one down ____ to go

December 8, 2014 by Carly Filed Under: boat baby, Kids, New England, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Sailing

1021 hours underway, that’s just over 42 days

Averaged 6.7 knots

6872 nautical miles

So we have been living aboard and cruising for just over a year now and loving it. When we started we weren’t really sure if this was going to be the life for us. But like with everything we sold all our possessions and jumped in head first. The first month was challenging for us. The girls took their time to adjust while we did projects on the boat readying her to sail to the Bahamas from North Carolina.

Once we got going there was no turning back. It was tough sailing at the beginning, after all I was 6 months pregnant and we had a 2 and 3 year old running around. But boy did we make the best of it and packed a lot into our first year.

We bought a boat, readied her to sail, sailed to the Bahamas, had our 3rd baby, sailed up to Massachusetts to visit family for a breather. From there we sailed further north to Nova Scotia and circumnavigated Newfoundland. We found icebergs, we ate icebergs. Back down to Maine. We found lobster pots, we snagged lobster pots, we cursed those F*#KEN AS!HOLE lobster pots. Had another breather in Massachusetts. Set sail for the Caribbean and that’s where we are now. Wow it was a lot to cram into a year.

Here are some other fun highlights:

Did my first crash jibe and bent our boom
Experienced a natural birth in the Bahamas – drugs next time please, not that there will be a next time!
Saw our first killer whales in Newfoundland
Found out that whip lash is possible when hitting rocks at 5 knots – gotta love a steel boat
After countless swim lessons and bribery Pri finally learnt how to swim from an 8 year old in 30 minutes at a pool
Keeping a container of hermit crabs onboard with no lid is never a good idea
Don’t leave garbage on deck in the States, raccoons will board you
Never sail when pregnant, severe seasickness is inevitable.
Sailing with kids is 100 times harder than without

We are still waiting on the evening that we can actually sit in the cockpit, cocktail in hand and watch the sunset. Every day seems like a marathon with kids onboard, but every month that goes by it gets easier.

So have we learnt anything? Yeah probably a bit. Carl is definitely a better sailor than me and I’m better at teaching the girls. It has been tough on our relationship but I believe we are stronger for it. So how long are we going to do this for? I really don’t know, put it this way we’ve been travelling for a year and feel like we’ve barely scratched the surface.

Plans for next year…

Things are pretty up in the air at the moment. We’ve been trying to stick close to the States due to some unfortunate family illness’s. But we are bold enough to want to plan on doing the Northwest Passage this summer? Maybe.

So has cruising changed our marriage? In a way yes, Carl now forces me to read every sailing book ever written and happy hour now begins at 5pm, maybe a smidge before. We spend 24/7 with each other and the kids. What does this mean? This means going to the bathroom while still in conversation, waking up to kids in the bed and not realizing how they got there. Lots of beer, lots of rum and mostly good times.

2013

October – Wilmington, North Carolina
November – Wilmington, North Carolina
December – Wilmington, North Carolina

2014

January – Bahamas
February – Nassau, Bahamas
March – Nassau Bahamas (Crew’s Birthday)
April – Bahamas (Easter)
May – Massachusetts
June – Massachusetts
July – Nova Scotia
July – Newfoundland

August – Newfoundland
September – Nova Scotia, Maine, Massachusetts
October – Massachusetts
November – BVI’s, Caribbean

finding some critters

November 28, 2014 by Carly Filed Under: bugs, homeschooling, Kids, salt kissed school

Pri and I went to the beach and collected some leaf littler and sand. We also took advantage of this one on one time to swim and chat about girl stuff – princesses and mermaids.We came back to the boat and with Wag’s help we checked out the leaf litter for some creepy crawlies. If we had gotten the leaves from further inland there would have been some better bugs but there were some steep rocks where we were. We talked about how the critters make the leaves their homes and help them decompose back into the earth.

We then put the leaves, sand, coral and shells in a cut up water bottle, soon to be paint container to see how all the different pieces react. We’ll check it all out in the morning to see what parts float and what parts sink.

We also love a bit of homemade play dough action.

boat schooling

October 9, 2014 by Carly Filed Under: homeschooling, Kids, salt kissed school

It’s funny when we meet new people on the dock or in our dingy the first thing that always comes up is: “do you homeschool?” Some people look at us like they are ready to report us to child services. Our kids are all below school age but yes, we homeschool. I follow the Sonlight curriculum for Kindergarten. Both girls learn at the same time, when needed I supplement Wag’s worksheets with more age appropriate ones from Kumon or other PreK books. We’re not a religious family but I do like we have the opportunity to teach our kids about God with Sonlight, we will also be teaching them about other religions so they can make their own decision’s on the subject

I was so scared of taking the leap into homeschooling but now that I have started I’m so glad. I’m such a proud mumma when my girls take something we’ve learnt in school time into the outside world or include it in everyday conversation.

Wags: “mumma the vacuum is a potato (tornado), it sucks everything up!”

Pri: “yeah but it doesn’t spit it out, so it’s not really a tornado”

Even though our girls are only (almost) 5 and 3 they are extremely interested in learning and LOVE “school time” in the mornings. I want to ease them into learning so we do 1-2 hours every morning. I know you must be thinking they’re way too young to be forced into structured learning but I’m no strict school mistress. If they aren’t into it or tired we skip it or pick out some fun stuff and leave the more technical sections, like handwriting for another day. I also follow through with the rest of the day pointing out letters and having the girls tell Carl over lunch what they learnt today. We also do field trips to museums and take the classroom outside to the beach. Everyday and every moment is a learning experience onboard Salty.

Helping Dad sort screws and bolts

Our homemade tornado

Check out my 2 toothy pegs!!!

Being a geek at the Museum of Science, Boston MA

updating just to update

September 30, 2014 by Carly Filed Under: boat baby, Kids, projects, provisioning

I’ve heard people are starting to get a little worried about me. So I haven’t posted in 12 days, this doesn’t mean I’ve jumped ship and joined some hippy commune.

We have been busy with family and prepping the boat getting ready for the Caribbean season. Carl’s family lives here and we hang out with them pretty much every other day. The girls are getting completely spoilt and are enjoying the extra hugs and ice cream. Carl has been busy welding lips on all the lower hatches, hinging the engine room floor hatch, changing oil, building stools for the table and lots of other odd jobs. I’ve been taking stock of all the food we have on board and making sure we have all the necessities for some hot winter fun: swimsuits, sunscreen, Christmas gifts etc.

We’ve finally perfected, well nothings perfect, our daily schedule. Wake up, eat breakfast, clean up shower, 9-11am school time for the girls while Carl works on projects, lunch, family and/or errands. It’s been working out pretty good and I think the girls are enjoying more of a predictable schedule but I think they’d toss that in a blink of an eye for boogy boards and beach time.

One of the major projects (from my point of view) when we got here was the installation of a new washing machine! Wooo-hoo! We opted for a compact washer instead of the marine combos that most boats go for. We have no need for a dryer so why spend the extra money for one. Our washer is 23.5” wide so we could get it into the aft master cabin. She is wonderful! and my husband is WONDERFUL for installing it for me. You have no idea how much laundry with go through with 3 kids. Our life had suddenly started revolving around our next Laundromat visit. Plus the expense was crazy! We were washing in a bucket in the Bahamas before the baby came which was working out but with all the extra laundry it was becoming a miserable chore. We are hooked up to shore power and water at the moment so I do laundry anytime – weather permitting. When we leave here in a few weeks its another story. I’ll have to time my laundry with either charging the batteries or water making because it’ll need the generator to run. The washer actually uses less water than what we would use doing it in a 5 gallon bucket so no worries there.

Above is one load of laundry. I love my washer.

What else?

We are thinking of joining NARC (North American Rally to the Caribbean) and making the trip to the Caribbean via Bermuda with everyone. We were thinking of the Caribbean 1500 but didn’t pay money and feel pressured to sail with everyone even if we felt the weather wasn’t favorable. This way we can have the companionship of other sailors and maybe find some crew members to help us along. They will be leaving Newport RI the start of November and hopefully we can keep up with the Swans.

We have also been (seriously) dabbling in the idea to do the Northwest Passage next summer. Are we crazy? The kids and I would fly to Alaska part way through the journey so they wouldn’t have to endure the cold offshore stint of it. We love the thought of doing the passage but it’s pretty much a means for us to get to Alaska. We would love to spend a year in Alaska, yes that does mean the unforgiving winter, and put the girls in school. From there we would head south and make the Pacific crossing.

BAM! That’s us for the next 3 years, who would have ever thought I could plan 3 years out. We are always looking for extra crew so keep your calendar open.

Pri helping dad out, sorting and putting away spare hoses.

Before and after of the table legs with stools. We are planning on wrapping the aluminum legs with rope to give it a softer feel.

On the bubba front. Our little man is sitting up by himself for long periods of time and we have 2 teeth. Yep I’ve had limited sleep due to 2 teeth coming in at the same time. The teeth also came along with an ear infection and then a cold and probably another ear infection due to the cold. I NEED TO SLEEP PEOPLE!

Yes the boat ALWAYS looks like this. Spot the baby!

big boat blues

September 15, 2014 by Carly Filed Under: Kids, New England, projects, sails

It’s tough business living on a big boat, really it is. People think that we’re not that hard up because of our battleship. Sure enough we’re pretty big on space but bigger is not always better – so we’ve learnt.

I thought that moving from a house to a boat would cut down my cleaning time ten fold, but how was I wrong. A boat has way more nooks and crannies then a house. I’ve found old pieces of peanut butter sandwich in places not thought possible. Cleaning behind the head is like something you see off of Cirque du Soleil. By the time I de-mold all the port holes and windows in the saloon I have to turn around and start over again.

It’s not just the cleaning that has been a royal pain it’s trying to heat such a large area when in cold climates. The baby was all set up and comfy in the forward V-berth until we decided to freeze him out with the frisky temps of Nova Scotia, now we moved him back in the aft cabin with us and closed off the V berth door to try and contain some of the heat. So as I’ve pointed out the cleaning and heating of such a large space is a bear but what of the obvious? Yes the cost is pretty big. We don’t often stay at marinas but when we do we pay a lot more than the average Joe. But that’s ok it’s a cost that we can easily control. One that we can’t is the maintenance and repair. Up north I kindly decided to bend the boom now we’re sitting in Massachusetts waiting on a new one. I’m pretty sure a boom on a 65’ sailboat is probably twice as much as one on a 45’. Our Code Zero head sail is twice the cost. We have 2 engines! A sea strainer that we ordered last week was $100 more than a typical sized one. And the list goes on. We knew when we purchased Salty that her maintenance costs would be higher than a small boat but like always our math was a little out. Up north we had to motor a lot due to light winds. We know what we should have done, hang out and wait around until the winds were favorable but when you have 3 kids on board you typically what to get to where you’re going NOW! We do have 2 engines but usually only run one at a time and they are extremely fuel efficient, that said we are still trying to propel a 65’ steel vessel through the water. I think we figured that we burned through twice as much fuel in the last few months than we would have a 45’ boat. Cha-Ching!

Carl has always worked on boats and our business in Mississippi had a lot to do with steel vessels so he knew what he was getting into with a large steel boat. What he didn’t take into consideration was trying to work on a 65’ steel boat with 3 kids – now that’s some serious time management. The boat is in great shape but it won’t be this way forever, all boats need love and to love is to give time, time which we don’t have.

So what are our options? Well we really don’t have any. The rate that we’re going we may have to find jobs within a year of two. If we were to look at buying another boat how do you go about doing it? Sell this one first then start looking for a new smaller boat that is still roomy enough for a family of 5? In the meantime we would have to rent an apartment while we looked and that sounds more expensive than sailing around on a 65’ boat. Or do take the risk of owning two boats at once? We’ve done that and it is STRESSFUL!

Who knows what we’ll do, for now we’re still that boat that leaves people speechless – well not so speechless.

“Whoa, do you own that boat?”

We have room enough for mum, dad, 3 kids and 2 baby dolls

In other news I’m getting my washing machine tomorrow. If we’re going to sail the high seas on a 65’ boat I’m having a washing machine. HELL YEAH BABY!!! A WASHING MACHINE!!!

Newfoundland Epilogue

September 6, 2014 by Carly Filed Under: boat baby, Kids, Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, provisioning, wildlife

All I can say is what a trip! We left Massachusetts around the middle of June and headed north to Nova Scotia. We discovered the brilliant Bras d’Or Lakes and circumnavigated Newfoundland in 2.5 months and with 3 kids under 5. Suffering from some form of dementia? Probably so.

So what was it like cruising with our now family of 5? I won’t lie it was tough. I thought we had it bad being on a boat with two kids but you toss in a baby and your life just went down the head. Our little man is a fantastic baby as far as babies go but you must remember that he’s still a baby. He always wants to be entertained and would prefer to be attached to my breast 24/7. I tried getting back into a little bit of homeschooling with the girls, they’re still quite young so it consists of reading books, worksheets and practicing letters, but eventually decided to take the summer off because every time I got set up to do an activity of course the baby needed my attention. He’s getting more into a routine now so I’m hoping to pick back up on the school work in a couple of weeks.

Other issues we found were that the kids didn’t really understand colder climates, they still wanted to run around with their panties on and refused to wear jackets. So for majority of the trip the girls didn’t want to be out on deck so were cabin bound until we went to shore. But when we went to shore oh boy did we have fun. Newfoundland has so many beautiful hiking trails that are so well kept that I swear they have little machete fairies lurking about. Oh and the whole island smells like Christmas. Everyday I would inhale and feel like I’m home – the smell of Christmas trees always makes you reminisce of your childhood Christmas’. Now I’m just rambling.

Even with all the beautiful hiking trails we noticed a lot of the locals in the smaller villages were quite unhealthy, fresh produce up there is not so much on the fresh side and the meat is quite expensive. Leaving NL I was happy to eat my last slice of stale bread in a while. I know I could just make my own bread but with 3 kids under 5 my mornings are a little full. If you’re planning on heading up to NL make sure you provision your boat with dry goods and clothes, things are pretty scarce on “the rock”

We didn’t stop much on the west coast, we were tracking icebergs and wanted to get all the way to the tip in order to catch them before it got too late. Sailing up the west coast was great, a little gusty but good. Everyday the weather report called for 15-20 knot winds and we got 25-30 everyday, but that’s ok our tank needs some wind to get her going. Up the west coast is where I decided that we needed a new boom, I bent that baby up real good. What can I say I’m a shitty sailor.

Icebergs! ICEBERGS! They were magnificent!!! Made the rush north all worth while. And it wasn’t all that cold up near them. We definitely do need to get better protection in our cockpit. We don’t have the typical sunken in cockpit, our deck is all one level so when those icy winds come howling there is no escaping them. We spent majority of our watch time sitting on a 2” ledge of our companion way. We put up our mosquito screen to try and help block some of the wind. It did pretty good but it was still bloody cold at times. I have now replaced the netting with clear plastic we picked up at a hardware store.

After the excitement of the bergs we didn’t really have a plan. Do we beat into the wind and retrace our steps back down the west coast or do we continue around and circumnavigate NL? the guide book mentioned that only real adventurous sailors circumnavigate and we thought that’s definitely not us but screw it we could catch the Labrador current down the east coast and make good time. Maybe we should have done our homework better. We motored majority of the way due to poor wind, from all that money we saved in free dockage we made it up in diesel. We wouldn’t change a thing, from the west to the north to the east to the south coast, Newfoundland has so much diversity. The west coast had the small towns that rarely saw visitors, the north had the icebergs, the east had the larger towns and beautiful buildings and the south had the outposts and waterfalls. Whales on the west, puffins on the east, caribou and moose in between.

So what have we learnt from the trip??

* I want a washing machine, and we WILL be getting one in Massachusetts

* You can never wear too many layers

* It is possible to mistake a high of 60 degrees for a heat wave of 95

* Always ALWAYS put a preventer on when sailing downwind

* Not all rocks are charted

* When it takes longer to pump out your poop then it takes to actually poop it’s time to rebuild the head

* Breastfeeding while trying not to puke on your baby is never fun

* Babies and kids may slow you down but they make you life more the richer

We didn’t find many blogs with information about cruising in Newfoundland so I hope if there are any cruisers looking for info on NL or NS that my blog helps out.

For now we are planning on coming north again next summer and maybe even further north. But plans are just plans, they could change once, twice, 10 zillion times – like our kids changing outfits in a day.

Goodbye Francois–we love you

August 21, 2014 by Carly Filed Under: Kids, Newfoundland, wildlife

We will be leaving Francois after dinner this evening and heading for Halifax Nova Scotia. This will be our last day in Newfoundland, sad but we’re ready to move on.

The longest run we’ve done with all 3 kids was about 36 hours. This will be our dry run for Bermuda, lets see if we can hack it. If we don’t make it all the way there will be plenty of places to stop into on the way.

Halifax is 350 miles and to Bermuda from the States will be roughly 600 miles. 58 hours to Halifax but hopefully faster if we get good wind. Wish us luck!