Today we start our trip northward. The plan is to stop at the Sassafras River tonight and proceed through the Chesapeake & Delaware Canal early Sunday to catch the eastbound current. As we depart Back Creek in Annapolis we face a marine traffic jam of boats large and small eager to get out for Labor Day Weekend. Once in the bay we weave through three active sailboat race courses, one of which is a Thistle Regatta. Wind and current are against us so we go under power. We drop anchor in the Sassafras River as planed and upload the latest PredictWind forecasts. The change in direction of Hurricane Dorian makes our intended destination of Newport very questionable weather wise. We make a decision to wait out the hard to predict storm in the Northern Chesapeake. We are disappointed our trip has been delayed but happy we are in a safe place. To add to the bad news on this day Florida State loses their home opener even after the hurricane forces the game to be relocated giving the Seminoles a home field advantage. Jim jumps in the water and cleans the bottom as Amy whips up a tasty dinner.
August 2019
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Renegade has a two queen bed stateroom layout with one room forward and the other rear starboard. The port rear has a head with shower and engine room access. The middle going…
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Renegade has three watertight compartments, lets look at the ends- bow and engine room. The bow compartment can be accessed by a deck hatch or watertight door. This room has the anchor…
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Deck A flat deck or a coach roof skinny enough to allow plenty of walking space is desired. In addition, you want enough room on the foredeck to place your dinghy for…
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Cockpit Boats are either rear cockpit or center cockpit. The center cockpit gives more room below but its design will push the boom higher up the mast. Rear cockpits allow for a…
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Access Having the ability to access the boats many systems is important for liveaboard cruisers. The yacht designer Steve Dashew once stated “90% of maintenance is access”. Having a dedicated mechanical space…
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Stability Most cruisers do not place hull stability high on their list of design priorities in observing what consumers are currently buying. We admit we initially did not prioritize stability when researching…
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Monohull design considerations Construction There are two primary construction methods for sailboats: Glass reinforced plastic (GRP) and aluminum. We guess we would always be worried if an aluminum boat was grounded correctly…
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Introduction For your reading pleasure, I have attempted to assemble some decision points and related data in the search for an offshore cruising boat capable of a circumnavigation. Boat designs are a…
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As the break-in hours accumulate on the motors, it is time to head North. Like all days on this trip, the wind is one to seven knots and on the nose for…