimaran is. Only one of 16 bridge tenders (yep, we had to go through 16 bridge lifts to get to Miami) recognized us as a tri. Many just called us a catamaran and the rest probably didn't care.

Now we don't really think we are too strange. A little? OK. But what about these guys? We spotted the motor tri two different days. Goes by the name of "Jonny Wasabi".

The air boat, "Dragonfly" went passed us during our motor into Blackwater Sound.

NOW THESE GUYS ARE STRANGE!!

Heading south so we can go north??~!!

2011-05-05T10:46:00.003-04:00

From Lake Worth we still have to head back to the Keys in order to sail around the end of Florida. Our truck and trailer are still in Port Charlotte so we have a few miles left in this adventure.

After two days of waiting for the east wind to subside we decided to make the best of it and head south on the ICW. It's not the most fun but it got us moving in the right direction. So....for two days we motored towards Miami, past all the mega (very disgusting) mansions along with their corresponding 100+ foot Gucci yachts (bow to stern, all in a row like circus elephants!). Going past Port Everglades we motored right past a couple of cruise liners......"any Grey Poupon up there?"

Sunset in Lake Worth

2011-04-29T12:12:00.004-04:00

Sitting tight for the night watching the thunderstorms go north and miss us. Heard our first sirens in over two months.

Crossing the banks to Mangrove Cay

2011-04-29T12:03:00.002-04:00

Leaving the Bahamas ....heading to Florida!

2011-04-29T11:52:00.003-04:00

Up early to listen to Chris Parker (the SSB weatherman) and then it was off to West End. The sail there was 23 miles and once again the wind was mostly behind us. From Indian Rock it was off into the Gulf Stream and we were hoping for east-southeast wind but between the south wind and the current there was no chance for Ft Lauderdale today. So.....off across the stream to Lake Worth we went. Pulled into the anchorage at 5pm for a good 85 mile sail. The waves were pretty big on the Bahamian side of the stream but they were smaller on the west side and our timing was good for going into the Lake Worth Channel as the tide was going in with us. Check out the pictures......talk about blue water, huh??!!

Back in the USA but we will go back!! There is plenty more to see and do. We have only scratched the surface over in the Bahamas.

Mangrove Cay

2011-04-29T11:44:00.003-04:00

We cruised out of Green Turtle Cay at 7:30 am and set sail for Mangrove Cay. The sail was mostly DDW (dead downwind) but it was fine anyways. We made it into the anchorage (really just near the Cay where waves wrapped around from both sides of the very small cay and bounced you from two different directions ) by 4pm. Just in time for a swim to wash off the suntan lotion, get Nu-it deflated and tied down for the crossing and to sit down to watch our last sunset in the Bahamas for this trip.

Florida ......here we come??!!

2011-04-27T06:59:00.002-04:00

We are going to try to make a crossing over the next 48 hours so we will be out of communication during the time. We are leaving Green Turtle Cay this morning and target Mangrove Cay for the night.

Hope to see some good weather and a smooth crossing.

Heading west today

2011-04-22T21:51:00.002-04:00

Today we said our goodbyes to the 3 hulled crews and sailed west.....

After sailing over 1,000 miles this winter and spring, today we made our first sail that will eventually find us in Charlotte Harbor on the west coast of Florida. Weather made up our mind on the direction we decided to go since there has been a tropical low to the southeast of the Bahamas and the exit strategy of going to the Berry's was dropped. Now we head back through the Abacos and the first step is to get by the "Whale". This had to be today since the winds and potential weather for the next few days will stop travel across it soon. No problems except it was pretty lumpy. The motor yacht will need a bath after blasting through it!

We will hang out in Green Turtle Cay for a few days to wait out the weather. Then........westward ho!

Matt Lowe Cay

2011-04-22T21:43:00.003-04:00

Yesterday we had a nice sail over to Matt Lowe Cay for one last get together happy hour on Grey Hound and also for some of Rex's crazy stories. He was ordered not to start any until at least 7pm. He made it to 7:01!

Beside us was a boat that broke rule 007 that reads......."Never, ever go past the trimarans in an anchorage"! Yes, the old rule about never buying a charter boat is true also.

Talk about beautiful.....this place was post card perfect!

And just what is this Teagan???

2011-04-22T21:40:00.003-04:00

This is for you Teagan Rose!!!!

2011-04-20T17:01:00.001-04:00

Sometimes.....size matters!

2011-04-20T16:57:00.002-04:00

After Man 'O War we all decided to sail over to Guana Cay since Felix & Margrit haven't been to Nippers. Besides it was downwind.

Espresso put on quite a show going by everyone. That's when we saw that her sail was a lot bigger than the screechers we had up. That there is a BIG Code O and Rex could only watch Espresso sail on by.

More Man 'O War Cay

2011-04-20T16:50:00.002-04:00

Man 'O War Cay

2011-04-20T16:43:00.003-04:00

This is quite a cool little place. Pictures tell the story........

Ah....Sunday morning breakfast at Man 'O War Cay

2011-04-17T09:47:00.002-04:00

Doesn't get much better then this...........