tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-56130536944126354282024-03-05T06:14:32.439-08:00Wandering DolphinA Family of Seven Sailing the World. Share the adventure that is our life!Wandering Dolphinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00175797106384217724noreply@blogger.comBlogger210125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5613053694412635428.post-14097568318074641672016-02-14T10:18:00.003-08:002016-02-14T10:18:53.271-08:00Across the Caribbean - Days 4 & 5<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Wandering Dolphinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00175797106384217724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5613053694412635428.post-30862159992423311462016-02-05T06:30:00.001-08:002016-02-05T06:30:06.032-08:00Video - Across The Caribbean Day 3<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Wandering Dolphinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00175797106384217724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5613053694412635428.post-67428821958180679282016-02-01T05:47:00.002-08:002016-02-01T05:47:35.033-08:00St Thomas to Panama - Day 1<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Wandering Dolphinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00175797106384217724noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5613053694412635428.post-78483183434915959722015-01-11T08:35:00.002-08:002015-01-11T08:35:31.710-08:00New Article in "Sailing Life" magazine <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
If you like blogs like this you will love Sailing Life! My second article, "10,000 miles Offshore" is in this months issue and our kids are on the May cover with my article "Kids Offshore." If you have a mobile device just look for the magazine in apps and subscribe!<br />
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Thanks!<br />
Captain Tofer</div>
Wandering Dolphinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00175797106384217724noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5613053694412635428.post-91620135294280564412014-12-11T16:56:00.002-08:002014-12-11T16:56:44.320-08:00Update From Dock-Tied Sea People<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">WD On our dock in Blaine</td></tr>
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<span class="s1">Today it occurred to me that it has been a while since the last time I updated you on our reunification with the dock and all of the “stuff” that comes along with it. The last time I ventured to comment on my own struggles with this process I was in a pretty dark place and I was feeling lower than I ever had in my life. Most of you were very comforting in your comments and actually helped me by encouraging me. I want to personally thank two people, former cruisers and close friends of ours, Denny and Rennie formerly known to us by the name of their boat “Salt and Light.” Both Denny and Rennie have made the trip up to Blaine to see us and their encouragement has meant a great deal to us, not only because they are friends but because they have actually lived with this same “Sea People - Dock Crash” experience. One of the things Denny said to me was, </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><i>“You may be feeling better right now but it won’t last. It will hit you hard again, suddenly, just when you thought you were all over it. Some idiot friend of yours living on a boat anchored in a pretty place will innocently post a picture from his hammock on the deck and “WHAM!” You’ll be right back in despair.”</i> </span></div>
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<span class="s1">I knew when he said that that the idiot had been me. While Denny was struggling with reintegrating his life with the dock I had been living in the salt water sailors paradise. I chuckled when he said it but now I have experienced it. My friends in the Virgin Islands post pictures of the sunset or the beach and I eat them up like candy.</span></div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">WD rafted up with "Salt and Light" in the Bahamas, 2008</td></tr>
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<span class="s1">It has certainly been getting better and I have not been low like that again but I know the ocean is not out of my blood and probably never will be. I still almost drive off the road if I am passing a boat yard because I am looking at all of the sailboats up on the hard. When the wind blows hard enough to move the boat in her slip I can’t help but think of a horse trying to get out of a stall. I know it will happen someday and I am also comforted by those of you who have reminded us that not only are we still fairly young but that we already own our boat and live aboard her which is closer than many dreamers ever get.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">So what has happened in our lives in the past few months? Rebecca has worked a couple of jobs. Her first job was at a resort as a bar tender for banquets. When summer came to an end so did the banquets so that dried up. She put out over 100 resumes as a server or bartender and was only called back a couple of times. One of those places hired her. Extreme Sports Bar in Fairhaven hired her and she really enjoyed her time there. The owners were great and allowed her to be herself and do her crazy things like dress up as a superhero every Tuesday night. It looked like she had found her niche and then... they went out of business. She went to work one day only to find out that it was her last day. The owners kept her on for a couple of days a week at the other bar they own across town. She has continued to put out resumes but never gets a call back. It makes me crazy because I know how great she is. People love Rebecca and they show up just because she is there. She has such a HUGE heart and genuine interest in the lives of people she only meets once and that spirit is infectious. She pours herself into the place she works and gives her whole heart to it. Of course it doesn’t hurt that she ALWAYS looks like a million bucks. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">I have been continuing to homeschool the boys. One thing is for certain; More schoolwork gets done on a boat sitting at a chilly dock than on one anchored off a pretty little Caribbean beach surrounded by warm water! I think these boys have learned more actual schoolwork in the past six months than they did in all the years at Honeymoon Beach. It has really been fun though. They have all matured and are actively taking part in their lessons. They have grown to love the Blaine Library which is probably the most “kid friendly” library in the world. It is actually a hang out for kids in Blaine! I have tried to find something close to do in the afternoon to help bring in a little cash. I had sent my resume in to a couple of places for stocking jobs and considered security but I never had a call back. I did manage to get a full time job at a peanut butter plant and after only one day I realized that there are some jobs not suited to 47 year old former beach bums. I came home that night dragging myself down the dock in pain that lasted all of the next day. I now get a bit of a kick out of those folks who say something along the lines of, “Work is work! You should just do what ever you need to to earn a buck!” or “Nothing is to hard, you can do it if you really want to!” These comments are meant in earnest but spoken in ignorance. Trust me there are some jobs that are not worth the money. Life is too short with only a finite number of hours before the casket and I personally don’t want to waste any of them if I don’t have to.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">A few weeks ago a friend of ours passed my name off to a friend of hers who knew a guy who worked for a company that was looking for boat captains for their Launch Service. I quickly sent out my resume and was super excited when I was called back for a face to face interview with them in Port Angeles. Rebecca and I drove over there this week and I was offered a job with them. The job is in Anacortes so we will have to move to the marina there in a couple of weeks. The marina is right beside the docks where I will be working and there are a LOT of places for Beck to work if she wants to. This is a great job and it is 15-days on call, 5-days off. During my on call days I can be on our boat and continue to school the boys. The library is only a couple of blocks away so the boys are happy. Anacortes is still only about 40 minutes away from Bellingham so we can still stay close to family. The other cool thing is that they were also looking for dock hands and Jimmy will be going down there for his face to face interview this coming Monday. If everything works out Jimmy will have a job on boats as well! I am super excited to be back on the water doing what I love.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I will also continue to work on editing our videos for YouTube and I have been writing a book about our time on Wandering Dolphin.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">If it sounds like we are becoming permanent dock jocks you can flush that idea right now. The Pacific awaits us and in a few years we will set sail again. Until then we will sail the beautiful Pacific Northwest and live on Wandering Dolphin. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">By the way, Charlie loves being on the dock! He has offered no complaints whatsoever.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Tightening The Springline,</span></div>
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Wandering Dolphinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00175797106384217724noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5613053694412635428.post-18113751549679616332014-11-25T17:12:00.003-08:002014-11-25T17:13:11.499-08:00Beginnings 2006-2008<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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In January 2006 we left our farm and boys home in Montana and moved aboard our sailboat "Wandering Dolphin." This was supposed to be a part time arrangement but within only a few months, while we were sailing in the Bahamas, our house in Montana was burned to the ground.<br />
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We suddenly and unexpectedly found ourselves to be full time cruisers/live-a-boards. Wandering Dolphin was all we had left. We sailed North to Charleston, South Carolina where we regrouped and made a choice to stay on our boat and cruise/work as a full-time lifestyle.<br />
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The next summer we sailed north and ended up spending a few wonderful months in Oriental, North Carolina. In Oriental the real healing for our family began as we met lifelong friends and were enriched by this lovely little town.<br />
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In January, 2008 we sadly sailed away from Oriental towards the Bahamas.<br />
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The pictures in this video are all from this tumultuous time in our lives. I hope you enjoy them.<br />
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The Crew<br />
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Wandering Dolphinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00175797106384217724noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5613053694412635428.post-26525070710808322682014-11-22T14:38:00.002-08:002014-11-22T14:38:46.612-08:00How Much SPACE Do You REALLY Need? <div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="s1">A couple of days ago two guys were outside on the dock admiring Wandering Dolphin. I am sure they didn’t know anyone was aboard so I listened to them for a few minutes before I made myself known to them. They were both dreaming about offshore. I invited them aboard and they told me about their families and their dreams. One of their concerns was the idea of space for a whole family on board a boat. I love to see the look on peoples faces when I tell them that we have five kids and that this is our only home.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">As you can imagine because we have lived on a relatively small boat with five kids for so many years we get a lot of questions about living space. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">Most people who dream of moving the whole family, kids and all, onboard a sailboat full time seriously overestimate the amount of space they need. We did the same thing. Ten years ago when we were in the “searching for the boat” stage we assumed that we would need a boat with a minimum of 50 feet on deck. We were not looking for an actual cabin for each kid or anything but we figured that our only girl, EmilyAnne, would need her own room, Rebecca and I would need a cabin and our four boys would all need dedicated berths in a shared cabin somewhere on the boat. We also figured that we would need at least two heads and copious storage for provisions etc.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">What we ended up with is Wandering Dolphin. She is 47 feet over all, only 41 feet on deck and has only one head. My wife and I share the V-berth cabin, two kids have pilot berths in the salon area and there are two small aft cabins for the older kids. When our oldest son was still onboard our youngest was small enough to sleep in the convertible table berth in the salon. If this sounds a lot like camping in a motorhome or trailer that is because it actually is. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">The common misconception is that because this living arrangement is similar to camping it will not work full time. The reality of our life is that within the first year we were all used to the small space and it has never even been an issue at all.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Our kids have grown up a little differently as a result of this close living. They do not have the normal American bubble space requirement. When we visit family in a house our kids, even now as teenagers, all sit on a couch snuggled close together. Don’t get me wrong, they still bicker and fight like normal teenage siblings they just do it close together rather than across the room from one another. One common thing teens say in anger is, </span></div>
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<span class="s1">It is an interesting thing to note that this is never one of the complaints our kids make. They are always close, often rubbing arms, legs or feet, but more often what we do hear is, </span></div>
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<span class="s1">“Mom! Tell him to stop bugging me when my headset is on!” or</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Our bedroom is the V-Berth. This has worked out very well over the years and has not been a problem unless we were on an offshore passage to windward. While the V-Berth is not usable as a berth to windward it is actually very comfortable when the wind is anywhere aft of the beam. Our V-berth is down a short hall, past the head and has no door, only a curtain. The very first thought that comes to the minds of most adults is,</span></div>
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<span class="s1">“Well how do you... you know?”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">All I have to say is that it might explain to our friends on Water Island in St Thomas why our children were sent to the beach so often. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">When we first bought the boat I was actually quite concerned that we only had one head. Now, If I did ever own a boat with more than one head the first thing I would do would be to take the head itself out of the little room and turn it into either a storage pantry or a workshop. Even one head is a constant battle of maintenance and work. The head has been the single biggest maintenance pain in my ass. (pun intended) One of the things that has helped in this area is that with five guys on board and only two ladies we a large bottle in the cockpit for urine for the guys and just dump them over board. If we had only two guys and five girls we might think two heads would be worth it after all.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">We have found that the advantages in owning a smaller sized vessel under fifty feet far outweigh the disadvantages. Most often rate hikes on docks and in haul out facilities start at fifty feet. There are cruising places like the Bahamas where at more than 40 feet the cost of your permit actually doubles. The other thing to consider is that all maintenance issues are reduced by a lot. Everything is smaller on a 45 foot boat, sails, engine, etc. The boat is also very easy for two people to sail, or even one person in a pinch. It’s not that we don’t have enough people onboard but it sure makes the offshore passages a lot easier if only two people are needed on deck for any job.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEj0qZ2zj2puYYt0esdhx7Gk3sgEp4VRrZhh6_AS7auaifVmG_Qi5zZuUoQh_5bjZz8FSRKfvrOZaNHsMc8Ns1-SnJEhvDPvmB6-HlhoKaXb6pRXA8H6OM9pdt9S-ZiLCwIy_hGmVqg8NW/s1600/IMG_3819.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjEj0qZ2zj2puYYt0esdhx7Gk3sgEp4VRrZhh6_AS7auaifVmG_Qi5zZuUoQh_5bjZz8FSRKfvrOZaNHsMc8Ns1-SnJEhvDPvmB6-HlhoKaXb6pRXA8H6OM9pdt9S-ZiLCwIy_hGmVqg8NW/s1600/IMG_3819.jpg" height="200" width="149" /></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwrn2Nij6gn8s0QX673ZbRq3Qy0BI1JzW9jsVFhGNe4p_86349U_noIZRWnSgHwhMkCH-rVQe9OwW4g_cIUcHd4zbKCr2e0EhxEmoV69jnhRQpusq0E0_WMg7Kei6Pn-yVtbrKYq2qrJwb/s1600/IMG_3820.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: center;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgwrn2Nij6gn8s0QX673ZbRq3Qy0BI1JzW9jsVFhGNe4p_86349U_noIZRWnSgHwhMkCH-rVQe9OwW4g_cIUcHd4zbKCr2e0EhxEmoV69jnhRQpusq0E0_WMg7Kei6Pn-yVtbrKYq2qrJwb/s1600/IMG_3820.JPG" height="239" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span class="s1">Wandering Dolphin is not only a smaller vessel but she is a performance sailer designed by Gary Mull. Her fast, light weight hull design with a flush deck means that she has less storage space below. When we first moved aboard, we had hammocks hanging all over filled with stuff that we thought we needed. We piled the decks high with extra crap. The lifelines had boards with jerry jugs tied to them and water jugs full all the time. We had to actually raise the water line six inches because the boat was so heavy.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Over the years we discovered that we didn’t need all of that stuff. We discovered the freedom and joy of living with less clutter and slowly the hammocks came down, the tons of extra spares were disposed of or used and not replaced. The decks were completely cleared off. We carry only the fuel and water in her tanks and the water line is back to the design specs. The difference in the performance of our boat was shocking. Now anything that is coming aboard our boat full time has to pass a pretty rigid test of its need in relation to its weight or the space required for it.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Provisions are also a common concern. Once again, when we first moved aboard, Rebecca tried to provision the boat for months and, of course, we didn’t have the storage for all of the food. Let me assure you that this next truth is commonly overlooked. People everywhere you cruise have to eat! There is absolutely no need to carry a ton of provisions everywhere you go! We have found that most of the food in other countries is actually cheaper than in the US Islands. When we first sailed from St Thomas to Trinidad we loaded the boat with provisions and discovered that the food in the huge grocery stores in Trinidad were almost half the price over all of the food in St Thomas. In Dominica we bought fresh eggs, fruit and bread from the boat boys for peanuts. As a disclaimer however, I do want to note that if there are certain “American” foods that you or your kids cannot live without like peanut butter, strawberry jam, or Miracle Whip. You should stock quite a bit of that stuff somewhere on the boat. The other note is: If you are planning on wintering in the Bahamas you should stock your boat with about as much food as you can load on her in Florida. Food in the Bahamas is easy to find, unless you are in the out islands, but it is ridiculously expensive. Also, a watermaker will extend your time out in the out islands and while the savings won’t pay for your watermaker it sure feels a lot better to make your own water rather than pay some guy a couple dollars a gallon for it! </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><i>We did survive for almost a month anchored off a deserted little island in the Bahamas living only on the fish we caught and the rice and beans we had stored on board. I also lost a lot of weight from both the diet and the fact that I was out spearfishing for a few hours every day</i></span><span class="s2">.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I know that there are a lot of families out there trying to decide how much space they need and I would like to assure you that you can get out cruising a lot faster if you do not make the space requirement such a rigid problem. </span></div>
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<span class="s1">On a side note, we have met other families with two or three kids who were happily cruising on even smaller boats.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Live Small! Live Happy!</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Captain Tofer</span></div>
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Wandering Dolphinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00175797106384217724noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5613053694412635428.post-69421211990627584942014-11-06T17:27:00.000-08:002014-11-25T16:57:50.436-08:00Our New You Tube Channel.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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This winter -Our videos!</div>
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Wandering Dolphinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00175797106384217724noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5613053694412635428.post-89576535114477931682014-10-23T15:20:00.000-07:002014-10-23T15:28:04.066-07:00One Moment Offshore<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieFgeZKeRDmL7KFfCvbD9h6kVkDDWMstEkfSpmmxRXHNApPkpsftidECpnF3W8mFKzwarLK_f2kgLeZ0UA6sl6V4KEVhKKJw-g0ev1fdbfa6aipdjBBvmOPC9cXKGUyoO7FAP6Mn_H6__J/s1600/IMG_1882.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEieFgeZKeRDmL7KFfCvbD9h6kVkDDWMstEkfSpmmxRXHNApPkpsftidECpnF3W8mFKzwarLK_f2kgLeZ0UA6sl6V4KEVhKKJw-g0ev1fdbfa6aipdjBBvmOPC9cXKGUyoO7FAP6Mn_H6__J/s1600/IMG_1882.JPG" height="478" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Today I was thinking about one moment offshore.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I cannot remember what day it was. All of the days run together in my memory. I do know that it was on our 38-day passage from Costa Rica to Hawaii somewhere in the endless blue of the Pacific. The nearest land was more than one-thousand miles over the horizon to the east. It was nearly noon and all of the kids and my wife were sound asleep in their berths below. The wind was blowing from the south east off the starboard quarter at only six to eight knots. The seas were that impossible blue that can only be found on a sunny day far from land, the very color that gives “bluewater sailing” its moniker. There were no whitecaps that were not made from the boats own wake. It was almost calm and the boat was moving gently at only around three or four knots with all sails set.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I sat on the low side of the cockpit, leaning against the splash guards. The gentle wind was blowing right off the jib, being funneled through the gap between it and the main sail and right into my face. The boat was on a gentle heel to port and I could look right down into the water as it passed by the boat. For once I had no music playing and because everyone else was sound asleep below the only sounds were the soft rush of water along the hull and the rustle of the wind in the sails.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">At that moment, as if on cue, two little dolphins swam to the surface almost close enough to touch. I could hear them breathe through their blowholes and even hear their squeaks from underwater as they rushed past me on their way to the bow where they would play with their namesake “Wandering Dolphin” for a little while before heading back to what ever it is dolphins do out there all day long.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I remember thinking at that moment,</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>“This is why people go to sea. This is the very dream so many people have back home in their cubicles at work. At this moment I am living the dream of so many dreamers who long to leave it all behind and see what I am seeing right now. I am actually experiencing the offshore ideal that has drawn sailors to the ocean since the very first moment a sail was raised on a mast above a deck.”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">I decided right then to take a mental picture and vowed to remember it when I was sitting in a marina on a chilly day with heaters running and the creak of a dockline pulling the boat from the dock. Then I picked up my iPad and snapped the two seemingly boring pictures above. I hope that moment inspires you to dream.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Captain Tofer</span></div>
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Wandering Dolphinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00175797106384217724noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5613053694412635428.post-2828975932559003322014-09-17T19:30:00.002-07:002014-10-24T13:39:16.204-07:00You Can Never Go Home Again<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGLzzg7U7CEqW3b0ZiqX-Fg72rATmvZrWX2bhKaRmBCdeHOWVtmyI_er5-Ax3bxCnc59XUkeK4tKoOz2A435meolIcWyHBizoa4eO-yYSSNmUDGNoxzekRDRXItZwIHyyJIFWERkWZkJVp/s1600/IMG_5565.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGLzzg7U7CEqW3b0ZiqX-Fg72rATmvZrWX2bhKaRmBCdeHOWVtmyI_er5-Ax3bxCnc59XUkeK4tKoOz2A435meolIcWyHBizoa4eO-yYSSNmUDGNoxzekRDRXItZwIHyyJIFWERkWZkJVp/s1600/IMG_5565.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Today the boys and I woke up early and set off from Deerlodge, Montana headed for Wyoming. I was born and raised in Wyoming and almost all of my family lives there still. We are going Camping in the Tetons for a week with one of my brothers and my Mom. Dave lives in Basin which is near Shell, the little town from my boyhood.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I moved to Shell when I was eleven. Benny is eleven right now. I left Shell to go to school in Canada when I was fifteen. Kaleb turns fourteen in a couple of months and Kanyon is fifteen now. It was pretty cool to visit this little town from my best boyhood memories with my own boys who are the very ages right now that I was then.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt4fhKZTKvK-sPaoq-V77hSfU5hQu-OS3hVPQtMzcH2Jogzz9v6sHeYegxzrNrkNdwhH6xlu4vsdAdH7sVNTLjjENb755dqqkcy_jv6mW6V4G-zWduQM28TvnWLyGEMTruknKGWoepOZ47/s1600/IMG_5578.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjt4fhKZTKvK-sPaoq-V77hSfU5hQu-OS3hVPQtMzcH2Jogzz9v6sHeYegxzrNrkNdwhH6xlu4vsdAdH7sVNTLjjENb755dqqkcy_jv6mW6V4G-zWduQM28TvnWLyGEMTruknKGWoepOZ47/s1600/IMG_5578.jpg" height="400" width="300" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Shell is a little town at the base of the Bighorn Mountains. When I moved to Shell in fifth grade, there were 50 people in town and the little red one room school house was still up and running. It had one very pretty teacher who stayed in the little house right next to the school and there were fifteen students from kindergarten to fifth grade. I could ride my bike through the little town streets to the school in the fall and spring and trudge through snow in my moonboots pulling my sled during the winter.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-PlgTTmXEXgVDQcO6btImj7AU9T3vKuijcjJLD4xw2Tvam14e6n5bT5iFrkgoEnkQdo9hSpX0Ty_ILC6n6OuSFZy7Mg78HBu-Mtya2gwiqrgEtE9IyDbdiD5v-XDAdPjC7iqsvXeWyj6W/s1600/IMG_5569.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-PlgTTmXEXgVDQcO6btImj7AU9T3vKuijcjJLD4xw2Tvam14e6n5bT5iFrkgoEnkQdo9hSpX0Ty_ILC6n6OuSFZy7Mg78HBu-Mtya2gwiqrgEtE9IyDbdiD5v-XDAdPjC7iqsvXeWyj6W/s1600/IMG_5569.jpg" height="640" width="480" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">I had two best friends during my years in Shell their names were Jimmy Alexander and Tom Wallin. Together we explored the area around Shell. We camped in the forested areas around Shell Creek and even in the mountains. We rode our bicycles and later motorcycles all over the country around Shell. We shot bows and arrows, built tree houses, swam in the canal and reservoir, hunted for fossils, built and walked on VERY tall stilts, peeked at Playboys, built enormous bon fires, snuck out at night to ride around town and basically lived the life of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I have never forgotten those wonderful days in Shell or the friends I shared them with. The boy I was shaped the man I am.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Jimmy, Tom, and myself were all born in 1967. Jimmy and Tom both died two months apart in 1988 when we were all nineteen years old and they are buried side by side. I walked the little streets of Shell today with my own boys and teared up multiple times as I mourned the boys they were and the sons they never had.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">My oldest son is named James Thomas. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">I miss you guys.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Your Friend,</span><br />
<span style="font-size: large;">Chris</span></div>
Wandering Dolphinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00175797106384217724noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5613053694412635428.post-88702212843782801622014-09-15T21:05:00.001-07:002014-09-15T21:06:41.858-07:00Road Trip to Montana<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>The kids and I loaded up the van and spent all day Sunday driving from Bellingham, WA to Deerlodge, MT. This was the first time I have been on a road trip for ten-years. My drivers license expired over three years ago and since we didn’t even own a car I didn’t bother to get a new one until we landed in Washington a few weeks ago. I have enjoyed the feeling of real speed of movement since then. Remember, I have been driving boats at speeds just a little faster than you can run for a long time now.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>It was pretty great to see and smell the mountains again. I sat outside the van in a rest area just smelling for a while. It’s kind of funny but there is no real smell offshore. The smells of the sea are all land related. When you are way out there, there is a notable lack of smell actually. It was pretty cool to watch the faces of my kids as they stared at the wide open spaces, winding rivers and curvy mountain roads. These things that I grew up with were a novelty to them just as land kids would stare at Big waves on wide open seas or jungle harbors and impossibly aqua colored waters.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>When we passed through Spokane the interstate was closed because of a terrible accident. We were detoured for quite a while and once we were back on the road we were surprised to see yet another fatal accident on the mountain pass just past the Idaho border. Two fatal accidents in one stretch of highway. I couldn’t help but think again of the folks on Rebel Heart who were dragged over the coals for taking their kids offshore but had they been taking their kids on a drive across the USA in a mini van those same people would not have had a problem with it. I am certain that my kids were at far greater risk on Sunday’s drive than in the entire 78 days we spent offshore between March and August this year. People are afraid of what they do not understand.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>I have been getting quite a kick out of the response to my last couple of posts. I wrote that first one very quickly and with very little thought. In a moment where I felt very low I just took my feelings out on my poor Mac. I feel much better now, mostly because of those of you who encouraged me and said, “Chin Up Mister!” I wasn’t really surprised that there were a couple of people who decided that my feelings were invalid. The first guy I respected and answered because he had read the blog for a while and knew enough about us to merit a response. The second comment was deleted because by their own admission it was the first time they had ever read it and so they were getting that post as an introduction to the blog... (that’s a scary thought actually!) I don’t really mind the negative feedback but the name calling was uncalled for especially from someone who has never even read the blog before. I have considered removing the posts altogether but I decided not to partially because this blog is not just for you, the reader, but also for my own use much later when I want to go back and reread my thoughts and feelings at this time.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>The boys and I will be heading down to Jackson Hole with my Mom and one of my brothers this week. We will be camping out and riding four wheelers while my brother hunts. I’m sure my boys and Emily will LOVE the mountains and it will be great for me to have a chance to just decompress and smell the mountain air again.</span></span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: large;">Good Night From Big Sky Country!</span></span></div>
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Wandering Dolphinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00175797106384217724noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5613053694412635428.post-88691140403347978922014-09-12T16:58:00.002-07:002014-09-12T17:36:44.849-07:009/12/14 More on "Fit to Be Tied"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
One of the things I really like about writing a blog as a medium is the close interaction one has, as a writer, with the readers. Whenever I write a post with even a remote amount of controversy involved you can count on someone's feathers to get ruffled. Sometimes folks get bent out of shape at the simplest things and as a blogger I don't have the luxury of saying, "Hey it's none of your business!" If I wrote it and put it out there it becomes everyone's business. So todays blog is to answer the comments.<br />
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First of all I want to thank EVERYONE for the comments. The ones on the blog are not even close to the number I have on our "Wandering Dolphin" Facebook page and even in private messages on Facebook. I also want to thank not just the folks who have encouraged me but the ones who disagree and told me to stop acting like a baby.<br />
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To those of you who sent me encouragement I want to thank you and tell you that it really meant a lot to me. I have been feeling down for a couple of weeks now and it is a new experience for me. I am the eternal optimist and to feel like I am falling in a hole and that I cant dig my way out is new for me. Your comments made me feel like I was not alone. Some of you shared your own experiences as land bound sailors and others just reminded me that this is just a season not a lifetime. Thanks also to the reader who encouraged me to read the "Impermanence" blog about the full time RVers. The feelings I am feeling are pretty normal for any of us who have chosen a lifestyle that doesn't fit into the mold. <br />
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I also wanted to respond to the following comment (posted anonymously by the way) and discuss it in depth a bit because I think it hits on what is really bothering me right now.<br />
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<i style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.0320014953613px; text-align: justify;"><span style="background-color: #783f04; color: white;">"I don't know you or your family but I've followed your 'wanderings' for some time now. I have to say I'm more than a little surprised at your comments.</span></i><br />
<span style="color: white;"><i style="background-color: #783f04;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.0320014953613px; text-align: justify;">You say 'we' made this move, 'we' spent every dime, 'we' owe money, 'we' have all this debt. So to whom are you complaining? Who told you to make the move? If things were so good in the VI, why leave there?</span><br style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.0320014953613px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.0320014953613px; text-align: justify;">Did you research job opportunities before moving? Did you plan it? Sure doesn't sound like it.</span><br style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.0320014953613px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.0320014953613px; text-align: justify;">'Enslavement of a normal American life'? WTF? If you feel enslaved by this move that YOU made, point the finger right at yourself (remember the 'we'?).</span><br style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.0320014953613px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.0320014953613px; text-align: justify;">Washington is no more "full of restrictions and rules and laws...designed to curb my freedom..." than any other civilized place.</span><br style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.0320014953613px; text-align: justify;" /><span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.0320014953613px; text-align: justify;">You don't like it here? Well, quit your whining and leave. Just don't let the main sail hit you on the ass on your way out of Puget Sound!"</span></i></span><br />
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Whenever I write a blog and post my deepest feelings I expect there to be at least one person who will decide that they need to "put me in my place." It does take a certain amount of courage to write your feelings out for anyone to stomp on. It would have been very easy to sit back and let my readers believe that all is well in the world of Wandering Dolphin. It's all smiles and cotton candy clouds here. There are a lot of readers who are dreaming of moving on to a boat and living this dream and if what I write is negative or not in a happy tone they sometimes feel personally attacked. I believe that I should be honest with my readers and share the lows right along with the highs. This reader was surprised by the blog post because it is usually so upbeat and positive about our life and suddenly it wasn't.</div>
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I have reread the blog post and I cannot find anyplace where I was blaming anyone else for our current situation. I am pretty sure that it was our choice to be here; it was our choice to spend every dime to get here; we willingly took money in debt from kind family members to help us out. Do I have to be blaming anyone to be feeling like a choice I have made was not, perhaps, the smartest move? I don't think so. </div>
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Did we research? Did we plan? We have been living on our boat for almost 10 years and EVERY year we find work almost immediately. We are not rocket scientists or brain surgeons. Beck is a waitress and bartender and I deliver boats. No we didn't look for a bar-tending or waitress job in Washington for Beck while we were in St Thomas. Based on past experience we thought it wouldn't be that hard to find a job. We didn't count on the fact that because of ObamaCare no one is hiring full time anymore for these jobs. We planned only as far as to make sure we had a slip in a marina because we did know about the restrictions placed on anchored live-aboards in Washington.</div>
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Did I know how much I would miss diving off the boat into the clear Caribbean sea for a swim every day after school? I have to admit, I suspected it for sure but I didn't anticipate the strength of the culture shock I am experiencing right now. Yep "culture shock" Just think about it for a moment. This time last year and for the past six I was able to look off my boat at a pretty little beach, the boat and water were warm and we were able to scuba dive and swim right off the boat. My view now is ... well a marina and we are waking up freezing already. Do I blame anyone but myself for this? Nope! My fault! I don't mean to make you as a Washingtonian feel personally attacked by this comparison either but come on now. Put yourself in my position. St Thomas sure has it's problems and we were ready to leave but give me the right to feel a little culture shock will ya?</div>
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"Enslavement of the normal American Life." I really thought there might be more people to get their panties in a bunch over that to be honest with you. But, "YEP." Enslavement - the NORMAL American debt per household is $154,000.00. That is debt not bills. On top of the payments for that debt most Americans have car, house, life, health insurance, water bill, gas bill, multiple phone bills, state taxes, cable, and a bunch more I am probably forgetting. As a family who is coming from a phone bill and life insurance payment and .000 debt I look at the "normal" American and see someone who is enslaved. We are also used to a very mobile life. If I can't pull up the hook and leave because I don't like my neighbor I feel trapped. Once again... I didn't blame you, the poor sap stuck in a dead end job and hating his enslaved life, for this move <b>I made </b>but that certainly doesn't mean I have to like the outcome of <b>my choices </b>so far. </div>
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<i style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18.0320014953613px; text-align: justify;">Washington is no more "full of restrictions and rules and laws...designed to curb my freedom..." than any other civilized place.</span></i></div>
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I guess Wyoming and Montana, where I grew up are not civilized... they don't have nearly as many petty laws in those states (actually I am pretty sure that folks from both of those states would consider it a compliment to be told that they are uncivilized.) We have been to a lot of countries and a lot of States and Washington is certainly not the only place with a LOT of laws and rules that directly impact my freedoms as a boater. Florida has enough of them that I actually did take your advice and stopped going there all together. Fortunately there are still those wonderful "uncivilized" places on the planet and you are dead right my friend, I need to set sail for the uncivilized! Oh, and I ALWAYS put out a preventer so there isn't much of a chance that my Main will hit me in the ass.</div>
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Wow! This whole process was really cathartic! I feel so much better now!</div>
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Captain Tofer</div>
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Wandering Dolphinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00175797106384217724noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5613053694412635428.post-17502862765800866792014-09-11T18:21:00.000-07:002014-09-11T18:21:30.045-07:009/11/14 Wandering Dolphin "Fit to be Tied"<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>WARNING: This short blog is NOT upbeat, fun, exciting etc... it is DEPRESSING. Read at your own risk:</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>I’m pretty sure we screwed the pooch with this move to Washington. We spent every single dime of our savings to sail Wandering Dolphin from St Thomas, USVI, through the Canal, to Costa Rica, Hawaii and finally Washington. We went from no marina fee and only a cell phone for a bill and no debt at all to a slip, vehicle, insurance, gas, and we owe money to family members who have graciously tried to help us over this rough spot. All of these changes in a moment when we set foot on the dock it seems. I left quite a few delivery jobs on the East Coast for none over here on the West and Beck has been struggling to find work. The jobs she has right now don’t even cover our bills much less food and stuff. I am struggling with the very thought of everything we are giving up in order to be here. Mostly it is the enslavement of a “normal” American life that is getting to me. I don’t even want all of these things! I want the freedom of the sea again already. I want to drop my hook in a free anchorage again and row ashore to find work for a season right off the boat. Washington is one of the most beautiful places I have ever seen but it is also full of restrictions and rules and laws that are designed to curb my freedom and it is growing old SUPER fast.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>I have also been plagued by a depression that I have never faced in my life. To me our 78 days at sea was a milestone and I was pretty depressed when we finally reached our dock and only 3 people were there and not one of them was from my own family. I’m not exactly sure what I expected but I definitely felt a bit of let down and even anger toward my own family. That had really been building for years actually. We have spent the past eight years in one of the prettiest places in the world and the only one in my family to visit was my Mom. It didn’t surprise me to find none of them waiting at the dock but it did sting none the less. </span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>I am also depressed because I actually really like my life as a sailor and have been very proud of the way we have chosen to live our lives. Now here we are actively trying to unspool that life and fill it up with all of the very things I hate, debt, bills, schedules, and our boat tied to a dock like a lion in a cage. I am pretty sure I need to earn some quick cash by cutting crab in the fish plant, pay off the folks we owe money to, buy WD some new sails, and point her bow west this spring.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>My buddy Richard told me in Hawaii to be prepared for depression when the journey ended. I laughed because I have really never experienced it before. I know that there are a lot of people who will read this and say, </span></div>
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<span class="s1">“Poor Baby! You mean you have to go to work every day at a dead end job for the rest of your life to pay bills like the rest of us?” </span></div>
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<span class="s1">I can hear them laughing at me just like I have been laughing over the years every time we pulled up our anchor and set sail for another Caribbean anchorage and our day to day life on Wandering Dolphin.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span"> </span>Well here we are... NOT “Living the Dream!”</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Hog Tied to an Ugly Dock,</span></div>
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Wandering Dolphinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00175797106384217724noreply@blogger.com11tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5613053694412635428.post-77478159279643810232014-08-15T11:27:00.002-07:002014-08-15T11:27:57.668-07:00Friday Harbor and Blaine<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Good Morning,<br />
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We are now in our winter berth in Blaine, WA. Blaine is as far north as you can get on the West Coast of the continental USA. We can actually see the border from the marina. We will be living on the boat through the cold Pacific Northwest winter with the kids. We will still be doing homeschooling but I am changing from the curriculum I have been using to my own curriculum, which I used to use when we ran our little school in Montana.<br />
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The Force 10 heater seems to heat the boat up nicely and I think with the addition of some electric space heaters we should be ok... When I was 19 I lived in a camper here in Bellingham for the winter, so I am not niave to the bone chilling cold of a winter here. We see it as yet another adventure for our family living on our boat. I will keep blogging about our family's experiences this fall and winter.<br />
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When we first docked in Friday Harbor it was raining and cold but Rebecca wanted to be the first to touch land so she all but dove off the boat into the arms of the nice fella who was catching our lines. When she tried to stand she almost fell over. 28 days at sea makes for jello legs let me tell you. Just walking a couple of blocks made us so sore it felt like we had run a marathon. Poor Kanyon was actually blue from the cold. He doesn't have one oz of fat on his tall lean frame and I thought he might actually get hypothermia walking to the restraunt. <br />
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We had cheeseburgers and fries at a little pub and I was VERY disturbed to learn about Washington States rules about cooking meat! Apparently in this state you are only allowed to eat hockey pucks. I was even more disturbed to find out that they only serve scrambled eggs here for the same reasons! We'll be saving some money for sure since I cannot stomach ruined eggs or char broiled jerky burgers, I will have too cook them at home... I wonder how long it will be before the cooking police start checking our home kitchens for compliance with their rules...<br />
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It was amazing to walk on land and feel the firmness of Mother Earth. That night when we went to bed we all lay there with no motion on the boat, no noise of water on the hull, no fans running to keep the boat cool and we were all amazed that our ears were ringing from the silence. It was quiet enough that we could all talk to each other from our respective berths.<br />
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The next day we had to wait until 1:00pm to leave because we had to go with the tide in our favor. when we left everyone else did as well for the very same reason. The fog had rolled in and we were motoring along, socked in with fog, dodging boats. EmilyAnne stood on the bow as my eyes and ears. When the fog burned off we saw some little dolphins and seals and had a wonderful quiet trip the rest of the way to Blaine.<br />
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As we motored into the harbor we could see Becky's sister and Brother in law standing on the dock waving at us and her Mom met her at the dock. It was pretty sweet to see them all balling and crying with happiness. We had a great supper that night at a little Mexican place here in town.<br />
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The next morning, yesterday, we moved from the visitors dock to our permanent dock, N7. I had to back WD into the slip and it was a port side tie. WD is not a normal sailboat with a port walk in reverse. Because of our V-Drive our prop turns the other way and because we have a Max Prop, which is a folding prop it has a LOT of power in reverse. This combination makes her walk VERY hard to starboard in reverse. We also had some current flowing in and pushing us to starboard as well. It was a HUGE challenge and took all of us working together to get her into the slip but we managed. We spent the rest of the day putting everything away and scrubbing down the decks. <br />
<br />
Rebecca's sister came out and picked her up to go in and do laundry. When she showed up she had TWO Big Macs for me!!! Yay!!<br />
<br />
This morning the boys and I were up early. We had our pancakes and are working on schoolwork now.<br />
<br />
I have started writing a long and comprehensive report about what worked on our trip and what didn't. It will be filled with some first hand ideas for your next passage.<br />
<br />
I still pinch myself when I see WD sitting on the dock here...<br />
<br />
Have A Wonderful Day,<br />
Captain Tofer<br />
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Wandering Dolphinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00175797106384217724noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5613053694412635428.post-74433418455697112902014-08-12T09:13:00.002-07:002014-08-12T09:13:17.466-07:00August 12 Position Report<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
8/12/14 Wandering Dolphin POS<br />
<br />
0700 Seattle Time / 1400GMT<br />
N 48 18.96 W 124 07.54 (The Strait of Juan de Fuca)<br />
COG 097T<br />
SOG 5.3 kt<br />
<br />
Wind NW 5-8<br />
Pressure: 29.60<br />
Temp: 68F<br />
Sky: overcast<br />
Seas: 1-2 ft west swell<br />
Sails: genoa<br />
<br />
Good Morning from the Strait of Juan de Fuca!<br />
<br />
Yesterday was a boisterous day of sailing with winds from the NW at 20+ all day. The water started to get shallower so the waves were pretty big and it was quite a ride. I was a little over confident about our ability to make it all the way to Blaine by tonight. Current is the big negative factor for us right now. Most of today it will be against us and with no wind our boat will only motor at 6 knots anyway so with a negative current approaching 3 knots for a while today and 2 most of the rest (5:30am-1:30pm) we'll be a slow boat for a while. We have decided to stop in Friday Harbor for the night and continue on to Blaine tomorrow.<br />
<br />
I had some questions about my comment yesterday in which I said I was thinking about buying a faster boat. First off, that was said in jest really. WD is a wonderful boat with a great combination of performance, light weight, and it is with it's modified fin keel and aluminum construction it is a very safe, sea kindly vessel. We have joked around about getting an actual sled though, like an open 40 or something. By faster boat I meant a very high performance hull and taller rig so we could fly bigger light air sails. Our friends Evan Starzinger and Beth Leonard built their aluminum boat "Hawk" with that same idea in mind. They found from their EXTREME offshore passages, and we have found this to be true as well, that the vast majority of your time offshore you are in light air and a boat that is set up for light air sailing and is light enough itself to move in light air is the way to go. For our next long voyage in the Pacific we will at least have a new main and a cruising chute. I will say a little more about this in my report at the end of this voyage.<br />
<br />
The family is super excited to see land and get to shore. This trip we didn't have any rainstorms to fill our water tank offshore so we have been using the fresh water for ONLY drinking so everyone is REALLY jonesing for showers. Even the boys, who usually act like fresh water and soap combined might melt their skin off, are talking about showers. The ladies are happy that we will be able to shower and clean up before they see family in Blaine. For myself... I am like Horatio Hornblower, cold seawater and joy has mostly kept me fresh... If not itchy from salt and my hair and beard are pretty wild. I could probably make some money panhandling in Seattle if I just stay as I am for a few more days.<br />
<br />
The fuel has water in it from sitting only 1/4 full for so many days in the cold water. Since our tank is aluminum and it's in the keel it gets pretty cold. Anyway, I have already had to drain the bowl and switch out filters once this morning, I have four more... Hope we can make Friday Harbor before I'm out.<br />
<br />
We were super sad to hear about Robin Williams. He made the world laugh but obviously wasn't laughing inside. Thanks for passing on the news.<br />
<br />
This run up these straits is pretty crazy. It's as busy as our approach into Panama but nuts because with the fog it's a blind run. I'm not sure I would do it without AIS. My Navionics app and iPad with the Bad Elf GPS Pro (connects wirelessly via Bluetooth and is itself a stand alone handheld GPS) has been great this whole voyage and continues to be spot on here in this busy shipping area. I can switch back and forth between it and my VESPER AIS plotter with ease. It's a great way to go. For those of you who have messaged me about it I highly recommend it as a system. Not to mention I'm typing this email right now on the same iPad, while I navigate, and I'll send it off with the Iridium phone linked wirelessly to this same device in an hour or so.<br />
<br />
I will send out another report in the morning from Friday Harbor and again once we get to Blaine. We will keep the sat phone on for messages all the way too because I am not sure where we will start to get good AT&T coverage for the cell phones.<br />
<br />
Thanks for all of your kind messages. We sure have enjoyed your company on this voyage. Some of you feel like old friends now and we sure hope we can continue to hear from you on Facebook after the trip is over.<br />
<br />
InReach will be on all day today too.<br />
<br />
Have a Beautiful Day!<br />
Captain Tofer, Rebecca, EmiyAnne, Kanyon, Kaleb, and Benny</div>
Wandering Dolphinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00175797106384217724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5613053694412635428.post-54325804655903046582014-08-11T09:51:00.002-07:002014-08-11T09:56:04.022-07:00August 11 Position Report<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
8/11/14 Wandering Dolphin POS<br />
<br />
0600 Seattle Time / 1200 GMT<br />
N 48 24.68 W 127 48.51<br />
COG 094T<br />
SOG 7 kt<br />
DMG 98 nautical miles<br />
DTG 238 nautical miles<br />
<br />
Wind NW 20-22<br />
Pressure: 29.75<br />
Temp: 69F<br />
Sky: overcast or foggy, can't tell yet<br />
Seas: 6-8 ft<br />
Sails: double reefed main, reefed jib<br />
<br />
Good Morning,<br />
Wow! It's pretty cool to look at the chart plotter and see how close we are to our final destination. This wind should hold out until Cape Flattery where it will all but die completely being blocked by Vancouver Island. We should arrive at the Cape this evening about dark. We will motor through the night and should be right off Victoria in the morning. Our fuel situation should be fine to just continue on motoring through the day right on up to Blaine. Our hope is to be on the dock in the evening and in showers within ten minutes of docking! Beck's family lives in Bellingham so we have considered anchoring out in Bellingham for the night and going on up to Blaine later but the desire to stop at an actual dock so we can clean the boat and ourselves is too much temptation for us.<br />
<br />
This trip will have been a 28-day trip. I had hoped for 18-22 days when we left Honolulu but once again the wide areas of calm slowed us a lot. These two super long passages have further confirmed my belief that a performance boat, kept light is the way to go. I really wish we had had a new main it would have taken days off the overall voyage. A cruising chute would have been great too. The Tri radial spinnaker is not as quick and easy to use so we tended to just be content to go a little slower rather than mess with it. When a I was running Sweetest Thing on offshore trips we would use the chute all the time because it was so easy to handle. (Usually ;).<br />
<br />
When we get to the dock I am going to post a longer report that lets you know what really worked well and what didn't for this whole 9500 mile voyage. One thing I will say is that I am very seriously considering selling the boat and purchasing an even faster one. ;)<br />
<br />
Yesterday was a full day of drift sailing at about 2 knots in 5 knots of wind. There were these huge swells coming from the west but they had a very long (30 second) interval so they were not uncomfortable just cool. The ocean had no wind waves on it so it was calm but with the huge swells it was like rolling hills. The sky was a perfect blue and the ocean was tropical blue. We had really missed the blue water. It seems like it's mostly grey in these higher latitudes. The other cool thing about yesterday was our reaction to the sun. We have spent so many years in the tropics that the sun has become something we actually hide from. We constantly put up shade and try to get out of the sun. Yesterday the sun was shining but we were still a little chilly so we took the cockpit shade down and reveled in the warmth of the sun on our skin! We sat in the cockpit, drifting slowly along in the sun, talking and looking at the birds fly around and the little funny floating things in the water that you normally cannot see because of the waves.<br />
<br />
Beck had the great idea to go on Facebook with the Delorme and ask for a no bake cookie recipe! Thanks Jim V. The blondie cookies were amazing and hit the spot! We liked them so much we're going to make them again today.<br />
<br />
We ended up losing track of time because the sun stays up so long this far north and we found ourselves having supper at 8:30 and by the time we were ready for bed it was midnight! Pretty crazy thing for us.<br />
<br />
What a different place it is this morning! Yesterday, calm, sunny, blue.... This morning, grey, rough waves, windy... That's the ocean for you!<br />
<br />
Almost There!<br />
Captain Tofer, Becky, EmilyAnne, Kanyon, Kaleb, and Benny</div>
Wandering Dolphinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00175797106384217724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5613053694412635428.post-74327925728694320142014-08-10T12:35:00.000-07:002014-08-10T12:35:57.319-07:00August 10 Position Report<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
8/10/14 Wandering Dolphin POS<br />
<br />
0700 Seattle Time / 1300GMT<br />
N 48 20.16 W 129 57.87<br />
COG 094T<br />
SOG 2.5 kts<br />
DMG 105 nautical miles<br />
DTG 322 nautical miles<br />
<br />
Wind: S 5-6<br />
Pressure: 29.95<br />
Temp: 72F<br />
Sky: overcast<br />
Seas: calm<br />
Sails: main and genoa set barely drawing<br />
<br />
Good Morning,<br />
<br />
The good news is that with no wind blowing it sure feels a lot warmer! I am sitting here this morning in the dark with a hot cup of KONA coffee waiting for the sun to rise. It is foggy, misty and drizzly and cool but not cold. We have the cockpit cover up so it is dry and I have my polar fleece on and a blanket wrapped around me. Everyone is sleeping but me so I am listening to my music quietly but I can still hear Hubert coming up for a breath occasionally off our port side so he's still here.<br />
<br />
AIS shows eight to ten ships on courses to and from Cape Flattery at all times now. It seems we are about ten miles south of the main shipping channel. Thank goodness! Right now we are just ghosting along on a glassy sea at a couple of knots. According to our weather buddy this calm is supposed to turn into NW wind here in another degree of longitude which will take us on up to Vancouver Island where it will die again. At that point we have enough fuel to motor all the way to Blaine if we choose.<br />
<br />
We haven't decided if we will stop for fuel in Port Angeles or just keep on going. In the tropics I preferred to sit for extended periods with an empty tank because a full tank of diesel became a bio growth experiment in the tank in tropical weather but I am not sure if it is better in cold climates to have a full tank or if an empty tank fills with condensation and you struggle with too much water in the tank when you do fill it later. Does anyone have any information about this for us?<br />
<br />
Yesterday was a great sailing day. We were reefed and still averaged 6-7 knots through the daytime. The wind started to die down around supper time and continued to die through the night. It made for a nice quiet and peaceful night, great for sleeping but we sure didn't make a lot of miles last night. <br />
We have developed a very small oil leak in the Borg Warner V-Drive. The V-drives are known for these and it's a pain mostly because it taints the water in the bilge so you have to keep a fresh oil catcher in the bilge at all times. It hasn't even leaked enough to show a drop in the level on the reservoir yet but just a little oil makes the water look like all oil. It reminds me again of a notorious recent delivery. The owner knew he had a bad leak and had like eight extra quarts of tranny ATF fluid stored on board but didn't think it was a bright idea to tell the crew about the leak before we took his boat out for a 2000 mile offshore delivery... Anyway... Gotta let that stuff go, not good for my blood pressure.<br />
<br />
Anyway, Emily cleaned the bilge yesterday, not her favorite job but especially with an aluminum boat it's an important maintenance chore. Today I will check all of our fluids and make sure the filters are ready on the engine for a 24 to 36 hour run on up to Blaine from the Cape. I sure like our new Beta Marine engine. I would definitely recommend Beta if you are doing an engine replacement especially if you're switching out an old Perkins. Painless switch, awesome engine.<br />
<br />
So with the wind blowing 20+ and the sun out and it being Saturday the kids had no school and the boat was producing power to burn so they turned on the inverter and had Halo battles on the XBox throughout the midday hours while the boat bounced along at 7 knots in the 8-10 foot following sea. The laughter and screeches from Emily as her brothers hunted her down was really sweet music in the cockpit and Beck and I just sat there grinning as we listened to them play. Pretty cool offshore memory. It made me wonder what Hubert was thinking. We have surround sound so the noise through the hull, especially from the big base box, must have carried through the water pretty good....<br />
Hubert to WD:<br />
" OhooooAaaaaoooooo.. Honey.... Bad gas? Was it something you ate? Sounds like a battle going on in your belly there baby... One time I ate this bad krill.....ooooooooAaaaaaaaaaaooooooooooooOOOOOOO...."<br />
<br />
In the afternoon we heard a Canadian aircraft out here 350 miles offshore calling all of the ships one after another on the VHF and then taking all of their vital information and last port of call and next port. They must have been using AIS to get the info for their calls and sure enough they called us. I'm a Wyoming guy whose first response to any government questioning is, "What authority do you have to butt into my business?" But before I could say anything like that my wife just gave me her cold pretty blue eyed stare that said, "Behave!" And I must say, it was pretty fun to answer last port of call as Honolulu, Hawaii 23 days ago and hear the fellas surprised, "Could you please repeat that Eh?" Anyway, they took everyone's info then informed all of the ships that it was a no discharge area... Hmmmm 350 miles offshore.... International waters... Canadian plane... I'm not really sure what that was all about but it sure seems like a colossal waste of money and time to send a plane out that far to try to enforce something that is un enforceable in the first place. What would Canadian enforcement look like anyway? "Do what we say or we'll give you a very firm scolding!" So I pissed off the bow and waved at them. Kidding. (Disclaimer by the way... I went to all of High School in Canada, I still say "Eh" and am mocked by my family for it and over half of my Facebook friends are Canadians so I mock in jest and I still love Canada.)<br />
<br />
The spaghetti lasagna was great! Benny wants to make it in the future and he calls it "spaglanya."<br />
<br />
After dinner we watched "Spies Like Us" that old comedy with Chevy Chase and Dan Akroyd. I forgot that I had it and the kids had never seen it so it was fun to laugh with them at yet another movie I knew by heart.<br />
<br />
Well here comes the sun. Maybe it will burn off this fog and mist. Hope your day on your spot on the globe is as great as ours is going to be!<br />
<br />
"Three more Days!!"<br />
Captain Tofer, Becca, Emily, Kanyon, Kaleb, and Benny</div>
Wandering Dolphinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00175797106384217724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5613053694412635428.post-70907762814298699262014-08-09T10:10:00.002-07:002014-08-09T10:10:32.316-07:00August 9 Position Report<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
8/9/14 Wandering Dolphin POS<br />
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0700 Seattle Time / 1300 GMT<br />
N 48 29.46 W 132 32.82<br />
COG 085T<br />
SOG 5-6 kts<br />
DMG 220 nautical miles (2-days)<br />
DTG 414 nautical miles (all the way to Blaine)<br />
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Wind SW 16-18<br />
Pressure: 29.9<br />
Temp: 66F<br />
Sky: mostly cloudy<br />
Seas: 4-5 ft in W swells<br />
Sails: double reefed main and slight reefed main<br />
<br />
Good Morning,<br />
<br />
First let me apologize for not sending out a report yesterday. I was reminded by a couple of you on the sat msgs that when we don't send one out you fear something might have happened. I assume that those of you who think that only get the blog and not our Facebook posts through our Delorme InReach. We did post on Facebook throughout the day yesterday. If you have not liked our Facebook page it is called "Wandering Dolphin" and we post real time on it throughout the day and also a lot of pictures when we are in Internet land.<br />
<br />
Yesterday both Rebecca and myself had terrible headaches. Hers is from a sinus infection and mine is from a change in temperature and pressure. Basically we put Emily in charge of the boat and we slept all day.<br />
<br />
There has been at least one whale who we have named "Hubert" following along with the boat for a few days. He comes up often right beside the boat and follows in our wake. Then he will disappear for a few hours and show up again later. Today we thought maybe he had a friend with him but I still think it was just the same whale. He is a small humpback. He must be an adolescent and have gotten separated from his family or something. He seems to think the black bottom of WD looks like a hot whale chick and he has decided to keep her company. Today he swam off in front of the boat and then came right back toward us and down the side. None of his actions seem aggressive just curious. It does make me happy again that we have a metal boat. He's big enough to hole a wooden or glass boat if he did decide to get ticked off.<br />
<br />
The wind changed to the SW night before last and increased to 15-18 and the steady blow has boosted our speed. We have the jib reefed for comfort and the main is double reefed. We could put out more sail and make a lot better speed but in these following seas it makes for a pretty uncomfortable ride if we do. It has been cloudy and cold and we are already missing our warm little Honeymoon Bay.<br />
<br />
The boys are looking forward to Saturday no school today. They will sleep in and I will take a double watch and let the ladies sleep too. When Beck gets up around 10:00 she will make pancakes and we have a can of apple pie filling left which she will mix with some sweetened condensed milk (it's just like caramel after being in storage for a while) and that will top our pancakes. Last night we had baked beans and biscuits for supper because we were all out of pizza stuff. Tonight we are going to make a spaghetti lasagna with leftover pepperoni, mozzarella cheese, and cottage cheese that was frozen and sauce from a can. We have no lasagna noodles so we'll layer cooked spaghetti noodles and bake it... Might be tasty... We'll let you know.<br />
<br />
Messages:<br />
Jim V. The sea life and smells do change as you get closer to shore... However we are still 500 miles out so not yet. We will let you know how far out we are when we first start to get the hint of land. Usually one of the first indicators is little land birds that have been blown offshore will land and rest on the boat. When we were approaching Hawaii we smelled land about three days out. One of the other indicators is radio chatter. We heard our first ship to ship chatter today and once we start hearing the regular US Coast Guard chatter that always tells us we are getting close.<br />
<br />
Brent-Gilroy: Sorry again for no POS. To answer your question; We have not seen any of the stuff that is supposed to be floating out here. We have seen hardly any trash and no floating junk from Japan. The only interesting man made stuff has been several of the large fishing buoys. We really expected to see a lot of trash and we went right through the area where they say it all is but we must have missed it.<br />
<br />
Aline: we sure wish we could have met you guys in person too. I'm sure there will be a time.<br />
<br />
Len: not sure the Marine Traffic thing will pick ours up since it doesn't send out any actual report by anything except VHF signal. The big ships transponders do but ours will only send out a report when we are within VHF range of a shore tower. Unless ours uses a big ships to report which I doubt. The amazing thing about this AIS though is the range. I use the antenna at the top of the mast with a power booster in line and it picks up other ships sometimes at 100 miles away.<br />
<br />
Alex: exciting to hear about your plans. Before you spend a ton of money on a new chart plotter you might want to talk to me about what we use now. We exclusively use an iPad in a waterproof Lifeproof case with Navionics app and a Bluetooth bad elf for our GPS link to it. Even though we have two Garmin plotters on board we haven't even used them for the entire voyage from St. Thomas. I have used all of the various plotters on different deliveries and the iPad with Navionics is the best chartplotter I have ever used. I'll chat with you about it when we get to shore if you are interested or have questions.<br />
<br />
Terri: I will try to get a nice photo of the Supermoon but most times the pictures don't really show the true feel of a large moon. It looks pretty small in the photos no matter what. Also we need a clear night. Last night we could see its glow through the clouds but it hardly ever peeked through.<br />
<br />
Steve: please tell K. that B. liked the msg and will email her back tomorrow.<br />
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Well it's sure nice to be moving! Hubert is still with us this morning.<br />
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Have a Great Day!<br />
Captain Tofer, Becca, EmilyAnne, Kanyon, Kaleb and Benny</div>
Wandering Dolphinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00175797106384217724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5613053694412635428.post-85199997074403403912014-08-07T10:06:00.000-07:002014-08-07T10:06:26.787-07:00August 7 Position Report<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
8/7/14 Wandering Dolphin POS<br />
<br />
0900 Seattle Time / 1500 GMT<br />
N 48 06.10 W 137 49.31<br />
COG 065T<br />
SOG 4-5kt<br />
DMG 105 nautical miles<br />
DTG 580 nautical miles<br />
<br />
Wind W10-12<br />
Pressure: 29.9<br />
Temp: 75F<br />
Sky: overcast<br />
Seas: 1-2 ft swells<br />
Sails: main and genoa set<br />
<br />
<br />
Good Morning,<br />
<br />
Last night we were hit by a sudden squall. Squalls are a part of life offshore. They march across the horizon constantly in the tropics but in these higher latitudes if you are not looking closely they are sometimes very difficult to distinguish between all of the other clouds in the constantly overcast sky. Being surprised and hit by a sudden squall used to happen to us fairly often and I actually didn't realize until we were surprised last night that this is something that doesn't happen to us with any regularity any more.<br />
<br />
I never actually set out to attempt a seamanship cure of the problem of sudden squalls but just the experience of so many days at sea has done it. So what are we doing different? Well I can tell you right now that it is not the common answer to this problem which is reefing in all the way every night before it gets dark. I used to do that the first couple of years we were out and it is not a bad answer in truth especially at the beginning. I stopped doing it, again because almost all of my offshore miles were on deliveries where I am paid by the day. In a situation where I am being paid I am motivated to get the boat to its destination in a timely manner. So what is it? The difference now is a very subtle one. Everyone on board is attuned to the weather and the motion of the boat. When it's dark out and we cannot see the squall coming we all notice when the boat gets a little jump in speed, even a tiny one, or the wind in the rigging whistles a just little higher, sometimes it's a sudden cold breeze on our cheeks that wasn't there a second ago that is warning of a cold wind shift. Our minds have learned to interpret these little signals for what they are and without any discussion it's our rule that when ANYONE calls for a reef we do it right then with no discussion or waiting.<br />
<br />
Reefing used to be a chore too. If it is difficult to reef your boat you need to change your reefing system. We have jiffy slab reefing and roller furling and everything is run back to the cockpit, no one ever has to go on deck and with two people we can reef in less than a minute. I have delivered a lot of boats with roller furling mainsails and I know all of the negative press these things get but I can tell you from actual experience (I have at least 50,000 miles offshore delivering boats with roller furling mains) that this system is probably the very best for shorthanded reefing of a mainsail. I have heard the "What if it gets stuck in the track?" concerns and I can tell you that this happens only if you don't know how to operate the system or you don't keep up with maintenance on your furling lines or sails. We have had them jam on two different boats only two times total and in the first case it was my fault back when I didn't know how to use the system correctly and the second because the sail was old and worn. In both cases we were able to free the jam within a couple of minutes. I have never used an "in boom" reefing system but I do like the idea of keeping the weight of the sail low and being able to use it as a normal boom if the system did jam. I love the fact that with both in mast and in boom furling you get infinite reef points and can make your sail exactly the size you want for the wind conditions.<br />
<br />
I would change WD to either of these systems if I had the money. I used plain old jiffy reefing on Sweetest Thing for a couple of years and it was great but with jiffy reefing someone has to go forward and take care of the luff of the main at the boom. Sweetest Thing is a catamaran so going forward was not such a big deal. I do like our jiffy slab reefing which is a one line version of the same system, it means the luff and the leech are both tended from the cockpit. It's easy but takes a couple of people working well together to handle the reefing line and the halyard. When we order our new main it will have three reef points rather than just two. The third reef would be great in winds of 35-40 knots on our boat and would mean we could wait a little longer to put up the trisail and heave-to.<br />
<br />
Whatever type of reefing system you have make sure you know how to use it before going offshore. On deliveries with new crew or on a boat with a different reefing system than we've used before the very first day is spent doing reefing drills until we all feel confident that we could reef in a couple of minutes in pitch dark in rolling seas. I would recommend you do the same.<br />
<br />
Enough preaching. So yesterday Beck made us pizza for supper and we have leftovers! That never happens. EmilyAnne also made some brownies with the last of our eggs. Twenty-four days is the answer to your question Jim V. It has been quite a bit cooler here than on a counter in Texas though! <br />
The boys made forts all over the boat again after school. It's downright funny to watch those boys have wars in such a small space but they don't care. I got nailed in the cockpit by a nerf arrow and laid up there playing dead until they came up to retrieve the arrow then I came alive, pretended to be a troll and attacked their forts?<br />
<br />
Messages:<br />
Terri from Florida thanks for the encouragement and if you want to avoid the tourist areas in Hawaii go to Hilo! It was our favorite stop for that very reason. Rent a car and see the Big Island!<br />
<br />
Jim V. Hope you like the Kestrel Saga, the writing is kinda cliche but it's a fun read. I really like the Odyssey One, and Valkrie series by Evan Currie much better but I'm all out of new ones by him.<br />
<br />
We are getting close! I can almost taste the Big Mac.<br />
<br />
Have a Wonderful Day,<br />
Captain Tofer</div>
Wandering Dolphinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00175797106384217724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5613053694412635428.post-52425094406074609692014-08-06T13:22:00.000-07:002014-08-06T13:22:13.650-07:00August 6 Position Report<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Aug 6th and 21 days at sea,<br />
WD POS<br />
1100 Anchorage Time / 1800 GMT<br />
N 47 37.02 W 139 37.66<br />
COG 090T<br />
SOG 4.5 - 5 kts<br />
DMG 105 nautical miles<br />
DTG 658 nautical miles<br />
<br />
Wind: S8-10<br />
Pressure: 30.05<br />
Temp: 75F<br />
Sky: overcast<br />
Seas: 2 ft west swells<br />
Sails: main and genoa set<br />
<br />
(Rebecca)<br />
Good morning friends,<br />
Hey Ladies! Just because you are living on a boat doesn't mean you will need to give up your girly side. Things you might want to bring along on your adventure would include one pair nice of sandals (heels), two or three nice dresses, earrings (I buy cheap hoops because they rust out in a few months) and anything that will make you feel special. I also spend time in the salon along the way for beauty days, a girl needs to look good while at sea. I also started with a short pixie cut that didn't even require a hair brush. This style is great for the hot tropical weather but will need to be cut every four to six weeks to maintain. Please, please don't let your hubby try his skills at cutting your hair. Haha!! Emily and I both have grown out our hair past our shoulder so we can wear ponytails and braids. This works well too but now we shed and we find hair balls everywhere just something to think about. Side note, I cut the boys hair myself and now after 10 years I do a pretty fine job.<br />
<br />
Yesterday I found the boys searching their cubbies for lost treasures. It all started as a result of wondering where a lost game might be. It was fun to listen to them as they found Lego bits and pieces, missing pencils and erasers and the lost games. What transpired after the treasure hunt was a nerf war and fort making afternoon. Kanyon made his fort in his cabin using all the stuffed animals as a barrier wall that he hide behind. Benny used the starboard settee, lee cloth, blankets and pillows to make his fort and shooting range. Kaleb was the the lone gunman and collected bullets and ran the operation. It was hours of fun, nerf bullets flying, rearranging of fort and trading guns. This excitement all took place in about a 10x3 on WD, not much bigger than some of your closets I am sure. I was even brought in to fix the machine gun when it was malfunctioning. Benny said, "Mom, how do you know to fix guns?" I just laughed.<br />
<br />
EmilyAnne and I had some girl time in the cockpit while Captain was sleeping and the bullets were flying. It was moments of laughter as we whined about not being there yet. I love the silly times we spend together. Yesterday was just a silly moment of two girls being girls and playfully complaining about whatever came to mind. We covered everything from food, sweets, boys, wanting a shower to just making stuff up. It will be these moments that I will remember about our passages and our family time.<br />
<br />
Messages;<br />
<br />
Jim V; we're not sure about school for the boys at this point. We'll have to look into it. Yes the boys and Kristofer are HUGE "Firefly" fans! If you like that show you might want to read "The Kestrel Saga" by Stephen A. Fender. He says it's a pretty fun read, typical space cowboy stuff. He's reading it right now as a matter of fact.<br />
<br />
Cave; Thanks for the weather, that little storm coming our way might just give us the boost we need to get to shore!<br />
<br />
Have a Wonderful Day,<br />
Rebecca</div>
Wandering Dolphinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00175797106384217724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5613053694412635428.post-90320835702310998022014-08-05T12:51:00.001-07:002014-08-05T12:51:14.894-07:00August 5 Position Report<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
8/5/14 Wandering Dolphin POS<br />
<br />
1100 Anchorage Time / 1800 GMT<br />
N 47 31.82 W 142 05.29<br />
COG 090T<br />
SOG 4.5 - 5 kt<br />
DMG 102 nautical miles<br />
DTG 757 nautical miles<br />
<br />
Wind: S 8-10kt<br />
Pressure: 29.95<br />
Temp: 76F<br />
Sky: mostly clear<br />
Seas: 1ft<br />
Sails: main and genoa set<br />
<br />
Good morning,<br />
<br />
The wind has died down so we are going slow again but the sea state is beautiful so the motion of the boat is peaceful. It's quiet enough that all you can really hear the sound of the gurgling water as it flows along the hull and just a whisper of the wind flowing over the sails. The sun is shining through the dodger window and has warmed up the cockpit enough that I am back in a t-shirt for the first time in over a week.<br />
<br />
Thanks for all of your well wishes while I was undertaking that cold water dive on the prop. It took me most of yesterday to really warm up afterwards. I thought I might talk a little bit more about that this morning.<br />
<br />
I have been in situations of flat calm many times on offshore trips. On many of those deliveries we would decide to go for a quick dip in the ocean, mostly to cool off because they were almost always in super hot weather. No matter what precautions you take it always feels wrong to jump off of a boat in the middle of the ocean. That was always part of the thrill of it though. When you are in that seemingly fathomless water the rational side of your brain never quite stops screaming at you to get back on the boat. When we were drifting in the South Pacific, one day I decided to just get in the water and hold on to the swim platform with my snorkel on and look for fish... It didn't last long because I just felt like bait. Ever since my son Jimmy almost jumped right in on top of a huge shark while we were drifting along one time I can't get those big creatures out of my brain either.<br />
<br />
The most difficult thing about having that wrapped prop was the waiting. I had to wait for almost 24 hours to get in and fix it. That whole time I was thinking about the cold water, sea monsters and being beat to death by the boat as it lifted and dropped suddenly in waves. I am also not the type of person who waits very well. If there is a difficult or unpleasant job that needs to be done I do it NOW. I cannot relax knowing that something has to be done and I get all worked up and nervous with the procrastination of it. Well it's fixed now I can relax until the next thing breaks.<br />
<br />
To answer a few questions about yesterday's post:<br />
<br />
Alex: Heaving-to without the sea anchor actually works fine too. That is what we were doing once the drogue was wrapped. The problem is that in winds over 35 knots or so you have to reduce sail to smaller and smaller sails and if you don't have a storm trisail for the main and storm jib you cannot heave to because at some point you have to go bare poles. Under bare poles even with the helm hard over to windward the bow gets pulled downwind and you are no longer taking the waves from the forward quadrant. We noticed immediately when the drogue was no longer holding our bow into the wind as a sea anchor and although we were still heaved to with the stays'l and helm hard over to windward and the boat was still pretty comfortable there was suddenly more motion because the boat was no longer drifting down wind at an angle creating that nice slick which breaks the waves before they reach the boat. A sea anchor is definitely worth the money and in my opinion, so is a drogue. If we had faced that same gale with the heavy wind behind us blowing us toward our destination I would have deployed the drogue in its proper fashion (behind the boat) and sailed under storm sails toward Washington.<br />
<br />
Cave: We lost the drogue. I had to cut it away in order to free the prop. If I could have stayed down a little longer or done two or three dives I might have been able to unwrap it but I am certain that I couldn't have even gone down one more time. The current was similar to the current in Lahaina when you and I were cleaning the prop too... Only this time Japan was my next stop if I drifted away.<br />
<br />
On other topics:<br />
I'm going to beg for pizza tonight! And since we are out of the Lonesome Dove we are watching old episodes of Saturday Night Live. Everyone is daydreaming about hot baths and showers. My bypass fix on the head is still working fine and... We saw lots of whales yesterday.<br />
<br />
Keep the messages coming we enjoy them. Jim V. No exercise. We just lay around like Romans.<br />
<br />
Have A Great Day,<br />
Captain Tofer, Rebecca, EmilyAnne, Kanyon, Kaleb, and Benny</div>
Wandering Dolphinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00175797106384217724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5613053694412635428.post-20467196546918084692014-08-04T11:58:00.001-07:002014-08-04T11:58:40.982-07:00August 4 Position Report<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
8/4/14 Wandering Dolphin POS<br />
<br />
10:00 Anchorage Time / 1700 GMT<br />
N47 04.44 W144 18.92<br />
COG 031T<br />
SOG 4kt<br />
DTG 852 nautical miles<br />
<br />
Wind: SW 8-10<br />
Pressure: 29.85<br />
Temp: 71F<br />
Sky: overcast<br />
Seas: 4-5 ft<br />
Sails main and jib set.<br />
<br />
<br />
On A Gale and a COLD Swim in the Deep Blue<br />
<br />
The day before yesterday we prepared the boat for a gale. Now the interesting fact is that in nine years and about 25,000 offshore miles under Wandering Dolphin we have never been in a Gale on her. This is mostly due to good weather windows and routing as well as relatively short sails (10 days or less until the big passages started in March). On our passage from Costa Rica to Hawaii we did have some weather when cold fronts passed through but never a sustained gale. I have been in gales multiple times on different deliveries with our oldest son Jimmy, EmilyAnne and even Benny but those were deliveries and by their very nature you don't get to pick the perfect windows and usually the time of year is not ideal. We often left the NE coast of the US with ice on the decks on different boats we were taking south.<br />
<br />
On this passage, from Hawaii to the Pacific Northwest, you are guaranteed at least one gale so we were prepared. I have often been asked about my tactics in storms and, again, mostly because most of my offshore miles have been on deliveries, my tactic has been to turn and run downwind under storm sails. This tactic has worked well in everything from full keeled mono hulls to catamarans and in wind up to tropical storm force (60 knots one time) and 25 ft seas. The biggest danger when running downwind in huge seas is the tendency of the boat to pick up speed and surf down the waves which could cause a pitch pole or end over end flipping of the boat. If that happens you can K.Y.A.G.B. (Kiss Your Ass Good Bye). To avoid this you use a speed reducing drogue off the stern to slow the boat down. I chose a Delta Drogue which can also be used in an emergency to steer the vessel. My tactic for Wandering Dolphin was going to be the same.<br />
<br />
I have read "Storm Tactics" by the Pardey's in which they make the case for heaving-to with a sea anchor as the best way to handle heavy weather. I have heaved-to many many times for all kinds of reasons from diving to fix the prop to just having a nice dinner without the offshore motion but have never used it in a gale. This time the gale force wind was going to be from the north east so to turn and run would have meant losing ground so we decided to heave to for this storm. Unfortunately, I didn't have the extra money before we left for a sea anchor so I decided to just heave-to in our normal fashion but put the drogue out off the bow as a sea anchor. It seemed like a pretty good compromise and worked well in up to 30 knot winds but as soon as the wind hit 40 and the 45 the bow was pushed off and the drogue just did what it was designed to do, pull behind. In the highest winds the drogue pulled all the way under the boat and snagged on the prop.<br />
<br />
Heaving-to for the gale was by far the very best way to handle a storm, even without a proper sea anchor the boat just shrugged off the seas and created its own slick to windward which prevented the big waves from breaking near the boat. Believe it or not it made riding out the storm a comfortable experience.<br />
<br />
When the storm was over I was faced with the problem of the drogue being caught on the prop. Part of the problem, of course, is that you cannot see anything under the boat so you can't tell if the rudder is in trouble too or what. Beck had the idea to put the Go Pro on its long stick, stick it under the boat and have a look. This worked perfectly! We could watch the video and see the problem. The drogue had indeed wrapped the prop and was actually trailing behind it pulling. It was, however, not a danger to the rudder. My fear was that if we increased our speed at all it would pull the prop shaft out and then the boat would sink through the shaft hole. We put out a little jib, just enough to give us steerage but the auto pilot didn't like to hold the course because the drogue kept messing up the water which was flowing over the rudder and the boat would lose steerage every ten minutes or so. Our Auto is a smart old guy (really old by the way 1989) and he soon figured out that the steerage would come back so he would just beep at us every ten minutes or so to let us know what was happening and then get control himself again.<br />
<br />
There was no way I was going to get into the water in the 10-12 foot seas right after the gale so we just sailed slowly through the night always checking the prop shaft.<br />
<br />
This morning the seas had dropped to five feet or so so we raised the main (for stability) and heaved-to. We put a big fender on a 30 foot line behind the boat and I put on my shorty wet suit, fins and mask and got in the freezing cold water. I knew from the second I got in that I would only have one shot at freeing the prop. The water was too cold to stay in long enough for a second dive. Saving the drogue by unwinding the prop would have taken multiple dives so I knew I would have to cut it away. I carry a saltwater SpiderCo knife with me at all times offshore and it proved its worth today. I dove under and cut through about five lengths of webbing that were wrapped on the prop and freed the prop. I was in and out of the water in about three minutes but still was very close to hypothermia even with the wetsuit. Rebecca had hot water waiting and ready and we padded my body with hot wet towels then dumped the rest of it over me, I rushed below, dripping water all over and dried off in the warm cabin. Even with all of that and drinking hot tea it took about twenty minutes for my shivers to go away and for me to feel warmish.<br />
<br />
Lessons learned:<br />
*Drogues are great but not to be used as sea anchors.<br />
*I will buy a proper sea anchor and use the "heave-to under sea anchor" tactic in storms.<br />
*GoPro is a useful piece of equipment.<br />
*Stay out of the cold water.<br />
<br />
Hey! Whales! Swimming right beside the boat!<br />
<br />
Ave a Great Day! Warming Up,<br />
Captain Tofer</div>
Wandering Dolphinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00175797106384217724noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5613053694412635428.post-62402107600077915752014-08-02T14:30:00.002-07:002014-08-02T14:36:50.367-07:00August 2 Position Report<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
8/2/14 Wandering Dolphin POS<br />
<br />
1100 Anchorage time/ 1900 GMT<br />
N46 21.32 W146 02.29<br />
COG 041T<br />
SOG 3kt<br />
DMG 96 nautical miles<br />
DTG 934 nautical miles<br />
<br />
Wind: SE 5-8<br />
Pressure: 29.75<br />
Temp: 72F<br />
Sky: overcast<br />
Seas: 3-4 ft swells<br />
Sails: main, jib and stays'l set<br />
<br />
Good Morning,<br />
<br />
Tonight we will be up against gale force winds coming from the NE, which is, of course, our destination heading. We don't want to turn and run and lose ground so we will be setting a sea anchor and heaving-to with our double reefed main and stays'l. It is a fast moving system so we should only be sitting here for 24 hours or so.<br />
<br />
We have spent the past few days doing what we now refer to as "drift sailing." This is what we call it when the wind is light enough that the boat moves through the water just enough that the auto pilot can keep her on course but it feels like you are drifting down a River in the current because there is no wave action. When the wind dies altogether you cannot even heave-to because it actually takes wind to hold the jib backed and the helm hard over so what we do in that case in just put the wheel hard over and sheet the main all the way in and the boat just finds a direction which it wants to point and the current, if there is any, carries you along where it wants to. If you can be patient and look on the bright side these days can be a beautiful addition to your passage but if you are eager to make landfall or concerned about provisions or anything it can become nerve wracking. We spent so much time drift sailing on our passage from Costa Rica to Hawaii that we really don't let it get too stressed over it now. These few days have been a lot of fun and overall pretty relaxing but the wind has now filled in and we are once again moving along at a respectable pace.<br />
<br />
Yesterday we had almost a full day of blue sky and sunshine. It was still cold enough that we were all wearing our sweatshirts but just the feel of the sun through the dodger windows was great. The fine weather gave me an opportunity to have a really good look at all of the rigging and check the boat out for problem spots. I didn't find any so we should be good to go for the final run into the coast. EmilyAnne and I had to do a midnight gybe and I was again super impressed with my teenage daughter. She is such a great hand. She jumps up in the middle of the night from a sound sleep and she and I just do the deck work without even having to talk about what needs to be done. Kaleb has really stepped up this passage too. He has asked if he can help with watches and stuff even when he doesn't need to. We were talking about what he wants to do when he grows up and he said, " I'm not sure but I know I want to ride a bicycle across the United States." He must have liked my stories of my rides from Wyoming to Canada and on to Alaska when I was in High School.<br />
<br />
Becky made an cherry/pineapple pie for dessert yesterday! Mmmmmmmmmmm nothing tastes that good after so many days at sea... Well maybe a cheeseburger..... We still have quite a lot of food so it looks like our provisioning lady did an awesome job once again.<br />
<br />
Becky also heard her first offshore night voices at sea. She has heard us (Em, Ben, and I) tell stories about hearing people talking out at sea or in my case kids laughing and I'm pretty sure she just thought we were overly imaginative and that it could be explained away by the wind in the rigging... Until the other night when she plainly heard someone calling for help from off the boat! She quickly turned off her music, jumped up to the edge and heard it again and just as she was about to go down and get me she heard laughter from the same spot since she was pretty sure that anyone who was in danger in a life raft wouldn't be giggling about it she pulled the covers over her head and turned up the music. I'm not sure what your take on this might be but it is pretty well a universal thing for people who spend a long time at sea to hear voices and these stories go back in time as far as written records of voyaging go back... My personal choice is to believe in Mermaids out there getting a real kick out of messing with us.<br />
<br />
"There's only one on watch! It's a woman too!"<br />
"You think we are close enough that she can hear us yet?"<br />
" Just try."<br />
"OK, what shall I say?"<br />
"Yell for help, that always gets their attention quickest."<br />
<br />
"Help!! Help!!"<br />
<br />
"She turned off her music and she's looking over the edge!"<br />
"Help!" Followed by uncontrollable giggling........<br />
<br />
I like that a lot better than the ghost story ideas others have told me in the past so I'm sticking to mermaids. Wish I could see one though...<br />
<br />
Messages: answers:<br />
<br />
Aline: animals we have seen since we left St Thomas-<br />
10 Humpback whales<br />
15 spotted dolphins<br />
6 or 7 white sided dolphins<br />
A pod too large to count of Spinner dolphins<br />
4 common dolphins<br />
3 Mahi Mahi (we ate two of them)<br />
A whole school of Tuna<br />
Countless flying fish (Tofer ate one of them)<br />
1 marlin or some type of sail fish<br />
4 green sea turtles<br />
1 loggerhead sea turtle<br />
Countless jellyfish and Portuguese Man-O-Wars<br />
Countless little sea birds (we don't know what they are yet)<br />
4 Albatross<br />
10 or 12 sea gulls offshore<br />
1 huge White Sea monster<br />
1 squid<br />
An undetermined number of mermaids<br />
<br />
Also Aline, #1 We found a remedy for sea sickness, go to the pharmacy in Canada and get Stugeron Forte. It's a once a day pill taken with a meal for the first three or four days of your passage. I can give you more details if you wish. #2 Homeschooling our own child is tricky at best. However, this lifestyle allows you to be flexible and creative. #3 One of our favorite quotes, "There are sailors that shit when they can see land and those that shit when they don't." <br />
<br />
Jim V: What we are reading: Emily is now reading a couple of Dean Koontz novels, Benny is reading "The Beyonders" by Brandon Mull, Kaleb is reading a different series of books called "Seekers" by the author of "Warriors" and I am reading the latest Evan Currie Science Fiction novel in the "Odyssey One" series. We are babying the sails, so at this point no seam repair needed. <br />
We learned to sail by chartering in the Pacific Northwest and taking the American Sailing Association courses, but we really learned by moving aboard and going to the Bahamas.<br />
<br />
John on Dulcinea in Tacoma - Thanks for the warm weather update!<br />
<br />
Cave: Shave Ice Still sounds AWESOME! Thanks for the weather.<br />
<br />
Alex S/V Pesto: We enjoyed your last nights notes, we even laughed out loud when we read you ordered a new Main. We figured you don't want to sew while underway. <br />
Len S/V Terratima: We should be there the end of next week so you should be able to pick us up on AIS in the Straits of Juan de Fuca. <br />
<br />
Batten Down the Hatches,<br />
Captain Tofer, Rebecca, EmilyAnne, Kanyon, Kaleb, and Benny</div>
Wandering Dolphinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00175797106384217724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5613053694412635428.post-84279843804607397392014-08-01T14:21:00.003-07:002014-08-01T14:21:29.688-07:00August 1 Position Report<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Aug 1st, 2014 Wandering Dolphin POS<br />
<br />
1100 Anchorage Time/1900 GMT<br />
N44 55.05 W147 03.56<br />
COG 036T<br />
SOG 3.5kts<br />
DMG 70 nautical miles<br />
DTG 1014 nautical miles<br />
<br />
Wind: SW 6-8<br />
Pressure: 29.75<br />
Temp: 76F<br />
Sky: CLEAR, SUNNY, BLUE, BEAUTIFUL<br />
Seas: calm<br />
Sails: main and Genoa set<br />
<br />
Thanks for your messages - answers coming in tomorrow's report! Keep them coming!<br />
<br />
Another one from Rebecca,<br />
<br />
This morning as I sit in the cockpit with my coffee and the sun shining (finally), a blue sky as far as my eye can see, and a smile on my face, I remembered what it was like for me almost nine years ago when we first set sail from Florida and I decided to write to everyone who is at that point in their sailing adventure. This morning I am writing to all of you who wonder if you have what it takes just to live aboard or do you wonder if offshore passages or even overnight passages are something you can handle or if you find yourself with an adventure in your heart a willingness to adapt and learn a new lifestyle (being just a smidgen crazy helps too). If that's where you are right now I believe you are ready to throw off the dock lines and get the water moving under your kneel.<br />
<br />
I find myself writing this to you over 1000 miles from the nearest land after sailing almost 8000 nautical miles in the past four months after living aboard and sailing the East Coast of the USA and the Caribbean for the past nine years. I thought I might share my experiences, as a mom about what works for me and hasn't worked for me.<br />
<br />
The only way to find out if living aboard works for you is just to do it. You can read, read & read some more about what others say and what they do. But the truth is that every boat is different and every family is different. Some people hate electronics and think we are crazy to have an Xbox, Gameboys and iPads on board, others who sail heavy displacement boats scoff at my Captains ideas about ground tackle and jerry jugs and his obsession with keeping the boat light. So for us, after many hours of reading, trials, and wasted money we have found what works best for us. The only way you will ever find what works for you is to get out there (here) and do it.<br />
<br />
One of our areas of struggle when we started is that I am not an organized soul, so chaos would be rampant aboard WD without our Captain. Ok, if I could live in my fantasy world, it would be a perfectly organized one, but I could never make that happen. Everything should have its place onboard, really it should, every single thing should have a storage spot where it always rests and that's what our Captain does for us. The night we were motoring across the channel between Hawaii and Maui the fuel Racor filter started to sputter, he shut off the engine went right to the spot under Benny's bed where he KNEW the spares were, fixed the filter and we were underway in less than five minutes. He is my Master of organization, Master of all drawers & storage. Except for my closet, boys closet & Em's closet. He even straightens up my costume locker. (Yes, I have costumes...)<br />
<br />
So do you have what it takes? Are you willing to cast off the lines and head out? I remember hearing Tofer's answer to my question. "Bec, let's sail around the world with the kids before it's too late." I am not sure if I even paused before I asked, "How do we make that happen?" The excitement of Internet boat shopping consumed hours of our life for 2 years. Of course I was always trying to push for a bigger vessel, while Tofer had his list of wants. I had two things I needed, an indoor shower and the other one I have actually forgotten. I have used the indoor shower a handful of times in 9 years. I shower in the cockpit which is much easier for sure (I think cockpit showers are out for the stay in the Pacific Northwest). So, before you buy your boat spend some time really thinking about what you need or think you need on board and remember, those things will change as you experience life on board.<br />
<br />
So, to wrap this up, ten short years ago we lived on a prairie in Montana raising our babies in a huge farm house. We all had "our" space. Plenty of room to roam, to clean, to collect stuff in, plus three bathrooms! I had everything a busy mom could want for her family of seven. I also had a huge fear of the water and couldn't swim from one end of a pool to the other if I had to. Yep, that's right, I moved aboard WD with my babies and with a fear of the water and lack of swimming ability. What I did have was the spirit of adventure, the ability to adapt and the willingness to try something new. With much prayer I moved my young family onto WD. It wasn't easy, everything was so stressful and difficult because of my fears. Without the patience of Tofer and helpful spirits of other cruisers I am not sure how things would have turned out.<br />
<br />
So here we are right in the middle of one of our longest passages ever. I am proud to say, I can swim now and that my fear has turned into an awareness of the water and to make sure safety come first. I know now that long passages are just about sailing, living, and enjoying where you are at that point. Also, if I had been thrown into the seas we have sailed in over the last few months at the beginning it would have stopped my sailing dead in the water. Pace yourselves, take it easy, don't push each other. Make sure everyone aboard is comfortable with the up and coming passage.<br />
<br />
On WD we have those who love to sail, those who love to travel, and those for whom it is now their whole lifestyle. It takes all of us to make our home on WD work. One of the things that helped me early on was that I chose to make WD our home. In my mind she is not just a boat she is first our home. It just happens that our Captain can make her move around the planet.<br />
<br />
So do you have what it takes? I can't answer that for you, all I can say is if you are longing for the sea under your kneel give it a go. Start small, with a smart weather window and add to the difficulty as you become more comfortable and capable. On WD we have an agreement that when one person is done sailing then as a family we look for the next adventure. Family first, adventure second is our motto.<br />
<br />
Wishing you the very best on whatever adventure you choose. Becca</div>
Wandering Dolphinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00175797106384217724noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5613053694412635428.post-81316582363690508832014-07-31T11:58:00.002-07:002014-07-31T11:58:26.231-07:00July 31 Position Report<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
7/31/14 Wandering Dolphin POS<br />
<br />
1000 Anchorage Time/1800GMT<br />
N44 28.78 W148 34.43<br />
COG 080T<br />
SOG 3-4 kt<br />
DMG 88 nautical miles<br />
DTG 1083 nautical miles<br />
<br />
Wind: S 10<br />
Pressure: 29.75<br />
Temp: 68F<br />
Sky: overcast<br />
Seas: 4ft swells<br />
Sails: main and jib set.<br />
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From Becky:<br />
Good morning, today we find ourselves again waiting for the wind to fill in. Our wheel is tied off and we are drifting with the current and riding the swells as they try to make it under the boat. In the morning as I drink my coffee I plan the meals based on the sea conditions. Example; rougher seas mean a one pot meal with a lid. The mellow days I bake, fry, get my Betty Crocker on. What I have found is that what I consider a rough day has changed and I find myself cooking more difficult meals in difficult situations. This means we eat better and I try to prepare meals instead of just foods. Bonus for my family, right? I still use a pot with a lid for really rough days, however I also bake bread, muffins or dessert to go along with the meal.<br />
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For the meal planners out there, make your provision as simple to prepare as possible. Buy mixes that just add water, canned goods that can be used for a variety of dishes, different kinds of pasta just to mix it up, dry sauces and gravy mixes come in handy. Crackers (Ritz) keep well because they have sleeves. Although once open you need to eat the entire sleeve that day. In the past I have over stocked dry goods and this just makes for waste. Example is flour is stored in my cabinet 4 to 6 month is will take on the "boat flavor." This won't kill you but it makes it taste off and disappointing at best.<br />
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For long passages you should also bring comfort foods such as nuts, granola bars, candies, jerky, chips -- anything that will brighten your day. I often store goodies in different lockers so when found it's like a treasure for the family. I just pulled out a bag of starburst and there were smiles all around. Who needs an entire bags at once? We make our bag last a few days by only handing out 3 to 4 at a time. Funny how quantity changes when living on a boat. I have tons of stories about food but one of my favorite is from the Dominican Republic. The months prior to the DR we were in the Bahamas where food was very pricey & so we had to share apples, sodas, candy bars, etc. Once we reached the DR we went to shore for dinner where each child got a soda. Benny put his little hands around the glass bottle held it ever so still and looked at me and said, "Is this all mine?" Little Benny (then 5 years old) asked me. I replied, "Yes! All for you!" and he giggled, smiled and began to slurp it down.<br />
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Or when we were in Puerto Rico while in the grocery store I told them they could have a treat, all five kids stood there discussing with their heads together and then they picked an apple out of the cooler. They picked the apple because they could eat it right off the core without me cutting it up to share. Even on this passage I still cut up the apples to share and hand out candies in small quantities. Without complaint (most of the time) my family doesn't moan or cry about the food. Unless I get too creative. Sometimes that doesn't also turn out so well.<br />
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If you have been following long you all know my family loves to eat, just remember the weeks after landing on Hawaii...haha. What I am saying is don't change your diet on a passage. Eat what you would normally eat. Just plan for simpler meals. Plan some meals you won't need to cook and throw in some things that will make you feel comfortable.<br />
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Here is my recipe I use for offshore quick rise bread<br />
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2 1/4 C milk<br />
1t salt<br />
1/4 C sugar<br />
8T butter<br />
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Heat above times until warm but not hot to the pinky test. ;) not sure temp<br />
Once temp is correct whisk in 4 1/2 t yeast Then add 1C of flour at a time up to 6 C Turn out onto floured board and knead 5 minutes. Don't over knead or add to much flour, this will make dough too heavy. Form dough into a ball & Spray or oil dough, cover and let rise 30 to 40 minutes. I use this dough for cinnamon rolls, dinner rolls or bread.<br />
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Cinnamon filling;<br />
Once dough is rolled out, spread with butter (a good layer), sprinkle with cinnamon, layer brown sugar over dough. Roll into tube, cut into 2 inch disc. Again, I don't measure... ;)<br />
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For a more detailed recipe, look up quick rise white bread. It will give you details I left out. I hope you enjoy it.<br />
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From my galley to yours,<br />
Becca</div>
Wandering Dolphinhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00175797106384217724noreply@blogger.com0