About Me

My photo
Our Sailing Hideaway Blog and YouTube videos will remain active. Join the HideAways as we tell, through blog stories and videos, what life really is like on a small, 23' Com Pac sailboat. We'll show the joys, thrills and chills of the sailing life, but also what it takes to maintain a boat, trailer and truck. You are just as likely to learn how not to do something correctly as to do it right. That's important too! New! The Hideaways take to the road! Follow Traveling Hideaway: Winds of Wanderlust Transitioning from Sailing Hideaway to Traveling Hideaways as sailors learn to travel without heeling, well, not much, anyway. The Paint Wasters Society unlocks the art of paint squandering with sheer delight, free from the shackles of remorse or guilt. Trust me, a century down the line, nobody's going to bat an eyelash, so why not indulge in some paint splattering shenanigans today? Let's turn those pricey pigments into a canvas of laughter and joy.

Monday, February 26, 2018

Sailing to the Moon via the Sun



sailinghideaway
SAILING DOWN HILL

Not all sailing voyages have to include screaming, rigging wind does it?

After all sailing is about quiet contemplation of your place in space and time, being one with the wind and waves and perhaps an adult beverage as it were.

Cruise To Your Dream- Sorta

You finally leave on your dream cruise with the full realization that you must reach a mark  on the chart before dark or you will not see the sun set under the yard arm while you sip  an exotic drink and your adoring crew fans you with fresh cut palm fronds.

Why is it that  a cruise to your paradise of choice is fraught with all this stressful planing and goals?  Sailing in modern times has little to do with practically anyway so why have a plan in the first place?

So I Ask You --

Is a 200 yard cruise as satisfying as a 200 mile voyage?

Is it more stimulating to run from a storm as it is a competitor chasing you around a triangle?

Is a lazy drift among zephyrs as fullfilling as a hard battle to windward in big seas and dense fog?

Shoulder Forecast

Many people travel the world during the "shoulder season"  to avoid crowds and higher costs.

A good shoulder season for the sailor is a day when the weather looks questionably unstable enough to keep the less risk inclined ashore, but not so fearful to keel and sail to give you pause.  Of course everyone has a different pause threshold, but you get my drift, I'm sure.

Night On A Shoulder Sail

On a steamy Fourth of July night on Boca Ciega Bay we lay at anchor in the gathering darkness to wait for the fireworks to start.   Well over a hundred lost souls of kindred spirits, many of whom had  insufficient knowledge of anchoring, made entertaining efforts to throw, rather than drop, the heavy anchor overboard.   Some of them had a rope tied to it, but several  anchors were tossed lacking that accessory.

Not that we were any better.  Upon pulling the anchor a miscommunication and a lazy outboard nearly had us in the custom boat business, narrowly missing a expensive fiberglass condo.

The fireworks preshow began with an impressive display of loud explosions that lit up the sky and strong gusty wind and rain that made our bow disappear.   A normal Florida summer storm with a 20 minute duration.  After it passed a third of the hardly anchored boats were gone and another third were untangling their rodes with the clear intention seeking land.   After an hour's delay, the city of Gulfport (FL) lit the match with only a precious few boats left to enjoy the show, the HideAways among them.

With these thoughts in mind we present our latest video Sailing to the Moon via the Sun- In Light Air

Whew! Who thought that one up?   Oh....





SMALL BOATS ROCK!



Hurricane Irma and HideAway - Just One Little Thing

We learned a lot about hurricanes this year, but Irma gave us plenty of dark nights without power to contemplate our place in the universe.