Aground, Ep. 224

“Guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days.”

There’s a few different versions of this comic refrain, but this one’s credited to our beloved Benjamin Franklin. Being on the water, we know a thing or two about smelly fish, and about uncomfortable guest experiences; it doesn’t take long to hear stories from fellow sailors. Onboard Sea Rose, however, we follow a few simple guidelines to make sure everything goes smoothly. First, we don’t guarantee where we will pick up our guests or drop them off. We always tell them that it is a lot easier to move people to a boat then to move a boat to the people. Second, there are a plethora of things that could go wrong, and flexibility is the key. One of us could get sick. Weather could disrupt our plans. Or, the boat could have an issue. We’ve never had to pull the boat card, until now.

Our dear friends Matt and Michelle, no strangers to Sea Rose or to travel itself, were well equipped in the flexibility department. Better yet, they don’t smell after three days! Despite the holidays, we were able to find a delightful house to rent. With a small pool, it was as close to a week of sailing around Martinique that we could offer.

Roughing it on land. Le Diamant, Martinique
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They Get You Coming and Going, Ep. 222a

I have been trying to cut down on the alcohol. I truly am. Nobody is espousing the heath benefits of drinking anymore. But after a hard day of work in the tropics, there’s only so much a glass of water can do for you. And, yes, I did say ‘work’. Many of our friends assume that when we arrive at the boat, especially at a place like here in the Caribbean, it is all stunning sunsets and umbrella drinks. The intense physicality of sailing as a sport can not be underestimated. There are several weeks at the beginning of the season consumed by loading gear, rigging sails, fixing equipment that suddenly stopped working, and doing upgrades to keep the boat functioning well so that the core season doesn’t become a long stream of repair projects. And there is the act of sailing itself. The raising and trimming of sails, the navigating, the studying of books and apps to find out where to anchor and what the weather has in store for us, the schlepping of groceries from store to dock to dinghy to boat. We do periodically get to our destination in time to enjoy a sunset and maybe a swim, but it is far from a cruise ship experience. I like to think about it like a backpacking trip. You plan well in advance, you test out your gear, you drive to the trailhead, you do the work of hiking to the summit, but there’s not a lot of time to dawdle, as you need to get to a place of safety to pitch the tent for the night, make dinner, and figure out when to break camp in the morning to give yourself enough time in-route to the next campsite.

Hurricane in hand, mind the tall grass blade!
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Getting The Band Back Together, Ep. 221

I knew it was a bad omen when the captain came on the PA and announced, ‘Folks, we are going to have to hold here on the tarmac to burn off fuel as we are currently overweight for take-off.’ Karen and I did a long, slow turn towards each other, meeting eye-to-eye. Friends know us as repeat luggage offenders with our overpacking of checked bags, and this flight was no different. We were headed from Boston to Grenada for the start of season 8 onboard Sea Rose, and we were packed to the gills. Our checked luggage included four additional solar panels in a long thin box encased in a bright orange duffel bag. I had tried to check these exact same solar panels on a pre-trip to Grenada back in September, but JetBlue rejected them outright, saying they do not accept items in cardboard boxes. This time, safely disguised in their duffel, the agent swiftly sent them on their way, without a moments hesitation, to the baggage conveyor and into the hidden inner sanctum of Logan’s luggage underbelly. Now, to hear our plane was overweight, we could only chuckle. Season 8 was already off to an ignominious start.

A sampling of the airline freight destined for Sea Rose

Truth be told, we were a little out of our element, heading to the boat in December. We had spent a splendid summer in New England, the first since 2016, when we began this off-kilter idea of sailing in retirement. We normally would be coming home at this time from a season in Europe to spend a Fall in the grandeur of changing leaves and the cooling air as prospects and plans were made for winter outings. But instead, we had hauled Sea Rose out in Grenada in April after spending the winter in the Caribbean, following our Atlantic crossing with the ARC+ rally, which in turn followed a busy summer of 2024 starting in Tromsö, Norway. We were inverting our plans, sailing in the winter in the Caribbean, avoiding the drama of summer hurricanes and heavy rains, and spending the summers at home.

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