12/30/17

Wishing you a Happy New Year!  If all goes as planned, Karen will fly back to West Palm from frigid NY on 12/31, Jerry will meet her at the airport and we will head to the Bahamas.  You can keep track of our whereabouts via the SPOT link you see in the upper right hand corner of this page.

Thanks to Dale and Roni we were able to provision for the Bahamas before I left for Maine.  Yes, it all fit in the dinghy.

Bob hangs out at the airport in Philly while we are delayed; finally arrived in Ithaca, NY at 3 am.

The view from my sister's house in Maine.

Bob was found on the beach in the Bahamas a couple years ago - this is his first time in the snow.

12/7/17

12/7/17

We pass a barge full of utility trucks...heading for Puerto Rico?

Another picture of the tug and barge going out at Jacksonville, FL when we are coming in.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Persephone anchored near Atlantic Beach, FL

Chef Chris of the Ritz Carlton working in the Ritz Persephone galley.

Unbelievable Asian porridge.

Andrew in front with his cars.  Amy and I toast with the cups Amy created years ago.

The deck is done after sailing from Jacksonville to Ft Pierce.  You can see the difference in color.  Port side is freshly sanded.

Jerry, Jerry, Donna, Deb and Ron awaiting the Christmas parade in Vero Beach with a view of the ocean and full moon.

Bob comes along for the Christmas parade in Vero Beach.

Jerry, Karen and Ron in the dinghy on the way back to the boat with our headlights on.

We made it to Stuart!  Jerry with Roni and Dale on Dale's 28' Shannon sailboat.

Last time I wrote we were headed to Beaufort, NC and then south looking for wind with no south in the forecast.  November 20th was a brisk chilly morning when we headed out of Beaufort Inlet at 3:30 in the morning.  The 35 knot winds had settled to a gentle 15-20 from the northwest and we sailed along at 7 – 8 knots.  By late afternoon the winds had settled more and we motor sailed.  This window of opportunity to head to FL contained some southerly winds in it according to our weather forecaster Chris Parker on the single side band radio.  We decided to continue on, take our licking, and arrive in FL rather than stopping in Charleston.

 Just as predicted the winds picked up and came around to the south, the skies turned dark, thunder, lightning, heavy rain.  If we were in the old Persephone the hull would crash down as it headed into the seas.  The new Persephone sails with a more comfortable motion.  The deep V shape of the bow under water cuts instead of slaps the waves.  The nasty weather lasted for about 6 hours.  The stars reappeared around midnight and the wind clocked around to the west.  Our arrival in Jacksonville, FL was celebrated by stuffing the long underwear and wool socks into the laundry bag.  60 hours from Beaufort, NC to Jacksonville, FL.

It rained on and off the entire day on Thursday but we are happy to sit inside resting and baking.  Turkey, stuffing, potatoes, cranberry sauce, gravy and broccoli.  Plenty to be thankful for – the decks are “done”,  we’re in FL where we don t-shirts and shorts, family and friends who are encouraging and helpful.

The next day the sun came out and we moved a couple of miles to an anchorage on the ICW near our friends Chris and Amy.  They arrived after Chris had been cheffing at a Ritz Carlton restaurant all day and there he was to prepare yet another meal.  This one something new he wanted to try – porridge.  An Asian porridge with rice.  While Amy and I chatted, Andrew who is 5 (and a half!) drove his race cars on the track (the perimeter of the table), Jerry hovered with camera and questions Chris cooked in the galley.  The results were divine.  You can see the celery and cilantro leaves, yellow pepper slivers, boiled eggs, scallions, and mushrooms in the picture over the porridge with a flavorful sauce of ginger, honey, tamari, lime juice and more.  Amy and I celebrated with a cup of wine – if you’ve been aboard Persephone you know my wine cups are very special.  Amy is the one who created them in her ceramics class years ago using coral to imprint the outside of the cups.

It was hard to follow such an exotic dinner but the turkey soup I made the next day for everyone was gone by the end of the night.  Dinner was followed by many rounds of dominoes, traditional dominoes like they play in the Bahamas, not Mexican Train dominoes.  Andrew is the smartest 5 ½ year old we know and he won many of the rounds.  It was nice to have the opportunity to visit as we haven’t seen Chris, Amy and Andrew in a couple of years.

Our next sail south was from Jacksonville to Ft. Pierce.  The winds were supposed to be 10-15 from the northeast.  We were lucky to have barely 10 and had to start the motor to help out the sails.  With the motor running and calm seas it was the perfect opportunity to finish sanding the caulk off the port side.  Picture us out on the ocean, music blaring, inverter on to power the sander and vacuum, sanding away, dolphins swimming at the bow.  The wind was behind us and conveniently blew the dust forward.  We sanded Sunday and Monday; the decks are finished by the time we anchor Monday afternoon in Fort Pierce.  Yeah!  Donna and Jerry on Bluejacket come in a little later finishing up their jaunt from Georgetown, SC to Fort Pierce.

We have never stopped at Vero Beach, FL over our 20 years of cruising – a place where everyone else stops.  Some call it Velcro Beach.  Once you come in, take a mooring ball, it’s hard to leave.  Free city buses pick up and deliver wherever you need to go, there are all kinds of activities to join, and more than 100 boats on the moorings with old friends and new to visit and meet.  Donna and Jerry are going.  Ron and Deb are there already so we haul anchor and head 15 miles north and anchor past the mooring balls at Vero.  Other than the no-see-ums we enjoyed our stay here taking advantage of the free buses, doing laundry, going to the farmers market, visiting.  Our couple of days we planned to stay turned into 5.  It wasn’t all play – we spent hours cleaning to get the black off the boat from the sanding, changed the engine oil and even started washing and waxing the hull.  Our last night we went to Vero Beach Christmas Parade.  We sat on the side of the road, looking out at the ocean and full moon while the 90 some floats, marching bands, and twirlers pranced by in the dark.

Now we are in Stuart, FL.  NY friends Dale and Roni live here as well as “Aunt Susan” and Ken from back home.  Our friend Arnaud lives nearby in Manatee Pocket.  Bluejacket and Scheherezade pulled in a couple of days after we arrived.  So much to do!  I will be flying home on the 15^th to spend Christmas with family while Jerry stays here on the boat.  He’s never too keen on the idea of leaving FL and sunshine for NY/Maine; even for just 2 weeks.

Karen & Jerry

"Persephone"

11/18/17

11/18/17

A quick update – the deck on the port side is “done”.  Done is in quotation marks because the new grooves are sealed with caulk.  We still have to sand the excess caulk off but that must cure for a week before sanding.  We’ll have to work on that in Florida.  But that means the project is pretty much done!

The rest of the deck on port is caulked.

Even after washing my hands the caulk remains.  I call it "deckhand".

 And it’s getting cold here in North Carolina!  Another night in the 30s tonight.  Donna and Jerry loaned us an electric cube heater to take the chill off.  How lucky we are to have friends who have made this project possible.  We realize that our solar power nor our inverter would  be able to keep up with the electrical demands of the router, sander, and vacuum all day.  This week we worked like mad to finish.  As they work on their projects Donna and Jerry would announce “lunch time” or “come on up for dinner” just as I went below to figure out what we would eat after a long day working.  Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!  We are looking forward to spending more time with them when we’re not working on a huge project as we both head to the Bahamas this winter.

Our plans are to head to Beaufort on Sunday and then south.  We’ll see how far we make it with decent wind.  Decent means most any wind direction with no south in it.  You should be able to keep track on of us with the SPOT (link on top right hand corner of persephonesail.blogspot.com page.)  It looks like we'll have to do some "hops" in and out along the coast to avoid those southerly winds.

I was able to put 6 coats of varnish on the table before we had to put it together and in place.

Persephone and Bluejacket at the dock  - making preparations to leave.

And on the few days it rained we found other things to do.  One was retrieving a free golf cart for cousins Dick and Georgette.  It took a bit of work to get it back into shape but now Dick has wheels to drive around the golf course (bordering their back yard) and the neighborhood.

Dick and Georgette in Dick's new wheels.

The spot for the golf clubs in the back of the cart.

 Keep us posted as to what's happening with you and your family.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Karen & Jerry

Teak Deck Work

Freshly sanded teak deck covered in dew.

Jerry and I have been hard at work on Persephone's teak decks.  The teak wears down over time, the black caulk between the teak strips comes loose and needs replacing.  There are many steps required in order to replace the caulk.  Every step involves vacuuming before, during and after to keep the sanding dust down.
1.  Sand the wood to make it smooth.
2.  Razor blade the sides of each groove of caulk and use a sharp reef hook to pull out all of the old caulk.
3.  Place a guide Jerry designed along an old groove, screw it in to hold the guide in place, router the groove resulting in a deeper (and a little wider) groove to put new caulk in.
4.  Thoroughly clean and sand out (with Jerry's sanding block he made) each new groove.
5.  Apply a strip of tape along the bottom of the groove.   The tape ensures the caulk does not stick to the bottom of the groove - only the sides.
6.  Fill each new groove with caulk.
7.  Using a flexible putty knife smooth out the bead of caulk along the groove.
8.  After the caulk cures lots more sanding required to take away the black caulk on the wood.
Every step of this process is done from the knees and bending over.  It is back breaking and tedious.
We are halfway done!!

Bob uses the orbital sander to smooth the teak.

Bob uses the reef hook to clean all of the old caulk from the grooves.

Bob using Jerry's handmade groove sander.

The weather has been perfect for working on the decks!

Jerry using his guide and modified router base to router each groove deeper for caulk.

The aft section with the grooves filled with caulk.  Waiting to sand when cured.

Sanding the excess caulk from the teak.

Starboard side done!

Ron, Jerry, and Jerry having fun with shovels.

I have 5 coats of varnish on our teak table so far.  Thanks to Donna and Jerry who make all of this work possible!

10/29/17

10/29/17

If you’ve been following our SPOT you may have wondered what happened.  We left NY Tuesday headed down the coast into Norfolk where we anchored late Wednesday night.  Early Thursday morning back to motoring south through Norfolk, Great Bridge, and the Currituck Sound.  Friday a long day, 125 miles from 5:30 am to 10:30 pm finding our way into Broad Creek in the dark and anchoring in front of Donna and Jerry’s house.  That’s 3 days and 18 hours from NY to NC.  And we’re still here; the SPOT doesn't need updating!  See the pictures and words below – starting from the Hudson River……and ending at Donna and Jerry's in Oriental, NC. 

Trying to sail some on the Hudson River heading south.

Colors, boats, train along the Hudson River.

How's this for a place to live with Hudson River waterfront view!

The new Mario Cuomo Bridge across the Hudson River.

The new Mario Cuomo Bridge spans next to the old Tappan Zee Bridge.

Under the bridge we go!

New York City!

Jerry and Marianne, the original owner of our boat, anchored at Sandy Hook, NJ.

Marianne is pleased to see her boat! 

Jerry shows Marianne the anchor locker door that he completed the teak seams.

Sunrise on the ocean along the coast.

The lights of Norfolk at 6:00 am.

A Bald Eagle poses on marker 97 along the Currituck Sound.

A closer view of this majestic bird.

Can you see the streams of spider silk collected as we go south?

The sun sets as we continue south on the Pamlico Sound.

Donna and Jerry's dock is full again!  Persephone is on the very end - all you can see is the mast.

The Bean - the place to be in Oriental, NC.  This is Saturday am after attending a presentation of a couple's trip from Oriental, NC to the Caribbean through the Panama and the Pacific Ocean to New Zealand on their catamaran.

12 sailors at dinner at Donna and Jerry's

Another wonderful evening with fellow cruisers.

Deb, Ron, Gerald and I go with Jerry L to pick up Donna and Jerry's catamaran Bluejacket to bring home from the boatyard.

Here's our big project we've been working on here in Oriental - every groove in the teak deck has to be cleaned of old caulk, routered for a deeper groove, and filled with new caulk.  We also bought a teak table to put in our cockpit that needs varnish - time for work and for play here at Jerry and Donna's!

Jerry routering a groove with his guide he designed and created for the project.  He needs to apply for a patent for his guides.

Starboard foredeck grooves cleaned and ready for caulk.  Every step - a back aching process.

Starboard foredeck with the caulk.  We have to wait a week or so before sanding off the extra caulk.  The decks will look as spiffy as the anchor locker in this photo when finished.

Ron and Deb on Scheherezade are anchored out in front of Jerry and Donna's house.

Karen, Gerald, Deb and Ron at the Chili Cook Off in downtown Oriental, NC.  Jerry and Donna brought us all here in their van but missed the picture!  And of course, we had to stop at The Bean after!

Thanks to Donna and Jerry who do so much for so many of us!  XXX OOO