The Sailing Rode

29/12/2023

Van is slowly coming together. Still have lots to do but for now we want to camp!
Heading out for a long holiday weekend of camping with friends.

We hope everyone has had a wonderful holiday season and ring in a safe New Year!

24/10/2023

Exploring this beautiful country with you has been simply amazing.
Tomorrow we end our trip in Paris and head home to the States on Saturday. This has been the absolute best trip!

10/10/2023

Still going…
From Sisteron to Annecy to Chamonix where we went up to Mont Blanc!!
Such Stunning views on the mountain top!

Enjoying this van trip!

02/10/2023

One day we will pick these guys up on our sailboat and stay anchored out in this beautiful Med.

09/03/2023

It’s been awhile but we’re around!!! We have a temporary setup right now in the van while we figure out our layout we want. Had our first five-night camping trip last weekend on the west coast of Florida and loved it!!

26/12/2022

Hope everyone had a wonderful Holiday weekend.
Merry Christmas from our family to yours!

13/05/2022

Live life with no regrets.
Tomorrow is never guaranteed!

12/05/2022

“Earn the day” is our motto while traveling.
We wake up at a reasonable time and have our coffee, then get a few hours of work accomplished and a workout in so that the rest of the day we can enjoy the destination we are in.

Today we will be enjoying some R&R on the beach here in Destin, FL.

07/05/2022

Look what we did!!

Yep, we bought a
brand-new Ford Transit!

It’s been about seven months in the making and we were finally able to pick her up May 5th!
After a few store runs and two overstuffed suitcases full of camping gear, we are minimally setup to camp the 1400 miles from Kansas City, MO back to Orlando!
Our plan is to drive a couple hundred miles a day, stop and enjoy the town and camp for the night and just slowly make our way back in 9 days.

What does this mean for The Sailing Rode and our future sailing plans, you ask? Oh, it’s still on like Donkey Kong but the bigger boat is still a little ways off and the van is all part of our retirement plan along with the bigger sailboat.
We will still sail all over Florida as well with our MacGregor and keep enjoying life because it’s short and we only live once!!

Get up and do the things you love! And travel is one of those for us, whether by land or sea!!

Stay tuned for more adventures…

10/03/2021

We are in a holding pattern waiting for a weather window to cross over to the Bahamas on a friends boat in the next week. Getting excited about our first time sailing across the Gulf Stream. It may even get us motivated enough to do a new podcast when we get back! Come on South winds!

01/07/2020

It has been way too long that we have had a long sailing weekend on the boat. Excited to say we are heading to the west coast for the holiday weekend!
The main sail tear has finally been sewed up and ready to go!

Hope everyone has a wonderful and safe weekend.

17/03/2020

Pirates on the horizon! Hope they are practicing social distancing.

10/02/2020

Enjoyed the day on the water with our old gal.
It’s been a while and we sure have missed the boat. This year will be filled with many more sailing trips.

15/06/2019

Lots of beautiful boats at our lunch stop in Camden Maine today.

13/06/2019

In Maine until Monday. Enjoying some coastal towns and lots of lobster.... and rain.

16/05/2019

Steve has been working on canvas repair, a key cruiser skill. Our sail covers had several rips that have been getting worse every trip. So we put in a Sailrite order for matching canvas, thread and new fasteners. It may not be the best looking sewing, but it is durable!

This was the top end of our genoa cover, next up is replacing some of the twist locks on the main cover that ripped out and fixing a small year at the bottom of the main sail so we don’t have to reef all the time.

03/03/2019

Bette has had her maiden voyage and naming ceremony and she floats!!

02/03/2019

02/03/2019

The start of the Everglades Challenge is underway.
Fair winds to the participants.

02/02/2019

At 8:45pm ET last night, The Sailing Rode finished sailing around the world! (Virtually) I entered the SailOnline.org Golden Globe Race on July23, 2018, twenty two days after the official start and finished in 194 days. I placed 249 out of the 421 boats still in the race. I would have likely done a little better but I ran aground twice when we went on a couple vacations and I forgot to check on the boat for a week. I often would go days without checking, but there is a lot of open ocean out there and the boat would sail along happy for days on the same course. Virtual boats are also great as they don’t mind groundings, just turn and head off again. I guess I can also say I am a virtual Cape Horner now but I think I will keep that to myself around other sailors. It was a complete waist of time, but I still feel a sense of accomplishment, at least virtually. I know what your thinking, stop goofing off and produce some new podcasts! Recording is in the mail.

26/01/2019

The TSR crew became pirates this weekend and the Wiki Honu is transformed into a mighty pirate ship with four firing cannons!

19/01/2019

Our mission is accomplished.
Sun, sand and beautiful

29/12/2018

Arriving in St. Augustine on a December night is beautiful. Great way to end the year.

28/12/2018

Gloomy, gusty day here in
St. Augustine, but we are SAILING at about 4 knots and happy!
Taking it easy with just the jib out and we are okay with that.
It’s a good day!

27/12/2018

Boat trip! ⛵️
First boat trip in a few months since traveling with our Southwest Airlines companion pass.
Heading to St. Augustine for a long weekend and to ring in the New Year!
What do your New Year plans look like?

28/11/2018

During our vacation to Jamaica we got to sail on Hobie cats a few of the days.
It was Brandys first time and we absolutely had a blast!

22/10/2018

If we win the $1.6B Lottery this week, we may have to commission one of these. I am a big fan of Steve Dashew designs. I may have to commission the motor cruiser too and keep them in my two favorite cruising grounds.

What dream boat would you buy if you win? Setsail FPB

https://www.setsail.com/beowulf-the-ultimate-short-handed-cruiser-updated-march-2014/

“The new Dashew passagemaker draws much of its heritage from the high-performance sailboats for which the Dashews are well known…” –Bill Parlatore, Passagemaker Magazine

19/10/2018

Grand Teton Marina has lots of slips open today. Time for a boat party!