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[Wildernesstech]

David & Brenda here... Currently refitting on an inland lake in preparation for the "Start of the Journey". We have an old American Classic that keeps us occupied in all of our spare time. Here is the back-story: After three major life catastrophes we were in limbo, depressed, and nearly divorced! One afternoon my wife said outloud; "I want to sail around the world"! I truly thought that she was kidding... After a month of hearing her continue on the issue, I called a friend who owns a marina and arranged sailing lessons. That was a few years and two boats ago!!! We have decided that we will never "Know" enough, "Have" enough money, and that there is no "perfect" time to leave. We may never circumnavigate, but we plan to cruise without schedule (except dodging hurricane season). We don't know when we will get to leave, or where we will leave from. We do know that we WILL get "out there'! We have some semblance of plans, but understand we aren't always in the driver's seat.

What we do know is that sailing has given us life again. We know that my blood pressure drops 30 points when I am on the boat. We have supportive friends, and friends that think we will end up "Lost at Sea". I tell them that I have seen "managed care", and i prefer "lost at Sea"! We have made plenty of mistakes along the way, and doubt that we are anywhere near the bottom of the mistake jar. But the magical qualities that sailing brings to people, and more specifically; Brings out in people have endeared us!

We are not planning to sell the house yet, it is paid for, and we may not stay out for years. If we do decide to remain at sea then we can put it on the market (hopefully a better market) at that time. Our best guess is that the boat will be near completion and we will be ready to leave in a year or so. Until then; If I am not on the boat, not sailing somewhere with someone, not at work, or not in class... You will find me on this computer trying to learn all I can!

Thanks for the great website!

[Lighthouse]

Brenda and David - a huge welcome aboard to you both. What a wonderful introduction.

You have by now caught the "cruising bug" for which there is no cure. Great to have you with us.

[Wildernesstech]

Originally Posted by Lighthouse

Brenda and David - a huge welcome aboard to you both. What a wonderful introduction.

You have by now caught the "cruising bug" for which there is no cure. Great to have you with us.

Thanks for the warm welcome! David & Brenda

[Wildernesstech]

I have tried to attach a photo of our boat to this post for your comments here...

This is a "before" picture relative to our refit!

David and Brenda

[JeanneP]

Hello! Peter and I started out about the same way. One day Peter came home from work (that he was good at but didn't particularly enjoy) and said "when we retire, I want to live on a boat."

After determining that Peter didn't want to just sit in one place on this boat, my comment was: "well, then it really ought to be a sailboat." After a few moments thought, Peter replied, "Okay."

Well, that committed us. My next statement was, "well, then, I guess I'll have to learn how to sail!"

We haven't looked back from that. Many miles under our keel, many life changes along the way, we're still at it, though our cruising grounds have shrunk a bit.

If you can find a good and reliable manager for your house, it probably is wise to rent it out rather than sell it. There are tax advantages, and I know that I found myself to be a bit braver and more ambitious in our cruising knowing that we always had someplace to return to, though it took almost 20 years before we did return to the US.

Don't hesitate to ask questions, or even just sit down for a bit of musing talk.

Welcome.

[redbopeep]

Originally Posted by Wildernesstech

David & Brenda here...

Hi, For the first bit I was wondering if my hubby (David) was posting about us (I'm Brenda aka "Redbopeep"). We've lots in common with you'all (and many other posters here). Though we sold the house 2 years ago and are refitting a boat we bought at that time (and oh yes, it was on the opposite coast so we moved across the country to fix it up).

Looking forward to your posts!

"Redbopeep" (Brenda) and "Hubby" (David)

[Wildernesstech]

Originally Posted by JeanneP

Hello! Peter and I started out about the same way.

Wow... Twenty years of cruiding experience! We will certainly ask questions. Thank you for the nice welcome. David & Brenda

Most of our questions will be about cruising, but the Redbopeep begs an explanation! David & Brenda

[redbopeep]

Originally Posted by Wildernesstech

Most of our questions will be about cruising, but the Redbopeep begs an explanation! David & Brenda

We name everything...my present car is "Buttercup" from Princess Bride, the MSR multi-fuel camp stove is "Puff" (you can figure that one out ), David's car he had for 25 years was named "Pepe" after the Jeep ("my little mule, Pepe") in Romancing the Stone. After that car finally gave up the ghost, he started driving a car named Wesley (the young farm-hand who rescues Buttercup in Princess Bride) .

Well...Bopeep was my car 1985-2001 (she was very pretty "bow" and had a little bit of Pepe's power but not much only a "peep" therefore she was Bopeep. And she was red.

Back when you had to come up with a unique internet name for various chatrooms, message boards, I started using Redbopeep because no one else had it (I've only ever seen one other Redbopeep...I think they copied me!). With Buttercup rather common and all...I still do use redbopeep even though I've been driving Buttercup for about 6 years since Red Bopeep was totaled (rear ended) in 2001

That's it for Redbopeep.

[MMNETSEA]

Greetings and Welcome,

Where are you fulfilling dreams on your boat - fresh water somewhere - Missouri ?

she looks like a Sparkman and Stevens - strong solid boat of the 70s , before the bean counters - would love to hear her history - more pics reduce the size a little ( by a half)

Come with us

Richard

[Wildernesstech]

Originally Posted by MMNETSEA

Greetings and Welcome,

Where are you fulfilling dreams on your boat - fresh water somewhere - Missouri ?

she looks like a Sparkman and Stevens - strong solid boat of the 70s , before the bean counters - would love to hear her history - more pics reduce the size a little ( by a half)

Come with us

Richard

Thanks Richard,

I will need to spend some time on my computer finding a program that will reduce the size but I will try. I attempted to reduce it yesterday but all it would do was crop it. I dont have Photoshop on here yet. Our boat is a Pearson Vanguard (1966) with sweet lines, if I do say so myself. We hated the Formica interior and are near completion of the cherry and mahogany refit. We have the original Spruce boom, but fit an Isomat boom on her for offshore work. We have a long way to go but feel that she is worth it. There is a huge difference in her sea motion compared to the more modern craft, and she has a draft that will allow us to explore far more than many others. She feels tender to about 15-20 degrees then hardens up nicely. She easily Heaves-to and can probably take better care of us than we can her (part of the reason for our choice). We have friends with a 54' Hylas (currently in Panama) that we get some offshore time with occasionally but we are refitting at Stockton Lake in Missouri because of the proximity to our home. Our boat (s/v Friendship) was purchased new in Rhode Island and trucked to Missouri where she has spent her entire life on fresh water. We had been driving all over the country looking at boats, only to discover her in another marina on our local lake! When we bought her she had only six bolts in her that were not original! Stockton Lake is a sailor's lake... There are around 650 sailboats on the lake with ours being average size. The yacht service has an ABYC Master Technician and the Yacht Service owner sails an Alberg 35. Many of the boats here get trucked to saltwater for a few years offshore and some even come back here when they are done. Of course many never leave the dock (like most places).

We won't be able to leave until we finalize an insurance settlement lawsuit which has been dragging out for three years now (we have to be at the attorneys this afternoon), but we are not finished with the refit yet anyway. Until then I remain at work (Rural Paramedic), and we take any offer of saltwater time that fits our schedule. We have to decide where we want to put in at (Kemah, TX/Mobile,AL/?) when we leave. We are really disenchanted with the way Florida is treating cruisers, so we are considering spending less time there and more time in the Carribean year one. Depending on the timing of our departure, we may even start with the boat in the Great Lakes and follow the inland routes South. Nothing is chiselled in stone yet. We are fond of the lifestyle more than the destination.

A few folks have picked on us about currently being on the lake, but it would be interesting to watch them when a Tornado comes through and they have no sea room! I have learned things here that will help at sea. It always takes me a day or so to factor in tides and currents when we get out though. I have to have some new sails made before departure, most of our suit now has too low of a foot for big waves. We will probably fit a furler to ease the burden on a short-handed crew, but I like the way our current hank-ons sail. Both of us were in terrible accidents (about a year apart) and so we are having to be conservative about going on deck in rough weather. I could (jack lines of course), but Brenda couldn't! She could on a larger boat, but we like her size and wanted a go anywhere within reason boat.

Yes, she was built "before the bean counters", but she was a plain vanilla boat inside... We are slowly fixing that!!! We have a rather famous (in boating circles) acquaintance that likes her alot (John Vigor), so we think we have made some good choices. If she doesn't fulfill our expectations then we will put her back on the lake and purchase a larger boat for open water. I am a big fan of some of the larger Endeavours and of course Valiants are wonderful (out of my price range!).

You signed off; "Come with us". Tell us where you are and what you are doing. The friends that we have made sailing is a large part of the enjoyment equation! We have learned more with each new friend and while we are not the "follow the crowd" types, we are community folks.

Glad to meet you all,

David & Brenda

[JeanneP]

To resize photos, try PhotoRazor, http://www.stormdance.net/?prss

[MMNETSEA]

Originally Posted by JeanneP

To resize photos, try PhotoRazor, http://www.stormdance.net/?prss

To add to Jeanne's suggestion - here is another excellent program ( I find better than many of the well known programs) It is FREE for home use :-

click on faststone

Richard

PS Here is a resized picture of the surf on Lake Stockton - using Faststone :-

[Wildernesstech]

I tried to make this image small to see what size format I should use... We'll see how it turns out? Thanks for the links to the software guys!

David & Brenda

[Wildernesstech]

[attachment=1131:m_Friend...pStearn2.jp

g]

See if these are a better size...

[MMNETSEA]

Originally Posted by Wildernesstech

Attachment 391

I tried to make this image small to see what size format I should use... We'll see how it turns out? Thanks for the links to the software guys!

David & Brenda

If you used the Faststone - then in the future a size of 400 for the width works very well.

Richard

[Wildernesstech]

[attachment=1131:m_Friend...pStearn2.jp

g]

See if these are a better size...[/quote]

[MMNETSEA]

David

Here is one that has been resized upwards to a width of 400 - that doesn't work very well.



I like the one of your WIFE up the mast - that shows equality!

Richard

[Wildernesstech]

Originally Posted by MMNETSEA

David

Here is one that has been resized upwards to a width of 400 - that doesn't work very well.

Attachment 396

I like the one of your WIFE up the mast - that shows equality!

Richard

OK Richard... It is obvious that you at least know who we are! The photo is a picture of OUR boat... You knew we were from Missouri, and you have been a member here for a long time... Spill the beans!!! David

[MMNETSEA]

Hello David and Brenda,

~ No Mystery, Your first posted picture had S/V Friendship's Boat Registration # Alpha Prefix

MO .

~I first thought it was one of 3 designs :- A Sparkman & Stevens or a Philip Rhodes or a Bob Perry. My 2nd choice was accurate.

~I was within 4 years from the date that she came into this world.

~I have visited your lake when I was doing some work at the Missouri Botanical Gardens 200 nautical miles to your west.

Richard

[Wildernesstech]

Originally Posted by MMNETSEA

Hello David and Brenda,

~ No Mystery, Your first posted picture had S/V Friendship's Boat Registration # Alpha Prefix

MO .

~I first thought it was one of 3 designs :- A Sparkman & Stevens or a Philip Rhodes or a Bob Perry. My 2nd choice was accurate.

~I was within 4 years from the date that she came into this world.

~I have visited your lake when I was doing some work at the Missouri Botanical Gardens 200 nautical miles to your west.

Richard

Glad to meet INTELLIGENT people! I guess I have been working out in the sticks too long... Actually, it is more likely to be my current hectic schedule! Did I notice Epidemiologist? We will have to talk sometime, I see much in my field. Another meeting with attorneys today and tomorrow... a 24 hour shift Friday! Talk to you all soon, David