Activities between Sailing

Oct 22, 2014
20,992
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
While I wish I could sail non-stop every day, I know that it is not possible. So I settle for blocks of sailing time between the rest of life's needs.

Sure I have been cleaning out the garage, and dealing with dental visits like everyone. Just yesterday my wife reminded me of my foraging responsibilities. I have enjoyed having fresh frozen blueberries on my morning cereal for the past several years during the winter months. After breakfast I was informed it was Blueberry Season. Since I was now semi retired I could join in the picking duties. No more would winter blueberries be a free ride.:(

Who knew she had a blueberry clock. We arrived at the farm. Had our containers dry weighed in and then off we went to the fields. We walked to the middle of the patch (she who knows berries knew the 3-4 rows along the edges of the field would have been already picked over) and we were rewarded with bushes laden with berries.
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You surround the bunch with your hand and kind of tickle the berries as you move you hand down the bunch. If you have wisely held your basket beneath the berry bunch they fall into your basket. Rich, Blue and sweet.
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In less than 45 minutes time we had over 20 lbs. Enough for frozen berries till they return next year.
Of Course not all the berries can make it into the freezer. Some are boiled and stirred:stir: into Blueberry syrup for Sunday pancakes. Or there is always room for a few jars of blueberry jam on the shelf.

Thankfully I am temporarily finished with home tasks. Next week is back to cruising for 9 days.

What do you do in those breaks from sailing?
 
Oct 22, 2014
20,992
CAL 35 Cruiser #21 moored EVERETT WA
A couple of years ago we also planted blue berry bushes. It is now a constant battle with deer, or blue birds to get to the berries first. I was with my 3 yr old grand daughter teaching the benefit of finding blue berries in the back yard. One of the Jays landed on the bush next to us and made a fuss causing berries to fall to the ground. I think the jay thought we were invading his/her feeding area.

With a fist full of berries and blue lips my grand daughter was all smiles.
 
Jan 7, 2011
4,726
Oday 322 East Chicago, IN
I am in Colorado visiting my son and working on projects around his newly purchased home. Keep checking things off the lust, but the list never seems to get shorter :).

He is a big time skier and doesn’t want to visit us in Hawaii in February because it cuts into his ski season...didn’t tell him this trip to see him cuts into my sailing season ;-(

But he has to answer to his GF about not taking a vacation in Maui and I have to answer to my Admiral about not visiting our son...so here we are!

But life is to short...so I enjoy whatever life has to offer.

Greg
 
Dec 28, 2015
1,837
Laser, Hunter H30 Cherubini Tacoma
This time of year is spending as much time at my lake cabin as possible but over the past week its been fixing a leaking fuel tank in the boat. Summer is short, I took the week off from work and the boat and putting in some freshwater floaty time.
 
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May 24, 2004
7,129
CC 30 South Florida
I'm a recreational sailor and for that reason I would not want to sail everyday. There is nothing better than on a wet and blistery cold day being able to stay at port, staying dry and having a cup of coffee feeling sorry for the professionals that are heading out to meet a schedule. I always say to myself on those days, "I'm so lucky I'm not getting paid to sail" "Maybe I'll sail tomorrow, or maybe not!"
 
May 24, 2004
7,129
CC 30 South Florida
So summer is short; We are into our 65th day of 90+ day temperatures with probably another 40 days to go. If it is not the storms, the wind sucks in the summer; it can go from 40 knots to dead calm sometimes twice a day here in Florida. Our sailing season is in the winter when we get good steady winds and cooler temperatures.
 
Dec 28, 2015
1,837
Laser, Hunter H30 Cherubini Tacoma
So summer is short; We are into our 65th day of 90+ day temperatures with probably another 40 days to go. If it is not the storms, the wind sucks in the summer; it can go from 40 knots to dead calm sometimes twice a day here in Florida. Our sailing season is in the winter when we get good steady winds and cooler temperatures.
Well your in Florida so.......
 
Aug 1, 2011
3,972
Catalina 270 255 Wabamun. Welcome to the marina
Since last year you couldn't see across the lake for all the smoke from BC, with air quality to match, and this year there's been maybe three days without rain, leaving us feeling like we're living in YVR, the only thing left to do after we watched every tv show on the planet, is go back out to the boat and spend another hour trying to stem the leak from the cabin windows.
It's becoming a hobby. It's good to have a hobby.
 
Mar 31, 2013
234
O'day 23 Pa
wow!
Two kids, both play soccer one also does Karate, the other also plays golf, better than I do, I also like to shoot.
I have a house that needs more care than my boat....I've sailed exactly zero times this year so far!
<sigh>
 
Apr 11, 2018
71
Hunter 340 Dowry Creek, NC
I sail on those days when I'm not fixing the last broken boat part. So far this season, it is sailing 0. :(

This spring my wife brought home 3 blueberry bushes and planted them. I said, great, we'll have fresh blueberries. She said, no, the blue berries are for the birds. :(
Heh ... Did she agree to wash the car when the birds are done with them?
 

Jim26m

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Apr 3, 2019
579
Macgregor 26M Mobile AL
My first two years of retirement were spent rebuilding after a house fire. We've gotten to go sailing in our boat a few times recently, and with a friend on his boat several times. I've got about 7 years on my impeller, so I'm going to put a new one in before I go again. Also, want to put my mast up in the driveway and check my furlers before I go again. Last time out, my main wouldn't raise properly. Also, couldn't get my Genoa to furl during a blow. Would like to get that sorted. If I don't do it in the driveway it won't get done. Once the boat is in the water, it's going sailing - if I have to hang a bedsheet from the Spinnaker halyard.

Since the fire, I rebuilt my oldest daughter's deck, built a desk for the youngest daughter, and a tv/entertainment shelf unit for my middle daughter. I also have a neighbor who's building a resto-mod truck that I help on a fairly regular basis. I play several musical instruments, and am in the process of learning fretless bass technique. Since all of my instruments burned except one acoustic guitar, everything is new, so it's fun playing with new stuff. I bought a fretless bass because it seemed cool. Turns out, it's fairly challenging - at least that's what all of the dogs in the neighborhood tell me.

Lost my mig and stick welders in the fire, but got a TIG / stick combo to replace them. So, in the process of learning TIG, which is pretty fun.

Oldest daughter is about to hatch twins, so we're on standby for that duty.

Have an aging mom and her property to keep up.

Volunteer to help with property issues at church.

Love blueberries, but don't have any bushes yet. Need something to do in my spare time...
 
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Oct 19, 2017
7,732
O'Day 19 Littleton, NH
a constant battle with deer, or blue birds to get to the berries first.
Last year, we got nearly zero blueberries from our highbush blueberries. The birds got them. We'd look out the window and these feathery little heads would pop up for an instant near them, then again, then again. I'm talking domestic chickens and turkeys. The wild birds never got a chance. Those little feathered miscreants would eat all the lower berries they could reach, then they jumped straight up from underneath to catch the succulent blue berries at the top of the bush too.
What do I do instead of sail? Well, I'm currently upgrading my electric fence from 0.74 joules to 3.2 joules. I'm clearing and installing a bigger, sturdier fence to expand our bee yard and fix the extensive damage the turkey hungry bear has been causing. We are cruising the back roads to pick elderflower and day lily to make jam for the farmer's markets. I've got several art and sign commissions that are going a lot slower than finished for because of the busy market season and maintaining our AirBnB rental next door. Kids are up to visit a couple of times this Summer and our gardens are falling behind with their care and harvest season is just starting.
Maybe Winter will be my sailing season.

-Will (Dragonfly)
 
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Feb 26, 2004
22,760
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
When I come back from a 12 or 5 day cruise, my wife asks when I'm going again. I thought that she was concerned with my mental welfare, knowing that in the dark days of winter I pine for the boat.

Turns out she just needs to know who is going to be around for dinner so she knows how much to buy and cook.

But I'm stickin' with the "she cares" concept. :)

So I stay home for a few days and then I go back out again. Call it re-provisioning.