Big Frisky

Kurt and Pamela are sold up and are sailing aboard SV Big Frisky, an Outbound 46 with the Kona Boys, Honu, Kona and Chico. Join us while we learn what it is to be Blue Water cruisers and see the world. Follow us on Instagram @big_frisky

15 December 2018 | Abacos Bahamas
10 August 2018 | St Peters, Nova Scotia
17 July 2018 | Hadley Harbor, MA
12 July 2018 | Cuttyhunk
29 November 2017 | Downtown Providence
11 November 2016 | Morehead City North Carolina
15 October 2016 | Annapolis Landing Marina
30 September 2016 | Two-Mile Landing Marina, Cape May NJ
03 August 2016 | Charleston Harbor Marina
01 July 2016 | Charleston Harbor Marina
30 May 2016 | Charleston Harbor, South Carolina
29 May 2016 | Charleston Harbor Marina
28 May 2016 | Charleston Harbor Marina
19 May 2016 | Cape Canaveral
13 May 2016 | Bahia Mar Marina, Fort Lauderdale FL USA
12 May 2016 | Atlantic Ocean 140 miles South of Fort Lauderdale
11 May 2016 | Atlantic Ocean 60 miles from Old Bahama Channel
10 May 2016 | Atlantic Ocean 50 miles north of Haiti
08 May 2016 | Atlantic Ocean 45 miles north of DR
06 May 2016 | Nanny Cay, Tortola BVI

How do we know where to go and what is it like once we get there?

24 June 2015 | Manistee Municipal Marina
Captain Kurt - Sunny and 77
So everyday we plan what the next destination is.

Michigan cities along the lake have municipal marinas. These are paid for in local taxes like libraries, schools, fire and police. They are well staffed with friendly locals and have a variety of set-ups- along a river, on the main channel , in an enclosed marina down a scary narrow channel with tons of boat traffic. The rates are state regulated so every night you get the same cost plus or minus a few dollars. They include access to rest rooms, showers, grills, a boater lounge with TV and coffee machine. They vary in age but are always clean and tidy. The dock hands have seen it all.

The picture is a typical set up for a 50' slip, a narrow dock set at a variety of heights on one side and then telephone poles on the other. The goal is to arrive to an unfamiliar marina, call ahead for help securing your lines and a deck hand comes out to meet you. Once you arrive it’s up to you to put your boat in the slip without hitting anything and then tie up to 4 corners. You can through a line to a dock hand but the rest is up to you.

So our boat is 46' long and weighs 40,000 lbs loaded with us and our gear. The bow has a beautiful bow pulpit in which our 33 Kilo / 73 Lb polished stainless Rocna anchor lives (it looks a bit like a battering ram). We're towing a dinghy behind that you have to make sure you don't run over the tow lines and foul your prop. You have to have your lines secured to the correct positions on your boat for the slip configuration which is usually 4 corners and two spring lines {hold boat in place fore and aft in slip} on correct side and UNDER the life lines. You always have winds and sometimes current to deal with. The marina's many times have slips that are on piers extending from a main pier and the path to your slip is called a fairway and varies in width. A sailboat has one propeller that is just fore of the rudder and so they only way you can steer is to maintain speed so your rudder has something to steer off of (your forward or reward momentum). Many big boats like ours have added a bow thruster which is essentially a sideways propeller under the bow that allows you to go right or left from the point under the bow, ours does not. You have to play the wind, current and your own speed to arrive at your intended destination. You usually get one shot at it all the while not screaming your head off at the dock hands or your precious wife. It’s a 20 ton accident waiting to happen.

Here is our navigation capture of our arrival in Muskegon.

http://www.sailblogs.com/member/svfrisky/index.php?show=gallery&aid=33273&pid=694363

Notice the “where the heck is the entrance to this marina anyway” circle outside of the channel to the marina and then the unusual back and forth in the fairway. After our docking the marina dock hand who stayed calm and serene while it was going on said “he had never seen a sailboat turn around in the fairway before”. We missed on the first pass then had to try and reset the attempt in the 75’ wide fairway with the wind preventing our bow from turning through the wind. I had never had our throttle wide open yet until I nearly locked anchors/bow pulpits with a docked boat and then when backing nearly backed into another telephone pole on the slip across the way from ours. Very exciting.

So as you see pictures of our boat serenely docked in a beautiful slip somewhere know that every-time we dock it’s an adventure in and of itself.
Comments
Vessel Name: Big Frisky
Vessel Make/Model: Outbound 46
Hailing Port: Carmel Indiana
Crew: Kurt and Pamela
About: Kurt and Pamela have been together for sixteen years and recently married. Kona, Honu and Chico are avid sailing companions and are committed to keeping all ducks off docks wherever they may go. Kurt is a retired editor for a publishing company and Pamela is a retired college librarian.
Extra: After travelling through the Great Lakes and out the St. Lawrence Seaway, Big Frisky and her crew are ready to start the next leg of their adventure, a passage to Tortola, British Virgin Islands.
Home Page: tinyurl.com/big-frisky
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Big Frisky's Photos - Main
Wintering over in Providence
7 Photos
Created 29 November 2017
4 Photos
Created 3 August 2016
6 day passage from Nanny Cay, Tortola BVI to Ft Lauderdale Florida
5 Photos
Created 19 May 2016
The four days of Kurt and Pamela's Birthdays April 18-April 22.
10 Photos
Created 30 April 2016
2 Photos
Created 8 January 2016
5 Photos
Created 16 December 2015
1 Photo
Created 7 November 2015
4 Photos
Created 20 October 2015
No Photos
Created 15 October 2015
6 Photos
Created 5 October 2015
5 Photos
Created 2 October 2015
17 Photos
Created 24 September 2015
Sights around QC
11 Photos
Created 18 September 2015
Cliff's hospitalization at Cleveland Clinic
5 Photos
Created 31 August 2015
What we are reading
2 Photos
Created 21 July 2015
Pictures of the people we meet along the way
4 Photos
Created 14 July 2015
We love entertaining guests aboard Big Frisky!
9 Photos
Created 30 June 2015
16 Photos
Created 26 June 2015
Photos of the destinations we have been
25 Photos
Created 24 June 2015
26 Photos
Created 24 May 2015
Photos our our new ride
9 Photos
Created 28 January 2015