Happy Salty New Year

January 2, 2016 by Carly Filed Under: Alaska, Arctic, Australia, bahamas, Beaver Road Trip, Caribbean, New England, Newfoundland, Northwest Passage, Nova Scotia

Of course it’s the 11th hour and I’m writing a post for the New Year. I’m late for everything, never on time, always in a flustered rush. But hey, if I was on time that wouldn’t be me.

New year resolution…. better time management.

Ha! Let me put that on the list of eat better and exercise, those New Year’s resolutions seem to roll over year after year.

We all know very well on the improvements we need to make on ourselves but what of those achievements we’ve reached previously in the year? Lets check those puppies out people! What did you pull off in 2015? [Read more…]

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

new flooring under the table

October 24, 2014 by Carly Filed Under: New England, projects, Refit

Check out these before and after shots of our floor and trim! We’re sooo excited to have a wood floor. We can’t afford to do the rest of the boat but we can dream.

Shit hot!!

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!!!

Day sailors

June 4, 2014 by Carly Filed Under: Kids, New England

Sorry to all day sailors but we think cruisers are more open minded and adventurous.

We are staying here in Marion, MA on a mooring and often share the launch with other boat owners getting in and out from the dock. We usually take up most of the boat with all our laundry, garbage, groceries, kids and whatever else we have carting to and from the car. I appreciate the weekend sailors that squint their eyes and wrinkle their forehead when we mention that we live on our boat. “And how do the kids like that?” Well the girls love it, and they tell them so. THEN there are the sailors who choose to speak their mind. “What’s the baby’s name?” “Crew” “Oh, he’s going to hate you when he’s older!” ***” well I’m sure your kids hate you with an attitude like that”

*** that’s what I wanted to say, but of course I just smile. I know better, my mother taught me better. If you don’t have something nice to say then don’t say anything at all.

When we meet other cruisers they are so excited for us wishing they had raised their kids on a boat and took them around the world and they think our new little man has an awesome name. Are day sailors just jealous haters or is there something in the DNA? Why are they so grumpy and cynical? How can you judge if you don’t spend the time to meet us?

Hi, I’m Carly. My husband and I choose to raise our kids on our boat to give them a broader outlook on life. We wish to educate them not only with books but with doing. We do our best to keep them safe and happy like all parents. Our little boy has a strong name and I’m sure he’ll love us throughout his life, maybe not like us some of the time.

Zip it day sailors, go home and tell your family and friends of the crazy people living on a boat with their kids. Lets just keep our conversation to the weather.

If there are some day sailors out there that think we rock

please come by for a beer,

you rock too!

May in MA

May 31, 2014 by Carly Filed Under: boat baby, Kids, New England, projects

I think I’ve been in Massachusetts for almost a month now and Carl for 2 weeks. We are on a mooring in Marion, a cute little town with the fanciest looking school I’ve ever seen. We are up here visiting Carl’s family. Carl was born and raised in this area and moved south to Florida when he was 8. It’s lovely up here, somewhere we can see ourselves settling down, but I don’t know there’s still way too many people around for my liking and it’s not even summer yet.

We are trying to get some projects completed…. or started while we’re here. Carl is welding closed all the forward portholes and having some more grab rails made. It feels good to start some much needed boat projects but to get them completed is another story. We thought we had it tough with 2 toddlers on a boat but now we have a “hold me, hold me now or I’ll break your heart” baby. I’m officially completely useless when it comes to projects now. I’ve started a 30-60 minute class in the morning for the girls. I ordered a homeschooling kit from Sonlight which is helping me keep the right balance between letters, numbers, history etc. So we do school in the morning and I juggle cleaning, kids, baby, food the rest of the day. We are surviving, barely. The little man is a great baby but even great babies are little time suckers.

For the first time ever I’m feeling rather trapped on the boat. I’ve learnt how to run the dinghy in and play bumper dinghy’s at the dingy dock, and we have a family car here too but still it’s bloody hard work to get off the boat. Load all the kids in the dingy listen the little man cry (he hates our Ergo carrier) until the hummm of the motor puts him to sleep. He loves himself an outboard motor and generator. We’re a hair under a mile to the dingy dock and with the no wake zone of 5 miles per hour it takes a good 20 minutes in. We have made the run twice being dumped on by rain, once with little wags wetting her pants and about a hundred times with Pri screaming “IM COOOOOLLLLD!!”. Then of course loading 3 kids in a car is a pain in the arse. But all parents have these woes.

We are looking forward to June being a warmer and more sleep had month.