Author: crimsonkathyrnandcrew

Friday was an awesome day – Crimson Kathryn was splashed (and had no leaks!). We checked out of our Airbnb a little later than planned but still made it to the boatyard before 9am. By that time, Holland Marine had already launched one sailboat and were in the process of splashing a power boat.

Mark went right to work waxing the last part of the hull. We were fortunate to find 2 sawhorses and a piece of plywood that worked perfectly as scaffolding for the waxing job. Mark was able to reach all but the top part of the bow and for that he used a ladder.

As the waxing was being completed, I checked the pier to see what space was available. After chatting with the Reynolds’ office, we were assigned spot 20 – the same spot we were in last spring! It’s a good spot for us because it’s almost at the end of the pier. There’s very little car traffic at that end which is good because we need to clear everything off of our deck and put it on the pier. Our big job this season is repainting the deck!!

All the waxing was done just in time for the travel lift to arrive around 10:30am. The Holland crew are experts at launching boats. They took their time getting the slings in the correct place on our hull and they wrapped the slings with white paper to keep the hull clean (a very nice thing to do especially after all that waxing!!). It took about 45 minutes to pick Crimson Kathryn up, move her to the travel lift well and then slowly lower her onto the water. They stop lowering the boat when it’s just in the water so the Captain can check for leaks. The new thru hull was perfect – absolutely no leaks aboard this floating home!!

Once we were securely tied to the Holland dock, we had lunch and discussed whether we should move to our spot on the pier. As I mentioned before, we are launched stern first which means we have to back out of the haulout area. Friday’s weather was wet and windy! The wind was blowing straight at our stern – making it a challenge for us to get out! Our decision was made for us – another 42ft sailboat was being launched and we were in the way! With the help of Julia and Brad (who handled our dock lines), Mark backed us out away from the dock and between 2 tied up boats like the pro he is!! We slowly made our way around the end of the pier and came into our spot perfectly. Julia and Brad were there to take our lines and we were all secured before it started to rain!

Now we’re on the pier and the rest of the work gets started! As always there’s a list but hopefully it’s not as long as previous seasons. The big job is the deck painting but I’m sure there will be other smaller things to do that will fill our days!!

Day 4 is done and we’re relaxing back at the condo for our last night. We’ll be splashed in the morning (Friday, November 3) and by this time tomorrow night, we’ll be relaxing on Crimson Kathryn. It’s definitely been a busy few days but all the pre-launch jobs went well.

On Wednesday our weather changed, following the cold front you were experiencing. The temperature wasn’t too bad but the north wind made working outside a bit chilly. Even with the cool wind, it was a successful day with lots of jobs being completed. Mark finished the thru hull installation. He still has plumbing and other things to do for this job but we can go in the water on Friday and not be flooded (always a good thing). Mark also got the new hull zinc installed, touched up the bottom paint in spots and started waxing the hull.

I spent the day cleaning and organizing the interior of the boat. We vacuum seal any item that might be damaged over the hot summer months in Florida. Things like fabric items (sheets, towels etc), electronics and even kitchen items (like the coffee pot and kettle) get sealed away for protection. I emptied all these bags and stowed everything away. I spent a fair bit of time making sure the aft cabin was all ready for us to sleep in on Friday. The only areas left to clean are the forward head and a few spots I can’t reach because of the sails.

Thursday was another cool, windy day – always fun when working outside. I had a pretty low key day. I did some laundry first thing in the morning. I also got our new dock lines from the car and put all the dock lines in place for tomorrow. Mark did one more paint touch up on the bottom and completed about 80% of the waxing. It’s hard work waxing the boat by hand so by 2pm, Mark was too tired to continue. Instead, we did other pre-launch jobs. Mark re-installed the switch for the bow thruster (which we will definitely need to get onto the pier tomorrow) and we moved our forestay back out of the way so the travel lift can pick us up. Most boats are lifted with the bow out but because we are a ketch, the mizzen mast gets in the way of a balanced lift. We get lifted stern out – the main mast gets very close to the travel lift frame to balance the boat in the slings.

In the morning (Friday), we’ll check out of our Airbnb and drive to the boat around 8am. We still have that little bit of waxing to do but that shouldn’t take too long. We probably have a bit of cleaning up to do as well. Our sun shade needs to be folded and wrapped in a tarp. We have some wood that needs to be stored somewhere. But for the most part, we’re ready to get back on the water!!!

It’s been a very productive two days in the boatyard. We arrived at the yard around 8:30am on Monday and got straight to work pulling off our sun shade. As the cover was coming down, a frog came flying off, landing a few feet away from me. The poor guy seemed a little shocked but eventually jumped away. It was a super foggy morning which made the deck of the boat very wet and slippery.

The next job we tackled (once the cover was off) was washing the deck and the cockpit. The boat was dirty (as usual) but cleaned up nicely. By the time we were done all the exterior washing, the sun was out and the temperature started to rise. We quickly discovered one of the negative aspects of our storage location – it’s right next door to a company that does welding and other work and they run a fairly large generator all day long!! It’s so noisy that we have to yell to be heard.

The top priority pre-launch job is putting in a new thru hull that we are hoping will solve our water intake issues. Our engine is water cooled and we’ve been having problems with it overheating. This new thru hull should help with this issue. Mark began preparing the area for the new thru hull and in short time had drilled the hole.

For the most part, the interior of the boat was in good shape – a bit of mold in the usual places. I started the day in the aft cabin. Lots of washing with vinegar and pinesol. By the end of the day, we had made good progress on the thru hull and the cleaning.

Today (Tuesday, Oct. 31) we arrived around the same time and Mark started working on the thru hull. I finished cleaning the cockpit and put up the enclosure. Unfortunately Mark discovered we had the wrong caulking so a road trip into Jacksonville was in order. We found the caulking plus a few other items at a marine store and headed back to the boat.

It was another hot day but by the end, we had finished the most urgent part of the thru hull job. Mark had also repaired 2 weeping bolts near the bow and had removed the large zinc plate (replacement is waiting to be installed). I finished the aft cabin cleaning and got it all set-up so we can sleep there on Friday. I also cleaned about 90% of the main cabin so we can now sit on nice cushions!!

We ended the day celebrating Halloween with our fellow cruisers. Julia (Alizarin) and Jackie (on Soaring Eagles) organized a little get together in the lounge. There was food, decorations and great conversation. A very nice way to end a long working day.

After a wonderful summer in Kingston and Toronto, we’re back in Florida, ready to get Crimson Kathryn back on the water. Our journey south began early in the morning on Friday, Oct. 27th. We had a great border crossing and a smooth trip down to Defender Marine in Connecticut.

This is definitely not our usual route south. We made the Defender detour to pick up 200ft of anchor chain and other supplies that Mark purchased. We decided to make this trip because the shipping cost on that much chain is crazy! I can also tell you that putting 200ft of 3/8th chain in the back of your car gives a good test to your rear suspension!

We made good time to Connecticut and only really ran into traffic when we closed in on N.Y.C. We crossed over to the west side of the Hudson River and travelled south on the New Jersey turnpike until we reached our first night destination – Trenton, NJ.

The next day (Saturday, Oct. 28th) we were up early and on the road by 7:30pm. It was a lovely day for driving – bright and sunny. We started early so we could get through Baltimore and Washington in the morning (trying to limit our traffic exposure). It was a good plan and we had little trouble getting through these two busy cities. That day ended at a Holiday Inn Express in Florence, SC. This hotel was kind of in the middle of nowhere and we didn’t feel like driving too far to get some dinner so decided to go to this store called Buc-ee’s. To say this place was strange is an understatement!! It’s the weirdest, craziest store we’ve ever been in. I can’t even explain it – kind of a fast food place but there’s also clothing and souvenirs and a gas bar that has probably 50 pumps. As we were heading back to our hotel we laughed and struggled to find words to describe Buc-ee’s. Mark came up with Costco mashed up with a fast food restaurant!! FYI – the food was good!

We had a slightly slower start today because we only had 5 hours left to drive. Another great driving day with very little traffic. We drove straight to Reynolds Park (although we couldn’t get in to the boatyard because the gate is now locked on weekends) and arrived around 1:30pm. We had a great visit with Julia & Brad and Jane & Steve, before heading to our very swanky Airbnb.

Tomorrow begins the process of getting Crimson Kathryn ready for our sailing season. We have an ambitious season planned – hoping to get to Turks and Caicos! So let the fun begin!!

As I write this last post for the 2022-2023 season, I’m sitting in my living room relaxing after a long drive home. We had a few challenges leading up to our haulout day and the biggest one was the weather. It was very hot and super windy from Sunday right through to our haulout on Tuesday, making lots of our final jobs way more difficult.

Our original plan was to leave the pier and head over to the haulout dock around 5:30pm Monday (May 1) when it was slack current. It’s much easier to get off the pier when it’s slack or when the current is pushing you off the pier. Unfortunately the very strong wind was pushing us onto the pier, making it almost impossible to get off safely. No problem – we were first haulout on Tuesday (May 2) morning so we’d just have to get off the pier around 8am.

We woke early on Tuesday morning and the wind was down – yippee!! Julia and Brad volunteered to help us get off the pier and then get us onto the haulout dock and they arrived right on time (around 7:30am). Unfortunately we had to get off the pier with a flood tide which meant we were being pushed onto the pier. We were all ready to spring our stern off the pier by keeping a dock line on the bow but the current was so strong that we had a lot of trouble prying off. After several tries, Mark just revved our engine as hard as he could – we blasted (well it is a sailboat so it was a slow blast😁) off the pier. It was crazy!!! I was on the bow looking back to see our solar panel and outboard motor getting closer and closer to the pier as Mark tried to move us away while the current pushed us in!! We made it off but it was tense. We slowed down and headed for the haulout dock where Julia and Brad were waiting to take our lines. It was much easier getting onto this dock because the current was pushing us in but it still was a challenge. Mark did a great job maneuvering around 2 boats at the end of the dock to get us into position for haulout.

The haulout went perfectly and right on time. We were safely secured on our stands by 10am. We were placed in the far end of the Reynolds yard with about 6 or 7 other sailboats. It’s not a bad spot – power and water are right at the boat, but it is a long way from the lounge (laundry and washrooms). It seemed to take us a long time to do all the final storage jobs this year. We had a few new jobs that we haven’t had in previous seasons – holding tank pump out, installation of a new wooden frame and tarp over the forward deck and cockpit plus a few other smaller new jobs. It all wrapped up by 4:30pm and we were on the road to home by 5pm.

We left Reynolds Park and drove as far as Florence, SC. We stopped for the night there and got up early Wednesday morning to do the rest of our drive. We had the best border crossing ever at around 10pm – no one waiting and the border guy took about 2 minutes to let us in!! We got home around 10:30pm!! I’d forgotten that we left all our Christmas decorations up so it’s Christmas in Kingston still!!

This was a fantastic season. We had the girls visit us together for 2 weeks and the weather was perfect for doing all kinds of exploring! We hung out with old friends and met some new ones along the way. It’s now time to relax and start planning for next season!

It’s Monday May 1st and we’re just about ready to haulout tomorrow. We’re doing all the jobs that need to be done last minute but right now my jobs and Mark’s are in the same location. So I thought I do a post that features some of the photos that didn’t make it into all the other posts this season. I take hundreds of photos and only a few actually make the cut!

I’ll try to do one last post after we’re hauled tomorrow and are on our way home! But for now, enjoy these random photos from our sailing season!!

Things are progressing nicely as we enter the last week before haulout. We’ve been picking away at jobs. Sails were washed, packed and stored on board. The cockpit plus all the cushions had a good wash and now the cushions are all in the v-berth. Mark completed the electrical cabling job and has now moved on to storage jobs.

The inside of the boat is becoming rather congested with all the cleaned stored items. The v-berth is jammed full of stuff and it’s getting harder to find places to store items while we’re still onboard. It feels like we are ahead of schedule but there’s always lots of last minute items that can’t be done until we’re out of the water.

We have had a bit of fun time in between all the jobs. Last Saturday we had a spaghetti dinner with other cruisers. We had a lot of ground turkey remaining from our season so we decided to invite our friends on the dock to a dinner in the lounge. Mark and I made the spaghetti; Julia and Brad brought buns and butter; Sharon and Rick did appetizers; Barb and John (on Mojo) made brownies and Everett (a solo sailor on the floating dock) brought a carrot cake. It was a feast and we had a great time relaxing in the air-conditioned lounge!!

Mark and I also took off Sunday afternoon (April 23). We drove to a creative pop-up at Jacksonville Beach. We thought it would be lots of local artists’ booths but instead it was a fancy flea market – not the best. We left there and went to Jacksonville’s Museum of Contemporary Art. That was very good and we enjoyed the mostly American artwork.

The dock is starting to empty now. Sharon and Rick on Orkan were hauled out on Monday and they left for Ontario today (Wednesday). Barb and John on Mojo were hauled out yesterday (Tuesday) and they left that afternoon for New Jersey. We’ll be hauled out this coming Tuesday (May 2) and we’ll leave the same day. That will leave just Julia and Brad on Alizarin – they will be hauled out on May 10 and will head back to Ontario a few days later.

It’s hard to believe but we’ve already been on the pier at Reynolds for 11 days. We only have 11 more to go before we’re heading back to Canada. It’s super great to have all this time to get the boat ready for storage. We definitely are not rushed. Mark has been doing some jobs that he says are either for this upcoming November or things that didn’t get done last November. Either way, some very important projects are getting completed.

On our last morning at anchor, the deck wash connection broke. The deck wash is used to spray the chain and anchor as they’re hauled back aboard so it’s important to have it working. That was Mark’s first job which turned out to be more challenging then expected. The inside attachment point for the deck wash was in the anchor chain locker in the v-berth, which is incredibly difficult to get inside. After much struggle (and many bruises) Mark got the new connector secured and working. While he was in that compartment, he took out the electric motor for the windlass (the machine that hoists the anchor) because it was making some not so funny noises that need to be addressed. The motor will come home with us!

The next big job Mark has been tackling is replacing all the 120v electrical cables in the boat. These cables are 43 years old and their age is showing. There has been lots of pushing and pulling to remove the old cables plus parts of the main cabin had to be taken apart to get access to the old stuff and put in the new. It’s another job that really need to be done!

We are getting some storage jobs completed too. The v-berth has been washed and the mattresses have been wrapped so now I can start vacuum sealing stuff and storing it up there. We vacuum seal all fabrics, clothing items, electronics and any other items that stay on the boat. I’ve spent a few days washing all the interior surfaces with both Pinesol and vinegar. After our “Covid” storage mold disaster, I do extra cleaning to remove salt and dirt and then use vinegar and a mold spray to keep the mold from returning while the boat is on the hard. The last 2 days I’ve worked on the exterior wood (this is called brightwork), giving it a new coat of Semco (a teak sealant). The wood was in rough shape by the end of this season so it really needed a good coating of Semco. Looks great now!

We have had some time to relax and enjoy ourselves. On Saturday, April 15 we drove to St. Augustine to have dinner with Julia and Brad and Sharon and Rick. Both couples arrived at Reynolds on the following Tuesday and we’ve had a happy hour to celebrate the end of the sailing season. We’ll plan a few more get togethers before we all head home.

It’s great to be back along side the Reynolds Park pier, safely tied with multiple lines. Our stay at St. Augustine wasn’t exactly what we had planned for! Our thought was that we’d have a nice quiet visit and enjoy some of the sights and sounds of St. Augustine at Easter. Well we ended up spending Friday recovering from our sail across and we had a nice lunch out!

Saturday was spent trying to get a phone plan for my phone. It was very frustrating and we left the Verizon office without a plan. We did a bit of grocery shopping and then headed back to the boat. The Sunday and Monday weather predictions were looking pretty rough – rain and wind! The prediction was dead on – the winds started Sunday morning and so did the rain. We were tied to a mooring ball in the north field and unfortunately we faced directly into the inlet when the wind started blowing from the north and northeast. We had sustained winds in the high 20knots with gusts up to 35knots. We bounced and rocked with the waves coming in from the ocean and at times, the strong current turned us sideways to the wind (that’s not much fun).

As night rolled around, Mark thought we should check our 2 mooring lines (just to be safe). It was a good thing he checked – one line was broken and the other was chafed!! It was kind of scary to think about it. We were hanging onto the ball with a damaged dock line and there were at least 5 boats behind us. Mark used our snubber line (this line gets attached to the chain of the anchor to stop the chain from rubbing when you’re on the hook) and 2 other dock lines to secure us for the night and we checked the lines every 3 hours!! It was a long night but all lines were still attached on Monday morning.

The weather continued to be windy and rainy on Monday. We delayed our early Monday departure from St. Augustine until the wind died down a bit. We managed to drop the mooring ball around 11 am. It was a very interesting 40nm trip north – visibility at times was terrible but at least we didn’t have to content with lots of boat traffic. We were mostly by ourselves!!

Tuesday we made our way along the St. Johns River, through Jacksonville and down to Reynolds Park by 4pm. We had one bad squall roll through just as we were approaching the Main Street Lift bridge in Jacksonville so we had to coast for several minutes while it blew by. When we arrived at Reynolds, we were super lucky to have help from 2 fellow cruisers on the pier. They took our lines and helped us get secured! We now have 3 weeks to get the boat ready for haulout and storage. We booked our haulout for May 2 so that gives us lots of time to get all the work done.

It’s been a crazy few days for Crimson Kathryn and especially her crew! We were up very early (3am) on Wednesday, April 5th and were underway around 4am. The moon was bright and we could clearly see our way out of Ginn Sur Mer. We had a long 234nm trip ahead of us but the wind was predicted to be fairly strong (12 – 18knots) from east/southeast.

The first 8nm of our trip was very rolly – the wind was on the stern and we only had the main up. Once we turned onto the longest portion of our crossing (about 150nm), we put up all sails and had a great broad reach course. This sail was amazing!! We set our sails and didn’t change them for the whole 150nm! The wind was as predicted and once we entered the Gulf Stream, we were really moving! Our speed was mostly in the low 8knots but we saw 10.5knots and 11knots!! We were halfway to St. Augustine by 7:30pm Wednesday.

Unfortunately our great speed and excellent wind direction both disappeared when we made our turn to head into shore. We made a 30 degree turn and that took us out of the Gulf Stream and made us sail downwind. This course was a bit rolly but mostly it was just slow!! By 8am Thursday the wind started to die down. We decided to take the sails down and just motor the rest of the way.

As we approached the St. Augustine inlet, we were greeted by several dolphins who swam along with us on and off for about an hour. It was lots of fun watching these guys swim towards us and then under the boat and up to the bow.

We arrived at the St. Augustine Municipal Marina a little after 2pm and were secured to a mooring ball before 3pm. After some well deserved showers and some Wi-Fi time, we ordered some dinner and took it back to the boat. We celebrated with a bottle of bubbly and went to bed early!!

Now that we are so far north, it will only take 2 more days to reach Reynolds Park. Our current plan is to leave here on Monday and arrive at Reynolds by Tuesday. Then we start the job of getting the boat ready for storage!