Follow the link to eight tuff  miles.

http://www.8tuffmiles.com/

In other sailing news. .. Yesterday Jan 31. We witnessed something pretty cool and whale in Pillsbury Sound.  The whale surfaced to get some air about 20 ft from us.  All on board were pretty excited and definitely made for a great way to finish January.  We are not sure on the species of whale, but from a quick glance on the internet we have scientifically decided that it was either a blue whale or humpback whale.  February is starting to fill up as we speak.  We have lots of pre booking always a good thing and the weather is beautiful.  Anyone up there in all that snow are more than welcome to come down for some fun in the sun and sand.  We will even throw in a free Pain Killer ( rum drink) if you decide to come sailing with us.

Looking Good

New Years Resolution #1 More Blog’s.  We wrote this last year and weren’t to successful but we are going to try again from our 43’ wooden boat.  Since we last wrote , we have had a successful end to 2010. We had an outstanding November and December thanks to all who could be apart of it. We are starting off the new year with a bang sailing 5 days the first of week of 2011.  It’s nice to be busy.

We did take a little time off at Christmas this year and went home to my house in Delaware for the holidays.  Two great surprises greeted us while we were there.  Chelsie’s folks drove down from Maine to spend the holidays with us and we got 5’ of snow the day after Christmas.  The snow was fantastic and we even got to shovel.  Winifred for Christmas revieved a great gift this holiday season.  Brand new sail covers, they are tan in color.  I think that actual color is called toast.  They fit great and she looks like a true classic.  She also got a beautiful new forward hatch.  K&C got some great things too.

Let it snow let it snow

We hope everyone had a wonderful holiday and splendid New Year.  All the best in 2011.

We have been busy sailing and it is GREAT to be back! I don’t think waking up to 80 degrees and beautiful tropical water will get old especially with reports of snow starting to flying up north.

In between our daysails we found time to paint the sides of the cabin top. They were varnished, but over the years with epoxy and filler the wood no longer looked fantastic. Not to mention varnish and the Caribbean sun aren’t the best of friends. Upon recommendation from, Zander and Kate, friends in Maine who are wooden boat owners we used Sherwin Williams marine grade paint.

Check out there website www.guildivecruises.com

Guildive

They will even color match it for you. This is where it starts to get funny. We looked at color samples and picked one we thought was appropriate. Lets just say in the sun it was much more of a bright red than the maroon we thought it would be. Opening the can we should have known but my optimism said “it will be darker when it dries.” We painted the entire cabinside it was all or nothing. For a few days the neighboring daysails boats had time of it making fun of the new color choice. Winifred was wearing bright red lipstick. I think she liked the bright attention grabbing color. We took the paint back and they were able to darken it for us. We are pleased with the outcome this time. People have stopped laughing and started complimenting.

the second attempt

I know what all of you are thinking. No, we didn’t steal Guildives red.

SPLASH…

Winifred splashed on Monday, October 12^th. Columbus Day! What a fantastic feeling to be back in the water instead of high and dry. Our first official sail is tomorrow and we can hardly wait! Here are some pics of our yard evolution.

Winifred gets hauled out in June

Winifred splashes October 12th!

Here is what took place in the yard

All the bottom paint is stripped

This took us two full days of tyvek suits in 90 degree heat and Kenny had an allergic reaction. Thanks Nick for coming over from St. John and saving us.

With the bottom stripped we departed for a summer in the BVI’s of sailing catamarans and diving.

When we returned the end of August we spent a another week of work before returning to the states for a month.

Bristol Beige

We returned to St. Thomas on September 24th and spent three weeks getting Winifred ready to go back in.

Winifred naked

Paint going back on in between all the rain. We were ready to paint and Tropical Storm/Hurricane Otto refused to give us any sun for more than 30 minutes at a time. The week went something like this, rain lots of rain, a bit of sun go to the yard shammy the boat dry get a coat of paint on. 40 minutes later more rain and lots of it. We spent the whole week dodging rain squalls and painting some in the rain. The locals tell us we saw the most rain the islands had in the last 20 years. Lucky us.

Almost there

no name winifred

Ken and Laurie came for a week and without them the boat wouldn’t have gone back in on time. THANK YOU  Ken and Laurie for all your help!

Winifred gets her name back

  
Nervous stencil pulling

WE DID IT!

and finally the transom

Transom

Winifred in the slings and ready to go in.

finally almost back in the water

She floats!

More pics to come of stepping the mizzen mast. Lets go sailing!!!

We flew to the states on Aug 27 and spent two weeks enjoying Maine “ The way life should be.” Here we were able to catch up with family and a few friends. Enjoy some cooler weather and unwind.

cooler weather

Maine

pines not palms

The compass got a facelift. Before it was sitting in a stainless steel ring which was quickly deteriorating. Now it has a custom wooden base.

new compass base

A few pieces of hardware went to the machine shop and got repaired.

New cushions made for the cockpit.

cockpit cushion

bottom of cushion

Most exciting of all we found a new inflatable dinghy in New Hampshire, which fit perfectly into our Ford Explorer rental for the drive south to Delaware.

new dinghy

Of course an inflatable isn’t  small enough to sneak on as a checked back. After a day of research we found a shipping company in New Jersey. Luckily, Kenny’s home in Delaware is only a few hours away. They gave us a cheap quote so we shipped our bottom paint as well. Dropping it off was an adventure. Every wonder where all the containers go before the get hooked to the back of trucks and driven all over the country? They were all parked in a maze like fashion making finding the shipping office a bit of a navigational nightmare. Our fingers are crossed that everything will arrive in St. Thomas they day after we get back.

Now in Delaware “ The first state” we have been taking advantage of tax free shopping by hitting summer clearance sales. A trip to

In search for some teak.

new ladder

The boarding ladder we have is still working but we were worried about it making through next season. Visiting the most interesting lumber yard we found our  9 board ft. piece of teak.

The first cuts have already been made, hopefully by the end of the day we have a shape that resembles a ladder. More pictures to come documenting our progress.

Winifred in the yard

An inventory of our storage unit was also a priority today. Too bad we locked ourselves out of our own storage unit. Long story short hopefully they have some bolt cutters and we can get them to return or phone calls.

This evening we sit at Cabrita Condo listening to the sound of the waves lapping at the rocky shore with our feet up.  The sound of a noisy dive compressor and teenagers stomping around the decks are fading into memories. We are enjoying the peace and quiet as we gear up for a week of hard work in the boatyard, which starts tomorrow. Tyvek suits, respirators, and safety goggles in the 90 degree heat, dirt, dust and the Caribbean sun, and a wooden boat built in 1956 are what we look forward to in the upcoming week. It is a labor of love! We are proud to own Winifred and can’t wait to see how great she looks at the end of her yard period. Not only boat yard tasks need to be completed but  a mountain of other tasks must be done before we return to America next Friday. The ever growing and important list has made its way out of the notebook to the refrigerator so we can’t avoid looking at it. Its placement is also a good deterrent for unnecessary snacking The list is not nearly as long as it could be thanks to Kenny’s mom (Laurie) who spent a countless amount of time answering phones and emails while we were enjoying the sailing and diving of the BVI’s. Thanks so much Laurie!

Here are a few pictures from our working vacation.

Scuba Kenny

Stoplight Parrot fish

Joe's Cave West Dog Island

School of fish on the wreck of the Chicuzen

Kenny helped 30 students get their open water and advanced certificates this summer. Even though I was Captain I was able to log 45 dives and complete advanced and rescue diver courses.  A busy and fun filled working vacation!

With Winifred hauled out we are enjoying a “ working vacation” in the British Virgin Islands. We have completed 1/3 of our contract with Odyssey Expeditions.  Imagine living on a 47’ catamaran with 3 crew and 12 teenage students for three weeks. Living quarters are tight with 4 students per cabin and 1 crew cabin. It has been a blast so far, but not without its trying moments. For example running out of water 1 day after filling the water tanks. This incident was followed by a serious lecture about water conservation. The first 4 days were filled with rain the students weren’t sure if they were in the Caribbean. The weather changed and they were sunburned and hot.

We are at the Mooring base for the next couple of days before new students arrive.

I was very skeptical of this sport called diving, but got certified just before starting with Odyssey. I have logged 18 dives. I worked on my advanced certificate last trip and will be trying to get my Rescue Diver Cert this upcoming trip. Scuba diving is a bit addictive.

Kenny is having a great time sharing his knowledge of the aquatic world and diving with eager students.

My favorite site was the wreck of the Rhone. She sank in 1867 in a hurricane off of Salt Island after the Captain misjudged the weather and put to sea to ride out the gale, which was indeed a hurricane. This link has the full story of the wreck.

http://www.saildivebvi.com/rhone.php

Other dive sites we’ve explored include:

Angelfish Reef

Indians

The Fearless

Shark Point

Muskmelon Bay

Marina Spook

Playgrounds

Blonde Rock

Painted Walls

Alice in Wonderland

Coral Gardens

Pictures to follow in the next blog.

This past Friday Winifred was hauled out for annual maintenance and freshening up.  She will be staying at the Independent Boat Yard in St Thomas.  Over the past weekend we striped off all the bottom paint and got her down to bare wood.

tyvek suits in 90 degrees....FUN

An enormous job and something that we never hope to do again.  We also have to thank our buddy Nick Dawes who came and helped out on Sunday.  I (Kenny) had a little allergic reaction to the bottom paint and could not be near it.  More projects will be done off and on this summer and through the fall and Winifred should be back in the water mid October for her 30^th season in the Virgin Islands.

winifred naked

unrelated dive photo taken by Kenny

Winifred will be hauled out in just a couple of weeks. We are hauling her on June 4^th for her annual maintenance. She has treated us well this year and it is time to pretty her up a bit and give her a bit of a rest. We are busy scurrying around making sure all preparations are taken care of. Storage space on island is at a premium, and we’re not sure how we have accumulated so much “Stuff” in only 8 months. While we are in the yard our “ stuff” will be living a luxurious life in a nice, newly built, AIR CONDITIONED storage unit. Too bad they frown upon taking up residence in the storage facility trust me I have thought about it more than once.

Hauled out at Independent boat yard

Plans for the haul-out include but are not limited to the following:

• Clean the bilges
• Clean fuel tank
• Repack the stuffing box
• Removing all bottom paint to get a look at what may or may not be rotten.  Fix as necessary
• Pull mizzen mast
• Build a new boarding ladder
• Sand and repaint the topsides
• Repaint the deck
• Repaint the cabin top
• Many coats of varnish

Kenny and I will leave Winifred in Independent Boat yard from June10-August 20 without or direct supervision. We hope she behaves. We will be working for a company called Odyssey Expeditions based out of Tortola. www.odysseyexpeditions.com The company runs programs for high school students on moorings catamarans. The students learn Scuba Diving, Marine Biology, and sailing while onboard for 3 weeks. Chelsie will captain one of the 48’ catamarans while Kenny dive Instructs. Hopefully, Chelsie will take a few dives her self as she recently obtained her Open Water certification. Kenny is looking forward to spending most of these months teaching students underwater. Looking forward to a small change in pace for a few months before returning to Winifred in August.

"The Don"

So there we were covered head to toe in motor oil.  First on the list was to check the thru hull and sea strainer. Nothing too interesting was found in the sea strainer.

Our seastrainer was much dirtier than this as were we. Hence no pics from our actual adventure

Next, the raw water pump, which pumps saltwater through a heat exchanger to cool the engine. Removing the faceplate the impeller was missing half of its blades. Most of the broken off rubber parts were still inside the pump. However, some of them had made their way to the heat exchanger.  After draining out the coolant we cleaned the heat exchanger.

The end of the heat exchanger. Sea water flows thru the middle and coolant stays on the outside

At the moment Winifred is back to running. Our fingers are crossed that the problem is taken care of.  We are a little nervous at the moment but as the warm tropical days pass, hopefully so will our worries that the engine will overheat again.

the reward for all the hard work

A day at " the office"

While we were already in an engineering mindset we (Kenny) also replaced all the plumbing for the head. Maintenance is always on going and a constant challenge that we both enjoy. This past week we had more of it than we had planned on.

April has been steady with guest coming and going. In April we’ve had guests from the Netherlands, France, Toronto, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New York, Wisconsin, Idaho, Illinois, New Mexico, and Missouri. Sorry if we left anybody out.