• “Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.” - Mark Twain

Man-Sewing, Revisited

Making the front window panel in my cabin

To quickly catch you up to speed:  I bought a heavy-duty sewing machine, which I refer to as the “sailmaking machine” only, back in September to construct a dodger.  This is a canvas “housing” that fits over a steel frame over my companionway (main hatch), and acts as a spray shield, shade, and keeps the rain out of my cabin while the companionway is open.  They’re all custom for every boat and cost a few thousand dollars.  I thought I was really going to stick it to those money-hungry seamstresses & seamsters by doing it myself!  If only they could see me trying to make it over a five month period… Read More→

Photo of the Week; 3/4/12

The Dragon Boat races of Museumsuferfest, Frankfurt Germany.

No, I didn’t get out to take any new photos this week.  I spent most of the week in the “Transition Assistance Program”, which is designed to assist military members on an upcoming separation or retirement.  I also got A LOT of work done on the boat,  including finishing that dodger I’ve been working on for a few months…five if I’m counting correctly.  While continuing to go through all of my photos, cleaning up the file structure and identifying keepers, I came across this photo from Germany.  This was another photo that I almost deleted until I took some creative license with the contrast, and suddenly it just popped out of the screen.

This photo was taken from a bridge over the Main River in Frankfurt, during the Drachen Boot (Dragon Boat) races of Museumsuferfest.  This festival is held annually in late August, and the banks of the Main River are full of concerts, artisans, and food & beer vendors, and all of Frankfurt’s museums are open all hours of the night.  90mm, ISO800, f5.6, 1/200 sec.

LED Conversion

I kicked off “Electrical Month” by upgrading some cabin lighting…specifically, converting all of my 15-watt incandescent bulbs to new, fancy, and expensive light-emitting diodes, or LEDs.  And while I was at it, why not replace the actual dome lights as well?

The old dome lights, top, and new teak dome lights, bottom.

My current lighting setup was three incandescent dome lights in the cabin, one fluorescent light over the galley, one incandescent dome light in the forward berth and one in the head.  These dome lights were brass and severely tarnished, and I suppose I could have spent some time trying to polish them, but I also wasn’t a fan of the fluorescent light over my galley and wanted to replace it with a dome light.  Sea-Dog Line, maker of some quality boat chandlery, just released a line of dome lights with teak trim.  Perfect for Saoirse, whose interior is almost all teak!  To go with these new lights, I had to find some bayonet-style LEDs.  But first, why LEDs?


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Photo of the Week; 2/20/12

A Northern Goshawk bleeds his kill, a common pigeon, before carrying it away.

I’m glad I was a slightly more awake than I usually am in the morning.  While walking to the bathroom, I heard a lot of commotion around the corner of the building and noticed this juvenile Northern Goshawk bleeding out a pigeon that it had just captured.  I immediately went back to my boat for my camera and was able to take a few snaps before he flew off with his catch in his claws.

I debated spending more time at the boat to switch out from my 24-105mm lens to my 70-200mm so I could get a tighter shot, and also getting my flash for some fill.  I didn’t want him to fly off before I could get a picture, so I managed with what was already on my camera body.  105mm, ISO200, f5.6, 1/80 sec, no flash.


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Photo of the Week; 2/13/12

Oh, the things we share our living spaces with.  Boats are notorious for serving as storage sheds – storage for all the things you’ve accumulated over the years, but that serve no purpose, and you can’t get rid of.  So throw them in the boat.  And when you head out to the marina to go sailing, you can just move it out of the way or ignore it.
Liveaboards are on the other end of the “accumulated things” spectrum.  The boats are storage areas, but only for the few things that we have room for, because it’s also our living space.

I was eating lunch with my two new anchors at my side, staring at my sailmaking machine, and thought to myself “hmm, I never thought I’d share my living room/dining room with two anchors and a sewing machine.”   I was obligated to take a picture of the scenario.

The anchors are new, to replace the one twenty-pounder that came with the boat, and I’ll be writing a post about replacing all of my ground tackle once that process is complete.

32mm, ISO800, f4.0, 1/15 sec, bounce flash off the cabin top.

AC/DC

Under Executive Order, and in keeping faith with my latest decree of being disciplined about my boat projects, I have declared March to be Electrical Systems Month.  This means I have 12 days to figure out how I’ll tackle my electrical projects throughout March, projects that need to be accomplished if I’m going to be a successful cruising photographer.  These projects include: an inverter, new electrical distribution panel, batteries, solar panels, and rewiring.  Let’s start with selecting an inverter. Read More→

Photo of the Week; 2/6/12

Am I really recycling photos?

Well, yes, and no.

Reality has again hit me and I was unable to get a photo worth sharing this week.  I’m not 100% perfect – but close – and now I must adapt.  I have been going through old previously unpublished photos, and found some worth breathing some life into.  So that’s what I’ll be doing if I can’t snap a good one during the week.

This photo is from a pizzeria in Rome.  This pigeon thought it could get away with stealing a sliced tomato from this pizza until I stuck my camera lens in its face.  Sorry buddy, there’s plenty of tomatoes in Rome.  105mm, ISO800, f5.6, 1/250sec.

Eyes on the Prize!

Rewriting the big list!

This “living aboard” thing has been going better than I planned…I’m surviving my first winter (albeit a mild one) and am thoroughly enjoying life on the dock.  My whole reason for ditching life “on the hard” one year before setting out on my “Big Trip” was to work on projects and get Saoirse ready just as much as getting myself ready.  But right now my checklist doesn’t have very many checks next to anything. Read More→

Lifelines

Bets on how much longer that would have lasted?

Get five sailors together to figure out a problem and you’ll get eight exclusively correct solutions.  Fighter pilots are no different.  This has helped me realize that if I am going to work on my boat myself, I need to do some research and collect all of the facts & opinions before going a certain route, and I need to be able to justify my course of action.  This was the process I faced while trying to decide how to repair my lifelines – those strands of wire designed to keep you from falling off your boat.


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Photo of the Week; 1/30/12

Just a day late getting this out for the week of 1/30/12.  There’s really no story behind this one.  I was walking the dock one night, the sky was a spectacular color, the water was amazingly calm, and the reflections were unreal.

You’re looking at the bow of a sailboat reflected in the water, with the dock lines coming off the side.  The anchor is visible at top and the furling jib at the bottom.  200mm, ISO400, f/5.6, 1/10 sec.