Latest Blog Posts
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Finding Space for a Splendide Washer/Dryer on Our Catamaran
After years of handwashing aboard our St. Francis 50, we bought a Splendide washer and dryer How we found the perfect spot and changed our life afloat.
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Humble seamstress beginnings: repairing a pillow case on our Sailrite (industrial) sewing machine
“If you can’t handle a pillow case, what’s it going to be like when you make our dinghy chaps?” says Paul as he looks at me in front our new sewing machine and laughs. Paul is 10. He is a lovely person. This summer he cradled a pot-bellied pig on his lap. But he is still at the stage when he has been known to trap a kid’s head in his shirt until they shout. My first sewing project was to achieve a single seam on a torn pillow case. However, my short-term goal is to create a set of…
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Life raft gear: what if you were not rescued, how long could you survive?
Coffee enemas. Really? Is that actually a thing? Peering over my glasses, my cell phone is inches from my face. My eyes pan the screen. It just looks like a blue bag to me. The coffee grounds are an accessory item. I shift focus. “Tools needed to carve turtle meat”Oh geez. I quickly regret googling that. (Fortunately, most websites are focused on sea turtle conservation. But, a handful of people seem to be raising pets for food.) “Shark deterrents and magnets” reveals a $500 item. This falls outside my vision of time spent afloat, and exceeds the budget for what…
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Don’t mess with a missionary, man – Ile a Vache, Haiti
We arrived in the heat with some other cruisers and a few local people by wooden boat. It was the place to see and be seen. Sunday at church. In Haiti. Inside, the service had already started, people were on their feet. They were clapping. It was a chorus of suits, and lace and satin. Men swayed their hips and clapped with vigour. A spirit was in the air, and those who felt it looked over their shoulders, and bobbed their heads, as though to invite everyone within view, to the festivity. Colorful shirts and ties moved about me. An…
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Give me Voodoo: fear and fascination as a cruiser in Haiti (with bonus dream sequence)
Let me tell you about the time I spent in Ile a Vache, Haiti. Here is my story as told from my white, Canadian, catamaran-dwelling perspective. Voodoo? I find it darkly fascinating. Did I mention we are from Ottawa and have four kids? But, first, here’s a cameo from Vildo, a local man we met during our stay in the harbour at Ile a Vache. Vildo cleaned our boat, took us to the main town and invited us for supper one evening at his home. Vildo has a generator, and his wife (like me) does all of their laundry by…