I like the name Kismet, I really do, it means fate. But I decided quite awhile ago that I would name my boat "Brilliant Sea"...brilliancy! So at sunset last night I had an "un-naming" ceremony. I had Scott and Phyllis on board for witnesses as I spoke out loud calling to Oh mighty and great ruler of the seas and oceans and payed homage, asking to purge the old name for ever more. It takes 24 hours to purge and then I am allowed to re-name. I had invitations printed up two weeks ago for all my friends to come down to the re-naming ceremony and party tonight at sunset. I had John and Eric bring dome food trays and they really threw down, what a spread! Of course there were plenty of libations and about 25 of my closest friends celebrated my new boat with me. I spent most of the day decorating her with X-Mas lights and right before people were to show up I attached the new vinyl sticker I had made for the stern of the boat.

Thanks to all that came down from Newtown! I hope everyone had as good a time as me, I think.....hic. Hehehe!

Check out http://www.boatsafe.com/nauticalknowhow/rename.htm for the ceremony script!

We made it! It only took about six hours to sail to Forked River and the day was the best yet! Not a lot of wind but it was sunny and warm...ahhh. Dennis took the helm most of the way and I took over when we negotiated the very difficult Barnegat Inlet. It's a very narrow channel as it snakes in all directions, very confusing if I didn't have a track laid out to follow. There are places you can see the channel markers on the other side so stay on course or you will run aground. I called Scotty when I got in the bay and he said he was on the hook over at Tisces Shoal so Dennis and I sailed her over for a sail by. We waved and showed off my boat with a nice gybe and then we headed in. Met Doc at my slip and he helped out with the lines....home sweet home!

A little rough leaving Cape May this morning, winds 15-20 and seas about 6. Around noon the wind came down to 10 and the seas subsided to 2 feet. Pretty easy day and I sailed most of the way. My friend Dennis called and said he wanted to sail the last leg from AC to Forked River with me. Of course I welcomed the company and I look forward to see him tonight. Coming in to AC was a treat as I could see the tall buildings not long after leaving Cape May, just head for them and I'm golden! Again, I called ahead and arranged a slip at Farley Marina. I was pretty bushed when I got there so I went into the casino, had a beer and some grub and went back to the boat to rest. Dennis should be pulling in at 3am.

There was still a small craft advisory in the morning but was to be lifted around noon. I left OC at nine with the tide and met 8 foot waves leaving the inlet, once I was out a couple miles the seas were rolling and were 4 to 6. The wind was still coming from the north at about 20kn so I motored until I was about half way across the Delaware Bay. The winds started to come from the north west and I was finally able to roll out the genoa and shut the motor off...silence. I called ahead to Cape May and got a slip for the night and got in at about six o'clock. It was a great day sailing solo!

Took a cab into town and had a burger and a few beers at the Rusty Nail. Great place and good food!

Had a good nights sleep and woke up to an expected bad weather day. Small craft advisory and was blowing over 40 knots. Wasn't too bad at the slip so I began working on the fuel problem.

I started moving everything out of the port lazarette so I could reach the top of the fuel tank. I suspected that the ball check valve was clogged up and indeed it was. I cleaned it out and put it all back together then began the process of removing air from the lines. It took a few rounds of bleeding until I finally had fuel at the injectors then I ran the fuel through the recirc filter for about an hour. I'm going to have to clean the tank when I have a chance so this won't happen again.

Joe wasn't feeling to good and called our friend Doc to come and get him. I was sad to see him go and I now have to single hand sail the rest of the way. I feel pretty good about doing it but it would be better with crew.

I took the mainsail completely off and stored in a pile on the deck. It's still in pretty good shape and is repairable but I am going to order a new sail from North Sails as soon as I get to Forked River. Hopefully I can leave in the morning and get to Cape May!

We left the slip at Urbana, VA and headed down the Rappahanock River. We chose to sail the outside instead of going up the Chesapeake for better time. It was a beautiful day and the wind was blowing about 5-7 knots from the east so we hauled up the main, rolled out the big 155% genoa and began to learn my new boat. She handled really well and was fast with her new bottom effortlessly slicing through the water. It took about 8 hours to reach the Cape Charles Bridge and we decided to sail all night as we had a full moon to light up the night. I was having so much fun wandering around my new boat just checking stuff out and adjusting stuff.

The winds that night were blowing around 10 knots and was coming from the south. We set the sails wing on wing and Joe said that we are on the "Nantucket sleigh ride"! The seas were three to four feet and was pretty comfortable as I took watch for the night while Joe went down below to sleep. For navigation there is a Standard Horizon 180 gps plotter and I also had Navionics set up on my tablet.

Midnight and a bright full moon, so cool! The winds were picking up to around 15 knots and the seas building to 5 maybe 6 feet, still pretty comfortable and not capping. Woke Joe up at about 7am and he took over for the morning shift. I was so tired after being up for 24 hours straight...zzzzz.

When I woke up at noon I made some coffee in my new french press. They really do make great java! I gave Joe a cup and I came out to check things out. The wind had shifted to the west about 5 knots and Joe had her on a nice starboard tack as we cruised up the coast towards Ocean City, MD where we planned to go in for fuel and some rest. It was pretty slow going all day and we decided to go another night under sail. The forecast was showing a system of high winds for Wednesday but should make Ocean City by Tuesday afternoon.

3am Tuesday....I went down below to grab a gatorade and heard the boom com around as it did an unintentional gybe. I ran up to check things out and the mainsail had ripped in half about two thirds the way up right on the seam. Crap! Things were a mess and I decided to take down the main, roll in the jib and motor the rest of the night. About an hour of motoring and the engine quits...out of fuel. Crap! The winds were blowing about 5 so I let out the jib then poured in the spare 5 gallons of fuel in. She ran for about 15 minutes and quit. Crap! I knew the line was clogged but the seas were rough and decided that it would be better to fix it at the dock.

Daylight Tuesday morning and looking at my track it appeared we only moved about thirty miles all night. The wind was still pretty light but we were making way, barely. Around four o'clock we were about ten miles from Ocean City and the winds picked up over 20 knots and coming from the north. I called sea tow to bring out 20 gallons of fuel in hopes of getting her running but she wouldn't go. Crap! We were running out of daylight so I just had them tow me in, we were tired and the conditions were pretty rough. It was a good choice and within the hour we were safely in a slip in OC.

Hello out there everybody!

A little about myself before I get to my story. I am originally from Montana, graduated H.S. in Colorado and became a ski instructor at Breckenridge. My knee's were getting pretty worn out so I moved back to Montana for a bit and decided I wanted to go explore Alaska. Stayed there for about ten years and after experiencing -63 degrees I decided to freeze no more! So back to MT to recoup and decide what my next adventure might be. I have visited the east coast from GA to NY and had Always loved Pennsylvania so off I went.

I started to get an interest in sailing immediately so I started looking at boats, a lot of boats. It took about two years of searching every website I could find and sometimes looking in different states on Craigslist. One day I popped on CL and decided to see what's for sale in Virginia. I saw an Islander 32 marked for sale for $15,000 and it looked liked a very well maintained boat with a decent compliment of goodies included. So I contacted the owner and made an appointment to see her in VA. I went to the bank and drew up a cashiers check for the above and drove the 4 hours down I-95 to Richmond. My appointment was at 9am Saturday morning at the yard near Deltaville where she was on the hard and was to be put in at 10. I fell in love with her and upon inspection she was very, very very clean. So I bought her right then and there, YAY!

The owner had bought "Kismet" four years ago from a doctor that had owned her since 1993. He took impeccable care of her and kept some amazing records of all he did and wanted to do. In 1998 he installed a new Yanmar 3GM and a well designed fuel re-circulation system that will pump fuel through a filter then back into the tank. He also took out the oven and put a microwave in it's spot with a butane stove above it. The most recent owner had a new a new dodger and bimini made two years ago and new cushions were made just this summer. He had the boat hauled out a month before and had the yard do all sorts of maintenance so I didn't have to! Nice guy! New bottom paint, hull touched up with gel coat and then buffed and waxed. He had them change the oil and filters, put a new shaft seal on and zincs were put on right before she got wet. I am very appreciative of all this work as I probably couldn't afford to do all of it for another year. Thanks David!

So I went back to PA to get prepared to sail her up to Forked River. I chose the Marina at Captain's Inn for her new home as they allow liveaboards and the slip fee is very affordable. My friend Scott has his boat there and I have met so many great people there. It's more of a blue collar place with a mix of sailors, fishing guides and recreational boaters.

I contacted everybody I knew to help me sail the five to six days up the coast and only my friend Joe had the time and he is a very experienced sailor and a pretty cool dude as well!

I met David at the boat on Saturday the 7th of Sept. so we could go to a notary and get the papers signed over. He had me follow him home to pick up some more boat stuff and I was surprised with more goodies! He gave me a Crusair AC, a 35lb delta plow anchor and 30' of chain, 6 bumpers, a 120% hank on jib and a big bag full of line that were in decent condition. Thanks again David! I love free stuff hehehe.

We shook hands and I went back to the boat to spend the night on my new boat! I drove back to PA on Sunday to prepare for the trip up the coast. It didn't really hit me until I was about 50 miles into the drive and I let out a loud WHOOOO HOOOOO! I can't believe I bought a sailboat!