Farley’s Friday: Dogs in Restaurants

November 30, 2012November 30, 2012 ~ Kristina Stanley ~ 10 Comments

Farley here.

I really like Florida. It so warm that most restaurants have outdoor patios AND they let me join the party. It’s all so civilized. Finally a place that understands I belong with my humans all the time.

I mind my manners. I don’t beg. I don’t pester other diners. And I don’t play with other dogs that happen to be there. Kristina always orders a bowl of ice cubes for me, which keeps me entertained as I try not to let them slide out from under the table.

I do my best to look refined and dignified and so far, I haven’t been kicked out of anywhere.

The best is I hint to Kristina that she should order something with good leftovers for me. I don’t get to eat it until we get back to the boat and it’s in my bowl, but that’s okay with me.

Did I mention, “I love Florida.”

Woof Woof.

Thanks for reading . . .

Mattina: Final Provisioning Before Heading Offshore

November 28, 2012November 28, 2012 ~ Kristina Stanley ~ 5 Comments

It’s been a hectic couple of weeks getting Mattina loaded with our winter provisions.

One of my favourite outings is a trip to the Vero Beach Farmer’s Market.

The farmer picks the grapefruit and oranges the day before the market. There is nothing like eating fruit that fresh. The fruit hasn’t sat in a warehouse, truck, or grocery store. It’s a special treat for us.

We get enough for about six weeks.

Our fridge can’t store bulk amounts so I’ve learned a few tricks over the years. Oranges and grapefruit can be stored unrefrigerated in a dark space. To make them last longer, I wrap each piece of fruit in tin foil. This will keep the fruit for 6 weeks, hence the reason I stock for that length of time.

Fruit stored — Side cabinet in spare cabin. Easy access, but still dark and cool.

Now that we are ready to go, the weather isn’t cooperating. The next part of our journey means crossing the Gulf Stream. The stream runs south to north, and we don’t want wind against current – it creates sloppy seas and big waves. Wind out of the east doesn’t work because we’d be slamming into the waves. We certainly don’t want squally weather. Really, we’d like a beam reach at 15 knots.

Is that too much to ask for?

Thanks for reading . . .

Farley’s Friday: Happy American Thanksgiving

November 23, 2012November 23, 2012 ~ Kristina Stanley ~ 5 Comments

Farley Asking for Turkey 22010-02-15 — Maybe if I ask nicely, I’ll get some turkey too.

Ooooh. Ate too much. Must . . . nap . . . now . . .

Farley Too much Turkey 2009-07-13 — Maybe if I ask nicely, I’ll get some turkey too.

Ooooh. Ate too much. Must . . . nap . . . now . . .

Mattina: Provisioning for the Winter

November 21, 2012November 21, 2012 ~ Kristina Stanley ~ 7 Comments

Matt and I have settled in Vero Beach, Florida for a couple of weeks, giving us time to do our final system testing and provision the boat for the winter.

The Lagoon 380 has ample storage for the foods and supplies we want to take with us. Over the last few years we’ve noticed grocery shopping has improved in the Bahamas, and we worry less about having everything with us.

I’ve kept a list over the years that I keep updated. During the winter months, I mark when we run out of something and know if I have to buy more or less of an item the next season.

Below you see my first pass at loading the boat up. We take several goes at it until we’ve filled our storage spaces.

Mattina Provisioning — And now I get to put all this away!

To give us more room for meat, we load our freezer with unfrozen meat. This takes up a lot less space than putting frozen meat into the freezer. It does use more amps than if we put it in frozen, but it’s worth it. We layer the meat by type, alternating rows. First row steak, next pork, next chicken, and then start over with steak. This way we don’t have to dig to the bottom for a type of meat we want.

We try to store evenly by weight in each hull, allowing the boat to sit flat on the water.

We’ve also found that once we are ‘out there’ we don’t need as much as we do on land. If we don’t have it, we do without and we always seem okay with that.

Thanks for reading . . .

Farley’s Friday: To Nap or to Steer the Sailboat?

November 16, 2012November 16, 2012 ~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

Farley here.

Cruising is exhausting. I have to keep track of birds, dolphins, other boats, dogs on shore and bridges. Kristina and Matt let this all pass by without keeping watch.

Sometimes it’s all just too much for me, and I need a place to crash. If the boat is bouncing around too much, my favourite place is in the cockpit. There’s a spot I fit perfectly. If I’m in here, Kristina doesn’t insist on tethering me (unless it’s really rough, but then I don’t mind.)

When it’s smooth out, Matt lets me drive. My owners put a new back on the helm station seat this year, and I can lean into it without falling through. Much better than the old seat. I’m pretty sure they upgraded this feature just for me.

Farley Driving Mattina — “Steer to shore,” I said. “Can’t you smell the squirrels?”

Woof, woof.

Mattina: Testing Her Systems

November 14, 2012 ~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

The first week underway after leaving the boat on the hard for the summer is a bit hectic.

After making sure all our sails and engine were in working order, we sailed, motor sailed and ran on the engines alone.

Matt Up Mast — Taken in fall of 2010, but the mooring field looks exactly the same.

Someone had to go up here!

We traveled from St. Augustine, Florida to Vero Beach, Florida.

While travelling, we docked, anchored and moored.

Above, we are on a mooring ball at Vero. Now we are running our power off the genset and the solar panels. We like to test these systems before we go offshore and while we still have easy access to parts.

Thanks for reading . . .

Writing While Cruising

November 12, 2012November 12, 2012 ~ Kristina Stanley ~ 2 Comments

Writing while cruising seems like a dream come true. And mostly this is the case, but there are pros and cons as there are with most things in life.

I enjoy having time to myself without distractions. We often go days without Internet access, which frees up time. The temptation to check how many people have read my blog, if my agent has sent me an email, or – and I hate to admit this – check Facebook disappears. My phone never rings since I don’t actually have a phone. J

On the flip side, the difficultly comes when I want to research a topic. At home, I can do this any time I want. Underway, I have to wait until we have a decent connection with enough bandwidth to be able to search. I am less active with other blogs and don’t tend to comment as much, so sometimes I feel like I’m missing things.

Each year in the Bahamas we find the WiFi access improves. I use my Kindle for email, but can’t really do much else with it on the Internet. At least I can stay in touch with family, usually on a daily basis. I start to worry if I haven’t connected for a while.

Internet gets removed as a distraction, but other distractions get added while we are sailing. If something is happening on the boat that needs attention, I might have to stop typing mid-word. There’s no time to finish a thought.

One evening, I was alone on Mattina after dark and having a productive writing session. The winds picked up, changed direction, and it started to rain. So while I was writing without distractions, I was keeping an eye on the GPS. It gives us our exact position and would let me know if Mattina started to drag. A little bit of tension and stress doesn’t hurt (I don’t like to be alone in a storm after dark on the boat – did I mention I was alone?), but it does mean I’m not 100% focused on writing.

Every ten minutes or so, I walked around the boat to check our position and check other boats in the anchorage. The risk of being dragged into rises with the number of boats in the anchorage. All ended well, but I probably wrote fewer words than I would have if the weather had remained calm.

Would I trade Mattina for any other place to write? No way.

Thanks for reading . . .

Farley’s Friday: A Dog Underway

November 9, 2012November 9, 2012 ~ Kristina Stanley ~ 7 Comments

Farley here.

Well, I’m on the water, moving south.

Before we left the dock, I helped Matt get the sails rigged. We started early, just as the sun was coming up. Matt and Kristina wanted the sails up before the wind picked up. I guess it’s not great to have full sail up when the boat is tied to the dock.

I tried to tell Matt what the fastest way to get this done was, but he never listens to me. I know how the sails to go on, he just doesn’t understand dog speak. Plus if he was faster, I would have the trampoline back.

Farley and Sails — Hard at work at dawn.

Our first day on the water was cold and Kristina was overprotective. She made me wear my harness and tethered me to the cockpit just because I kept trying to go lie on my trampoline. How embarrassing. The other dogs don’t have to wear a harness when they’re on the Intra-coastal waterway.

Farley Tethered — I think I’m a little bored.

But best of all, I saw my first dolphins and barked at them. I had to let them know I’m the boss.

Woof, Woof.

Mattina: A Week at the Dock Commissioning

November 7, 2012November 7, 2012 ~ Kristina Stanley ~ 5 Comments

Seven days working on Mattina on the hard, followed by one day launching, and then another seven days commissioning gets her ready for traveling south.

Mattina hanging in the travel life always makes me nervous. The crew at St. Augustine are professional and take their time, and we launched safely.

Mattina in Travel Lift — Mattina in the air: this is just not normal.

Early mornings are a great time to get the sails up before the wind starts blowing. The sails are stored below during the summer, protecting them from sun and wind damage.

We hoisted the Genoa first.

Genoa Rigged — Rigging the genoa is easier than the main, so we start there. Gives us a sense of accomplishment.

Next up was the main.

Mainsail Rigged — Happy at the dock with the main sail on. All battens checked, no sail damage and lines are in great shape.

The engines are maintained, the dinghy is operational, the fridge and freezer are keeping food cold, the BBQ is keeping us fed, the genset and solar panels are giving us power, the SSB is picking up Chris Parker (weather network), the Wi-Fi antenna is allowing us to access the internet, the water pumps are pumping, and we’re just about ready to leave the dock.

We won’t test the water maker until we are farther south and into clearer water, but I know it will work.

Next step, untie the lines and start heading south.

Thanks for reading . . .

Farley’s Friday: My Sailboat is Launched

November 2, 2012November 2, 2012 ~ Kristina Stanley ~ 13 Comments

Farley here.

I’m a happy dog. Mattina is in the water. I barked the whole time we were in traveller lift waiting to set sail. I was just too excited to contain myself. I couldn’t control my behaviour and jumped off the boat right as Kristina and Matt were letting the lines go. Alas, the dock hands were too quick. One of them grabbed my harness and lifted me back on board. I don’t know what I was thinking.

Now that we’re in the water, Kristina and Matt aren’t on a deadline and I get more attention. I’ve already had three walks today!

To celebrate, I rolled all over my trampoline. I love my trampoline.

Farely on Tramp — Does it get any better than this?

Then, I ran below and played on the bed. I’m not allowed to do this, so don’t tell Kristina, but sometimes a dog just has to express himself.

Farley in Bed — Oh Oh. I don’t know how to remake this bed. I think someone will notice I’ve been in it.

Woof Woof.

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this:

Share this: