RETURNING TO THE CRUISING LIFE

on S/V SweetEscape

by Nancy Birnbaum

It’s T-minus something… and life is insane! 

I guess that making one’s mind up quickly, to dramatically rearrange one’s life, is both a blessing and a nightmare!

We have been together pretty much full-time since 1998, when we first met at the Alameda YC. Ten months later, we sailed out the Golden Gate. Our motto: “We got no plans and we’re stickin’ to ’em!” We have been on the same page for most of our time together, able to make life-changing decisions quickly. Pivot, if you will. We’re good at pivoting! 

And so we decided about a month ago to return to the cruising life. We found a couple of good options (Catamarans) and settled on one in Florida where it would be much easier to get both us and our stuff onboard. We immediately began to prepare our house for sale, replacing the roof, cleaning up the property (fire hardening since we live in the Redwoods of Northern California), and beginning the difficult task of unburdening ourselves of our possessions. No worries! We’ve done this before, right? Well, it’s amazing how much one can accumulate in 10 years. We’ve had two yard sales and multiple truckloads to the donation sites that are still thankfully taking stuff. And yet we still have more things that we can (or should) keep on a boat. 

Our Dream Boat

Our Dream Boat – A Leopard 40

I’ve been listing items for sale every day. Mostly on FB, but also giving things away. FB just seems to be the easiest and I’m on so many of the Sellers groups already. 

What to keep? 
This is always the hardest question. We are triaging or staging things for 1) the Boat, and 2) Italy – for when we buy our property there in 2 years (or so). We must be mindful of the additional weight on board, and ultimately we plan to ship these bins across the Atlantic.

I liken this to prepping for a backpacking trip. Put out what you think you need and then cut it in half!

It’s been a difficult couple of months, but we both know that the next voyage will make up for all the hardship now.

Ain’t Life Grand? 
Yessiree!

Fall Tech & Gear Review

Be sure to get your copy of the Fall Yachting Times Magazine (Also available digitally at yachtingtimesmagazine.com ).

Learn about the most inspiring and beautiful sails made and the man behind them.

Daniel Gohstand, creator of ImageSails

 

The Latest Tech & Gear. See it Now!

The Summer Issue of Yachting Times Magazine is out and my Tech & Gear column includes reviews on…

Sea-Tags Man Over Board (MOB) Wristband Alarm System

Clarion’s New Line of Marine Audio – Guaranteed to Satisfy the Sea-Going Music Lover

Sun flare Flexible Solar Panels

Read this column and the entire magazine online here!

Something Cool Comes to Miami

Review of the new and exciting EVO 43 by Studio Tecnico REVILLINI, Italy and built by Sea Engineering. The EVO 43 combines beautiful Italian styling and design with elegant tech… my favorites!

And, learn about SKYROAM’s global hotspot WiFi and stay in touch no matter where you roam!

Link to Yachting Times Magazine.

Tech/Gear Reviews – Lifedge Ultimate Charge/Sync Cable + McMurdo Smartfind AIS Man-overboard Device.

It important to keep up with safety gear aboard your vessel. Discover the McMurdo SmartFind AIS-equiped MOB device.

Link to full Autumn 2015 issue of Yachting Times Magazine .

Tech & Gear Review – CRUZIN.com/Key Cable

Read about the Peer-to-peer Boat Rental and Charter Marketplace known as CRUZIN.com.

Link to the Summer 2015 issue and my Tech/Gear column online: yachtingtimesmagazine.com

Lights, Camera, Action!

Review of Aqualuma Gen 4 Series Thru-hull LEDs, Aquatic AV BlueCube & Mariner Amphibious DRONE. Yachting Times Magazine, Spring 2015, page 66.

http://yachtingtimesmagazine.com/issue/18spring2015/pageflip.html

New Fuel Saving Device and Mobile App

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
November 16, 2015

Interactio Launches Kickstarter Campaign for
New Fuel Saving Device and Mobile App

View real time boat fuel flow, consumption and range information using your Smart Phone or Tablet. New Optio Fuel wireless sensor from Interactio

November 16, 2015 (Victoria, BC) – Every once in awhile a deceptively simple innovation comes along that just makes sense. Optio Fuel is one such innovation.

Until now, the options boat owners had for monitoring their boat’s fuel consumption were either very expensive or difficult to retrofit, leaving boaters relying on instinct and math!

The Victoria, BC-based creators of Optio Fuel, Interactio Inc., will launch their first product on the popular crowdfunding platform Kickstarter later this month.

This new device makes it easy for boat owners to directly monitor their vessel’s fuel use using a free app on their smart phone or tablet. The fuel sensor and the mobile app is all that is needed to monitor fuel flow and consumption. Further, current range and optimal speed are also displayed on the device’s map in real time.

Preliminary tests show fuel savings in the range of 10-30% or more^*. David Burton, Interactio’s co-founder said “In many cases Optio Fuel pays for itself in a weekend of cruising”. (^*Numbers will vary depending on your boat, how often it’s used and your cruising style).

“Our goal is to raise $25k to fund the production of the Optio Fuel,” commented Roger Lines, co-founder of Interactio.

With the funds and awareness raised through this Kickstarter campaign, Interactio will offer a series of new products leveraging “Internet-of-things” technology to bring products to the marine market. As a new technology startup company looking to do things in new ways, Interactio is using modern crowd sourcing from Kickstarter to bring Optio Fuel to market. In true Kickstarter style, being an early supporter gets you a big discount when it’s delivered. Lines reports that the retail price for the Optio Fuel will be just US$199, but on Kickstarter, the first 100 units will be $99, the next 200 — $149.

The project launches November 28th and will run until the end of December. You can find out more at: http://bit.ly/Optiofuel.

Tech / Safety Gear Reviews Online Now – Yachting Times Magazine

Here’s my latest Tech/Safety Gear Review in Yachting Times Magazine – America’s Bilingual Boating Magazine – Always available online!

YTM-autumn-2015-tech_safety_gear-reviews

Fairwinds and Godspeed to Sailor, Lifetime SSCA Commodore – Ginny Osterholt Filiatrault 1936-2015

Ginny Osterholt Filiatraut wasn’t just a friend, she was a pioneer and a mentor, who helped me steer a course through often times murky waters. Ginny lost her battle with aggressive ovarian cancer at the age of 78, after a courageous fight. Her husband Jacques was at her side always as was their dog Buddy at their home in Punta Gorda, Florida.

Ginny in her home SSCA office back in 1977. Photo courtesy Ginny Filiatrault

I got to know Ginny when I was Editor of the Commodore’s Bulletin for the Seven Seas Cruising Association (SSCA). I had recently landed in Fort Lauderdale after my husband and I had cruised from California, taking four years to cruise. It was my first job as an editor and since Ginny had held the very same position (as well as Office Manager, Treasurer, Secretary and Director of the Board!), and she always had both words of encouragement as well as direction for me.

Moving on to cruising magazines after my three-year stint, I kept in touch with Ginny via email and  tried to offer her the same support she gave me when she would run up against push-back with a new Board of Directors or expressed her opinions about how the organization should be run.

Ginny and Jacques aboard Jonathan, Jacques 42-foot custom ketch. Photo courtesy Ginny Filiatrault.

 

Ginny became Editor in 1975, helping to move the fledgeling organization from California to South Florida. SSCA went with her when ever she moved and her enthusiasm for the group never wavered. Born on October 3, 1936, she was an only child who started sailing early, at the age of 9. She helped her dad build a sailing dinghy to sail around in Santa Monica, California and later, at age 12 she lived aboard a 34′ Seagoer yawl with her dad. By the age of 15, she bought her own 12′ lap-strake sailing dinghy to rebuild. She met the founders of the SSCA who lived aboard in Coronado and joined in 1955 when she was living aboard her 37′ Hanna Carol, Bojac (a requirement back then!) and just 18 years old. Over the 55 years that she was involved with SSCA, she contributed immensely. In her own words, Ginny described her first experiences as a live aboard in San Diego…

“We were a very close knit family and shared the dream of cruising and living aboard! Camaradarie was strong as we caringly helped each other in so many ways as were the SSCA traditions formed by our Founders in 1952!” (SSCA Commodore’s Bulletin, November 2007).

Ginny with SSCA Director Steve Leeds at the 2007 Gam in Melbourne, Florida.

She spent the last six months of her life working tirelessly again for SSCA, gathering all of her photos of her time with the organization, some 90 albums, for scanning, and was finally honored recently with the title of SSCA Historian. She would have celebrated 60 years as an SSCA Commodore this June.

It was her tenacity, talent and trust that made her a lifetime sailor and often times a thorn in the side of SSCA’s directors and managers. She always had an opinion and wasn’t shy about sharing it, often in the form of long-winded emails to everyone on her list. Though there were times when she was “off-base” with regard to a given topic, Ginny usually had something to say that needed to be heard. She was truly the glue that kept this important organization together. Her truth will be missed.

88’s Dear One…

Ginny holds a photo of herself with another Lifetime Commodore, Babe Baldwin.

Ginny, Jacques and Buddy. Photo courtesy of Ginny Filiatrault.

Photo courtesy Ginny Filiatrault.