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Author: Doug

The Big Dip Part 3: Lund to Calvert Island

The Big Dip Part 3: Lund to Calvert Island

We had read that when you move onto a boat to go sailing, to expect a period of mourning for the life that you leave behind. Preposterous advice!! Where will I find time to grieve during this laugh-a-minute instagrasmic nautical thrill-ride?? The advice was apt. Despite having a great time overall, this first period included a lot of introspection and self doubt. Why did we pull our kids from school and friendships to drift through the wilderness? Will they learn…

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The Big Dip Part 2: Shakedown!

The Big Dip Part 2: Shakedown!

Before sailing off to foreign destinations it’s common to do a smaller “shakedown” trip, to ensure that your mechanical and emotional systems are in tip top condition. For this reason we chose to spend the summer sailing in BC before aiming south. On May 20th, 8 days after departure we’d made it north as far as Powell River before the shakedown shook something loose. Specifically our cutlass bearing, a small brass and rubber gland in the stern of the boat…

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The Big Dip

The Big Dip

Ending a relationship after 18 years is no inconsequential event. As we watched our 2004 Toyota Echo drive away with her new owners, every dent was a memory. The one with the yellow paint from the parking lot bollard. The huge one from our friend’s pickup truck in the Thrifty’s parking lot. Remember when we drove the kids home from the hospital to the boat? Remember all the ridiculous things we strapped the roof? The antenna fiasco? The snowplow incident?…

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Adding Ballast

Adding Ballast

Sonrisa has always sat a little low in the bow.  According to the original owner this was due to a mistake when her lead ballast was poured.  As a result water didn’t drain quite right on deck or in the bilge.  The problem was made worse when we installed a newer lighter engine.  So we decided to add 500lbs of lead to an extremely inaccessible area of the bilge, directly under the engine and all the way aft. We could not physically…

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Sonrisa!

Sonrisa!

After living aboard our 27 foot Cascade sailboat for 6 months, Sarah got tired of me complaining that I couldn’t do the dishes due to lack of headroom.  We were also tired of arguing who got to lay comfortably on the one settee.  So the search began, and through a series of lucky events we found and made an accepted offer to purchase Sonrisa, for sale down in San Diego. Here she is where we first saw her Organizing the haul-out in…

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