We’re rocketing down the Chesapeake Bay in storm conditions of 55 knot winds and huge waves. Then our rig makes a sound like a gun shot and we scramble to asses the damage before we hit a lee shore…..

After finishing our mini-refit in Annapolis we set sail under calm, beautiful conditions. Our destination is Little Creek, Virginia where we’ll stop and prepare to round the notorious Cape Hatteras. On our 2nd day out the conditions build throughout the day and by afternoon we find ourselves in terrible winds with huge following seas. The winds are a solid 40 knots with gusts to 55 knots. Things go sideways when we get hit by a combination of a wind shift and a large breaking sea that causes our jib to backwind and smashes our downwind pole into Delos. With a lee shore ahead we need to asses the damage and get some sail up to get into a protected anchorage.

Many hugs and hope you liked the video! Brian, Karin and little Sierra

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How do we prepare for an offshore passage? In this episode we go through our thoughts on weather and food prep to make our lives easier at sea.

After getting knocked around by a storm in the Chesapeake we get outta dodge by pulling into an anchorage, but the damage is already done. With a damages railing, pole, and the crew’s nerves a little rattled we pull into Cobbs Marina in Virginia to prepare for the next passage. After inspecting the rigging and bending back our railing as best as possible Kazza prepares her famous pulled pork recipe to keep the crew morale up for the next leg of the journey around Cape Hatteras!

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“Delos. Delos. This is Cannonball on 16. Do you copy?” Never, ever did we expect to be hailed by Navy Seahawk Chopper in the middle of the ocean. But here we were offshore, speaking to the pilot of this amazing aircraft. “Cannonball- This is Delos. Please switch to channel 69, the Pleasure Channel” It turns out that the pilot and crew followed our videos and just happened to be doing a routine training mission around Cape Hatteras and the Outer Banks. It was an incredibly exhilarating experience to have such a powerful machine circling Delos, with the downwash from the rotor hammering our sails! Shortly after we find ourselves rounding the Notorious Cape Hatteras, AKA The Graveyard of the Atlantic in the middle of the night. With favorable conditions we make short work of the Cape and safely make an entrance into anchorage just outside Beaufort, NC. Another passage in the books!

Many hugs and hope you liked the video! Brian, Karin and little Sierra

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Lately the weather has been kicking our butts, so we decide to take a two day weather window and set out from Beaufort, NC on a 220 mile sail to Charleston, SC. As usual, the forecast turns for the worse and we find ourselves beating into 30 knots for a little while. During night watch I have an unfortunate wind shift which catches our downwind pole and literally launches it into the ocean. Oh man, that’s going to be an expensive thing to get built…. We make it into Charleston before the next blow comes through and are safely tied to a dock which allows me to fix a few things we broke on the sail down before we continue on to St. Augustine Florida!

Many hugs and hope you liked the video! Brian, Karin and little Sierra

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Warm, sunshiny vibes beaming your way! We wake up to an incredibly beautiful morning in St. Augustine, Florida. Baby Nugs is mesmerized by the sight of her feet without socks, and Kazza and I are just as happy as well :). We take some time to explore St. Augustine and the historic fort standing guard over the river entrance. With only one sail remaining to see my family we set sail overnight. Destination – West Palm Beach!

Many hugs and hope you liked the video! Brian, Karin and little Sierra

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“It’s a Manatee!!! The first one I’ve seen!” Kazza shouts with excitement. We just arrived in West Palm Beach, Florida and wake up to a beautiful and calm morning. We decide to take Baby Nugs to the beach to eat some sand, and while hanging out Kazza spots a Manatee just off the beach. After playtime is over I troubleshoot our alternator on the trusty Volvo that mysteriously stopped working on the passage down the coast. I don’t have any luck, and will have to order parts and finish that one up another day. Kazza decides to go shopping, leaving me in charge of Sierra for the afternoon which means we end up watching the police boat bust people, then head into the yacht club to eat some mud. Finally we sail Delos down to Ft. Lauderdale and go on the hunt for a dock space that can accomodate us which means shoving a paddle board inside my dad’s Camry and heading out on a mission with our portable depth sounder. Lot’s of funny things going on in this one!

Many hugs and hope you liked the video! Brian, Karin and little Sierra

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“How are you feeling?” Kazza asks my dad. His reply- “With my hands! That’s a Grandpa-ism…”. And that pretty much describes having my dad, Papa SV Delos, onboard for a cruise through the iconic Intracoastal Waterway. In this episode we transit the ICW from Ft. Lauderdale to Boca Raton, doing our best to avoid hitting any bridges and running aground! With a mast height of nearly 70 feet we need to open all 10 bridges along the way. It’s never a dull moment onboard with my dad and his antics!

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In a freak accident I lost our entire downwind whisker pole overboard. And now I get to build one from scratch. The big question- how much will it cost?

The cruisers code is kind of like the Good Samaritan law, except at sea! We begin this episode by helping our friends Bill & Grace on  @Calico Skies Sailing  sort out a problem with their fuel. After clogging 17 filters on the trip south I decided to pitch in and help them sort out the problem. Plus, it’s always fun working someone else’s boat 🙂

With Calico Skies in good shape we turn our eyes towards our own projects and move Delos to a friends dock in Boca Raton. We have a pretty fat project list, with building a new downwind whisker pole topping the list. The poles used on Delos are a custom design and not available off the shelf so I need to create a carbon copy of the pole I lost from scratch. After sourcing the raw materials I spend some time running from the metal warehouse to the machine shop to the fabricator. At least we’re making progress…..

Many hugs and hope you liked the video! Brian, Karin and little Sierra

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Our autopilot has steered us true, but now with over 100,000 miles on her it’s time to upgrade. Time to tackle some boat projects and prepare Delos for the next season offshore!

Our autopilot is crucial for our survival offshore, more so now than ever as watching The Little Nugget means Kazza is a single mom and I’m a single handed sailor at sea. We’ve put nearly 80,000 NM on Delos and the previous owner did 30,000 NM so it’s time to replace this crucial piece of gear. We start out by replacing the linear drive, then work our way forward with a new sensor pack, computer, and control head.

Amongst the boat projects we find time to do another crucial task- start Sierra’s swimming lessons! Last but not least we give the outside of Delos a little TLC making her hull glisten and replacing some of the original stickers from the start of the trip.

The big question- will we be able to stay until the work is finished or will the neighbors complain about a makeshift boatyard operation in their canal?

Many hugs and hope you liked the video! Brian, Karin and little Sierra

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After being reported to the planing and zoning commission we’re asked to leave our dock! It doesn’t matter though because it’s the perfect time to leave having finished most of our projects. With a canal width of 60 feet and Delos being 56 feet including the solar arch and anchor it doesn’t leave much room for a maneuver. We anchor in Lake Boca for the night, and after literally bumping into our friends on Calico Skies we decide to head south to HollyWood, FL to anchor right behind Papa SV Delos’s condo. I finally finish the downwind poles and just like that we are ready to hit the high seas! Destination- The Florida Keys.

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Delos feels like a dog let off her leash on the open ocean! With all our projects complete we hoist sail and set sail for the Florida Keys. Nothing feels better than crossing that last project off your list, stocking the boat with provisions, and heading out to sea. We set off for the first of the Florida Keys, Key Biscayne. Upon entering the pass we see a number of dilapidated structures built on stilts. It turns out this is called Stiltsville and people will do just about anything to gamble and drink out of the eyes of the authorities. After exploring the history of Stiltsville we get invited to go dive the USS Spiegel Grove, a 500 foot Korean War era landing craft docking ship that was sunk as an artificial reef. Diving on nitrox we have an amazing dive and get back into the groove of breathing underwater. Soon enough it’s time to head south, closer to our final destination in the Keys- The Dry Tortugas!

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At the very end of the Florida Keys lies an isolated paradise that is one of the smallest and most remote national parks in the US! The Dry Tortugas lie about 70 miles from Key West. We’d heard a lot of hype from other cruisers over the years so we decided to see it for ourselves. We set sail in the early morning on a 140NM, overnight sail from Rodriguez Key to make landfall early the next morning and the view at sunrise did not disappoint! We were greeted by crystal clear water and the immense Fort Jefferson looming on the horizon. Join us as we explore this incredibly well conserved area and learn about the strategic importance of Fort Jefferson to protect a fledgling America’s shipping interests.

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There’s nothing quite like realizing you’re the only souls on an entire island! In this episode we continue our exploration of the magical and remote dry tortugas. After a great nights sleep Kazza decides to take the paddle board out for a spin in the calm and sunny conditions and paddles right over a nurse shark. The shark isn’t spooked at all and she gets some great shots of it swimming under her. After taking care of our daily boat chores, like cleaning the bottom, we decide to go breath underwater and take Maggie out to the Wind Jammer Wreck. It’s an amazing experience to scuba dive such a huge sailboat from the era of working cargo sailing ships. The visibility is AMAZING and we’re surrounded by barracudas, schools of fish, and some incredibly healthy coral! After our dive we take Maggie out to Loggerhead Key and find ourselves completely along with the entire island, lighthouse, and beach to ourselves. The Little Nugs is in her element and absolutely loves exploring the beach while we take turns snorkeling. The weather takes a shift and we batten down the hatches for a 3 day blow where the winds are hitting 30 knots. We sit good and comfortable after moving Delos to a more protected spot. Finally, Brian goes on a night time-lapse mission and gets some incredible shots of the stars rotating behind Fort Jefferson!

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