In the book 9 Years on the 7 Seas which I am currently reading the author writes of her experience with the below-mentioned Ham radios: "What a moral support these ham nets are! With an amateur licence and a short-wave radio on board, you are never alone. Help is only a phone call away, which is an enormous relief at sea, far away from civilization." We had better get busy! I think we may need this and more though! :)…

We have read plenty of arguments for having a KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid) boat, and in general we tend to agree. On the other hand technology should be able to help us, and speaking from someone who is online almost 24/7 in one way or another, I can't see turning that off like a switch. So, we will need to be able to communicate with our family, friends and associates which leads us to the previously mentioned Ham or…

Don't rock the boat. That was the name of the special "boating safety" event that we happened to stumble across in our hometown on Saturday. I guess radio advertising does sometimes work! We showed up at Collin's Bay Marina to find a large number of families taking free boat rides, talking to vendors and watching a demonstration on safety flares. We spent only a little bit of time there but picked up some good weather-related literature from an informative gentleman…

Another FAQ page addition: why a Catamaran (as opposed to a Monohull)? There are plenty of links out there which tackle the Cat vs. Monohull debate. A simple Google search will pull up plenty! Shallow draft, no healing and plenty of space are just a few of the Cat's many advantages. It is almost easier to list the downsides to purchasing a Cat as the list is much shorter. Higher cost and lower availability of good, used cruising Cats seem…

The other day we had the opportunity to watch Clint Eastwood's movie Gran Torino for the first time. It was an awesome movie and we both really enjoyed it. There is a part in the film where Eastwood's character is talking about tools to his young neighbor: Take these three items, some WD-40, a vice grip, and a roll of duct tape. Any man worth his salt can fix almost any problem with this stuff alone. Because I had previously…

a dance pole? Yes, you read that right, a dance pole! You see, in addition to her career as martial arts and fitness coach, Rebecca is a pole dancing instructor. For the last couple of years she has offered lessons through her home based studio North Pole Fitness. So, while most sane people list as necessities for their boat such things as watermakers and stand-up showers, we need to figure out how to mount a dance pole on our yet-to-be…