Not much to report....

The cocktail hours come and go... It is still cold and windy... Too cold to snorkel on the reef... But... we could be home listening to the furnace run...

View from the top...

Went for a 30 mile daysail the other day. I must not have fully clasped the snap shackle when I raised the Code 0 in preparation, as it came tumbling down as I was tightening the halyard. So.... Cathie gets a ride to the top... She took the camera with her when she retrieved the halyard. Here's a photo of the crew that had to pay the price for being bad...

all in a row...

More of the same, the other way...
I like classic boats. Here is a fine one that passed us (barely) in the Hawk Channel.

It's Been COLD!!!

Over three hundred boats in the harbor and everybody without heat is freezing. We're not... We have MR. HEATER!!

A typical Keys sunset...












An important refueling trip...

Good friends and a trip to Key West

local transport

Bob and Bev arrive at Marathon

A visit by long-time cruising cousins, Larry and Candi.. Residents of Del Mar Marina, Key Largo

Lunch at Pepe's. Good thing some things remain as remembered...

Frolic in the Park...

The outboard from hell...

After two carburator teardowns, a $70 carburator rebuild kit that did not include the one part that is really needed and another carburator teardown, it kind of works... Oh, today the not-so-captive gas cap decided to take a swim...

As an update, I removed the carb a total of 9 times... I have since learned the Yamaha 2.5 is notorious for having carb problems.

I'm walking today!!

Yesterday I was down to one crutch. Today it's none!!! I have a brand new pair of crutches available to any needy party. Can't wait to see how much the emergency room charged for those....

Goings on in Marathon...

Moonlight in the harbor...

This isn't the original train to Key West from 1913...

Gee... they sure want allot to look at some old buildings....

A bike ride on the old bridge...

An appropriate gift for an old guy on his birthday...

Great people, fun times...

If you get the urge to play softball like you thought you did a few years ago, just be still, the urge will surely pass...
The ER Dr had us believing I completely severed the hamstring tendon requiring surgery with screws and Superglue. Cath and I didn't have a good evening trying to figure out what to do...The next day the Orthopedic guy said is was a pulled hamstring... Happy day!! Said I'd be good to go for spring training!!

Boats of Boot Key....

My feet are finally warm...

Well... we took our time getting south. Blew a fuse in the Duramax the first day driving south and lost our running lights on the trailer. So... not having a proper owner's manual for the truck, we only drove in daylight. We had stop and turn but no nighttime running lights. So we took three days to get to Venice, FL to see Bob and Bev in their new digs. They put up with us for three nights before we launched and we had a great time. Thanks yous two.... Here we are on Venice beach to watch the sunset. Wasn't too warm...

We then launched at All American Covered Boat Storage in Port Charlotte. A great facility!! We spent the night at the dock after setting up as we were too pooped to do anything else...

The next day we headed south. No wind so we motored to Cayo Costa. The next day was more of same so we motored the Intercoastal to Ft. Myers, where we spent four nights. Here, a porpoise plays off our bow.

From there we sailed to Marco Island, spending three nights and were glad to see Mike and JoAnn. They were very accommodating to two boat bums and here Mike is giving us a tour of Little Marco.

On Tuesday, we sailed south again, hoping to make Marathon, but the winds were not strong enough to push us all the way, so we short stopped in Little Shark River. We then had a great Code 0 ride to Marathon, passing three powerboats. When we got here, who did we see??? Dick and Ann on the mighty Greyhound!! We've taken a mooring for a month so we'll see what happens...

Ready for Soft Water...

kimosabi is out of the barn and loaded. We leave in the morning for a winter cruise in Southern Florida. We should be in the water and underway by Monday, but then if it's Tuesday or Weds., it won't matter, as we will be getting together with great friends in the Charlotte Harbor area.

Taxi is re-powered.

The Zodiac gets a new engine for this winter's cruise! No more busted knuckles from the Honda 2 pull-n-go... We're limited on weight so I went with another small engine. IMHO, the Yahama is a much more civilized alternative, having a transmission and water cooling...

Haul in Fall....

Well the fleet is hauled, cleaned and stored for winter. Cath and I spent three days on kimosabi, hauling, winterizing, cleaning and waxing and touching up the bottom paint to prep her for February launch in Port Charlotte, FL.

What Summer???

Actually September was the best month of all, weatherwise. Did a 5 day cruise over Labor Day with a group of good sailing friends. Great weather...

We all sailed up to Cedar River, MI for a couple of nights and had a great time.


Went to the beach for lunch one afternoon.


The Honda 2 had its work cut out for it... You can't see from the photo, but we are towing both boats!




The Admiral celebrates another birthday. She is not quite 60, but friends are reminding her it's close...

We got to try out our new Code 0. nice...

Summer 2009

Well, summer 2009 is fadin' fast... We've spent a couple weekends on the boat daysailing off our mooring in Fish Creek and done two mini-cruises. This summer has been the least use of my primary boat in over 30 years...

In July we took a 5 day mini-cruise across the Lake to Frankfort and Portage Lake.



Here is kimosabi at the Frankfort City dock. We sailed over with good friends Paul and Deb. They sailed their Hunter 35.5, in the next slip. A few people asked how I got around the big steel piling behind the main hull...

One day we took a 20 mile bike ride on an old railroad siding.



Cathie thought I should figure out a way to put this windvane that she liked on the top of the spar...



We ended up spending 3 days on the east side of the Lake and then sailed over to Manitowoc, then to Kewaunee (we lived there 7 years) before going home. On the way back across the Lake to Manitowoc I became very proficient at operating the radar...



Our next cruise was to be south to Milwaukee but the forecast was for strong south winds for a week. So we headed north... We ended up sailing to Fayette State Park on the Garden Peninsula in Big Bay du Noc. There we met up with Les and Barb on Noor.

Note there are few boats in the harbor as the strong winds kept many boats in there home ports...




After two days there, we sailed to Escanaba, MI, beating into a strong breeze.

Here are kimosabi and Noor at the Escanaba Municipal Marina. We were quite an attraction as we were told by a number of people "gee... never seen a boat like that before"...



Cocktail hour and Les and Barb at the dock.