Hello and Happy New Year. I’m back with a recap of our three-year journey. I must apologize for being so late with this, but life has a way of messing up even the best laid plans.
Read more: From the Helm of Adamant 1 – Blog 32 – January...
In our October 10 issue we featured another blog posting from Adamant 1. Lynn and Pat sent so many great photos, we have reprised the blog so we can share them with you.
Below is a few excerpts from the blog post to set the scene.
We crossed Lake Ontario from Oswego with a minimum of fuss and did a little happy dance when we crossed the border into Canada…that little dotted line on the chart. “Take down the US flag, put up the quarantine flag and lets head for Waupoos Island” shouts the captain (me)!
Read more: From the Helm of Adamant 1: Blog 31 – Adamant 1...
On a sunny and windless day we led Alicia and another sailboat into New York Harbour. There were lots of cargo ships and navy destroyers coming in, but they had their own deep-water channel so our trip was an easy one.
Did we linger in Norfolk to explore? Nope! After being pounded against the dock pilings by wakes from tugs and ferry boats all night we left in the rain before the sun came up.
Read more: From the Helm of Adamant 1: Blog 29 – Norfolk to...
Charleston is an amazing city to visit. There is so much to do and enjoy in that beautiful city. You can walk the cobbled streets and gaze at the antebellum houses, visit a plantation or Fort Sumter and for naval enthusiasts there is the Naval and Maritime Museum complete with the USS Yorktown, a WWII era aircraft carrier.
We left Vero Beach on Saturday morning with Alicia, a boat from Sweden, following close behind. The first stop was Titusville, then Easter Sunday we made it to Daytona Beach. I had a big ham on board so we invited the crew of Alicia to join us for dinner.
Read more: From the Helm of Adamant 1: Blog 27 - Northbound...
After a delightful winter in the Bahamas, we decided at the end of March to head for the US. The weather continued to get hotter and the humidity was climbing daily. It was tough to drop the mooring ball, but we were suddenly excited about starting the trek home.
It has been hot in the Abacos this winter. Whoever said this area was cool this time of year must have visited in a bad year. We have no complaints about the weather. Anyone contemplating a vacation destination should give this area a second look.
Vero Beach, aka Velcro Beach, lived up to its reputation again. Our original plan was to be there for four days, which morphed into a week when we heard high winds were coming in. So we had seven days to visit with friends and finish our provisioning. As it turned out we were there for 17 days.
Read more: From the Helm of Adamant 1 – Blog 24 – February...
Boat Reviews
CY Virtual Video Boat Tours
We all love boats and nothing can break us up! So, what better way to spend our time than looking at interesting boats and going aboard in a virtual ride or tour. We have asked our friends at various dealers and manufacturers to help us assemble a one-stop online resource to experience some of the most interesting boats on the market today. Where the CY Team has done a review, we connect you to that expert viewpoint. If you can’t go boating, you can almost experience the thrill via your screen. Not quite the same, but we hope you enjoy our fine tour collection.
Read more about the CY Virtual Boat Tours....................
AXOPAR 37 XC
Whole new ball game…
Set aside your assumptions and expectations for a few minutes while we try to describe the new Axopar 37 XC that made its American debut at the 2020 Miami International Boat Show. This boat represents a whole new ball game in terms of design, performance, seakeeping and functionality. In fact, I’d say it takes a ‘clean sheet of paper’ approach to boating – it’s that different.
Read More about the Axopar 37 XC..................
Destinations
The Rideau: Living the Past today
By John Morris
History: right after gym and just before chemistry class. Fifty minutes of naming the prime ministers by date and looking out the window. Who knew it was actually interesting.
And in some ways it hardly matters because the Rideau Waterway is just so amazingly beautiful. Driving your boat through the locks is wonderful fun for kids of all ages (adult kids, too) and the scenery is sensational. The history is a huge bonus however, and worth understanding from both as a political lesson and from an engineering perspective.
Read more about The Rideau...........
Our boat: A beauty – the 1967 Trojan 42 Motor Yacht
By David and Barb Gamblin
Unknown to us at the time, the quest for VIA-MARA started in 1973 when I saved the back cover of a boating magazine with the advertisement for the Trojan 42 Motor Yacht.
Four boats, and eight years later we went shopping for a Trojan 42 built prior to 1972 (that year the house and binnacle became fiberglass and the bridge window framing changed to (ugh) black anodized aluminum.)
DIY & How to
Ask Andrew – The Bucket
I was cleaning up my workbench the other day. My eyes then scanned across my workbench and fell on ‘the bucket’. Everyone has a one. On a boat, it’s usually in a cockpit lazarette. It’s full of old paint cans and half-used tubes of caulking. There might be some white grease, painters tape or epoxy in there, too. I take my bucket everywhere and it’s full of all sorts of tubes of grease and sealants and adhesives.
I thought to myself that I should probably sort through the bucket and get rid of the stuff that isn’t useful. I quickly realized, though, that each of the items in my bucket (except that had gone bad) were useful, and each is used for a particular job.
Read more about The Bucket..........
Marine Products
Rayplex Gel Kits
Rayplex makes gel coat repair and colour matching easy. Minor gel coat repairs are easy to get professional results.
Available in white, black-gray-white, red and clear (for metal flake) in various sizes and colours. Rayplex gelcoat can be used for repairs above and below the waterline.
Read more about Rayplex Gel Kits..............
