Well, since returning last fall Matt and I have certainly dropped the ball with our blog. But I’m happy to say we, and the boat, are alive and well on Martha’s Vineyard for the summer. We’ve had a big year and bought a house, which we’ll write about in the future, and have a new addition to the family, a kitten named Leroy! You’ll have to come visit us at the Gloucester Schooner festival to meet him! Hope to see you there!
Our stow-away cat!
We have been a little behind at putting up posts recently so here is a photo blog of our 10 days in the Bras D’Or Lakes, Nova Scotia! More to come. (more…)
I have mentioned him a few times but never really introduced our crew extraordinaire Ethan! Ethan met Matt working on the sailing cargo ship project the Kwai based out of Hawaii/Cook Islands. They re-met when Matt started visiting Ottawa since Jessica is also from there.
Ethan at the helm of Heart’s Desire, entering Lunenburg harbour.
Ethan has been working for the Canadian Coast Guard up in the arctic on ice-breakers and on the St. Lawrence ships. With extensive sailing experience in the south pacific and throughout the Atlantic he has been a great asset. Without him we would have been hoving-too out in the Atlantic for many more hours than it took for us to enter Lunenburg on Wednesday.
He’s been keeping us in drinking form in Lunenburg so far and will continue with us around Mahone Bay and up to Halifax.
Ethan has been the main engineer for the Kwai and designed their rig & construction plans. The Kwai is three-quarters of the way through the conversion from a powered cargo vessel to a sailing (and powered) cargo vessel servicing islands in the south Pacific.
After a great departure party at Gannon & Benjamin and a day of running around we were finally ready to go on Sunday June 15th. Matt dove in on Saturday to do a final cleaning of our propeller for the summer, as water is a lot warmer in Vineyard Haven than where we’re headed! (more…)
Thanks for the great send off party put on by Gannon & Benjamin! Maybe we’ll have to leave more often!
Check out the great little movie of hearts for Heart’s Desire! http://flipagram.com/f/DhHoqBL5uH
Well after the first few calm nights the last one was a rocking one. It was a gentle rock, just enough to lull you to sleep but not enough that your shoulder is rocking side to side and keeping you awake. I tend to sleep on my stomach on the boat, so I feel like I can brace myself to the bed, in case of a large wave… Apparently this isn’t how you’re supposed to sleep but I’ll worry about that when I get the back problems everyone tells me I’ll get. For now, I’ll just worry about actually being able to sleep while the boat moves. (more…)
If there is one thing that will help you reduce your load, it is moving aboard a small wooden boat. Matt and I have spent the last 4 winters (3 for me) looking after a bed & breakfast in Vineyard Haven. While we live in a relatively large house during that time, due to the nature of it being a B&B, our stuff is limited to our one room. Despite this however, it seems every winter we accumulate more stuff, that then has to fit onto our little boat. (more…)
Slowly Sailing Somewhere 