The Retirement Wake on S/V Imagine

It has arrived!  The time to cut the lines and sail off for an adventure.  We have spent the last 3 years to getting ourselves and the boat ready or this next adventure.  It is time to hang up working and managing EMT's and Paramedics.  After 24 years it is time to move on to new challenges in my life.  Carol will keep her dental hygiene license for possible part time work in the off season.  This year I got my Masters Captains license near coastal with sailing endorsement, so I have already found a gig in the USVI.  We will be in middle of prime cruising grounds.  During hurricane season we will spend our time down south in the Grenada area.  We will also be able to fly back to our land base family to visit for the holidays.   The plan is to leave Texas out of Galveston off shore to Port Arthur.  Then a jump from Port Arthur to a point east of NOLA.  We will then coastal cruise along the gulf till we reach Key West.  ...

Captains Credentials, Canvas work, and fun Trips I must say working full time preparing for full time cruising and being apart of a great cruising club, "Texas Mariners Cruising Association" really fills every minute we have.  We are getting closer to full time cruising, seeing new places, and sharing it with you. Every since I had started this process to sail, being a Captain was also a dream.  This was just a personal goal I had,  but also to prove and have some backing of skills we had worked so hard to cruise.  Do you need a Captain's license?  No!  However it does provide some insurance discounts, it also opens up a revenue stream if I want to do some work for extra cruising funds.   I was talking with a guy in the Florida Keys and he wants a boat handler and Captain.  His comment was I can hit a dozen Captains with a dead mullet in any gin dive in the Keys.  I want a boat handler!  We had a long conversation via email about today's...

It has been a couple of months since we last posted, mainly because the weater has been less than fun.  It has been very busy otherwise, trips back to Arkansas, new grandchild, and work for BOTH of us.  Yes that is a big deal with Carol being off for over 6 months while she had her surgeries.  The Retirement Wake is back on course!   Boat Projects have included just routine maintenance to installing new achor chain and new anchor.   Imagine came with a 35# CQR which is a very popular anchor with a resonable good history of success. On a trip to Red Fish Island hit held in the Galveston Bay mud in 30 mph winds with Gust to 40 mph with only 3/4" 3 strand twist and 3 ft of chain.  (it is what came with the boat) From the beginning I new I wanted a new anchor based on the fact that the 35# CQR was on the bottom end for size in a storm of any size.   I wanted as my primary something that should get us up to a low grade Hurricane.  The choice needed to ...

Before living on a sailboat I had read books, blogs, forums, etc., it did help gather information and prepare for the life. However, there is so much more that is "On the Job Training" so to speak of.  We have had to  battle with condensation around the portholes, and storage areas around the hull for the first time since living aboard.  It really is simple, if you remember back in science class while you were grade school. Remember that if it is warm on one side of moist air and it collides with cold air  you get a cloud which is suspended moisture.  So, with the boat nice and toasty and it colliding with the hull that has cold water against it,  you get moisture.  Ventilation is essential to keeping things dry.  In the bedroom I started smelling a very pundget smell, I swear I though the cat had done his business in the bed.  Washed the sheet, mattress pad etc. with not much change.  I lifted up the mattress and is was soaking wet on t...