Lots of Sailing

Even with SPF 45, I fried after this 2 hour sailing trip...

Benny loves Latitudes & Attitudes too.
The pet article of course.


We're determined to leave Palacios by Sept 25th (the same day we left Oregon in 2006).

Our goals rely on our haulout, installing water tanks and a propane tank for the stove and to stock up a cruising 'kitty' before we leave for 3 months of cruising.


We went to the Rockport Nautical Flea Market last Saturday. The car drove there well. The market was not very good, there was mostly crafts and antique stuff and fishing gear. But it was nice to get out of town and have a Starbucks coffee. :) We did end up getting a 12v fan to install in the salon (main cabin). We need at least 2 to 3 more.


I am part of the South Texas Coastal Beading Society with Ann and Rebecca. Last weekend, I built a website for us and a local couple donated an apartment for the guild to use for beading and crafts. We have our first meeting on Friday and are excited to finally have everyone get together to bead, do clay and craft. The new website I built is http://www.sotxcbs.weebly.com/


I have been continuing to create with polymer clay. I have made some jewelry and am really enjoying this new media!































Ann, Rebecca and I had a contest for making clay Love Bugs (A HUGE pest here in Texas). This was my entry. None of could decide who's was best, they were all SO cute!!















I went into Victoria with Rebecca and her daughter, Emily, last week. That was fun. It is always nice to get out of town. We went to the mall but it didn't feel right being in a mall. I felt very out of place. But we had a lot of fun there and at Hobby Lobby which is a huge craft store, similar to Michaels but bigger.

We have taken the boat out a couple times since our last post. S/V (sailing vessel) Sparrow was also out and we tracked her down and sailed back to the marina with her in wonderful winds. She is a 38 Morgan, beautiful. The owner is selling her and he had taken our friend, John, out with him to try her out. It was a blast to sail with another boat and we both got great pics of each other!



I LOVE this picture!

The weekend before, we also went sailing and had a pod of 5 dolphins swim with us!!! It was awesome! We were cruising at 7.2 mph, and even hit 7.8 mph which is her hull speed. We were pleased that she averaged 6.5 easily. Benevolence is a smooth, fast S/V!































Brett has been getting the canvas done. He has the dodger and bimini up and almost completed. Next, he'll build the weather cloths for the cockpit to protect us from spray. We will need to buy more fabric to finish a new mainsail cover and a forsail cover.

It's Been Awhile...

Sorry it's been so long since I've written updates. As you can see, Benny is settling in puuuurrrrrfectly...












































We have ended up with a car for me to drive around. It seems to run really good and it is so nice to have something to drive around!


We have discovered a windvane to purchase from another boat friend that we are so excited about.



Brett has gotten the dodger built (the windshield for the cockpit). The sunbrella we ended up with is light purple. He is building a bimini right now- We have one (the blue canvas in all the pictures) but it is old and has micro holes in it. We are redoing all the canvas in this light purple sunbrella. It's not pretty but very functional and very inexpensive due to the color of it. Once we repaint the hull white have all the canvas purple, it will look much better than it does now. We laugh so much as we have a blue hull, yellow windows, a red wind generator and purple canvas. LOL We've already been named "The Palacios Plum" which I will draw a picture of on her bow when we are done.














Brett has done a lot more mini projects to make our cruising more pleasant. He has installed a paper plate dispenser, 12v fan, kerosene lantern and many other small items. I stained our basket weave plates to match our boat. That was fun. Except I got stain splatter all over the cockpit!! OOPS!!! I also had wrapped the compression post with ropework.


















We have made the decision to head toward the Yucatan rather than the Bahamas. We will go up to Galveston and then cut South down to the Yucatan. We are hoping to start cruising the end of this year, Sept/Oct/Nov, after the hurricane season.
























































































We were also able to purchase and install our binnacle compass.



I went to a gem show Sunday before last with some coworkers of mine (Ann and Rebecca) and their three daughters. It was a lot of fun. We ate at two nice restaurants (La Madeline for breakfast and Cheesecake Factory for dinner). We went to Michael's before the show and bought a bunch of beads and clay before the gem show. I had never tried polymer clay jewelry and with the sale, I picked up several blocks and the tools needed to get me started. I have since done three different batches of jewelry and pens. I LOVE it. Very artsy and fun. I also plan on making a plaque for the head to match the handpainted Mexican sink to hang over the towel bar. I only use a toaster oven to bake the clay. Since we aren't getting a microwave, I justified a small toaster oven. :) I had to really play it up that I could make toast to get my oven but it worked. HEE HEE ;0) The clay is much cheaper than gemstones and a lot more work but I like it a lot. I still bought a ton of pearls from the gem show and can't wait to make more jewelry with it.

































I am trying to gear up my jewelry online again. We will not be showing anymore due to lack of space on the boat.

We have only sailed two times since my last post. We tried out the genoa and then the second time was just the main with a lot of chop out there on the water. The boat handles well in those conditions so far. We haven't tried her in heavier weather yet. Living aboard makes it difficult to properly store everthing when underway while we are still so unfinished (no drawers, cabinet doors, etc).

Hope everyone is well.

Good Timing and Desperate for a Sail

Last Saturday we headed toward the pump out station on Benevolence. The week before our gear cable for the transmission had broke so we couldn't pump out the holding station for a week. We ordered a new one and Brett installed it. So Saturday, we headed to the pumpout station next to the Bayhouse before the wind picked up. As I untied the lines, I noted that the water was very low. Brett felt confident that we had enough water to make it around the corner since we were floating at the dock.

Well, lol' and behold, we hit ground a few feet from the dock to the station. We spent about an hour trying to get Benevolence off the mud but she held tight. We tried to winch her free with Bill helping us but were only successful in digging her deeper. So we spent the day on the boat, 15 feet from the dock. We had many avenues to free ourselves with some effort but we decided to wait for high tide. We had nothing else planned other than motoring around the bay. So I read books and Brett installed our depth sounder and 12v lights. When is a better time to install your depth sounder than when you're grounded?! LOL

Bill with the yacht club, rowed over in his kayak and brought us fried chicken. We had all the food and water on our boat we could want but people kept asking us if we needed anything. We were finally able to shimmy off of the mud at 430. We tried again at 6pm to motor to the pump out station, this time me on land and Brett on the boat. He still couldn't make it in so we gave up the task for the day. Brett pumped out the boat the next day while I was at work.

On Tuesday, I came home for lunch and tucked a lot of gear away to hint to Brett that I wanted to go sailing after work. I was desperate to sail after work.

He picked me up from work and told me he had not even made it back to the boat before picking me up! When he found I had put everything away, we went ahead and went for an hour cruise that night. There wasn't hardly any wind but it was nice to escape and use the boat.

We got a compass for the binnacle yesterday. We are hoping to do a long sail on Saturday. We are hoping to plan an overnighter either anchored or moored soon, too.

We are steadily making progress to get our boat ready. We ordered a shore power cord along with the compass. I found some great 12v lights and he has installed all but one and the three flourescents. We still don't have cabinets or drawers but the baskets are working well for the food for now. We still have no propane hooked up either and have been eating out or cooking in the crockpot or grill.

I am trying to get back into jewelry. We are busy busy but things are going well. We are anxious to get going though. The thought of being here still for another 8 months makes me cringe. But it's for the best.

Brett grounded. Not Happy.

Brett sailing. That's better.

Hope everyone is doing well. Miss y'all and hope to hear from you soon.