Losing the D-day or Travel Day Battle!

Losing my two day travel request and heading to Virgin Gorda in a 14 hour day with our two beautiful, well behaved children... The end result two months on our boat! Now can I survive the 14 hours???

I would hope to think I am better prepared this time around.  The first resulted in many lessons! About chair kicking, sitting in your seat, patience (from me), the need for constant stimulation and less is better when it comes to carry-ons because you already are carry two children on and checking a stroller at the gate.

Our beautiful daughter can hit some pretty high pitches when she is not happy so I decided to extend a little courtesy to our fellow flyers with ear plugs!

I did get a little crafty with making Alex an activity blanket filled with small toys and shapes that I will pull out during our long flight from Phili to St-Thomas.

Getting to Virgin Gorda and to our boat Shell Belle will be worth this long painful day.  I will not think about the return just yet.  Would rather be sailing her back! I will keep the blog and fb page updated when I can.

Island Time!

 

Crew 'The Beauchamps'

To update...about us.

Well we've come a long way in planning this 'little' adventure but here we are finally getting started!  Skipper Dan finally put his papers in and retired ending a 31 year career in Policing.  He enjoyed over 17 years on the Marine and Dive team and added a list of certificates to aid in our journey. He had planned a solo adventure until I came along:)  With our dreams combined we added our little sailor Sebastien now 3 years old and Alexandra at 1 year old.  I have graciously ended my short career as a Paramedic and added myself, Shelley, to this wonderful adventure as a family! I just completed my Basic Cruising Standard and fell instantly in love with sailing! Our adventure will start with cruising around Virgin Gorda, BVI's where we purchased our s/v this December/January.  Dan will bring the boat over to the US this spring and up to Canada in the summer 2014.  From there we will move onto the boat full-time and cruise the east coast and Caribbean until the kids are a bit older and venture out from there. 

We are not writers by any means but feel it is necessary to blog our journey so that friends and family can follow along.

 

 

Proud Skipper Dan

It was a great visit to our 'new to us' s/v "Shell Belle" located in Virgin Gorda, BVI's at the Yacht Harbor this past August 2013.  She was up on the hard when we arrived and stayed there during our visit.  We were hoping the work we needed done to sail her would be complete prior to our arrival however things were moving slowly as slow as 'Island Time'.

One of our biggest challenges was adjusting ourselves to 'Island Time' and the HEAT!  The Caribbean in the summer heat and humidity can pose some challenges for the kids and ourselves along with the relentless mosquitoes! It did not help that our youngest was teething for the first two weeks.

Alex and Mommy

 

 

Sailor Seb

It was exciting to explore the boat and discover all the amazing things about her. We are still in the process of putting her full history together starting from her build in 1975 at the Cheoy Lee Shipyard in Hong Kong.  She was built for either an American or English Second WW Veteran.  She has cruised the Med extensively and has 4 Atlantic crossings to her credit...most notably the America 500 Rally Circa 1992 celebrating Christopher Columbus's crossing. She still has the full array of charts for both the Med and Caribbean.

She was named 'Rangoon Lady', as we are told, after the woman who helped him escape from a POW camp near Rangoon.  Since he never got to know her name he named the vessel in her honor.

The previous owners had the vessel for over 20 years and named her "Seminole Wind".  They took excellent care of her and other than a few issues identified during the Survey she is good to go.  We are left with mostly cosmetic work to do and are looking forward to that.

 

New hand rail installed.  Workbench did a great job!

 

Good to know our kids make friends easy!

 

 

 

It seems overwhelming to me.  However I cannot wait to sail her!

 

Master his and her bunks, love it!

 

 

 

Nav Station looking aft. Check out the chart drawers.

 

Old charts,

 

Oh yes my friend 'the bow thruster'!

 

 

12KW Genie

 

 

Fully protected Prop

 

6068 John Deer

 

 

Lots of storage space, Hanging locker in master stateroom.

 

 

There is cork inlay in both heads.  I'm not sure I'm a fan yet.

 

Blurry picture, hubby's shot sorry, looking forward to Seb's room from the galley.  Seb as has already claimed it!

 

Master shower, lots of room for kids tub.

 

 

Good size fridge and freezer.

 

 

Our Princess Electric Stove.

 

The second Head also has a walk in shower.  Its located between the bow stateroom and double bunk stateroom.

 

Settee in Seb's room, not sure if I'm a fan of the leather, it's on the galley settee too.

 

 

 

Looking forward in Seb's room to chain locker.

 

Storage under Pilot Berth, Engine room adjacent.

 

Alex's room or guest room if anyone would want to join us for a visit:)

 

 

As you can see we have a lot of organizing to do to make it ours!  Now to the work we anticipate to be completed as 'Island Time' allows it.  Bow pulpit was taken off and shipped to Tortola for redesign and fabrication.  The redesign is to close more of it off so that the kids cannot fall through.  Great idea from Geoff at the Workbench! 4 tangs were also taken off to be replaced.  We are also having the cockpit completely enclosed with canvas, as it is now it is only covering half.  At the same time we are having a large piece of canvas made to fit over all the teak for when she's on the hard.

A nice 'to do' list for the Workbench at Virgin Gorda Yacht Harbor along with fixing one of the AC units, installing an inverter and wind turbine.  Not counting on it all being done seeing they only have 4 months! 

During our next visit we've picked a few small jobs, lol, along with all the organizing to do.  The previous owners actually left spreadsheets for tools, spare parts, etc. The galley is fully stock with utensils, cooking ware, dish sets, etc. We are hoping to paint the inside cabinets and do a wee bit of sanding and varnishing, when babes are asleep of course!


Miscellaneous shots...

 

 

It almost looks like we are out there from the hard!

 

 

PS: Facing your fears, throughout this adventure, step one climb a 12' ladder with your baby strapped to you!

So it Begins! Boat Buying that is!

Our wish list for a vessel...
Something in the 50' range in good condition.
3 staterooms, 2 heads.
Small twin engines or a single with bow thruster and generator.
Good size cockpit with full canopy or at least a hard dodger
Sails and rigging in good shape, large capacity fuel, water and holding tanks.
And finally any or most of the following extras...
Good electronics, washer/dryer, watermaker, davits, tender w/outboard.
Wind turbine, solar panels, good size house battery banks, the list could go on...
It's actually surprising how many vessels meets our requirements...
It all comes down to how much we are willing to pay.



The first one we looked at was a 58' Boothbay Explorer.  Unfortunatly a $15,000 difference of opinion with the sellers didn't allow us to close the deal. She had in mast furling for the main sail and roller furling for the 2 staysails and davits, tender and outboard.  The washer/dryer and watermaker had been removed and she had a single diesel without bow thruster.  The sellers were asking a premium price and we could'nt close the deal.
But she is a pretty boat

 

 

 

The second boat we looked at was a 54' Gulfstar Sailcruiser.  Located in Barbados.  A real pretty boat with just about everything on our wish list.  3 state rooms, twin small diesels plus bow thruster, water maker, waher/dryer and large fuel and water tanks.  But somebody beat us to it.

 

 

 

The 3rd boat we are still considering submitting an offer on is a John Alden designed 53' Cheoy Lee.  Solid fiberglass hull with lots of wood on the outside (brightwork).  She's been cruising the Caribean for the past 5 years.  Nice lines and a good layout with lots of storage.

We do have a few concerns with regards to some apparent water staining/damage inside around the raised salon windows.  She looks a little tired but not abused...so thats a good thing.  She needs TLC.  On the upside she's located on Virgin Gorda just a few kilometers from "THE BATHS"!!!  Not a bad place to go spend a month or so next winter.

Decisions decisions.... 

    

So we put an offer on the Cheoy Lee.  After a bit of back and forth we were able to close the deal.  We ended up paying a bit more that we wanted but then again...the seller is getting less than he wanted....so all in all the deal is probably a good one since neither of us got exactly what we wanted.  On the up side both Shel and I are getting more and more excited about the vesssel and it's potential.  We will need to make her our own but hey....She's in the BVI's.

Below are 3 pics of her....

the 1st is from the sale's brochure from 1975

the 2nd is a current pic of her on the "hard" at the marina in Virgin Gorda.

the 3rd is of her at anchor at "THE BATHS".

 

  

 

 

 

So what did we buy exactly....

53' John G Alden deisgn...

Built by the Cheoy Lee yards in Hong Kong in 1975 (yayaiknowiknowachineseboat)

Sleeps 8 in 3 state rooms plus a pilot berth (lots of room for guests and sleepovers)

65' bridge clearance and 1400 sq feet of sail

Just about everything is new or recent including a

220hp 6068 John Deere, a 12 Kw Northern Lights Genie

Electronics, bow thruster, tender and outboard.

Did I mention she in the BVI's not far from "THE BATHS" 

 

Introduction of new crew member:)

Alexandra Rose Denise Beauchamp