Saturday, November 20, 2010

End of Season 2010

2010 was a very relaxing season #10 aboard Island Spirit with only 500 miles traveled. We decided to stay on the Chesapeake Bay all summer, and not sail up to New England like we have for the past 7 summers.

This allowed us to enjoy our local marina and also gave us time to re-discover the bay and the beauty of the Chesapeake waters. We are looking forward to next year, 2011 as we will return to New England and also enjoy some very adventurous ocean sailing!

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

TannerMan Pirate Man

We had many FUN adventures with TannerMan Pirate Man and Electrical Engineer Dad as they arrived Annapolis, MD from the HOT dry desert of Phoenix AZ. Little did we all know the fun that was to unfold in the days ahead. Upon arrival, we immediately prepared for the Pirate Adventures in Annapolis putting on our best Pirate Gear.

TannerMan IS....TannerMan PirateMan and ready to plunder any and all ships!

Radeen locates more Pirate gear and helps out

Off we go to Pirate Adventures with faces ready for battle

Smelly Pete was soaked and the keys to the treasure were found
Haul up the treasure chest TannerMan!

After Pirate Adventures, it was story time with the Librarian

Off to the US Naval Academy Tour

Sailing from Annapolis bound for Rock Hall

TannerMan setting a new fishing record, 16 perch in 24 hrs!
This is fish #4, we released all caught
PS: Dad and the Captain could NOT catch a single fish!!! WHAT?

Daily duties required raising the US FLAG and morning Pledge
Happy 4th of July

Enjoying the wonderful Parade down main street

Tubing time for Mark and Tanner

The Chesapeake 22' tubing and fishing boat

Every Pirate needs to know how to crab in the AM

Sunset harbor cruising on Chessie

the Schwabbie earns his new rank of Third Mate and Dinghy Captain
by taking the dinghy out for a full creek tour
Chessie gets her christening name and signal flags

A wonderful family visit and a sunset over the bow!

Tuesday, June 29, 2010

Our Fleet

The FLEET is LAUNCHED! Since we are staying in our home port this summer and not sailing off to New England or Maine, we decided to launch out “Chesapeake 22” power boat and dock it next to Island Spirit! This will provide endless hours of tubing, harbor cruises, IP yacht photography and maybe even some Stripe Bass Fishing. We bought this boat back in 1999 when the stock market was on a tear, and we made a few quick trades and sure enough, we landed this boat. She has been under a shrink wrap for the past two summers, but this spring, we hired Mr. Miller, of Miller Marine Services to bust her out, service her and get her back in the water for 2010. She is running better than ever, she has a 115 HP Mariner Outboard on an extended arm called a strong arm which makes here seem longer. She cruises easily at 32 Knots and will pull a two man tube as well. We can be in Baltimore or Annapolis faster than by car, but mainly we just play locally. So if you are in the area, sailing by we will come out and take some high quality digital photographs of your Island Packet Yacht. Give us a call or an email....Maybe you will make our Island Packet Sailing Calendar!

Here are some photos of “our Fleet”

We have the END SLIPS, so it's a great place to play

This is Chessie
It is a "Chesapeake 22", it is our Photo Platform and "fun" boat.

Radeen loves taking Chessie out for a sunset cruise
Next....we launch the TUBE....as soon as Mark & Tanner Man from AZ get here!

Monday, June 21, 2010

Summer SailStice June 2010

SummerSailStice was a great weekend and Island Spirit was out for the adventure. SailStice is the closest weekend to the summer solstice and you are to go sailing and share your adventures. So, we participated and here is our video to prove it.
For info on this world wide event please see...
http://www.summersailstice.com/

Island Spirit Sailing, Chesapeake Bay June 2010

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Season #10 begins!

It is about time we get this blog back up and running after a long cold winter with 3 blizzards! Now, after 2 months of prep work we are finally launched and in the slip. This year we replaced the entire sewer system with new hoses, new holding tank, and a new PHII head. We also decided to try another "science" project with the bottom paint. Since we use Pettit Trinidad hard bottom paint, we decided to see if it really will NOT work if we do not repaint. The company says it will not work if in the yard over the winter! OK, prove it. So, we painted only one foot down from the waterline on both sides and then as a control side, we sanded the rest of the bottom. But, we only sanded one side leaving the other side untouched. My idea is that the copper is still there and sanding will expose new anti-fouling. The untouched side will be our control side, so we will have all options covered for this study. We only used one quart this year! Worst case, we hire a diver to clean it. We will see.

This year, we plan to stay on the Chesapeake Bay all summer and rediscover the beauty of the home waters. Next year we will return to our favorite area, New England and Maine! Here are some photos of our work.
Radeen always helps with everything!

Of course she gets Flowers & Chocolates for Easter....while she paints!
Our "Science" project, painting 1 foot, and going with old
Working the Teak, note cover left on an extra 4 weeks!
New Plumbing Installed, new Odor Safe Plus, new tank, new PHII
Finally, after 4 weeks of yard work, we are LAUNCHED

WELCOME to SEASON #10 of Island Spirit Sailing Adventures!

Our Goals for this year:
  1. Re-discover the Chesapeake Bay
  2. Enjoy our marina and home town
  3. Launch the 22' T-top 125hp fishing boat and pull Radeen on the tube, she loves this!
  4. Share our sailing and boating passion with friends and family
  5. Dream of the Bahamas, Maine, and Block Island