18 October 2011
11 October 2011 | Puerto Rico
04 October 2011 | Puerto Rico
03 October 2011 | Florida
03 October 2011 | Dominican Republic
22 April 2011 | Fort Lauderdale, FL
01 December 2010
16 June 2010 | Between Florida and the Bahamas
15 June 2010 | Cat Key, Bimini - Bahamas
14 June 2010 | Bimini, Bahamas
12 June 2010 | 24 27.5'N:79 45.0W
12 June 2010 | 25 5.4'N:80 25.8'W
26 May 2010 | NAPFA National Conference
06 May 2010 | Fort Luderdale to Key Largo
03 May 2010 | Fort Lauderdale, Fl
06 April 2010
29 March 2010 | Fort Lauderdale, FL
20 February 2010

“You are my hero”

31 January 2010 | Redondo Beach, CA
That was the subject line from a message sent to me from a college fraternity buddy. The body of the message read:

"I went over your plan for the sail. I can barely get my wife to Catalina on our boat so I am very excited for your trip. What type have boat are you taking? I did transpac on a Cal 40 and it took 15 days to get to Hawaii - we had very light winds and days where we went 60 miles. This is very exciting stuff."

I decided to blog this comment and my reply as this is not a totally uncommon type of comment for many hard core sailors. My reply:

M******, Transpac, now that is exciting. The plan is to be on a 50 foot catamaran. Not sure if you have had your wife on a big cat, but it is a totally difference experience than a monohull, not to mention a Cal 40. What most racers hate about a big cat is what your wife will love, the boats provide zero feedback relative the wind and waves; mainly that they don't heel. A couple other points relative to the Transpac, if the wind is too light, we turn on the motor. 60 miles in a day - 2.5 knots!! I think proper, gentleman cruising rules have the engines on at anything under 4 to 5 knots. J Also, in the planned 3 years of the trip, there is probably only 3 times were we would be at sea for 15 days or more. There is probably less than 15 times where we would sail over two nights. So, is it the sail that you wife does not like, or the whole experience? I find the sailing very relaxing, as does Mandi. Our boys get bored on the sail over to Catalina but they love being there. Our estimate is that 85% to 90% of the time the boat will be at anchor in some comfortable place.

Check out this link to a video I put together of one of the boats we tested for our trip. Nutmeg in the BVI

The photo is from the fly bridge of a Lagoon 500. Big, flat and stable.
Comments
Vessel Name: Three Little Birds
Vessel Make/Model: Lagoon 500
Crew: Scott, Mandi, Griffin, Jake and Luke
About: The Leonard Family is in year one of a three year global sailing expedition. Follow our adventure at our web site, www.threelittlebirds.org
Extra: www.threelittlebirds.org www.facebook.com/sailingontlb
Home Page: www.threelittlebirds.org
Social:

Three Little Birds

Who: Scott, Mandi, Griffin, Jake and Luke