Sail Beausoleil

January 9, 2009:

Just a really quick update on Shawna and me:

After dealing with a minor “fender bender” in Charleston, SC (where another boat hit us while we were tied up at the dock), we headed out just before Christmas for our next planned destination: St. Augustine, Florida. We wanted to sail “outside”, but the forecast was for 20-30 knot winds out of the south/southwest – and even with a 26-ton “tank”, motor-sailing upwind can be a bit unpleasant. So we opted for the inside route down the IntraCoastal Waterway (ICW). The first night we anchored in a place called Alligator Creek just north of Beaufort, SC. The second night was in New River, just a few miles north/northeast of Savannah, GA. We spent a couple nights in Savannah and took in the sites – what a great throwback to an earlier era!  Remember that Shawna’s still doing contract work for Meridian, so our only real travel days are the weekends, so we can’t just leave anytime we get a good weather window.

Weather was still 20-25 knots out of the south, so Christmas Eve we left Savannah and stayed in the ICW. We spent Christmas Eve in a quaint little town called Isle of Hope. It reminded me a lot of Louisiana where I grew up – large live oak trees with spanish moss hanging down. Christmas Day we left, and exited the ICW at Vernon River / Ossabaw Sound, and motorsailed in 5 knots of southerly winds to St. Augustine, arriving in the fog at about 8:00AM the day after Christmas. St. Augustine is great – the town is lit up every evening with white Christmas lights on just about all the buildings.

I’ve been dealing with minor mechanical problems – a few bolts fastening the engine mount brackets to the engine block loosened up and one sheared off. Luckily, there were three other bolts holding that bracket in place, so the engine didn’t end up dancing down into the bilge. After a little investigation and talking with the manufacturer, it seems that shorter bolts than spec’d were used when the engine was assembled at the factory. They’re sending the proper ones… I just wish they’d send a mechanic to install them – I’ve got plenty of other maintenance items on my plate – like getting around to installing the ham radio…

Happy New Year!!!

October 7, 2008:

To get started, here’s an early update sent via e-mail to our friends at the Boston Yacht Club – our home club in Marblehead, Massachusetts.

Greetings Boston Yacht Club!!!

Just a real quick update on Beausoleil so far:

We’re currently in Yachthaven West Marina in Stamford, CT, where we’ll be staying through the month of October. Shawna has to fly to California to meet with a couple of clients (yes, she’s still gainfully employed – for a while yet!), and I still have some work to do to get Beasusoleil ready for true bluewater sailing. Next stop will be Annapolis, MD.

We’re in a slip right next to a New York Yacht Club boat, a Bruckman 50 Pilothouse named Alliance from Newport. Unfortunately, it’s not the 42′ daysailor designed by our very own BYC member Doug Zurn. We haven’t yet met the owner as they haven’t been to the boat since we’ve been here! Too bad… However, I’m proud to say the BYC burgee is standing proud at the masthead 65′ above the water, while the NYC burgee is flying from the bow pulpit of Alliance…

Backing up a bit: Our first stop after leaving Marblehead on Tuesday, September 16, was in Bristol, RI at the Bristol Yacht Club, where Shawna helped out on David & Mary Bows’ Mallorca in the J30 Nationals on Friday, September 19, since one of their regular crew could only make it down for Saturday and Sunday. We spent fun time with the entire crew of Mallorca, as well as Abigail. After Bristol, we did a quick motorsail to Dutch Harbor for Monday evening, 9/22. We intended to do a quick sail to Point Judith on Tuesday, but with a 16-18 knot breeze from the east, we decided to leave Pt. Judith to our starboard and just continued all the way to Mystic! Beausoleil’s 26 tons of displacement can really move when she wants to! With the winds of TS/Hurricane Kyle behind us, we made quick progress Wednesday to Hammonasset State Park in Clinton, CT, then to Port Jefferson in LI where we waited out the major part of Kyle Thursday and Friday. Saturday was a quick trip to Stamford. So far, it’s been downwind sailing the whole trip.

While Shawna’s been working remotely from the boat, I’ve been busy installing a proper marine refrigerator to replace the old inefficent upright. I’m also installing new storage in the galley as well. Next on my plate will be installation of a new holding tank in the aft head, and permanently mounting the WiFi client bridge atop the mizzen mast so that will be the primary Internet service capability, with Verizon’s broadband wireless as a backup. Once I get ahead on boat projects, I’ll finally work on getting our website up and running.

It’s not all work though – we managed to visit the Stamford Yachtclub on Sunday evening for their annual Oktoberfest celebration. We were initially dissapointed that the Boston doesn’t have reciprocal priveleges with the SYC, but they were gracious hosts nonetheless! It would be nice to see our burgee hanging in their clubhouse!

Fair Winds!

Welcome to Sail Beausoleil, Jon & Shawna’s ongoing account of their adventure aboard Beausoleil, their home on the water. We’ll document our adventures, from the original purchase of “Agave“, Beausoleil‘s previous name, up to the present and future.