Local Fall Sailing

Fall is generally my favorite time of year on the Gulf Coast of Mississippi, and this year was even better since I now have a Cape Dory 27 at the dock and ready for local adventures.  As with any boat, I have a long list of projects planned that I'm still working on prioritizing, and haven't yet decided which will come first or where I'll do the work.  I've been weighing the pros and cons of doing it bit-by-bit in the boatyard near the marina or in the water at the dock, or moving the boat to my backyard on a custom trailer or hiring a local boat mover with a hydraulic trailer to do it.  One way or the other, I plan to decide on that soon, probably after the first of the year.  Here are a few photos taken in local waters since the trip home from Tarpon Springs in July:

This is the anchorage off of West Ship Island the first week in November, taken from my little 9-foot sit-on-top kayak after I spend a half hour of so diving under the bottom to clean the hull and prop.

That trip was Michelle's first time aboard the boat.  We had great weather, and the anchorage to ourselves.

Sunrise over West Ship Island.

These last two were taken by my brother, Jeff from his fishing boat, as I was sailing back to Biloxi from a solo trip to East and West Ship Islands.  They were taken with an iPhone, so not the best quality, but the only shots I have of the boat under sail.  I still had a reef in the main coming in, as it had been blowing a steady 20-25 knots a couple hours earlier.  This boat is really easy to singlehand, a very important criteria I had when I was looking for my next boat.  At this time I have two tiller pilots on board, but will eventually fit a self-steering windvane as well.

Kruger Sea Wind Canoe #175 is For Sale

UPDATE 10-12-13: Sea Wind #175 has now been SOLD and will be moving to the Chesapeake Bay area when the new owner picks it up in November.

I recently mentioned in the comments section of my post about The Kruger Sea Wind Canoe, that my boat, Sea Wind hull #175 is currently for sale.  I am updating here to let anyone who may be looking for a great deal on one of these boats know that #175 is still available.

It may come as a surprise that I am selling this special boat so soon after buying it, so I'll explain the reason now.  I had been in the market for a cruising sailboat to replace the Tiki 26 catamaran that I sold in August, 2012, and for several months I looked at boats from south Florida to the Texas Gulf Coast and still could not find what I was looking for.  So in March, 2013, when a friend sent me a link to a classified ad listing this Kruger Sea Wind for sale in Minneapolis, MN, I decided to jump on the opportunity to buy it, because these boats are rare on the used market and usually sell fast when they do appear.  At the time, I was ready to get out on the water, and figured it would be a long time before I found the right sailboat.  So, I drove to Minneapolis, picked up the Sea Wind and brought it back to Mississippi, where I have since paddled it on numerous day trips in rivers, lakes and the Gulf, and one three-day camping trip on Bay Springs Lake, on the Tenn-Tom Waterway.

Naturally, not long after buying the Sea Wind the perfect deal on a sailboat came along, and I bought a 1980 Cape Dory 27 in Tarpon Springs, Florida, and sailed it home with my friend, Scott Finazzo, as described in my previous post here.  Of course, a 27-foot sailboat that has to be kept in the water all the time requires a lot more in the way of maintenance and expenses than any canoe or kayak, not to mention all the upgrades and additional equipment I would like to add, so I made the decision to let the Sea Wind go at this time so I can devote my full attention to the sailboat.  Owning a Kruger Canoe, even briefly, fulfilled a long-term dream of mine I've had since first reading about Verlen and Steve's Ultimate Canoe Challenge expedition back in the 1980s.  I'm sure I will own another one at some point, as the boat has lived up to all the hype and is everything the avid paddlers who own one say it is.  But for now, the limited time I will have to use it doesn't do it justice, so I'm hoping to find a serious paddler who will be able to use it to its potential.

Sea Wind #175 is ten years old, built in 2003, and there were two previous owners before me.  It is in excellent condition for its age and has not been abused or likely even used hard.  There are a few of the usual dings and scrapes any boat of this type will sustain in normal use, but overall, the boat still looks great and performs like new.  It comes with the optional spray skirt that encloses the large cockpit for paddling in rough conditions in open water, as well as a waterproof travel cover for the cockpit, and the cockpit canopy that Verlen designed for paddling in hot, tropical conditions.  I'm selling the boat with all these extras as a package deal, and whoever buys it will save a significant amount of money over the cost of a new Sea Wind, not to mention getting it now, rather than having to wait several months depending on the builder's backlog.  You can find current pricing of a new Sea Wind and these accessories here on the Kruger Canoes website:  http://www.krugercanoes.com/Products.html

Email me directly for the price and answers to any questions you may have about this boat.  It is located in south Mississippi, but delivery or shipping may be possible depending on buyer location.

Sailing My New (to me) Boat Home

Long-time readers of this blog have probably been disappointed in my lack of regular posting, but those of you who still check in from time to time will likely see a lot of new material here in the near future.  I have been on an intensive boat search for the past year, since selling my Wharram Tiki 26 catamaran project, and though I could have posted about the various ups and downs of the search, I decided to wait until I actually found a boat first.

That search has led me to a 1980 Cape Dory 27, a Carl Alberg design I have long admired that is just the right size and displacement to meet my current needs in a cruising boat.  I will be posting extensively here as I upgrade and refit this vessel, at the same time as I use her for local daysailing and cruising.  Taking my time to find the right boat paid off, as she was mostly ready to go and only required four days of preparation and outfitting to get ready for the 450-mile passage home from Tarpon Springs, Florida to Biloxi, Mississippi. Here she is at the dock in Florida:

For the trip home, I had the competent help of my friend, Scott Finazzo, who I am co-authoring a book with at the present time.  Scott is also the author of the excellent adventure and travel blog: Lure of the Horizon, and along the way he spent far more time than I shooting stills and video, mostly with his phone.  Here is a short compilation of the video clips that he put together: