Its that time of year up here in Northern Virginia. Its time to begin preparing the boat for winter. This will be the first year we won’t be near the boat for winter and its the first year with S/V Star Keeper. The first step we took was to take down the dinghy and place…
Dock Sailing
Its a bit breezy today as the last of the remnants of Hurricane Michael pass over us here in Northern Virginia. I’ll take steady 20 knot winds over what Michael did to Florida. We are starting to get her buttoned up for the winter. Hopefully this will be the last time we have to winterize…
One boat chore down many more to go
Tis the season of boat chores. Some we are opting to handle ourselves while others are being farmed out either due to the value of time vs money or due to the fact that the task is outside of our comfort level. While I’m learning a lot I’m also learning that since we are working…
Our World Has Gone to the Birds
So we’ve been spending a little time on the new sailboat and gotten to know the locals. This crew of ducklings is fearless. They will eat most anything but really like fancy oyster crackers. We will have more updates on the boat including a proper introduction once we get back from a Florida. It’s been…
Boating season begins but…
Boating season begins but… we are now boatless. Our 2006 Sea Ray 340 Sundancer sold yesterday. The name has been removed and the new owner is taking it down to its new home in Deltaville, VA as I type this. But with endings come beginnings and we have several new beginnings in store. One of…
Flying South for the Winter
Well at least for the Christmas break. We went down to visit family in The Villages, Florida. We just got back and are pulling all of our photos and video together. Lets just say this place continues to amaze me. See the image below. It shows about 60% of the city known as The Villages. …
Starkeeper is up for sale
Its official. Starkeeper is up for sale. If you are interested in a great fresh water 2006 Sea Ray 340 Sundancer this is the boat for you. You can check out the link here for the listing.
More Than Overnight on a Boat
Where has the time gone? I’m writing about events in June and its friggin August. Time to catch up. For the month of June we decided to spend more time on the 340. With the goal of becoming long term cruisers after retirement we decided to see how living aboard would go. While no one…
Photo Gallery: PWYC 2017 Dock Crawl
You’ve heard of a pub crawl. Well this is a Dock Crawl. Each of the docks gets together and comes up with their favorite drinks and snacks and you walk from one end of the marina to the other. Needless to say a lot of fun was had along with a lot of rum. …
1000 days and I Forgot
While not exactly a boating or camping or travel post I can say that this is a very important day. Actually the very important day was June 9, 2017 and I completely forgot. So today is day 1006 but 6/9/2017 was day 1000. 1000 days since I smoked my last cigarette. I had quit using…
First trip out with Friends
Apologies for the late posting. Where does the time go? For Mothers Day we were joined by our friends Steve and Marina for our first real trip out in the boat. We anchored out at Mattawoman. While the water was still too cold to go swimming at 67 degrees we enjoyed just hanging out. We…
We’re Still Alive … and Certified
We promise we are still alive. Its been over a month since we last posted and man we’ve been busy. First and foremost we passed our US Sailing Association Basic Keel Boat Certification. We spent three weekends studying basic sailing on a J80 that was trying to kill us. Our first trip out was in…
Travel Season 2017 has officially begun
We’ve officially opened our travel season. The marina turned on the water so Star Keeper has been dewinterized and is getting a spring cleaning this weekend. We’ve also scheduled 3 camping trips in April where we will mix our camping and boating hobbies as we take our Basic Keelboat certification course and how we feel…
Weather planning
While camping and general travel adventures typically only require a standard weather forecast that can be found on your favorite local TV station, radio station, or weather app (ours is Accuweather) spending multiple nights out on the hook while boating can require a bit more detail. I was turned onto WindyTV by one of the…
Bi Polar Weather
Swinging between camping/boating weather and close to freezing is really having a psychological effect on me. On one hand I’m anxious to get moving but on the other hand I have several projects to get done before our busy season. The shroud is coming along but will be a bit close. Meanwhile I got the chassis…