Tag: offshore sailing

Boat Out of Water

Nothing looks so awkward as a fish out of water, except for maybe a sailboat. Poor Story Time is up in the boat yard right now, looking sad and forlorn. Instead of slicing through the waves with full, beautiful sails, all I see is a bulging belly teetering on a skinny keel.

However, it desperately needed to get done! Check this last post about the state of our hull. We were thrilled that Bluewater Yachts was able to accommodate Story Time before the summer sailing season really kicked off. They are sanding, epoxying, priming, and repainting as we speak. This haul out process must be completed every three to five years, and next time we would like to do the bottom work ourselves. But right now, with two small children and Conor still working a full-time job (plus his Marine Corps reserves!), it just isn’t possible. Instead, we hired the professionals and braced ourselves for the bill…

And our quote came back at HALF what we expected to owe! We are still awaiting the final cost, but it looks like she will cost us around $4,000. TOTALLY WORTH IT.

Now to divert from boring boat maintenance posts, I have an exciting update about our friends on SV Minoh. After finally completing their bottom redo, Zach and Corri set sail south to Florida! They had a bumpy upwind sail with huge swells and too many pop-up thunderstorms to count. Through it all, they rocked their first solo offshore sail and made it safely to their destination. I am just so proud of them I could burst.

Corri said it best once they recovered from the trip and were all smiles again—“There’s gotta be a drug in the ocean air that causes amnesia and makes you forget just how stressful it can be out there…” As I remember our trip up to Virginia, I can definitely agree! We have to be a little bit crazy to keep doing this. Keep up with them on Instagram @microretirement.

Love,

Taylor, Conor, W, and R

Wilmington Adventures

Weather woes impeded our brilliant plan to take Story Time to Wilmington for the Marine Corps ball. Here’s a short summary of what happened:

  • Set off at 7:30 am on Tuesday, Nov. 5. This left barely enough time to make the 9ish hour trip down the coast and up the Cape Fear river and into a guest slip downtown before dark.
  • Working against this trip were daylight savings time, currents, and the incredibly tricky New River Inlet.
  • Got stuck in the mud just past Snead’s Ferry and had to get a little help from Tow Boat US, putting Story Time and crew an hour behind the tight timeline.
  • Finally got to open ocean to face sudden 6ft swells.
  • Rocked and rolled 8 knots south, hugging the coastline a mile offshore before an unscheduled thunderstorm decided to pop up.
  • Had to high tail it back to the inlet in an attempt to get onto the ICW instead.
  • Due to the severity of the storm and frustration of the crew, it made more sense to return to Gottschalk. Home in the slip by 4 pm (just not the slip we thought we would be in).

We were very sad and disappointed not to be able to bring our home with us for the ball. Looking back, the ICW would have been the easier and clearer choice, but this event was a great excuse to try some coastal cruising. Regardless of the outcome, much experience was gained, and lessons were learned (and last-minute hotels were booked). We cleaned up nice and danced the night away anyway.

sneadsferrybridge
Stormy Snead’s Ferry

marineball

We are excited to try again when we can be more flexible with our timeline. Both Cape Fear and Cape Lookout are on our “to-do” list this year. As a conciliatory gesture, the weather decided to cooperate with us on Sunday and we had one of the best sails all year. We took the entire Hobbs clan sailing in 8-10 knot winds and just bopped around New River for the day in 60 degrees. Story Time still takes my breath away with how smooth she sails. We got up to 6 knots in only 10 knots of wind!

hobbssail

boatdog

It was fantastic to have Conor’s whole family with us this past week and we are thankful they were able to experience the good part of boat life with us as well as the frustrations. Most of all, we are grateful to have loving family who supports our crazy lifestyle.

 

Love,

Taylor, Conor, and W