Sapphire Sailing Adventures

Vessel Name: Sapphire
Vessel Make/Model: Bristol 41
Hailing Port: Rochester, NY
Crew: Moby & Caroline Burton
17 April 2019 | Laying out 200' of chain on deck
16 April 2019 | Prickly Bay, Grenada
16 April 2019 | Prickly Bay, Grenada
13 April 2019 | Tyrell Bay, Carriacou
12 April 2019 | Admiralty Bay, teaching William about reading music
11 April 2019 | Admiralty Bay, Bequia
10 April 2019 | Pink Sunset off Bequia
10 April 2019 | Papa's Restaurant overlooking Admiralty Bay, Bequia
09 April 2019 | Winfield applying coat #6 of Epiphane Varnish to Sapphire's coaming
08 April 2019 | Tennis Court behind the Gingerbread House, Bequia
04 April 2019 | Floating Beach Bar
04 April 2019 | Bequia
03 April 2019 | Admiralty Bay, Bequia
03 April 2019 | Center Hatch on Sapphire
02 April 2019 | Admiralty Bay, Bequia, The Grenadines
02 April 2019 | Sailing past St Lucia across from the Pitons
28 March 2019 | Anse de Salines, Martinique
28 March 2019
28 March 2019 | Sapphire's Cockpit
24 March 2019
Recent Blog Posts
17 April 2019 | Laying out 200' of chain on deck

Haul Out Day

"I always feel like The Ghost from Christmas Past when we do this exercise of hauling the heavy chain out on our side deck to rinse it and let it dry." On our primary alone, we have 200' of chain and 120' of rope. Then our secondary anchor has 200' of rope and 30' of chain.

16 April 2019 | Prickly Bay, Grenada

Getting Ready to be Hauled Out

We enjoyed a lovely leisurely couple of days sailing down to Grenada from Bequia, arriving on Palm Sunday.

16 April 2019 | Prickly Bay, Grenada

Grenada's Cruiser's Net

The cruiser’s net in Grenada is always very lively. On Safety and Security this morning we heard that a sailboat coming up from Trinidad had a boatful of eight ‘Venezuelan looking’ men trying to overtake them. The sailboat was able to get away,. but the hull is riddled with bullet holes. They [...]

13 April 2019 | Tyrell Bay, Carriacou

New Way to Clear into Customs

How do you clear in to Customs, when you arrive at a port and don’t feel like blowing up your dinghy?

12 April 2019 | Admiralty Bay, teaching William about reading music

Teaching William some Notes

I realized that if I set up my piano early in the morning, then I can play before there is too much sun in the cockpit.

11 April 2019 | Admiralty Bay, Bequia

Paddling around Bequia

As my buddy Joan Dwyer would say, “the goal in paddle boarding is to avoid looking like a little old lady pushing a Wegman’s cart.” Actually, I’ll be doing that soon enough as we are heading home in a week.

“Going through the Locks”

11 June 2015 | Caroline pushing off the walls of Lock 17 with an 8 foot 2x3
Caroline
To even get into the locks, you are dodging floating logs, small trees, dead fish. Then, once in, the water comes shooting into the canal lock as powerful gates close behind you. Hook your pole onto one of the hanging ropes at the bow and another at the stern and hang on for the ride. The idea is to stay attached to, but at a safe distance from the walls of the lock. Homemade fenderboard is down for protection between our fenders and the lock walls
Because the mast, when horizontal, extends about 10’ over the bow and over the stern, to keep from damaging the mast, you need to push off the slimy wall with an extended pole or an 8 foot 2x3. With the strong current of rushing water, it can require a lot of strength to keep the boat from slamming against the wall.

“The original Erie Canal took seven years to build, back in 1835 and cut through 363 miles of wilderness,” according to our waterway charts. “Including 83 lock and a rise of 568 feel from the Hudson River to Lake Erie. In the ‘Waterford Flight’ , boats are lifted and lowered the greatest height in the shortest distance of any canal in the world.”
We managed to complete that Waterford Flight and six additional locks today for an aerobic total of 11 locks, and 50 miles, winding our way through the curves of the Mohawk River. No wonder that Phil is over there sound asleep with his book open on his lap.
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