crew

Happy Thanksgiving 2012!

It is hard to imagine that it was an entire year ago that we spent Thanksgiving aboard Velocir in St. Mary’s, GA:  https://velocir.com/2011/11/24/happy-thanksgiving/

How time flies!  We are thankful for family and friends this holiday season.  Grant is thankful for our good health, Amelia is thankful for a life full of joy and Crew is thankful for treats……anything for treats.

Last month Velocir made it through hurricane Sandy’s strong winds unscathed. To prepare, we secured many lines to different connection points on Velocir and the dock. She was protected in her cove from the wind, so we just kept ready in case something happened but it was very mild. Our biggest fear was a tree falling, but luckily they held tight!

This week we winterized Velocir in anticipation of the long cold winter months ahead.  We used environmentally safe anti-freeze and emptied the water tanks.  There was a little fish in our water filter, so we set him free.

We even got out for a weekend sail with friends in mid-November, yay warm weather!  The fall colors are a beautiful time to explore the tree-lined creeks of the Chesapeake Bay.

So much to be thankful for.  Happy Thanksgiving!

Welcoming Our New “Crew”

Our trip last year to the Bahamas was a little underwhelming to our social life.  We met some really terrific people, but learned that when surrounded by an older crowd the key is to have a baby around.  Otherwise, as a young couple on a small boat you may as well be invisible.

Well, we’re not ready for a baby so hopefully the cutest puppy imaginable is the next best thing!?!?!  Everyone is planning to invite us over to see their boat, go on a fishing adventure and explore a new beach now, right??!?  Let’s have a long and fascinating conversation about our sailing adventures and the cruising lifestyle that doesn’t end with condescending comments like:  “Do you know what radar is?” or “Do you have charts?”

So, we’ve had our hands full the last couple of weeks with our newest addition!  This has been in the works for many months now, and it was finally decided that the Captains needed their “Crew.”

Crew is a Miniature Australian Shepherd.  Today was his first puppy training day and he is at the top of his class with “sit” and “down.”  He’s gone for his first swim, sailed in the new dinghy and likes to hang out on Velocir!

(All joking aside about babies and puppies, Crew brings joy to our lives that far exceeds any wistful social life….the part about being an invisible young couple on a small boat is not far from the truth.)

Aboard Tallship Bounty

We have left Velocir for a larger ship!  Well, only temporarily to crew the tall ship Bounty.  Bounty was built in Lunenberg, Nova Scotia in 1960 for the 1962 Marlon Brando movie Mutiny on the Bounty.  A wooden ship- she is 180 feet long overall.  The height of the main mast is 115 feet. (www.tallshipbounty.org)

This ship is significant to us because it is how we met!  Grant was a professional crew member and Amelia was a volunteer when they crossed the Atlantic together on Bounty in 2009.  Being back on the ship three years later is a fun experience.  It is also a lot of work!  Bounty has over 18 sails to hoist, furl and many projects to attend to.

Our watch the first morning was from 4-8 am, so we enjoyed the beautiful sunrise on the calm waters of the Chesapeake Bay as the anchor was hauled up and we got underway.  We had spent the night near Turkey Point, where the C&D Canal and Susquehanna River part.  There was a lot more current here then we expected, and moving into the Delaware River the current picked up even more.

During the day, the barque rigged tall ship Guayas from Ecuador (launched in 1976) moved past us in the channel just before the entrance to the C&D Canal. Many crew members were aloft in orange work suits and waved to us.

From 12-4 pm is work party!  During this time the Bosun gives the off-watch crew (crew not on watch) maintenance projects to do around the ship.  Today all the lines were taken off the pin rails so that the wood could be oiled.  Amelia and other crew also went up to the top of the rigging to tar the shrouds while Grant hung off the side of Bounty to do some painting.  We’ve tried to highlight these interesting and unique projects in our videos!

Amelia stood bow watch as we came into our anchorage.  Just for a fun challenge, the mates turned off the GPS and used traditional navigation (compass bearings and paper charts) to get us near shore.  We were only .2 miles from our intended destination, so we did rather well.  Dodging crab pots was also a challenge but we managed to avoid them all!

Later in the day privateer Lynx anchored near us.  (www.privateerlynx.com) After we are at anchor Bounty goes into a rotation called “anchor watch.”  One person spends each hour on watch logging our GPS position, writing down the compass bearings of three specific buildings on shore, completing a boat check and pumping the bilges.  We spent the night off Newcastle, DE in anticipation of our next stop, Philadephia!

Check out more tallship activities at: www.sailtraining.org