Presto Log

Since our last entry we've made two round trips to Puget Sound one planned for a collection of medical, dental and social events, which was via airlines. The other one we drove and partially camped to be off the boat while it was worked on in the yard here, and because the heat an humidity there made it unliveable. We managed to burn aout 2 weeks, but alas they still weren't finished. Seems the humidit was so high they couldn't do epoxy work, so the project, re-doing some deck work, dragged out another 2 weeks. Now it's done and we're back in our regular slip and and moving on down the project list again.

We just took a big step toward being full time cruisers. Since my first blogs in April we've been moving aboard and getting our house on the market. to our immense relief, it closed last Thursday. so we are free to focus time and funds on boat projects and lifestyle adjustments. more on that next time.

This is the first official log entry on our new blog site and I welcome all of you to join us in the ups and downs of this venture.
First, "we" are Sue and Joe Dazey, almost formerly of Kingston Washington, as of about another 6 weeks. We are in the throes of getting our house ready to put on the market and move across the country to Virginia where we have our 48 ft. catamaran "Presto", (formerly "Surprise")
in the York River Marina (see map) I'll get to that more in a bit. We also have a new grandson there, but of course that didn't influence our decision.
About a year ago I had been earnestly working on my retirement avocations of learning to play the flute and the acoustic bass (the big one that stands 6 ft, an important point for later). We still had our 47 foot troller, "Diamond Lil", and were gearing up for a last trip a in Alaska. We knew that career was about over since the previous year or two Joe started having major arthritis issues in his hands, and the die was cast. At that same time, we felt it unhealthy to just vegetate and wait for dementia. All the literature on getting old says to "keep challenging yourself", so, we did what all hopeless boat people do--started searching for another boat. Only this one had to be of the non-commercial/liveaboard and play-only variety, capable of going pretty much anywhere.
For us, having been sailors before the fishing venture, that meant a sailboat, and having had a trimaran, it would have to be a multihull. Knowing and loving tri's (a main hull with smaller hull on each side), we were looking mostly for that variety, however (now I come back to the bass),we felt it important that the music should still have a top priority in our lives, having invested major funds and years of hard practice . So a major criterion for the next boat was minimum of 6' headroom and enough floor space for the bass and me to stand. Joe would be happy with nothing less than a "performance" type boat (that means fast). Tall bill.
We also wanted to live aboard as long as we had the abilities to do that, and not maintain a land base, with all the expenses, distractions and obligations like house, cars, motorcycles, lawnmowers, etc. This wasn't as big a leap as it may sound, since we've lived aboard several months each year fishing. We lived aboard our tri full time before that.
But as we searched it became apparent that cats (two hulls) had a lot more to offer in the accomodations department, though arguably less in performance. Long story short, we finally bought a Chris White Voyager cat, 48' by 25' in Florida that fit both our needs, and with some stretching, fit the budget. We bought it last October and sailed it north to our current berth in the Chesapeake Bay. Yes, it does have the required 6' headroom, plus room for a keyboard, flute, guitar and other liveaboard essentials.
Enough for now. Next I'll go into the current challenges. Remember, we are looking for the recommended "challenges" to stave off dementia and other effects of old age? At this point, we are being wildly successful, assuming we survive! Gotta go mow the lawn now, then on to more painting. Check you next round. -Sue

This is just a test to see if I'm even close to having this operational. The learning curve is steep. Will follow up shortly if I can track this one. -Sue