Some of you have posed questions that I will answer here. There may be things that you've wondered about but didn't ask, so I'll do the best I can to inform you. After all, we're not all sailors, right?

Emily asks, "What does "S/V" stand for? Or is that a secret?" Lol! Hi Em! No, it's not a secret, but it's definitely boating lingo. It's short for Sailing Vessel. If we were a power boat (or "Stink Pot," as my sailing mentor Uncle George used to call them!), I would use M/V for Motor Vessel. Thanks for asking!

Marc asks, "What happened to the Generator?" To simplify, if you don't use it, you'll lose it - on a boat! Add to that the age of the Northern Lights Genset. It sat too long while the boat was for sale and some parts rusted which corroded the belt and then caused havoc with the alternator. Now we will replace that as well as the water pump. We hope to get those parts tomorrow and get Jack back to put them in! (Update: Jack discovered that the actual cause of the rust was from water instead of coolant in the poor generator! It appears that the company called "Just Catamarans" has struck again. They did almost $9000 worth of work for the sellers and everything they "repaired or maintained" was F%*ked! Oy!).

Keep those questions coming! You can add a comment on our Sail Blog, but unfortunately, there's no way for me to reply. (Come on, Sailblogs, it's been 25+ years, can't you update your platform? Please!). You can always use Messenger, What'sApp, email: cruisingeditor@gmail.com, or text me.

The Backstory

No one has asked yet, but I know y'all are thinking... Why did they buy a multihull?

Our first boat was S/V Saga, a 1964 Alberg 39. A "good 'ol boat!"

In the original marketing flyer, the Alberg was described as "A Coastal Cruiser that will Drink 6, Dine 4, and Sleep 2." We made some serious modifications to "cruiserize her for our 5-year voyage from SF Bay to South Florida. Sweet Escape can have maybe 15 for drinks, dinner for 6-10, and sleeps 8 (with some in the cockpit or even on the trampolines in the tropics. And she's just 5 feet longer than Saga. But, she is way wider. Saga was less than 10' wide at the beam, whereas SE is 20' wide!

That's a few good reasons, but the main one for me is that a Catamaran is a great cruising platform for this part of the world, where the average depth is 4 feet. On the west coast, the ocean drops off quite precipitously close to shore which wasn't a problem for Saga as she drew 6' with her full keel. Sweet Escape, on the other hand, draws less than 4'. Add to that the huge tidal differences as we got closer to Panama, and it was good to have a full keel and plenty of chain to anchor anywhere. With Sweet Escapes' low draft, we can go where most monohulls can't, close into the beach, or through shallow cuts to some very cool places. A shorter draft also makes cleaning the bottom easier!

I have to add that the next major reason that I decided that our next boat would be a cat, would be the space it affords us. I'm not kidding when I say that y'all are invited! Sweet Escape has 3 cabins and 2 bathrooms ("heads" in boatspeak). We have an incredible amount of outside space to hang out and easy access to and from the water via the sugar scoops on the stern (at the back). It's the perfect platform to enjoy the water, sun, and family & friends! I wanted our next boat to be one where we could invite our friends and family to join us and I can't wait! You just need to be flexible with your timeframe. When you're sailing, weather is foremost when it comes to timing. It dictates when and often where, we go. Once we get underway, we'll publish a tentative itinerary so that you can start planning.

Now we just need to get rid of more stuff that we brought with us and can't manage to stow. It's currently in bins on those bunks, so give us a month or so before you make any plans to visit. That reminds me... I need to organize a "treasures of the bilge" sale when we hit a spot with lots of cruisers!



And Speaking of Stowing

The first task that I had as we moved aboard was to find a place for all our stuff. When we left our home in Sonoma County, we towed a small UHaul behind our truck. Both were filled to the gills with things that we needed, like clothes, galley items, Bedding and linens, small appliances, boat gear, and electronics, along with things that we thought we might need, like office supplies, personal items, all of our extra bath necessities, art, tchotchkes (Yiddish for treasures!). Add to that: Foul weather sailing gear, cold weather clothes (yep we needed those last week!), food items (I mean, why buy them again!), hats, caps, jewelry, storage bins, baskets, booze, and edibles. Yes, that's a lot of stuff! Where to put it? That, my friends, is the puzzle that I was meant to solve.

I realized some 30 years back that I have a special "superpower." I know where shit is. Even if I didn't put it there, I can tell you where something is, even if I've only seen it once. Let me tell you, this superpower comes in very handy on a boat! Sure, I still have spreadsheets for our provisions because it's too time-consuming to look in 5 places for an essential item for dinner!


As fast as we could get those bins on board, I unloaded them and stowed stuff where it made sense... at the time. Well, I'm sure that I've moved almost every item at least once and we've moved the remaining bins multiple times, from aft to forward and back. We have to take them off the bunks to get to the storage areas underneath. It's becoming tedious which is a good thing as it has resulted in strengthening our commitment to get rid of more stuff. In reality, it's not too different than our house. I'll admit it, I was a pack rat. I truly loved my "pastime" garage sale-ing, especially with my Bestie Annie! And I tried to have a big sale of my own every year, but I kept adding to the mess and ended up cluttering up our sweet home. We were both amazed to see it after it was staged for sale. "Wow," we said to each other. "This place is so cute. We should buy it!" Kidding aside, it was hard to let most of that "stuff" go. We had two yard sales and one estate sale, listed lots of bigger ticket items on FB and Craig's List, and still ended up giving away tons of stuff. But we still need to lighten the load.

Here's the thing about Catamarans... They are designed to be light and need to be kept that way. Right now we are still heavy in the stern (rear). (Which by the way, still describes me, but I'm working on that!). It's a tradeoff: You have a ton more space, but you must resist the temptation to fill up all that space! I guess that's my New Years' Resolution.

It's still hard to believe that we completed this lifestyle change; lessening our load, massively reducing our carbon footprint, and it wasn't our first time. We did it back in '98 before we set off on Saga. Am I still glad that I did it? You betcha! Sitting out here in the cockpit on Day 2 of 2023, I love the soft breeze, the Sun glistening on the bay, and the palm trees swaying on shore. I'm listening to a very cool playlist (Thanks to Elises' son), streaming courtesy of Stinky and getting some writing done.

Who's Stinky, you ask? That's the name that Elon gave his WiFi network with his Starlink satellite system. We were fortunate to get the RV version of Starlink to use onboard. It works amazingly well and we haven't even installed it yet! Say what you will about Elon... he did a good thing with Starlink.


Sunday, Jan 8th

We're off the dock (again)! And headed south to anchor in Blackwater Sound in Key Largo. Before we left George and Mary K's, they gave us an amazing deal on a 15 HP Yamaha that we really wanted to replace our 9.8 Tohatsu. Now our dinghy flies!

They also gifted us with some fresh-from-the-farm avocados (3 types!), and Carambola (or Star Fruit). Soon we'll have guac coming out of our ears!

Thursday, Jack completed the repair on our Generator and it's working great! Saturday, we rented a car and drove up to Ft Lauderdale to pick up our mail from Terry and Ani, and do another provision shop, hitting TJs, Target, and Publix. We're good to go.


While we wait for our Coast Guard Documentation to arrive, we'll be enjoying the Keys. We'll probably make it down to Marathon.

Last system to check out is our water maker. Fingers crossed, everything works as designed.

I'll close with a special shoutout to my Guerneville and West County family and friends. They've been through some severe weather this past week. I'm praying that the River doesn't rise much more and that the floods stay away from you!

Peace out!