Boat Projects
A friend of mine recently asked why the heck I was not out on the water yet. It is a friend that does not own a boat, so I tried to explaining that we still have projects to complete. They looked confused because we had been "working on the boat" all winter. It is hard for someone to understand all the little things that add [...]
Waterfalls, bald eagles, seals, and a 5 knot current
The boat finally left the driveway! After months of working on the boat, making updates and waiting for winter to be over we went on a sort of shakedown/relaxation cruise. Since we currently have the mast lying in the driveway awaiting the install of a new LED anchor light we took Webfoot out as a motor boat. We just couldn't wait any longer. The forecast [...]
Webfoot’s New Gas Tanks
If you read the earlier blog about our adventures in the San Juan Islands you know that we had some problems with our aging gas tanks. They are located in the cockpit in open compartments on both sides of the steering station. Due to their size and shape they are partially exposed to the environment causing the plastic to break down quite rapidly.We replaced one [...]
Warmer weather and protein pancakes
This weekend we had our first breakfast of the year on our deck. It's finally warming up! And to celebrate the occasion I made Protein Pancakes. They taste great topped with honey or fresh fruit. Full of energy from our hearty breakfast we spent the rest of the day scrubbing and waxing the boat. Protein Pancakes Ingredients: 1 cup cottage cheese 2 egg whites 1 [...]
San Juan Islands Sailing, 2009
Last summer we took a week to sail around in the San Juan Islands. This area is the perfect destination for our small sailboat as it is well protected. We trailered Webfoot to Bellingham, which is about a four hour drive from Portland. We had been to the San Juan Island the year before with our much smaller (19') Potter and knew what to expect [...]
Homegrown Mushrooms
As we do every Saturday, we went to the farmers market this weekend. It was a gorgeous, sunny day and the market was buzzing with activity. We bought some fresh lamb, honey, lettuce, and tomatoes (yes, we can get tomatoes in April). We were about to buy some fresh mushrooms when I noticed an odd looking clump in the mushroom guy's display and asked him [...]
Composting Head
Note: This was the head on our previous boat, Webfoot, a MacGregor 26. While we no longer have a composting head we are happy to answer any questions, so feel free to send us an email. When we purchased Webfoot it came fully equipped with a used(!) porta-potty. Some of the parts were missing, so the blue liquid (also kindly included) would slosh out if [...]
Why did we choose Webfoot?
This is a question that I have wondered about many times while spending yet another Saturday working on the boat in the driveway. It was around this time last year that we were narrowing our choices of boats to replace our beloved West Wight Potter that we had sold down the river the previous fall. The old saying that the happiest day of owning a [...]
Chicken, Chard, and Chocolate
Tonight's dinner was definitely one for the books. Amazingly moist chicken with colorful rainbow chard. For desert nearly-no-sugar oatmeal cookies. Chicken Oven to 450° Cut a pocket into the chicken breast and fill with olive tapenade and mozarella cheese. Lay chicken into a shallow olive-oiled baking dish and sprinkle with goddess dressing and parmesan. Bake for about half and hour. Chard Separate the leaves from [...]
Medical Kit
I've been very preoccupied with putting together First Aid Kits - for the boat, the house and the cars. The photo below is of the current contents of our boat kit. There are countless sources online that will help in putting together a great medical kit for every imaginable use - ranging from weekend to offshore use. We certainly don't plan on going offshore in our tiny [...]
The Greatest Cleaner
I scrubbed my little hands raw this weekend cleaning the boat after a long, wet Oregon winter. Webfoot was covered in green slime and I've been dreading cleaning day. After reading about Bar Keepers Friend on another website I got the inspiration I needed to get me going. First I tried it on our kitchen sink and shower in the house. After noticing that the stuff [...]
Our Favorite Boat Snack
Meals on board are always a nice time to just sit back, relax, and enjoy the sail or scenery. One of our favorite boat snacks (it's a meal really) is crackers with cheese and salami. It's quick and easy, creates hardly any dishes, and the "consumer" can get creative in decorating their crackers. Add a variety of yummy mustards or dips to make each bite [...]
Garbage Can Potatoes
We love potatoes! Yes, yes, I know, waaaay too many carbs. I try to replace them with mashed parsnips or celery root but my captain won't hear of it. Must be his northern European roots. So this year we are trying to grow our own. In a holey garbage can! Basically you are supposed to fill the can about half way with some nice organic [...]
The boat before The Big Boat
Our current boat is 26 feet long and sits on a trailer in our driveway. This is our (second) practice boat. The one we can afford to make more mistakes on. We bought it with the name of Webfoot which suits us just fine. It is a sail-/motor-boat, which means it doesn't do either one of those functions very well. It has a 50 horse [...]
Hawaii…
We stayed on the island for ten glorious days, but my favorite day was spent renting a kayak and paddling across Kealakekua Bay to go snorkeling. It is said that below the Captain Cook Monument is the best snorkeling on the island. Here is our favorite photo taken with our underwater camera.
The search for the perfect cookie
Since we've sworn off nearly everything deemed unhealthy (sugar, flour, you name it), the other captain has really been missing his cookies. I've been doing a lot of experimentation and have finally found a recipe that seems to satisfy his cravings. These are also great dipped into some melted cocoa. I found this pure, organic, sugar-free cocoa powder. Coconut Macaroons 1-1/4 cups unsweetened shredded coconut [...]
Happy New Year
We had a wonderful New Year's! We drove up to Seattle and stayed at our favorite hotel on Lake Union. We enjoyed our last dinner in 2009 at Branzinos and then watched the fireworks shooting out of the Space Needle! In all the years I have lived in the Pacific Northwest I had no idea how awesome those fireworks are. Definitely worth weathering the cold [...]
Florida Charter – Day 16
We departed Sanibell Island with the rising sun and sailed to Cayo Costa State Park for our last night aboard. What a beautiful place. We finally got to see a manatee! We celebrated our last night with the best margaritas this side of the border! The recipe is below and can be found on GalleySwap - our recipe sharing community. The next morning we pulled [...]
Florida Charter – Day 15
We did the same drill as the morning before however this time we retraced our path to Big Marco Pass to get back to the Gulf. The wind was on the nose the whole day and we motored and then we motored some more and then motored some more after that. Thankfully the small diesel engine purrs softly and with the fifteen to twenty knot [...]
Florida Charter – Day 14
There was a light fog in the morning and we got up early. It was warm without the wind and I dove into the water and swam for the beach. The place was deserted and with the fog we could not see the hi rise condos on Big Marco. It was almost like being out there... somewhere without the experience we had yesterday with the [...]
