On my home page, under the Follow Me banner, there should be the titles of some of pages that are also in my Dauntless At Sea Blog, but it’s how WordPress organizes things and I have not yet figured out a better way to do it.
Weather Sites I Use Everyday two sites here, more than that is just confusing
Until I come up with a better system or someone tells me how to make it better organized, I will put my most recent post on the very top. That way if you look at the pages often, you will know right away if something is new. If you do not, the order really doesn’t matter.
Also, while I can make a link to articles in the Economist, the Wall Street Journal is another story. I must copy text and then email that copy. So, I do this less than once a week.
I include things I am the most passionate about as a way to lead to more thoughts and better questions. I am not trying to advocate for certain ideas, as much as I want to bring to light some things that may not get said or questioned enough.
One of my primary themes is “there is no free lunch”. The more people tell me how great something is, the more skeptical I become.
I’m also skeptical of fake environmentalists. Those who profess a certain lifestyle, but only insofar as it is convenient to do so.
Today’s article from the Wall Street Journal is about that, the massive bird kill by wind turbines that everyone ignores. But when you read the accounts of those who service those turbines, the number of dead birds on the ground is horrific. https://dauntlessatsea.com/tidbits-from-todays-wall-street-journal/
Lastly, if you read the above and think I against wind turbines, you need to read better. Power from wind is not free. There is no free lunch. I at least want people to think about the consequences before implementing the “free lunch solution”.
It’s going to be hard to say goodbye to Ireland, the land is gorgeous, the people wonderful and the sun shines at least once a month to remind you what it looks like.
Today, I took a day off. Every day I’ve been working on Dauntless, getting my little projects done. The new holding tank is in and connected, the bilge pump also, so forward bilge work is almost done.
Byrne & Woods, Roundwood
So, with the sun out and the buds on the trees getting bigger by the day, I thought it would be a good day to drive to the town of Roundwood, about 70 miles NE of New Ross, about 30 south of Dublin.
Well the drive turned out to be even prettier than expected. The roads were even more picturesque and the traffic was actually minimal.
The restaurant, Byrne & Woods, lived up to expectations. Here is a link to my review:
And even just really competent ones or highly functional ones. What brings this to mind?
First Primer Coat
Another episode of Wallander of course. The Cellist. Watching the beginning, seeing her play, yes I know it’s drama, not real, but I realized how attractive I thought she was and realized it was far more than just her European nose, but was really based on nothing, other than her play.
Yet, knowing her play is fake, makes no difference. We are programmed to like what we like and I like smart, competent women.
Writing and sometimes even publishing in this blog, is my way to express my thinking. Not having that mind-mate for the first time in a long time is what’s hard.
Did you see this? You should read that! Long distance is no problem.
Oh, by the way, if you like Prosecco, as I do, you should only drink the DOCG. The DOC is a new appellation that the Italians cooked up to take advantage of the popularity of Prosecco worldwide. The problem is the DOC prosecco is made in places that are not dei colli Conegliano – Valdobbiadene, the little hills to the northwest of Treviso that make Prosecco, Prosecco. Another beautiful creation or is it brilliant?
And another story revolving around a brilliant woman.
But can we really separate beauty and brilliance?
OK, let’s get back to our Lady Dauntless.
So Dauntless is beginning her transformation to the new “Dauntless” look. In the next days’ I will be posting the details and pictures. For now, you see her in her undercoat.
So here is the plan. The first four months show little change, but after I get back from the USA in mid-October it will be a lot of cruising.
Previously I had decided to stay in Europe this coming year, but life happens and circumstances change. Therefore, In November Dauntless and I will start to head west not to return for many years.
The good news is that while it is a lot of miles, over 17,000, those miles are spread over 17 months. Since almost 10,000 miles are passage miles, in which we do about 150 miles per day, it means that over 300 days of the 500 we only have to average about 35 miles per day. Much less than last summer.
So, while nothing is in stone, this is the tentative plan and you know me: Make the Plan, Do the Plan.
The dates are somewhat firm in that to get to Korea in the fall of 2017, I must be able to get to Japan in early August, as I want to cross the Bering and North Pacific in July and early August.
This is a plan that is based on the weather, meaning it’s doable with “normal” weather. But there are a number of things that must happen:
Leaving the Canaries for the Caribbean needs to happen by early December.
Arriving in Kodiak, Alaska needs to happen by early July 2017.
Now of course, this depends on a few factors besides just the weather. I could be kidnapped by some Greek and decide to spend a year in Lesbos with the rest of the refugees. Some other mechanical or personal issue could overtake plans. But most likely, the weather does not cooperate. For this plan to work, I must have favorable weather during the winter and spring along the west coast of Central and North America.
If the winds do not cooperate, then we’ll spend the winter and spring in Central America and Mexico, then come up the west coast to B.C. and S.E. Alaska for the summer and winter over in S.E. Alaska, a fantastically beautiful destination all in itself.
This Plan B is not a terrible outcome and I’m sure many will think it should be Plan A, but I’ll let Fate and the wx gods decide. At best it’s a 50-50 proposition, or maybe better yet, 49-49-02, the 02% being something unforeseen like the Greeks or something.
Want to join me at any part? I can always use help, extra hands and advice, and most of all, the company. We will be doing a lot of miles, over 17,000 but who’s counting! There will be many opportunities in the next 17 months, but the better times (summer vacation) and destinations, (Caribbean, Central America, Mexico, Alaska) will fill before the more tedious parts.
Oh, wait, there are no longer any tedious parts.
In any case, drop me a line and let me know your thoughts, no matter how tenuous.
Richard on Dauntless
I expect to be in the place or nearby by the date in the column to the left.
.E.g. I expect to arrive in the Lesser Antilles on 22 December.
“My lab is a place where my guilt over what I haven’t done is supplanted by all of the things that I am getting done”
This is as good a place to start as any.
After yesterday’s post, I felt I had done something if only to document what still needed to be done. It didn’t have the effect I had expected, instead of accomplishment, I felt intimidated.
Yesterday’s post was also different in that usually I write a draft, upload the photos I want, then edit the next day, add pictures and post. But yesterday, I was in a hurry and wrote and posted within an hour, with minimal editing, thus you can see how my mood changed even in the course of the writing as evident in the last line.
After a number of bright (only spotty rain), warm (temps in the 60’s) days here in the south and east of Ireland, yesterday dawned like a winter day, dark, cloudy, steady drizzle. Actually, typical pre-warm frontal weather, the result of an inverted trough, the low pressure system being to the south and the warm front moving in from the ESE.
Dauntless is not my lab, but it is an instrument in that lab. It facilitates me being in nature, good or bad, hot or cold.
The worse the weather, the more I have this need to put my face into it. Certainly having to go to the bathroom, to pee, every few hours drives the need to go out there and check the elements, though the phrase to hold on for dear life, has no exaggeration at that point.
I’ve been trying to determine the best way to talk, to write about books that have a profound influence over me. I know many of my readers like the boating adventures and may not care about my soliloquys about life. So if you have any suggestions that I can get to work with WordPress, email me. I have made some additional pages, but don’t like the look so far.
Though it seems I have a wide interest in things, that interest really revolves around two main cores, science and history. Thus my interest in Paleoclimatology, a field that a number of times in my life I considered going back to school to earn a PhD. The last time about 15 years ago when I had just started teaching, I had attended a symposium at the National Center for Atmospheric Science (NCAR) on climate change. I was offered a very appealing opportunity, but having moved back to NYC for my mother, and having already given up a good job to do so, life prevailed.
But that Fate is what put me here now, writing this. Dauntless and I exploring the world at 7 miles per hour.
During the last month, I have been reading three books, all non-fiction, all three different, but amazing. All three are fascinating in their own right and I have not finished any of them completely, I think in large part because I don’t want them to end:
Terrible Swift Sword: The Life of General Philip H. Sheridan by Joseph Wheelan
Having grown up near Sheridan Square I had a familiarity with Sheridan, yet realized I knew nothing about him other than him being a Calvary man doing the Civil War. Then, just before leaving NYC this past March, I realized that the gold statue across from the Plaza Hotel at the SE corner of Central Park was also Sheridan.
So when I came across this book and in the opening pages was captivated by how much I did not know I knew I had to keep reading! As obvious as it sounds now, Sheridan as Corps Commander, was the first to use infantry and cavalry as a combined weapon.
Also, the insights one learned about other personalities of the war, e.g. How effective Custer was, or how Meade although in total disagreement, when told by Grant to support Sheridan, actually did so, unlike so many other generals of the war who let their jealousies get in the way.
Half Moon by Douglas Hunter about Henry Hudson who explored New York when he was supposed to be searching for the Northeast Yes, Northeast, as in above Russia, with a crew that spoke Dutch and he didn’t, in a boat only 20 feet larger than Dauntless.
And last, but not least,Lab Girl by Hope Jahren. A beautifully written book by, and about, a woman who lives for science. Wonderfully written because of the language she uses and her ability to relate the mysteries and explorations of science in a profound and moving way for a layman. Thus my opening quote.
Science is about making connections that most don’t or can’t see. Like science, my lists are more than lists of things I must do. They are maps of things to learn and things to practice. It’s what keeps me awake at night. The puzzle in the sky that is multiple realities, that makes it rain on your side of the hill, but not mine. Or the three prong plug that can run two different lights. They seem different, but are the same.
This winter has been the first real refit since we bought Dauntless three years ago. When we bought this Krogen 42, she was in great shape, in fact the best shape of the 8 KK 42’s I looked at. She had the lowest engine hours, only 1650, and some features we wanted: dual heads, four windows in the rear salon and no built-in furniture in the salon. The Flexsteel leather furniture that the previous owner had gotten for the boat was like new. The nicest leather we had ever felt. We talked about that leather for two years before we actually were in a position to get D.
Middle top is fuel intake. behind it with the rust pattern underneath is the fuel vent.
But with this little use, comes issues that are a result of that little use.
The port side fuel tank started leaking this past summer. It was coming from the forward inboard seam. On opening up the inspection port, it had a lot of rust. More rust than I had seen in the starboard tank.
Now since I had had the boat, I’d had problems with water getting into the tank. During the last days of my Atlantic Passage, this became a critical problem that had me changing or emptying fuel filters every few hours. You can read those details here: Dauntless-crosses-the-north-atlantic-the-post-mortem
Last summer in Holland, with the help of Marinus, another Krogen owner, I finally figured out the source of the water was the stink’in fuel vent. In one of the few poor decisions Kadey Krogen made in the design of this boat, the fuel vent was under the rub rail. As the Krogen rolls its way across the Atlantic this became an issue when I was in very big seas and the stabilizers were not working as well as they should for reasons related to operator (ME) error.
To fix the tank issues, we decided to add three more larger inspection ports. This will allow the two-part epoxy sealant to be applied.
the rust pattern underneath is the fuel vent.
Looking at the pictures of the opened tank, one can see the rust pattern from the water getting into the vent.
Also, when I had purposely overfilled this tank by about 10 gallons, in part to see what would happen, I had the unpleasant surprise to see fuel leaking out of the tank into the bilge. It was not apparent where this fuel was coming from. This picture shows the fitting itself was poorly installed and the screws used rusted and basically left small holes for fuel to get out or even rain water that was on top of the tank to get in.
From the amount of rust, this tank was not sued for quite some time, years, but left with some water. Once I got the boat, this tank had been the problem child, therefore I had a tendency not to use it as much, which ended up exacerbating the problem.
Fuel tank today after cleaning
Here are some before pictures. The after pictures will come when done.
In October when we pulled her from the water, we found both old and new damage.
That long repair is the result of the second rock.
The new was from my second rock encounter in Finland. In the first Finnish rock meeting, Dauntless rode up the rock on her keel.
But the second one was more egregious in that I hit the side of the rock with the side of the hull that left a four-foot scrape in the hull which was deep enough to cause a hairline crack all the way through the hull. Me Bad.
So in looking to repair that damage, we also
Her Starboard Side
found some old damage that had been repaired, but not well or not completely. How do I know? Because in the three years I have owned her, whenever it rained, I had water entering the forward bilge. In addition, the paint on the bulkhead that separates the forward bilge from the amidships, had peeled, since water was coming in behind it.
Both those issues have been repaired and even though Dauntless sat on the hard in the wind and rain all winter, only in the last days was she put into the shed for painting, the forward bilge has remained bone dry.
Dauntless in the Shed. The Shed looked much bigger before she went it.
Now, the engine room bilge still has rain water getting in there, but I actually think that is as normal as one can expect in a 25-year-old boat.
I am also very pleased that everyone who has worked on the Krogen for the last 6 months has commented on the quality of: the workmanship, the design and the build.
I decided to paint the entire hull, since three years of docking was starting to show. And the incentive of a new, different for a Kadey Krogen, paint job will make me both more careful and thoughtful.
In the next weeks, I will enumerate the other jobs we, I have done for this coming season. That we have many, many miles to go, makes me feel even better about the preparation we are doing now.
The pictures show Dauntless outside when they had finished the bottom rehab, which meant repairing all the nicks and gouges, new fiberglass along the keel, gel-coat along the keel, then preparing the hull for two coats of epoxy and one of the tie-coat, which allows the anti-foul to adhere to the epoxy.
After two layers of EpoxyAfter two layers of epoxy, the beginning of the tiecoat (that allows the anti-foul coat to bond to the epoxy) is going on.Gary applying the first layer of epoxyKeel got a new layer of gelcoat.
See some of the boats that kept Dauntless company for the windy, Ireland winter.
All boats were blocked AND STRAPPED DOWN for the winter winds, that were greater than 100 knots!!!
Cats are FatJust across the boat lift bay from Dauntless. I don’t think she is going anyplace this year either.Tie Downs are evident
It’s not called the “North Atlant
One of the Fastnet boats in the yard. They are based in Waterford.
ic” for nothing.
The Joanna Mary in dry dockA narrow canal barge
One of the Cats of the New Ross Boat Yard. The Travel lift was moving as he nonchalantly walked past.The Sea Hunter was a winner in the around Ireland race back in the ’70’sDauntless was just put in the shed for painting.
10 oil changes, 145 quarts, 140 liters or 36 gallons of oil,
I like making a plan, executing the plan; sometimes even changing the plan.
Dauntless will have a look befitting her name in just a few weeks.
Then, in the water, fueled up and ready to go.
Friends for the US of A join us for a little jaunt to Scotland mid-May returning to Waterford Ireland in mid-June.
Then around the 4th of July, I’ll say goodbye to all my wonderful Irish friends in Waterford and New Ross.
Dauntless will turn south, putting Ireland behind us heading to France, then northwest Spain and Galicia. I hope to be in San Sebastian in August, then heading west to A Coruna for September and October.
November will find us heading south, enjoying the fortified wines of Portugal and southern Spain.
Then it will be tackling the Straits of Gibraltar, yes, I have seen the film Das Boot, so I will be prepared.
After checking out the monkeys, we’ll fuel up and really begin an Odyssey.
Tonight I turn the page; ending one long chapter and starting a new one.
Spring Comes to the Bronx as I Leave
Spring in Ireland, getting Dauntless ready and her first significant haul out in the last 3 years and 15,000 miles. In May, she’ll be back in the water, looking like she’s ready for business.
That business will start in Scotland, doing our last exploration in the “north”, before heading south for the rest of the summer. We’ll have a few weeks in France in time for Bastille Day.
The rest of the summer and they year will be in Spain, Galicia. Sometime in the new year, 2017, I’ll head further south along Portugal and the south coasts of the Iberian Peninsula. This will put D and me in the Mediterranean for the first time ever.
I’ll clearly have a lot of time on my hands. I will be doing far less cruising then in the past, but it will allow me to enjoy the life in Spain, sometime in Portugal and maybe even a few weeks in Morocco.
Spain is one of the most affordable countries in the E.U. and certainly in the Eurozone. If I am anyplace, it’s probably the ideal place to be for an extended time.
I hope to be in San Sebastian in August, then heading west during the fall to A Coruna for a couple months and Vigo for a few more.
I’m still planning on leaving Europe in October 2017, which will begin a busy extended cruise westward, not finishing until we cross the North Pacific to Japan and Korea.
Want to join me at any part? I can always use help, extra hands and advice, and most of all, the company. This year, summer 2016 through fall 2017, it’s less cruising and more just joining Dauntless and I while we stay in some wonderful town, eat some of the best food in Europe and wash it down with some wonderful wine; all at a cost that will make me never want to leaveJ
The best way to contact me is the email link under “contact”.
Today, Sunday, finds me watching parts of a Korean Drama that I first watched a few years ago, Go Bong Shil, 고봉실 여사 구하기, watching this drama makes me realize how strong a connection I have to the culture of Korea.
One of the themes that runs through virtually every Korean drama is family and the hard work of mothers in particular.
It’s always a great reminder to keep us humble and appreciative of what we have and not cry over what we don’t have.
Yeosu, along the southern coast of South Korea and a Dauntless goal three years from now.
And then, just minutes ago, I realized that the story of this drama starts in Yeosu, a beautiful city in the middle of the south coast of South Korea and the town that Julie suggested would be a good destination for Dauntless.
I do believe in Fate; how can I not. One way or another, my Fate draws me to Korea.
This touching scene in 60 seconds says so much about life:
Just got back from a quick, one week, reconnoiter of Galicia in northwest Spain.
NW Spain and Northern Portugal Spent the first two nights in Leon; Then on to Oviedo and Aviles, just NW along the coast, though we stayed in a hotel inland. Then onto A Coruna for two nights and finally Vigo for two nights.
A great week, that just confirms that the Dauntless adventure on the Iberian Peninsula this year and 2017, will be fueled by fantastic food and wine at prices that even a New Yorker would love.
Everything good, nothing bad, don’t even need any of my usual qualifiers. And that includes two run-ins with the police that were so very helpful, not punitive; an example of what every inhabitant of this planet yearns for.
So much was good, people, wine, food, hotels, costs, etc. So here are just the highlights:
Leon – City of free tapas. We spent 4 hours going to 7 different places, drinking a total of 8 glasses of wine (each) and eating delicious tapas at each place. Total cost 30 Euros or $35. Try that in NYC and the bill will be 10 times more, PLUS 20% more for tips.
Our favorite place in Leon, Meson Jabugo.
Wines & Tapas – I loved:
Ribera del Duero, Rías Baixas aka Albariño; Ribeiro.
My favorite tapa, morcilla, simply because it was so good. In Leon, the cured beef, sliced like the Jamon, was also great.
Cathedral in Leon
My Leon Favorite
We went to check out these two towns in particular because they are large, good transportation access and most of all, the marina is within minutes of the town centre:
A Coruna – The heart of Galicia. Only slightly more expensive then Leon, but Dauntless can’t get to Leon. Galicia is Celtic and the similarity is evident in the people. We took in the military museum after checking out the marina ($300 per month in October). We had gotten to the museum about 5:15 p.m., 45 minutes before it’s closing. Virtually empty of visitors, a wonderful.
Morcilla, eaten with the bread and wine. All this cost $7
Vigo – The largest city in Galicia. Here the cost of the marina for a month for a Dauntless would be around $400, but it’s a year around cost and includes electricity.
Encounters with the police: EEK
The first time I pulled over
Went to get car upon leaving Leon. We had parked
Pizza as a tapa and free. Total cost here $3Going down the pass
just outside of the old center, but evidently, on the wrong street. My mistake, the hotel staff had told me exactly the area I could park in and this block was one block sooner, but I misinterpreted the parking sign. Yes, I know, cats speak better Spanish than I. So, I get to the spot and see no car. But I do see the spot it was in and as it had just rained, it was clear I had just missed the car disappearing by less than an hour. Two hours later, after having a great visit with the policemen of the traffic police, we were underway. Total cost was about $150. The police were so apologetic from beginning to end. I was relieved that the car had not been stolen nor damaged and it was clearly my mistake.
Downhill, the snow is letting up
Leaving Leon, we have headed north northwest, over the mountains to the coast of North coast of Spain and the city of Aviles, where I wanted to check out the marina. We took the smaller road N-630) and avoided the autopista. As we got north, we started climbing into the mountains, the clouds came lower and lower and the light rain turned quickly to snow and then very heavy snow (2-3” per hour). Our rental car had crappy summer tires, but I do know my snow. Going ever slower, we made the summit of the pass, at an elevation of about 5,000 feet (1800 m).
I was relieved, as going uphill in always more problematic, so my plan was to wait until a snow plow came by and follow him.
The north coast
OK then I discovered that traction was really bad, temperature too close to freezing, so the snow plow track was icy. It was better on an unplowed road. And in fact, I had to get on the shoulder to stop the car.
After waiting a bit, maybe 15 min, it was time to try again we did at a slow speed, but I was in second gear and this let the car get going too fast, maybe 20 mph.
Vigo
We come around a curve, and there is a car off the road, with a police car behind him, but a policemen was standing in the middle of the road.
Marina in Vigo
I go to slow and pull left, but any braking action, even with the anti-lock brakes, did not help and I realized that I was close to losing control in this curve.
So first I honked the horn, to warn the policeman standing in the road and then got totally off the brakes to stop the skid and knowing it was the only way to get around the turn.
After those seconds we went around the curve in the outside lane and on the next straightaway, pulled to the shoulder to stop, which we finally did in about 12” of snow.
We bought our food for the flight the next day here
We were stopped, but now stuck. I waited a bit to think about the ills of the world and the errors of my ways. About 10 minutes later the police came by and I did not know what to expect. In the US, at best they would give you a lecture, at worst, give you a ticket and tell you the road is closed, so you must stay there for the rest of your life.
Empanada Morcilla (Masa Gallega) It was different then Leon, but excellent and not too rich. We had hesitated at buying such a big piece ($5), but we gobbled it up and it was sooo good. A wonderful way to end our trip. Every Day was Perfect.
Being in Spain, we got neither. Instead, probalby grateful that I had not run him down, they were very helpful, he asked me what gear I had been in, I told him second and he said I needed to be in first gear, so the car doesn’t get going so fast (this was a 15 degree down grade).
We thanked him and he was gone. I tried getting the car out of the ditch and after a bit of thinking, (front wheel drive cars always have better traction in reverse) I got out and we were underway again.
In first gear for a few miles until we were down to about 3,000 feet and the road was not so steep, at which point, all was right with the world again.
I’m really looking forward to being in Spain and Portugal this coming year and into 2017. I wanted to share the details above because it is indicative of Europe in general and Spain in particular. In all my years in Europe, I have never been in such friendly countries as Ireland and Spain. I’m sure the Celtic connection is part of that reason. I am looking forward to meeting new friends and having new adventures.
The fact that Spain is the most affordable country I have been in Europe in the last 20 years just makes this choice even better.
Anyone who wants to see Europe, but has a limited budget, 2016-17, will be the time to take advantage of Dauntless’ hospitality. It won’t be until 2019 in South Korea before we experience such inexpensive places again.
The fact that Spain also has some of the absolute best wines and food, just make it ever sweeter.
And here is ashort, cute video of happy kids in A Coruna
Atlant
r nothing.
Dauntless at Sea 