Sailing Pearl: Travels on a Beneteau Oceanis 373
''Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines, sail away from the safe harbor, catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.'' – Mark Twain
January 30, 2012 — Portland, OR
Pearl has arrived at her new base at the Watergate Yachting Center in Kemah, TX, about half way between Houston and Galveston. She’s off the truck and back on blocks at South Texas Yacht Services, under the care of John Blakeway. She’s covered with road filth, been driven through snow, then run into something that ripped out her port side gate stanchion, Continue reading “What a long, strange trip it’s been …”
Tuesday January 25, 2012 — Portland, OR
Loading day. Rainy. Freezing. Miserable. Pearl gets loaded to head off to the gulf. Throughout the morning, the theme song from “Smokey and the Bandit” was running through my head. My friends Cita, and Toni from Wind River, came out to watch Pearl get loaded and to wish her “Bon Voyage!” Continue reading “Loaded up and trucking”
Friday January 13 — Portland, OR
Pearl was pulled out of the water to be prepped for shipping to her new temporary venue in Texas. In retrospect, this may not have been a good idea given the date, but, …. Firstly, there was the issue of stripping her bare. Surprisingly, this was a bit more unsettling than I had expected. Continue reading “Extracting Pearl”
Tuesday Jaunary 10 2012 — Portland, OR
Despite having a bunch of fun Navionics on board, I am a firm believer in having paper charts. Unfortunately, depending on how you approach the problem, they can be ungodly expensive for a complete chart set for your crusing area.
One solution I have come up with for providing me with the paper-based backup that I crave for the Caribbean is the Caribbean Chart Pack from NV Charts. At $179 for the pack, I think it’s a pretty good deal. Check it out. I hope it helps.
Wednesday, January 11 — Portland OR
Being a geek, I love Navionics and all they can do for you. When I started sailing (about 20 years ago), pretty much I had was a chart and a compass. This was pretty much state of the art — if you discounted LORAN.
The Pearl, however, has a a Raymarine Pathfinder RL70CRC which is a chartplotter + radar display. On this, you can optionally overlay radar on your chart — pretty slick. Something I discovered recently, however, is that you can also integrate AIS real time vessel tracking information into this display as well. Continue reading “Navionics over Wi-Fi”
January 01, 2012 — Portland, OR
New Years Day: the day to set your intentions for the year. My response: GO SAILING! It was a near perfect day. Cold. Clear. Bright. Winds out of the South, South East at 17, gusting to 25. Perfect sailing weather for Pearl. Continue reading “Happy New Year!”
