Baby Steps

We jetted down to Houston for Easter weekend with The Family and had a chance to spend Friday night aboard Kaleo. Staying on the boat was exciting but I kept getting up in the night to check our dock lines. Even though they've held un-watched for the last month, I was still nervous about them. I also added to the project list as the foot of the v-berth needs to be extended as the top of my head was right on the edge.

If I could choose one word to describe the experience it would be "silent". The whole evening was so quiet and we were still in the middle of a city. I can't wait to hear (or not hear anything) when we are on the hook (that means anchored out, surrounded only by water).

Saturday we spent some time messing about and received an excellent house warming/wedding gift of a new Kuuma grill for the aft rail. This was a gracious gift from Craig, Christie's father. We plan to get it installed next time and give it a try.

We also motored out to the mouth of the Kemah cut then turned around (Christie had to get back for a spa appointment). It was lots of fun, or so I thought until I saw the pictures that Christie's mom took. I look stressed out! Yet backing out of and pulling into the slip went superbly, I must still have some beginners luck on me. We tied her up and once again were sad to leave.

Transparent Canoe

I would really like to have this.

Joyful Owners of Kaleo!

With all the buzz about buying our little ship and moving her to the new marina, we forgot to mention that we picked a name for her: Kaleo (ka-lay-o) which is a Greek word from the New Testament. It has a few meanings depending on the context of the verse but overall it means there is a sense of privilege that is bestowed on believers who were once far away, who are now given a new status in the Lord. There is also a sense of mission. This isn't a list; it's a responsibility of carrying out a life of service that is contrasted to the ways of the world. It is also a sense of permanency. Once a believer is called, there is a sense of completion by the hand of God.

Here are a few verses that support the above write-up from our pastor, Chris McGregor.

• "To call to a Participation in the Privileges of the Gospel" - Romans 8:30, 9:24; 1 Cor 1:9, 7:18
• "And those he predestined, he also called; and those he called, he also justified; and those he justified, he glorified." - Romans 8:30
• "even us, whom he has called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?" - Romans 9:24
• "God is faithful, by whom you were called into fellowship with his son, Jesus Christ our Lord." - 1 Cor 1:9

The dog that caught the bus ...

We did it! We bought a boat! She is the one in the picture above, being piloted by the former owner in the Harvest Moon Race.

It was an exciting Saturday: Sea trial, paperwork, pulling the raw water impeller, our first grounding, a near perfect docking by me (beginners luck) and leaving her for a speedy return to Dallas. I will follow up with all the details but until then I have to think about what I just got us into!

The Survey

We just got back to Dallas from Houston (Dayton actually) & are headed off to bible study with the McKinney Ave Group. We had a successful survey on Saturday, hauling our future (and yet to be named) home for a complete inspection. On Friday evening we drove down to Christie's parents house, getting in around midnight. A quick six hour nap & we were headed down to Seabrook to meet our surveyor. Drake Epple, from Perry's Marine Survey came highly recommended & has helped immensely throughout the whole process. He actually looked this vessel over when we first viewed her a few weeks ago and was impressed then. A full day began with hauling her out of the water ...... looking her over from the bottom up, including Drake snapping photos for his survey report.

After a few hours down the salon (while Christie practiced napping in the V-berth), we wrapped the day up by an inspection of the mast head and rigging. That involved me going up the mast (voluntarily) in about 30 knots of wind.

Unfortunately it was a little too windy to go for a sea trial as we don't own the boat yet and didn't want to break anything. So, it's another drive to Seabrook in two weeks so we can take her for a sail, sign the paper work and move her to our new slip.

The biggest decision we now face is what to name her ...

The Search

We spent many a weekends among the marinas of Galveston Bay, Lake Grapevine, Seattle and more perusing potential sailboats.

A Tool For The Hunt

In our search to find the 'right' cruising sailboat, we created these business cards to help connect us with any and all potential matches. Vistaprint is a great resource to use to make free cards like these (+ $6 shipping). We handed them out to anyone who would take them ... to everyone we knew, along the marinas we'd visit, posted them on marina bulletin boards & restrooms, etc. They led to a few calls & were great for new contacts, but ultimately we found our beloved Kaleo through Carolyn at HSH Yachts in Seabrook. We highly recommend working with her in a search!

Golden in the Gold Rush Regatta!

An outstanding 1st place finish in the Gold Rush Regatta with our sailing mentors and friends, Tim and Diann, at the Grapevine Sailing Club. We are beyond grateful for them helping us to 'learn the ropes’ aboard their beautiful Beneteau First 235, "Coquette".

Shopping Sails & Sparklies

Started the day with a little time "house" shopping before visiting Kelly & sweet baby Nico while browsing a few sparklie designs at Pampillonia.

Winning Weekend

Thrilling, competitive 1st place finish sail race this evening with Matt, Tim & Diane aboard Coquette on Lk. Grapevine!

Sailing Before the Storm

Great, but short afternoon on the water! After serving this morning we headed out to Lk Grapevine to meet up with our captain & admiral, Tim & Diann aboard s/v Coquette. It was the kick-off of the summer race series but was called due to thunderstorms as we were tacking up to the start line. Ah, well ... another race in a couple weeks :o)

Reluctantly Returning

We woke up to our last morning aboard Thalia today and with heavy hearts we dingied ashore to return to land life. What a treat it has been to share this experience and we are so grateful to Lisa & Kirk for their generous hospitality, enlightening conversation & patience with our endless questions about their incredible lifestyle.
Spent the afternoon in D.C. walking the National Mall & Memorial Parks.
Meandered through the Smithsonian & caught a 3-D IMAX show
At just about the farthest walking point from where we parked, we got caught in a pretty rough thunderstorm. With a mix of running, walking to catch our breath, & laughing at the ridiculousness of it all - we returned to the car soaked like wet puppy dogs. Changed clothes, stopped for dinner, headed to the airport & slept like babies the entire flight home.

Downtown Annapolis

We spent the day exploring the "sailboat capital of the world", downtown Annapolis with Kirk and Lisa. We strolled through the local shops, made our way past "Ego Alley" and they treated us to lunch at McGarvey's along the city dock. We lounged on deck this evening with a stack of "TravelTopics" questions, learned more about each other, enjoyed the conversation and read as the sun set.

Sailing Along

Another glorious day of sailing The Chesapeake Bay! We have so much respect and appreciation for Kirk and Lisa "showing us the ropes" (pun intended).

Exploring and Discovering

We woke up with daylight, shared morning greetings and breakfast, and even borrowed the dingy to row over to a little island we could see across the way. We spent the rest of the day learning, asking a zillion questions, and listening with intent to our Captain and Admiral :o)
Tonight, we anchored up in the Chester River. We took this pic of the moon looking up through the windows of our state room. A day and eve well spent!

All Aboard

An amazing beginning to our sailing excursion of the Chesapeake Bay! We started the day with a fun breakfast at Chick & Ruth's Delly in downtown Annapolis before meeting up with Lisa & Kirk at Weems Creek. We dingied out to tour the beautiful "Thalia" and put away our small amount of gear.
We then all dingied back to shore & headed into town for lunch & to Trader Joe's to stock up on "provisions". Once we returned to the boat & settled in, we set the sails & headed out past Thomas Point lighthouse toward our first night's anchoring near near High Island up the Hrode River.

I particularly enjoyed settling into our "state room" aboard "Thalia", sharing great conversation and a restful dinner in the salon, and lounging in the cockpit and deck taking in two spectacular shooting stars and seeing the orbiting satellites blazing across the clear night's sky.

Setting Sail

Aerial view of Annapolis, Maryland

We flew out with wide-eyes this evening for a vacation of sailing the Chesapeake Bay with our friends Lisa and Kirk. They were incredibly gracious to host and introduce us to their lifestyle living onboard their incredible and quite comfortable sailboat, Thalia.