Sailing with Nine of Cups

Vessel Name: Nine of Cups
Vessel Make/Model: Liberty 458
Hailing Port: Denver, Colorado, USA
Crew: Marcie & David
About: We've lived aboard Nine of Cups since 2000 and have managed to accumulate 86,000+ nm under the keel since that time. We completed a circumnavigation in April 2015 and managed to sail around the five great southern capes. Come along with us for the ride!
Extra:
Visit our website at www.nineofcups.com for more photos and info about Nine of Cups and her crew. We also have a more extensive blogsite at www.justalittlefurther.com. Are some of our links broken? Links break from time to time. Please let us know which ones are broken and we'll fix them. You [...]
05 January 2017 | Chesapeake, VA
07 July 2016 | Us: East Walpole, MA / Cups: Chesapeake, VA
06 July 2016 | East Walpole, MA
04 July 2016 | East Walpole, MA
02 July 2016 | East Walpole, MA
01 July 2016 | Virginia Beach, Virginia
30 June 2016 | Chesapeake, VA
29 June 2016 | Chesapeake, VA
28 June 2016 | Intracoastal Waterway from St Augustine to Norfolk
27 June 2016 | Intracoastal Waterway from St Augustine to Norfolk
26 June 2016 | Intracoastal Waterway from St Augustine to Norfolk
25 June 2016 | Intracoastal Waterway from St Augustine to Norfolk
24 June 2016 | Intracoastal Waterway from St Augustine to Norfolk
23 June 2016 | Intracoastal Waterway from St Augustine to Norfolk
22 June 2016 | Intracoastal Waterway from St Augustine to Norfolk
21 June 2016 | Intracoastal Waterway from St Augustine to Norfolk
20 June 2016 | Charleston, South Carolina, USA
19 June 2016 | Charleston, South Carolina, USA
18 June 2016 | Intracoastal Waterway from St Augustine to Norfolk
17 June 2016 | Intracoastal Waterway from St Augustine to Norfolk
Recent Blog Posts
05 January 2017 | Chesapeake, VA

Happy 2017!

Happy New Year, Everyone!

07 July 2016 | Us: East Walpole, MA / Cups: Chesapeake, VA

Taking a breather ...

Since we'll be off the boat during July and August, we plan to post only three times per week. The Captain will continue writing a practical Blue View post each week, we'll keep you up to date on what's happening with us and then throw in some cruising nuggets as well.

06 July 2016 | East Walpole, MA

Keeping fit

We’ve written before about keeping fit on the boat. David is so much better at a regimented exercise program than I am. I have all the best intentions, but I can always think of something better to do than sit-ups, push-ups, leg lifts and running in place. It doesn’t take much to distract me. Walking, [...]

04 July 2016 | East Walpole, MA

Happy 240th Birthday, America

Growing up in New England, I took for granted just how lovely a summer’s morning can be in Massachusetts. It’s comfortably cool and everything smells clean and fresh. Spider webs glisten with morning dew and it’s just great to be alive and breathe in the new day. Being back at Lin’s house conjures up wonderful childhood memories of summer mornings past. And this is not just any morning … it’s the 4th of July, the best holiday of the summertime in the USA.

02 July 2016 | East Walpole, MA

Leaving Cups and a Road Trip

Leaving Nine of Cups is never easy. We know she’ll pout while we’re gone and so we do our best to make sure she’s as comfortable as possible before we leave. We were whirling dervishes trying to get everything ready.

01 July 2016 | Virginia Beach, Virginia

Hunting & Gathering - Virginia Beach

We had lots to do before leaving Cups. David was intent on getting as many chores done in advance of our departure as possible so that once we return in September, we can spend time sailing in the Chesapeake rather than doing repairs and maintenance. Much of what we needed in the way of parts and supplies, [...]

St. Helena to French Guiana - Day 10

20 September 2015 | Enroute to French Guiana, South America
Marcie
Day 10 - 2,089 nm

A slow night...the wind was fickle, off and on and pushing us more north than northwest. Around 0400, an errant wave rocked Cups and the subsequent crash below had my sleeping Captain retracting his fingernails from the header (ceiling, in boat talk) and trying to untangle himself from the lee cloth holding him in his bunk. Yowsa!

It seems the locker behind the starboard settee had fallen open. The twist-turn butterfly latches that secure the otherwise well-behaved locker must have rotated with time and/or boat vibration and the wave gave it the nudge it needed to spill the contents of the locker. It all came cascading out with a deafening crash. Eight large, heavy, plastic, lidded boxes containing bolts, washers, nuts and screws sailed out onto the sole (floor, in boat lingo). The sacred Dremel tool had taken to flight, too, and now rested near the nav station. David wondered what we'd hit or what had hit us.

My heart raced as I scrambled down from the cockpit. Several of the boxes remained closed, but we spent the better part of an hour collecting and sorting various bits of stainless hardware throughout the salon, galley and nav station and returning them to their rightful box. I have visions of finding more, probably with my bare feet, in the near future. Enough excitement for one night.

No matter how careful we are about securing everything at sea, things still find a way of shaking loose. We've had silverware drawers shooting spoons and forks across the galley and dinner plates and bowls careening into the aft cabin. Oranges and onions can seem like cannonballs when they're loose and aloft. Tonight was pretty tame compared to a knockdown we suffered off East Cape returning to New Zealand from the Chatham Islands. Things were in an uproar then. But tonight, David returned to his bunk and I returned to my watch duties and the night continued on into day, which was nowhere near as exciting.

That's my story... and I'm sticking to it.
Comments

About & Links

SailBlogs Groups
SailBlogs Friends
LONG WHITE CLOUD
Leu Cat
Carinthia
SANGARIS
Migaloo
Asylum
Tiger Lilly
Thorfinn
Hello World
Halekai
Tender Spirit
Valiam
Talacam
MACCABEE
Annecam
HooRoo
Echo Echo