Chihuly Birthdays Boats Brokers

What a wonderful day, celebrating Radeen's 60th birthday with Alan and Kathy of IP420 Flatlander! Alan's birthday is also in March and we were happy to celebrate together again. We shared fond memories of Alan's Spanish Cay birthday a few years ago. Radeen thoroughly enjoyed her Moet & Chandon Imperial champagne, parmesan shrimp over angel hair pasta and creme brulee. It was a day to remember!

We have become too busy to blog! I used to blog every day or two. Now, I am running around touring the fantastic Miami area, taking in the sights, showing yachts, gathering with Island Packet Owners, renting cars, and provisioning the boat with the hopes of taking the NEXT weather window to the Bahamas. We have enjoyed several more IP mini-vous on the porch at Coconut Grove with IP380 Shawnee, IP380 Tamarak, IP38 Oceana, IP31 Pepromenon and IP27 Time Goes By. We also caught up with S&J yacht brokers, Michele and Jim for dinner and had breakfast in Tampa with our friend, Blaine, but have no photos to prove it!

Our original IP flotilla (IP440 Emerald Isle, IP420 Flatlander and IP38 Holiday) sailed over while we supported our yacht listing, showing a beautiful IP35 to my Rock Hall broker friend Jim and his buyers. Driving to Tampa is 5 hours from Miami but we enjoyed the time spent showing the boat, reconnecting with Jim and meeting the potential buyers. We stayed at Craig's condo and had a fun time visiting and catching up with him and Liana.

This has been a very breezy winter with lots of east wind and very few opportunities to sail to the Bahamas. We planned to be here in Miami all of February with boat shows and our Denmark friends visiting to present seminars about their Arctic sailing, Now it is mid March and we are still here in Miami. Not a bad thing, as we do love it here, but we are looking for a weather window to move over to the Abacos. We plan to spend March, April and part of May in the Abacos. Now if we can only get the boat ready and a few items fixed and find the winds to allow us to cross, we will make the jump over.

Here are some photos to catch up on over the past three weeks.

Oops....ran out of fuel, towboat and mega yacht

Touring Fort Lauderdale homes

Hayden, Radeen, Kathy and Alan of IP420 Flatlander

Dale Chihuly glass and Butterflies at Fairchild Botanical Gardens

Butterfly in the enclosure at Fairchild. This is the same butterfly as the next photo!

This butterfly is nearly invisible on a wooden log with its wings closed.

Chihuly exhibit on the water

My favorite Chihuly photo

Happy Birthday Radeen, champagne celebration at The Charthouse

This is the Weather window we let go, full moon rising at sunset

WYS mobile office, Miami, Hayden works every where

At "the Office" working :-)

Rental car upgrade, Chevy Malibu LTS, for 4 days to run to Tampa

South Beach Wallcast, again, this time Bach and Vivaldi Coffeehouse, a fantastic night

Haul out and survey of the IP35 we have listed, such a beautiful yacht

Survey and Sailing the IP 35 we have listed. Brand new sails

Wawa has made it to Florida, YAHOO, love their coffee!

Road Trip, driving Miami to Tampa to Miami, via The Everglades

Bumped into Boat Buddies Bob and Nina at West Marine....AGAIN!

Nothing left to buy in Miami, it is all on Island Spirit

Radeen buying even more provisions and trying to store it all on the boat

Melges 20 World Regatta this week with 45 boats and many well-known sailors

Working at my local coffee shop

We always enjoy this sculpture at the local school

21.2 amps coming into the boat via solar

12.96 volts on the house bank

522 Amp Hours of a 525 amp hour bank = FULL

Boat runs on wind and solar power

Saturday winds, 20-25 knots and not SE, but ESE, this would be a beat
with winds 40 degrees off the starboard bow

Sunday winds, lighter, but a little more SE
This would be a motor sail....yet again!

The hardest part of any trip is LEAVING the comfort and safety of port. Trying to figure out the winds and sea state for a gulf stream crossing is a real challenge.

Play the Weather Router Game yourself, and look at this link. Use the GFS winds and look at the winds. Then look at the waves. When would you cross????

http://passageweather.com/index.htm?http%3A//passageweather.com/maps/florida/mappage.htm