Category: Uncategorized
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blooming hope
Hola Amigos, Jimbo here, writing from La Cruz, Mexico, waiting to depart on a 54-ft Amel from here to the Marquesas Islands. Usually, Tory writes our posts, but as I am back to offshore sailing, I thought it would be fitting to write my first blog post and update you all with what’s been happening…
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lemons
I write this sitting at a bay-window desk in a second floor apartment building in Baltimore, Maryland. Jolene sits emptied of our belongings at a marina 35 minutes away in the Upper Chesapeake. Back in June, Jimmy and I were dealt some serious lemons – and the lemonade since has been rather tart. While in…
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engine failure
On the right side of the channel marker was a sailboat with a teal bottom leaning on its mside, clearly run aground for more than a year or two. We were sailing towards it, main, mizzen, and staysail. I watched the water grow turquoise, the bottom clear as if only a few inches deep. “Can…
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personal space
One of the most common questions we received before departing on this sailing sabbatical was, “How do you stand living in such a small space together?” The answer: it’s not easy. Although we have lived aboard at a marina for a few years, living aboard while mostly at anchor presents separate challenges. When at a…
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desert in the ocean
Jolene is an oasis in a sea water desert. She carries 90 gallons (340 liters) of fresh water. After 18 days, 2 sponge baths, and 1 load of laundry in a 5 gallon bucket, we’ve been through only half our supply. An oasis is as life giving as the water it supplies to weary travelers.…
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six days at sea
We write this day 6 at sea. The Dry Tortugas National Park is a mere 33 NM away and we are speeding at 6.5kts. It is exciting and both anxiety inducing to soon be within site of land, other ships, shallow waters and dangerous yet stunning coral reefs. Other sailors have said that a trip…
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ready. set. go.
We write this sitting on anchor near Shell Island in Panama City Beach, FL. The sky is a springtime blue, the wind is soft from the south, and Jimmy is trying to make waffles without draining our batteries. There were lots of emotions this past week as we readied to depart, set the engine, and…
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plans set in low tide.
Every good sailor has a plan. A plan to buy your dream boat, a plan for that next project, a plan to hop to the next island, a plan to sail away. If you’ve been around boats long enough, you probably know that simple projects quickly exceed double or triple the original allotted time. As…
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September Update 2022
Since we successfully delivered Kismet to Niceville, we have been non-stop with boat projects – at least that is how it feels most days. Not surprisingly, there are few hours between our full time 730am-430pm jobs, looking after Moses, boat projects, and actually sailing. Time feels especially slippery when we think about our hard push-off…
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Boat Delivery Part 2: Fort Myers to Niceville
At the end of our post Boat Delivery Part 1: Jacksonville to Fort Myers, we had left Kismet on a mooring ball at Ft. Myers City Yacht Basin. Now, over 4th of July weekend we had to finish the final leg. The end was in sight – a quick 350 NM hop from Ft. Myers…
The Sailing Shipleys 