SV Three Quarter Time

Hello All, Debbie and I had intended to write more often, however the lack of internet access has left us a little lazy.  I have a ton of stories stacked up inside my head waiting to get out.  Unfortunately without the instant gratification of posting the stories and receiving the feedback that every story teller craves, we have left those stories untold.  We are in a beautiful little harbor literally in downtown Seattle.  You would think that WiFi would be a given and to some extent it is.  It appears that a fluke with the harbors setup has left the system wanting.  As the tide lowers and rises, we go in and out of the WiFi repeaters range...strange no?  During the course of our travels, most of which has been in largely unpopulated Alaska/Canada, when we have stopped in we find that the WiFi is often available, but it has such a poor broadcast it rarely makes it out past the first few docks regardless of where we have been.  That is the long version of saying that to post we genera

Many of you are aware that our family experienced several losses after Paul and I began  our sailing adventure.  A grandson, a brother-in-law, and then on August 9th, my father Henry.  On the day he passed, I was out on the deck of TQT photographing humpback whales, one came extremely close during the moment my father left us.  I was able to fly back to the East coast to say good-bye to my dad (his burial was two weeks ago today) and be with family and friends.  I would like to share with you the eulogy I wrote for my dad. On behalf of Cora, Bernadette, and myself, I'd like to thank you all for coming out today to say our final good-bye to my dad. My dad was one of those guys that always appreciated a good joke, considered his friends as family, and knew the value of a hard days work. Many of you know that I moved to Alaska right after high school, so most of my fondest memories of my dad are from my childhood. There is a time period many of us referred to as Dad'

During our travels we have learned many new skillsets, the least of which is becoming better weather diviners than those we have regularly become accustomed trusting for that info.  Weather is so far our biggest concern.  A close second is tides, however we will leave that for another day.  Weather from miles away can and does affect the waves, wind, and our general comfort.  The mountains, passes, and glaciers etc., all have cause and effect on our weather.  With a little practice, all of the different scenarios can be stitched together with the information gleaned from the “cough” “cough” experts, to give some idea of our daily and extended forecasts. The one thing that we cannot predict is the fog.  Not so much that it will be there, but in what form… I have dealt with fog in many different forms and scenarios in the past, but have recently discovered that fog is alive.  It can be impressive and terrible all at the same time.  One such incident happened while Debbie and I wer

We left Valdez and motored-sailed non-stop, until we got to Yakutat 55 hours later. A big “Thank You” to Melissa and Kent Sonnek for the delicious wine and SeaSalt Caramel cheesecake! What a great send-off for the next segment of our journey.  No seasickness to report, or really bad weather either. Our only concern was that Sydney still isn't comfortable going “potty” on the boat. This led to not just one, but two beds with accidents on them, thus making it difficult for us to find a comfortable place to sleep during each “shift.” We had to settle on taking turns on the bench seat in the galley (main cabin). These shifts basically consisted of two hours of rest, not really sleep. So while Paul would take watch looking for other ships, debris, etc, I would lay down for two hours, 2.5 if he was able to let me sleep more and vice versa. We would then switch and then he would rest for 2 (+) hours while I kept watch. After a few of these shifts, I was reminded of the m

To all of you following our misadventures, this is a sad one.  Most of you have realized that our initial launch to cross the Gulf of Alaska has hit a few speed bumps or, if you rather, big waves.  If you were following our progress on the Delorme map, you could probably tell that our progress during our crossing from the Hinchenbrook Narrows was beginning to get rather slow.  Our attempt was severely diminished by the natural current pushing directly on our nose, coupled with the 30 to 35 knots of wind directly on our nose.  There were extreme gusts getting up near the 40's and then there were the waves occasionally coming over the bow and pilot house.  To make matters worse, I had become sea sick for the first time in my life.  All of that is the normal part of the trip and was not the worst of it.  Allow me to back up a few days. The first issue that plagued us was a broken-down truck.  The abridged version is as follows: we borrowed my dads truck as Debbie and I had sold bot

We are down to less than a week before casting off the lines in Valdez our home port. Everything has gone very well for us no major challenges, just nervous excitement. we leave Fairbanks for the foreseeable future on the 22nd of June. carrying with us the last few necessities and lots of food. Our intent is to spend a few days on the dock double checking everything on the boat. This first leg of our trip will be the longest we spend at sea for the next year.  what do we mean by the longest? when we get to Juneau we will spend the majority of the next year in relatively protected waters. However to get to Juneau we will spend several days at sea in the Gulf of Alaska. while this may not sound like a big deal it is, this area of the Gulf has little to no place to run if bad weather rears its ugly head. In addition to lack of cover there are no little ports to pull into if there is a mechanical break down. We expect this to be one of the best parts of the trip as well. most folks will si

We have been having several garage sales over the last two months in order to lighten our load.  We had the final sale, which we renamed "moving sale," last weekend.  We still had so much stuff left over afterwards.  We truly have been blessed with the material things we've collected over the last so-many-years.  We have now begun the process of giving everything away that we can't store or take onto SVTQT.  This is a harder task than one would think.  "Hey, want a free tempered-glass dining room set that seats five?"  Um "sorry, we don't have room."  It's a little disheartening that we can't even give stuff away sometimes.  But such is life.  To the "Recycle Area" of the transfer site goes a LOT of our belongings.  Actually, many items were given to family and friends, many to the Women's Shelter, and a LOT went to several of the homeless people that Debbie photographed (with permission) for her final project at the Unive

Welcome from TQT, Debbie and I are down to 39 days before we move onto Three Quarter Time for the foreseeable future. We are very excited, I will be taking a quick trip to Valdez this weekend to do some minor maintenance.  I will start delivering some of the items from our house to the boat in an effort to make it more of a home. i.e photos, clothing nick knacks etc. One of the big challenges for us is what to take.  I have read countless blogs and books on the subject. There appears to not be a sound consensus. Some have a mind-set like myself.  If it does not have a purpose it does not go. I suppose in my mind that means one thing, in someone else's mind it means another.  For instance what does purpose mean? I feel it is an obvious statement; it is not apparent. My mind states that if it does not have form and function to keep us alive and the boat floating, or moving in a direction, it's not functional. My better half might suggest that functional keeps you warm and com

Happy New Year to one and all!  We are counting down the final months until our grand voyage, and couldn't think of a better way to end the old year, and start the new, than with friends and family.  We are so blessed to be in the company of so many wonderful people.  It will be quite difficult to remove ourselves from the daily surroundings which currently bring us comfort and security.  But new adventures await, and we have to set sail while our bodies are still relatively young. That being said, we are keeping our first post short and sweet.  We wish you all love, joy, peace, good health, and adventures in the next year to come. Paul, Debbie, & Sydney.