Hazel was Pooped (third and final episode)
As a quick refresher to the mini series, we began Episode I with the phrase… The first thing you need to know is that the title is literal. It’s not some cute figure-of-speech that Hazel James was tired. It’s not some sophomoric, scatalogical humor that, like Jonah, Hazel was swallowed whole—but, unlike Jonah, she exited…
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Hazel was Pooped (episode II)
As we left the “caped” crusaders in the last episode it was 1500 hours (3:00 p.m.) on Sunday, October 10, 2021. Rhett and I had just passed south of Cape Charles and were entering the North Atlantic Ocean. The wind was blowing 20+ knots out of the north-northeast and the Coast Guard had posted a…
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Hazel was Pooped (episode I of a mini series)
The first thing you need to know is that the title is literal. It’s not some cute figure-of-speech that Hazel James was tired. It’s not some sophomoric, scatalogical humor that, like Jonah, Hazel was swallowed whole—but, unlike Jonah, she exited via the tail end of the leviathan. I mean that Hazel was nautically pooped. The…
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Stuck
Like all of us—in life, sometimes I just feel stuck. However, before you think, Uh oh, Dan’s depressed, hear me out. While the word “stuck” has a general negative connotation in the parlance of our times, it’s undeserved as a blanket sentiment. “Stuck” can be good when you consider some of its antonyms: unmoored, untethered,…
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Quick Update
Hi all! I apologize for getting behind with more in-depth posts. However, I’m trying to get better at staying somewhat up to date with brief travelogue posts on our satellite tracking page. I was having some technical difficulties with the service but i think I’ve got it resolved. Please do check in there often as…
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Haut Happiness
I apologize for the long absence in posting (I hope I’ve been missed!). It’s been a busy time aboard Hazel James on our way south as we visit historical and vibrant New England towns and cities, interleaved with days of challenging upwind sails into the the prevailing southwesterly winds. In addition, I’m trying to squeeze…
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Dear Addiction – Part II
In February 2020, when I was waiting in The Bahamas for a good weather window to start my single-handed sail to the Virgin Islands, I posted “Dear Addiction” (at the time I didn’t know there would be a Part II). If I can ask you for just a few extra minutes of your attention, please…
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The Next of the Subsequents
A little over a year ago I posted my thoughts about my struggles with the month of August and titled it The Last of the Firsts. It’s a catchy title; one that I couldn’t, and didn’t, take credit for. In the post I said: I was talking to a good friend about how I’ve been…
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Questioning Premises
I started this blog in December 2019 with the premises: It’s not a small world and time doesn’t fly. Now as I’m in the breech of August 2021, and what would have been the month of Colleen’s and my 31st anniversary and will be the second anniversary of her death, I’m questioning both of those…
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Venturing into Casco Bay
Good morning! Quick post to let all know that in the next hour we’ll be “dropping our mooring ball” in South Portland and departing Portland Harbor to explore Casco Bay for a week or so. Technically, we’re already in Casco Bay but, while we’ve loved our time in Portland and are planning a return visit…
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A Foggy Recollection
I am honest with myself and crew about long sailing passages (more than two nights). Along with the wonderful moments, I know there are going to be some tough times and some scary times. At the other end of the spectrum “daysails” tend to be easy since we’re picking our weather and the distance sailed…
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Brace for Impact!
OK, so I didn’t actually say those words, but I would have if I had more time to prepare—but I didn’t have that luxury. After an unforgettable 4th of July, complete with watching the town of Hyannis’ fireworks from Hazel’s cockpit, we decided to push on to Provincetown at the tip of Cape Cod. It…
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The Old Burying Ground
Before we get into this next post, allow me to add a sorely needed postscript to “Rhett’s Buoyfriend” (our previous post). While this note is for all, it’s especially targeted to my Chautauqua Lake friends, as Chautauqua has many small and “friendly” buoys. In the Rhett’s Buoyfriend post, when I said that Rhett “almost hit…
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Rhett’s Buoyfriend
I’ve heard it said that communication is important in a relationship—especially in a sailing partnership—but I guess I never really believed it…until a couple days ago. When I think back on Hazel, Rhett’s and my 5-night, 614 nautical mile passage from Beaufort NC to Hyannis MA, I picture the difficulty of the sailing as an…
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Do Flip Flops Count?
You didn’t hear it from Rhett and you didn’t hear it from me but we’ve both been so impressed by Beaufort and Morehead City NC. The reason I say that, “you didn’t hear it from us,” is that whenever we said to a resident how impressed we are, they “shush” us and say, “Please don’t…
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The “Straight Line”
I was talking to my brother the other day and he commented that our sailing from South Florida to Charleston SC appeared to be such a straight line. It was funny when he said this because, to me, the actual sailing on the passage was anything but a “straight line.” However, his comment forced me…
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Discretion and Valor
So after all my big talk of sailing from South Florida to Nantucket (or thereabouts) in one hop, we ended up “just” sailing to Charleston SC. Still, it was a solid 2 1/2 days and 411 nautical miles of sailing 24×7. We had conditions that varied in wind direction from close reaching to a dead…
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Plans and Goals
Before I embarked on my first voyage in January 2019 (a 120-day single-handed cruise to The Bahamas and Virgin Islands), I clearly separated my plans for the voyage and my goals from the voyage. Now, as we’re nearing the departure date for my third voyage and Rhett’s second voyage, I find myself contemplating a similar…
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Chomping at the Bit, Chafing at the Chaff
If this post’s title sounds all over the map, it’s because it is. If this post reads like it’s all over the map…well, that’s something I’m working on. Our original plan for the winter/spring 2021 voyage was to explore The Bahamas from February through April and then return to the U.S. for the month of…
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