TSR030 United States Sailboat Show at Annapolis

12/08/16 • 83 min

In this episode, we feature our trip to the US Sailboat Show in Annapolis, MD. We have some more adventure sailing news and our products of the week will help you keep your boat fresh and mold free.

Intro Chat

We are back after an extended break from doing the podcast. We have been very busy with work, travel and a couple big life events.
After we got back from the Annapolis show, we decided to fit in a week long sailing trip in the Florida Keys before year end. We had a blast and we will feature that trip on a future show.
I was able to fix our broken throttle cable on our MacGregor 26M with a 50hp Honda engine. It was not too difficult, the trickiest part was getting the throttle control out and back in the pedestal as it was a very tight fit. Here is the cable I bought that has a 4" minimum bend radius to help avoid the wear that happened to the old cable from raising the engine all the way up. I bought a 12ft cable, but it ended up being a little long and I think 11ft would have worked a little better.
We also decided recently to buy a new house! We found a place with a half acre lot so that we can keep our boat at the house instead of a local storage lot. We will move in late December.
Steve also decided he was not busy enough so he started to build his first boat. It will hopefully be a Storer Quick Canoe that he hopes to turn into a sailing canoe and possibly a sailing trimaran.
Check out these great sailing documentaries we watched recently, both are free to watch. The first is Chasing Bubbles about a young sailor Alex Rust and his circumnavigation. If you watch it, please give some support to his charity, it is great karma to support something that gives you enjoyment for free. The second documentary is about App Applegate and his building of an 80 foot sailboat in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. The password is on the screen, FreeRoam. Both are great.
We imagine that most sailors in the northern climates have put their boats in storage for the winter so we will do our best to get you through the winter with some interesting sailing and cruising interviews and podcasts.

Our Trip to the US Sailboat Show in Annapolis

We attended the US Sailboat Show in Annapolis October 6th-10th, 2016. It is a great show with a very large selection of boats and vendors.
We nearly cancelled the trip due to Hurricane Matthew targeting Florida as we were nervous about being away from the house during the storm. It turned out that the storm stayed far enough off the Florida coast to avoid any damage in Orlando and the weather in Annapolis was great Thursday and Friday. It rained all day Saturday and was overcast and windy on Sunday, but we still had a great trip.
We got the chance to meet Paul and Sheryl Shard of the Distant Shores video series. They are in the process of building a Discovery 48 that will have a lifting keel similar to their last boat a Southerly 49. Keep their awesome sailing / cruising videos in mind for Christmas gifts, they are great to watch and fuel your cruising dreams.
We will eventually release a YouTube video on our visit to the Annapolis show, but for now we will share some links to the boats we thought were unique.
Catalina 385 & 425
Pair of Jeanneau 54s different layouts, Jeanneau 58 new boat of 2017 dinghy dock under cockpit.
Amel 55, awesome boat
Gozzard 41, beautiful light blue hull, high quality woodwork, unique layout living room salon layout in vberth area.
Southerly 57, made famous by distant shores, went out of business, but back in production. Lifting keel, 10ft9in down, 3ft6in up.
Wauquiez 48 p...

In this episode, we feature our trip to the US Sailboat Show in Annapolis, MD. We have some more adventure sailing news and our products of the week will help you keep your boat fresh and mold free.

Intro Chat

We are back after an extended break from doing the podcast. We have been very busy with work, travel and a couple big life events.
After we got back from the Annapolis show, we decided to fit in a week long sailing trip in the Florida Keys before year end. We had a blast and we will feature that trip on a future show.
I was able to fix our broken throttle cable on our MacGregor 26M with a 50hp Honda engine. It was not too difficult, the trickiest part was getting the throttle control out and back in the pedestal as it was a very tight fit. Here is the cable I bought that has a 4" minimum bend radius to help avoid the wear that happened to the old cable from raising the engine all the way up. I bought a 12ft cable, but it ended up being a little long and I think 11ft would have worked a little better.
We also decided recently to buy a new house! We found a place with a half acre lot so that we can keep our boat at the house instead of a local storage lot. We will move in late December.
Steve also decided he was not busy enough so he started to build his first boat. It will hopefully be a Storer Quick Canoe that he hopes to turn into a sailing canoe and possibly a sailing trimaran.
Check out these great sailing documentaries we watched recently, both are free to watch. The first is Chasing Bubbles about a young sailor Alex Rust and his circumnavigation. If you watch it, please give some support to his charity, it is great karma to support something that gives you enjoyment for free. The second documentary is about App Applegate and his building of an 80 foot sailboat in the mountains of the Pacific Northwest. The password is on the screen, FreeRoam. Both are great.
We imagine that most sailors in the northern climates have put their boats in storage for the winter so we will do our best to get you through the winter with some interesting sailing and cruising interviews and podcasts.

Our Trip to the US Sailboat Show in Annapolis

We attended the US Sailboat Show in Annapolis October 6th-10th, 2016. It is a great show with a very large selection of boats and vendors.
We nearly cancelled the trip due to Hurricane Matthew targeting Florida as we were nervous about being away from the house during the storm. It turned out that the storm stayed far enough off the Florida coast to avoid any damage in Orlando and the weather in Annapolis was great Thursday and Friday. It rained all day Saturday and was overcast and windy on Sunday, but we still had a great trip.
We got the chance to meet Paul and Sheryl Shard of the Distant Shores video series. They are in the process of building a Discovery 48 that will have a lifting keel similar to their last boat a Southerly 49. Keep their awesome sailing / cruising videos in mind for Christmas gifts, they are great to watch and fuel your cruising dreams.
We will eventually release a YouTube video on our visit to the Annapolis show, but for now we will share some links to the boats we thought were unique.
Catalina 385 & 425
Pair of Jeanneau 54s different layouts, Jeanneau 58 new boat of 2017 dinghy dock under cockpit.
Amel 55, awesome boat
Gozzard 41, beautiful light blue hull, high quality woodwork, unique layout living room salon layout in vberth area.
Southerly 57, made famous by distant shores, went out of business, but back in production. Lifting keel, 10ft9in down, 3ft6in up.
Wauquiez 48 p...

Previous Episode

TSR029 Part 2 - The Radonic Family Trailer Sailing to Offshore Cruising

In this episode, we feature part two of our interview with the Radonic Family and discuss their move from trailer sailing to offshore cruising. We have some more unusual sailing news and our products of the week will provide comfortable seating on and off the boat.

Intro Chat

We experienced some engine trouble on our Labor Day weekend trip to the Hammock Beach Resort and Marina in Palm Coast, Florida. Our throttle cable broke, but we were able to remove the outboard cover and manually work the throttle to get us five miles to our destination and back.
We are attending the Annapolis Sailboat Show October 6-9. Let us know if you are attending and we will find a time to meet everyone.
Thank you to all the listeners who have given the podcast great reviews on iTunes and for everyone that has sent us an email. It is great to hear that people are enjoying the show. Check out one of our listener blogs, Rik from Aruba built a beautiful trailer sailer with his daughter and sailing in Aruba looks amazing.
Enter the ASA / Hands Across the Sea Sweepstakes for a chance to win a great sailing or land based vacation in the islands. The proceeds help deliver thousands of books to schools throughout the islands. TSR donated again this year, join us in supporting the islands and families that provide great cruising grounds for our sailing.

The Sailing Rode Leukemia Fundraising

Brandy was diagnosed with leukemia in 2009. She is one of the lucky survivors as her cancer has been treated so far by a great drug therapy. That drug did not exist a few years before she was diagnosed and her prognosis would not have been as good before research created the drug therapy.

In 2010, we created a crazy boating event called Lake Conway Wipeout that we eventually turned into a charity event. We ran the event for 5 years and raised over $30,000 for leukemia research. The event grew too large to manage safely so we ended it in 2014. Here are a couple videos on the event.

Lake Conway Wipeout 2014 from ASofCFL on Vimeo.

We are asking for your help to support the annual fundraising for Leukemia and Lymphoma research. It only takes a couple minutes and a few dollars make a big difference.

Click Here to Donate to The Sailing Rode Leukemia and Lymphoma Society Team

You can also join our team and do your own local fundraising and participate in the LLS Light the Night Walk in October. All the details are on the site.

Also please consider registering to be a potential bone marrow donor at BeTheMatch.org The second most common Leukemia is called AML and those diagnosed are not as lucky as Brandy. AML patients currently has only a 25% chance of living five years from diagnosis. Many die before they find a bone marrow donor. You could easily save a life, please register to be a donor today.

Interview

In part two of our interview with the Radonics, they talk about their move from a trailer sailer to an offshore cruiser.

The Radonics are based on Lake Ontario near Toronto Canada.
After trailer sailing for several years, Ed decided he liked racing and also wanted to have a boat he could sail down to the Bahamas so they bought a Jeanneau 39i. The 39i is a comfortable cruiser but also a performance race boat.
The have done multiple trips between the Toronto and the Bahamas and now leave the boat in the Bahamas year round.

Check out the Radonic Family sailing blog here

They also offer Charters on their boat in the Bahamas, for more information click here

Sailing / Cruising News

The PIZZA Pi boat in the USVI needs your help. If you have ever visited them on a charter or dream of one day pulling up you dinghy to pickup a great pizza, then sign their petition to convince the local authorities to allow them to stay in Christmas Cove.
Crystal Cruise Lines offers 3...

Next Episode

TSR031 We Are Back!! After our extended Honeymoon

In this episode, we get back on the air and talk about our extended honeymoon over the last five months. We have some more adventure sailing news and our featured product is a new marine sealant that will save you money.

Intro Chat

We are back after getting married and buying a new house. Life is starting to settle back down so we will be more consistent with the podcast and videos.
Many people would think that buying a house is the antithesis of the cruiser lifestyle, but it is good to have a home base.
Love our new home, great to have the boat on the property to work on upgrades and other maintenance. One exception is the Squirrels, they discovered that the plastic pieces of the boat are tasty. Had to cover cleats and winches with wire cages to stop the damage.
Squirrel also built nest in our tow vehicle and Steve had to rescue and relocate the baby squirrel.
Steve installed our new Standard Horizon VHF GX2200 and Garmin 547xs Chartplotter and integrated them for AIS, it was fairly simple after routing the wires and worked first try! We will talk more about the installation and features in a show soon.
We served as ground crew as Steve's brother Shawn participated in the 2017 Everglades Challenge adventure race 300 miles from Tampa to Key Largo in small wind and oar powered boats. Shawn was trying to be the first person to finish the race in a West Write Potter 15. Unfortunately, high winds pushed him onto the shoals near Cape Haze, FL. Shawn trailered the boat down to Key Largo and spent a few days sailing Florida Bay. He made it to the Flamingo check point and back to Key Largo. Florida Bay has some really shallow water and he sailed through some areas that had less than one foot of depth. Great use of the shallow draft West Write Potter 15. Check out the video Shawn produced on his adventure.Our 2017 Sailing & Cruising so far:
We have cruised on our sailboat eight nights so far in 2017, well below our average.
We took the boat to the Mount Dora Art Festival - Friday and Saturday, we anchored on Lake Eustis on Friday night, cruised the Dora Canal over to Mount Dora on Saturday, and spent the day buying art under the influence. It was an expensive day, low cruising cost as we stayed at the town dock for free, but our art purchases added up. The fish and sheep were worth it!
We also talk about sailing the Cortez bridge, Anna Maria Island, Long boat key area were we hosted all our boating friends. We anchored out Thursday-Sun. Thursday/Friday Anchored at Jewfish Key and it was very protected from the strong West winds. We put out back anchors and had the beautiful Sandbar as our back yard. Saturday we anchored at Cortez bridge. We were harassed by one of the local derelict boaters and had to relocated away from them in the anchorage. We had a great dinner and drinks at Bridge Tender Inn and the other live music spots. The anchorage became rolly at 2am as the West wind picked up and we made the call to move back to Jew Fish. We were rafted up with three other boats, so we woke everyone up (I doubt anyone was able to sleep) and moved back to Jew Fish Key for a quiet night.
Our most recent trip was to the Ft. Pierce / Stuart area, this was a new cruising ground for us and we will cover it on another show.

Sailing & Cruising News

Sailaway is a great new online sailing game that simulates sailing and cruising around the world. The boat behaves just like a real sailboat and the wind and waves are simulated from the current NOAA weather reports. Trips in the game take the same amount of time as in real life, so you can set the boat to keep cruising even when you are not on the game. You can also race against other players as you cruise around the world.
Two Canadian sailors have been sentenced for setting ...