S/V Passage - Refitting a Classic (& Building Our Skills) Before Cutting the Docklines

We are working toward our dream, one step at a time, and are prepared to make mistakes and learn from them so we become better cruisers every day.

Vessel Name: Passage
Vessel Make/Model: 1980 Pearson 365 Ketch #324
Hailing Port: Chicago, IL
Crew: David Cole & Brodi Cole
About:
We started sailing in 2004 when David's dad bought his first sailboat, a 30' Hunter on Lake Michigan. David spent many hours on Lake Michigan and when his dad upgraded to a 42' Hunter, even made several multi-day crossings between Florida and the Bahamas. [...]
Extra:
In early 2010, we made a 5-year plan to pay off our debt, save money, buy a sailboat and take off for the adventure of a lifetime. One year into that plan, Brodi discovered an amazing deal that resulted in us acquiring "Passage"-a 1980 Pearson 365 Ketch-three years ahead of "schedule." We hope this [...]
Home Page: https://www.ouroffbeatlife.com
Social:
14 March 2019
30 May 2012 | Chicago, IL
19 March 2012 | Chicago, IL
16 February 2012 | Chicago, IL
03 January 2012 | Chicago, IL
13 December 2011
12 December 2011 | Chicago, IL
09 November 2011 | Chicago, IL
02 November 2011
01 November 2011 | Chicago, IL
19 October 2011 | Chicago, IL
13 October 2011 | Chicago, IL
12 October 2011 | Chicago, IL
11 October 2011 | Annapolis, MD
10 October 2011 | Annapolis, MD
02 October 2011 | Chicago, IL
20 September 2011 | Chicago, IL
12 September 2011 | Chicago, IL
11 September 2011 | Chicago, IL
04 September 2011 | Chicago, IL
Recent Blog Posts
14 March 2019

A New Adventure!

It's been a while since we posted anything because kids add an unexpected spice to life and our implementation strategy for leaving the rat race has changed a bit. We still plan to 'cut the docklines' and travel the world, but sadly it won't be with Passage.

30 May 2012 | Chicago, IL

Back on the Lake!

The blog may have been quiet lately but we sure haven’t been slacking! After receiving the spring bridge schedule (we can only put the boat in and take it up river on certain days approved by the city), we had a mad rush in April to cut our [...]

19 March 2012 | Chicago, IL

Big News!

We weren't kidding when we said in the last blog post that March would be full of big news...as you may have guessed from the photo, our crew is officially expanding to three! Baby Cole should be joining us around September 2, 2012...just in time to help us winterize Passage! In case you're wondering, [...]

16 February 2012 | Chicago, IL

Winter Update

We haven't been MIA because we're busy with boat projects...sadly it's been the exact opposite. While winter in Chicago has been a bit more temperate that usual, it still hasn't exactly been ideal for boatwork. So we've been focusing on home projects that were neglected throughout boating season...how [...]

03 January 2012 | Chicago, IL

Too COLD for Cruising

We truly thought more boatwork would get done this winter, but now that the holidays are officially over it's hard to motivate ourselves to willingly spend significant lengths of time outside doing boatwork when it's already skipping the freezing point entirely! It's official, January is NOT a good time [...]

13 December 2011

Cool Website

I just found a cool new website, and wanted to share. Love the pic/quote on his main page, too!

12 December 2011 | Chicago, IL

A Month of Updates

It's been a rather crazy month for us, without really any time to even sit down and log our updates. The weekend after our last (and only) post in November we did head back down to the yacht yard to get some more stuff off the boat, and try to figure out our head/plumbing system. Our biggest challenge [...]

09 November 2011 | Chicago, IL

MOTIVATION

Motivation. That one little word has so much "baggage" associate with it, but in my mind truly defines the doers from the dreamers. Ever since Daylight Saving Time ended over the weekend I've struggled to maintain my level of motivation. Between the [...]

02 November 2011

Hump Day, Quote Day!

Well, he wrote the quote anyway...

01 November 2011 | Chicago, IL

Not MIA!

We went down to the boatyard to see Passage on her cradle last Sunday, and it was amazing that it took just 20 minutes to get there! When we got to the boat, we packed up a few things to bring home for the winter as well as started to look at the holding tank to determine how we will remove it. We also [...]

A Month of Updates

12 December 2011 | Chicago, IL
Brodi / Too Cold!
It's been a rather crazy month for us, without really any time to even sit down and log our updates. The weekend after our last (and only) post in November we did head back down to the yacht yard to get some more stuff off the boat, and try to figure out our head/plumbing system. Our biggest challenge for installing our new Nature's Head is that the existing holding tank seems to be larger than the access hatch! Thus, the holding tank is obviously the original one that was built into the boat when she was built. So now we need to brainstorm ideas for tackling this challenge!

The following weekend we met with a sales guy at Quantum sails, whom David has been speaking to about us buying new sails for several months. He also told us we could have him clean our existing sails as well as treat them with an anti-spider solution that'll last at least a month after Passage is back in the water this coming spring. Considering the fairly major infestation that developed towards the end of summer, I was sold! I also did some research and found that citrus, lavendar and tea tree oils all repel spiders so I will definitely be adding some of that to our boat wash throughout next summer!!!!

Over thanksgiving weekend we went to David's grandmother's house in Tennessee to enjoy some TASTY home cooking and spend time with family. It was a nice change of pace, except for when we went shopping on Black Friday and ended up being awake for a full 24 hours! My poor mother- and father-in-law went with us, and were such troopers! We scored some good deals and almost wrapped up our holiday shopping, but I was sad there weren't any good marine places to score boating deals down there. West Marine had some good ones, but I don't want to buy foul weather gear without trying it on first. And as always, I can count on Amazon.com to inspire me!

We also took our sails with us and used her giant backyard to lay out the nylon sails and see what we inherited when we bought Passage. David's dad was a huge help! We now think that the mystery nylon sail is a Spinnaker Staysail since it's the same color and fabric as our symmetrical Spinnaker...a sail that looks like it was possibly never even used...score! Our spinnaker douser that we ordered in Annapolis came in the mail during mid-October so we are excited to try out these sails in 2012. Check out the video of our sail inspection on Passage's Facebook page.

We are looking for a space heater to take to the boat with us so we can continue working on her during the increasingly COLD winter months...I've been scouring freecycle because I am too cheap to buy one, but so far haven't emailed fast enough to actually get one.

I've also started selling stuff on Ebay, that we've had sitting around our condo for a while now and just don't have a use for. We've read several blogs of people rushing to sell it all in time to leave, and so we've decided to start now. Stuff that's still new, with tags, etc is going first because if we haven't yet taken it out of the box then we definitely don't need it! Once that's done we'll move on to gently used items until we are really down to the essentials. This purging process is only partly because we know it'll have to happen sometime...but mostly because when we brought stuff home from the boat for winter storage, we realized that we have absolutely NO SPACE for us! Both our office and our guestroom are full of boating supplies, and that just won't do when we have people come visit!

So even though there hasn't been a blog posting recently, we've still been busy! Hopefully we'll find a winter boatwork rhythm after the holidays are over.
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