Kaimusailing

s/v Kaimu Wharram Catamaran

Vessel Name: Kaimu
Vessel Make/Model: Wharram Custom
Hailing Port: Norwalk, CT
Crew: Andy and the Kaimu Crew
About: Sailors in the Baltimore, Annapolis, DC area.
01 March 2024 | St. Marys, GA
23 February 2024 | St. Marys, GA
15 February 2024 | St. Marys, GA
11 February 2024 | St. Marys, GA
06 February 2024 | St. Marys, GA
26 January 2024 | St. Marys, GA
14 January 2024 | St. Marys, GA
09 January 2024 | St Marys, GA
23 December 2023 | St Marys, GA
10 December 2023 | St Marys, GA
25 November 2023 | St. Marys, GA
17 November 2023 | St. Marys, GA
17 November 2023 | Somers Cove Marina, Crisfield, MD
03 November 2023 | Somers Cove Marina, Crisfield, MD
26 October 2023 | Somers Cove Marina, Crisfield, MD
17 October 2023 | Somers Cove Marina, Crisfield, MD
11 October 2023 | Somers Cove Marina, Crisfield, MD
04 October 2023 | Alice B. Tawes, McReady Pavilion, Crisfield, Maryland Eastern Shore
03 October 2023 | Alice B. Tawes, McReady Pavilion, Crisfield, Maryland Eastern Shore
03 October 2023 | Alice B. Tawes, McReady Pavilion, Crisfield, Maryland Eastern Shore
Recent Blog Posts
01 March 2024 | St. Marys, GA

D4 Dinghy Alternative Seats

The rain event was more wind than rain, strong winds with gusts up to 44 mph. We drove into town to see what the harbor was like. There was a small sailboat that had dragged anchor and was sitting close to shore. The tide was out. We left and played with Bleu at Notter’s Pond.

23 February 2024 | St. Marys, GA

D4 Inside Seams

Day two of the dinghy build started out with me finishing wiring the hull bottoms together on the centerline of the bottom panels. This was much easier than the wiring of the chine edges of the bottom panels and the side panels.

15 February 2024 | St. Marys, GA

D4 Dinghy Day One

A Wharram Pahi 26 had been anchored in the river nearby the boatyard and was hauled out with the travel lift. I went around to look at it and talked to the owner couple. I was surprised that it had been built in Martinique in 1988. The boat is more than 30 years old.

11 February 2024 | St. Marys, GA

D4 Redux

The inflatable (deflatable) dinghy I had bought was deteriorating. It had bottom seams separating. It is a West Marine branded dinghy made out of PVC. HH66 is the adhesive to reattach the seams. A friend had a similar problem and bought the same adhesive. I was waiting to hear from him how it worked [...]

06 February 2024 | St. Marys, GA

The Clincher

We decided to go to Amelia Island for the day, probably to the beach. Our plan to cycle around on the Raleigh 20’s seemed like a bad idea, Bleu can’t keep up with a bicycle for very long and when he quits he quits. So we would walk, where?, Fort Clinch State Park. She has a forever pass for Florida [...]

26 January 2024 | St. Marys, GA

Zen and Bike Maintenance

Eloisa rolled into the boatyard after a long drive down from the mountains. It was getting cold and isolated up there. I had a nasty toothache and we went to Southern River Walk. Bleu, her black American cocker was showing a bit of plumpness. I had had a sandwich and some wine already, so I didn’t [...]

Flied Lice

24 January 2023 | St. Marys, GA
Cap'n Chef Andy | Chilly AM, Warm PM
I was craving something and ended up looking at recipes at food52.com, also videos on YouTube of chefs making fried rice. I looked at casseroles, stews, soups, I like soups. In the morning my bread, my favorite bread, square ciabatta rolls, was turning green with mold.
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I used the Optima oven to make a couple cups of brown rice and saved it in the fridge in a zip lok bag. I made fried rice, just like the chefs on the internet, but my oriental spices are missing, dispersed to the kitchens of Crisfield and on board SUNSPLASH. I needed to replenish and figure out what I would be eating the next few days.
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Komputer Ken had a medical appointment near Walmart and I accompanied him with a shopping list including all sorts of oriental ingredients. Off the top of my head I decided to make chicken soup, also, it seems to help me in times like these. $125 later I had little in my basket except chicken leg quarters, mirepoix ingredients, bottles of various oriental flavors and sauces.
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Back at the boatyard I was feeling exhausted and a storm front was approaching from the Northwest. I schlepped around dragging aboard my groceries, taking a break here and there, having a slug of Madiera, it’s an equivalent for cooking sherry required in some recipes, but I wanted to ascertain its taste.
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I couldn’t fit everything in my little dormitory fridge, but if I made the chicken soup right away, I could save a lot of space. But I was bushed. The storm hit and I hunkered down in the galley. It was time to watch one of my favorite TV shows. Instead I went out in the aftermath of the storm and began with the big stock pot, skinning the chicken into the pot, adding other ingredients as I prepped them. Prepped? Not really, just throw ‘em into the pot, except for the onion, semi-sliced, and the carrot, semi-sliced, and the celery, quartered and sliced, but the bag of spinach went in, stems not removed, a slug of madiera followed.
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The initial firing of the stock pot and the subsequent addition of raw unskinned chicken produced a cloud of smoke. It quickly grew thick and I struggled to open the overhead hatch. It was not raining anymore. The no-see-ums that had been a problem were effectively dispersed. After I calmed the pot down with more water and spices, the smoke problem mostly cleared. The odor of this concoction was terrible. Maybe it was burning the chicken flesh or bones. No one likes spinach, maybe that was the problem.
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I added a large can of tomatoes and turned the concoction down to a slow simmer. I added some brown rice. The spices I used were an Italian spice mix, ground pepper, and garlic powder. It was now 9 pm and I lay down and dozed off. Later I was up and turned off the heat. The soup tasted very good, but the chicken, bones and all, would have to come out in the morning, and the rendered chicken fat needed to be skimmed off.
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I started the heat at about 6 am and simmered the soup till 8:30. It tasted really good now and was reduced to a chicken rice stew sort of dish. I picked out the bones which were bare, the cartilage had been melted into the soup. I skimmed fat off the top with a ladle and filled a coffee mug with some of the soup. Breakfast coffee was made and I enjoyed 2 mugs of the soup. It was not out of the ordinary, it was chicken rice soup with spinach and tomatoes. Very thick. I packed 4 quart zip loks with it and gave one to the Tahitiana sailor.
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Among my purchases at the grocers was a bottle of olive oil. I had been using Carapelli organic EVOO, but now I needed a lot more to make salad dressing. My dressing uses 1 cup of olive oil, 1 cup of balsamic vinegar, and one packet of Good Seasons Italian dressing mix. In the store Carapelli was only available in 750ml bottles. Their Oro Verde EVOO is a dollar cheaper than the organic stuff, so I bought it.
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There is a lot of nonsense about fake olive oil, fake EVOO, and recommended brands on the internet. From my point of view there seems to be little fake olive oil, some fake EVOO, and a lot of conflicting “facts”. One thing that seems clear is that the best olive oil comes from California, mainly. The largest brands who sell all over the world have to use olives from wherever they can get them. Smaller boutique brands are sourcing their olives from one region or even one orchard. A valid test of the oil is to put a little in a cup in the fridge and see if it solidifies. It it does, it is probably authentic olive oil. Comparing authentic oils for flavor and maybe cookability in the sautee pan will result in a favorite. I am asking other cooks what they use and why.
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I like the organic Carapelli EVOO, but the cheaper, by one dollar, Oro Verde EVOO has a bit more taste. It’s color is the same golden color but maybe with a little green tint. The texture is the same. The flavor is enhanced a bit, a little sharper after taste at the back of the throat. This would be excellent in a vinaigrette dressing. I will try it in the frying pan soon.
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My previous oil was Pompeian Robust and I was happy with it. I became suspicious after reading some of the fake articles on the internet about fake olive oil. The Pompeian Robust is authentic. It is blended to achieve its flavor and body. It looks like a lot of oil from larger providers is blended from olives sourced from just about anywhere. If you’re paying upwards of ten bucks a liter for oil, and it passes the authenticity test, it is probably what it says it is. There are also olive oil associations that certify oils and make judgments, but there is some question about their objectivity. I am not obsessed with olive oil, but of course there are some out there who are.
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I made the fried rice with egg and ham, and prepped the ingredients in two batches, the first batch included carrot and onion, etc., and the second batch included ham and green peas. Most of the YouTube videos show a chef taking ingredients from available bowls of prepped items, and some have home cooks doing the same thing. I didn’t want to have a zillion little bowls of stuff, I had just two bowls. I wanted to fry the onion and carrot longer than the other ingredients, so I tossed bowl #1 in the skillet, it also had garlic and ginger. Later the rice went in and after frying it a bit I made a hollow in the middle and cracked 2 eggs into it. I scrambled the mixture till the eggs were not runny, then added bowl #2 with ham, green peas, green onion, oyster sauce, soy sauce, sesame oil, and a dash of sherry. The aroma coming up from the skillet was wonderful.
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The image is of a painting called Fried Air by Margarite de Geus of the Netherlands. It is available for purchase at saatchiart.com.
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