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All Things Dogs, Boats & Sun

As most of you know, we sold our business last Fall. I am currently pursuing job opportunities in the sales & marketing field, but if you know me, I just can’t sit around and not be busy.

So what does someone like me do then? I start a couple of side businesses related to everything I love, Dogs, Boats and Sun!

First up, is our T-shirt and Gift line. We had the logo custom designed for us:


The items are sold at Cafe Press under AllysBoatingTshirts. You can get different styles and colors, along with some great items perfect for your boat!


We do get a commission from each item, so we really appreciate everyone’s support and share of the site!

Of course, I couldn’t stop there. As you know, I read lots of real life sailing stories. Almost everyone of them had a difficult purchase experience. They found a boat, took time off, traveled to another state to view it, only to find out it was NOT what it was described as. The photos were not current and the boats smelled horrible.  
I decided, that the yacht industry needs an unbiased independent “concierge” to help yacht buyers.  So I created a new business called “Yacht Buyer’s Concierge” and my rates & info are on my website posted here..http://www.yachtbuyerconcierge.strikingly.com
For a nominal fee, I will come out and take 40 photos and a video of the interior and give the buyers an unbiased report of the vessel. This will save them time and money, if, in fact it doesn’t look like it does on the broker’s side.

Feel free to share my concierge site as well. If I go back to work full-time, I will continue this service as this gives me a great opportunity to view vessels and help us figure out the right one when the time comes.  Cheers!  Ally
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New Reads for the Year!

It’s funny that I have found a passion for reading books, because growing up I never read. My mom could read a mystery novel in a day, but I never liked reading. That was until I stumbled upon a book “A Sail of Two Idiots: 100+ Lessons and Laughs from a Non-Sailor Who Quit the Rat Race, Took the Helm, and Sailed to a New Life” and I was hooked for life. That was three years ago and ever since then I read everything I can about sailing and life in the Caribbean from books, blogs and stories in sailing magazines.  
 
So that makes buying gifts for me easy!  This past Christmas my husband bought me two new books and actually they were not about sailing, but living the dream in warm sunny weather. (Close enough).  

The first one is by Ryan Stone called “Leavin’ The Grind Behind…: Get Palm’d in the Virgin Islands.

 
What I love about this story, is I could totally relate to him. They were from the Seattle area and fell immediately in love with the British Virgin Islands. So much so, that their life revolved around their next trip (which was a few times a year). He had an encounter with the famous “Foxy” of Foxy’s Bar in BVI and supposedly it is rare to meet the man in person. This bar was made famous (again) by Kenny Chesney in his video “When I See This Bar”.

 

 

Ryan eventually started a business focusing on their passion for the Caribbean life selling swag on the internet. But sadly, it appears they are no longer doing that. (But I like the idea!)

 

His story was quite different. He was dumped by his wife over the holidays and as a cargo plane pilot found himself sitting by a pool in the Philippines feeling depressed. The next moment, another guest at the pool convinced him to move to the Philippines and he did. A few days after he arrived, he met his (future) wife and he’s never been happier living on the beach.

I can’t keep up with all of the magazine articles – in fact, I’ve started a binder to keep track of “to do” articles, places to go, “how to”, etc. Again, we subscribe to Cruising World, Blue Water Sailing, Sailing, Cruiser’s Outpost, Multihull Quarterly, Multihulls, Passage Maker….that’s just a few of them. Okay, so at least I recycle what we don’t keep.  A more carbon friendly media is sailing blogs and I stumbled upon a new favorite! (I’m always bummed when the sailors go home). This new one is called “Jake And Jill Adventures“. 

http://www.jakeandjilladventures.com/blog/
I love getting their updates and they also have a YouTube channel, so you can follow them along virtually. They are selling swag on their website too, so stock up!
 
Well, that’s our newest reads and someday down the road, we’ll have something real for you to read too! Cheers and happy dreaming!

 

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Seattle Boat Show – The Largest Boat Show on the West Coast

For years, Scott and I have been going to the Seattle Boat Show. This show is in January and is located in two spots. One at the Century Link convention center and also at Lake Union. At the convention center they have a lot of ski boats, fishing boats, lots of booths and a handful of sail and large power yachts.  They offer a free shuttle to Lake Union where they have a lot of trawlers and a power yachts.

We stopped at a few booths, mainly with the purpose of talking to marinas. We quickly found out that many marinas don’t offer space for live-a-boards, or if they do, they have a long wait list. (Yikes, we don’t have a boat yet, but once we do, we’ll need a spot!).  We did talk at length with Foss Harbor Marina in Tacoma. Very nice guy and they don’t have a wait list. In fact, one of their residents happened to be there and she not only sold us on the marina, but also on composting toilets. (yes, odd, but very useful info).  He said we could come down any day and take a tour, which we will do one of these Saturdays. With Scott working from home, he has the flexibility to work anywhere, so this could be perfect.

We did talk to City of Des Moines Marina, Port of Everett Marina, Port of Edmonds and Shilshole Marina. Some had a few wait lists and some didn’t. Guess we’ll have to figure that out when the time comes.  
From there we also talked to yacht charter and lesson companies. We talked at length with Bellhaven ASA Sailing & Power School in Bellingham. Here we can get our certification to bareboat a catamaran anywhere in the world. San Juan Sailing also offers this service. 
Another fun thing we would like to do is simply charter a power boat here in the PNW and there are many companies, that offer day training and charters, including Ship Harbor Yacht Charters, Blue Pacific Yacht Charters, Crown Yacht Charters and Anacortes Yacht Charters. For information and rates, visit their websites.
We found a few new cool items too (of course, when we’re finally boat owners!). One was the Electric Paddle. Simple idea, your small motor runs off a battery and it can last up to a few hours. Perfect for your tender. This company is local and is based out of North Bend, WA!

Another new product to the market is Bella d’Vine the “ultimate outdoor beverage holder” from Sun Chaser products. They retailed for about $15 and we definitely will get these when the time comes.
For long term cruisers, you might wonder how do you get your mail? Well, we found a company that does just that! Dockside Solutions will receive your mail, scan it and forward it to you. How cool is that!?  And this is also a local company based in Seattle. Visit their website for rates.
 Scott immediately fell in love with Yacht Controller. This device lets a captain single handle his vessel with a joy stick. They can range in price of anywhere from $9,000-16,000. One cool thing about it, is it controls your prop in seconds (or a few rotations), whereas if you did it manually, your prop would rotate too many times to making docking more difficult. Scott does not want to be “that guy” coming into the marina where everyone is watching him dock the boat and then hit a piling.
We did see a few boats that inspired us, but to be honest most of the boats at Lake Union were all trawlers and we are not looking for a trawler. It’s just not our style for a live-aboard. Again, older Meridians are perfect for what we are looking at. The ones they had at the show, were a bit too small.  We did go on the Meridian 408 Aftcabin 2007. Keep in mind, we’re looking for something we can live on, so it has to be “apartment like”. Here are a few shots of it:

One thing we look for at shows is storage. Notice above, the closet. That’s a big one compared to most. We look to see how many storage compartments are under the bed, under the couch, etc.  We also look to see how they utilized the storage. Here are a few cool ideas:

It was a cold and damp day, so we didn’t spend a lot of time lingering around all of the yachts. If we found a warm one, we definitely took our time to check it out! I like the idea of a fireplace, but Scott felt it was a waste of space. Sure, on a hot summer day it would seem so, but when it’s 40 degrees outside and you live on it then that’s a different story.
Needless to say, this was a quick show for us due to the weather. We are looking forward to the Fall show, Boats Afloat at Lake Union next September where it should be warmer.

For now, look for my next blog on “new reads”. There are so many new books coming out, that I can’t keep up. Follow me on Twitter at @allyr2 for tips and stories about boating!

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Caribbean Bound!

We are headed to Antigua in a few days! Antigua is one of our favorite Caribbean islands. We first visited it during our honeymoon in 2003 and then returned five years ago in 2011. On our last trip we circumnavigated the island, which takes you from the Caribbean Sea to the Atlantic Ocean. That transition is significant and the swells were about 4′ high. But we loved it so much, that we have booked two excursions for this trip.

One of the excursions, includes swimming with the stingrays! I’m both nervous and excited about that. Then we are also doing an “Eco Adventure” to learn about the island and also go caving. That’s what the Caribbean is all about…island time and learning about their nature.
Anytime we go on vacation, I’m watching the weather forecast like a hawk……I admit, I’m addicted to weather!  I have six weather apps on my phone and I tend to check them a few times a day.  Here’s the forecast for Antigua from one of my favorite site, www.intellicast.com. Perfect weather, if you ask me! We’ll be there for 10 days, so it’s great to see sun on the forecast for everyday!

Another favorite site, is www.wunderground.com and they say the same thing:
Since we’ll have so much time to relax and lay by the pool, I’m bringing 4 of my books about living on board in the Caribbean. There’s no better place than that, to really get the feel of the story.  Stay tuned for lots of photos! Bon voyage!

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New Reads

Well, knowing that I was having another surgery in October, I bought more books. Now I have so many to read, I can’t catch up! If you don’t already know this about me, I am not a reader. Yep, you heard that right. Except, I LOVE to read true stories about people who go and live their dream on the water.
During the summer, I would grab a book, sit on the deck, soak up some rays and plow through a book. Now that winter is here, I haven’t spent as much time reading as I normally would.
 Right now I’m reading Living on Island Time, All the Time: Sailing and the Pursuit of Happinessby Kristen Miller. She and her husband are in their mid 20’s and buy a small sail boat and sail to the Caribbean via the ICW (Intracoastal Waterway). They live a very primitive lifestyle. For example, during hurricane season, they rode out the season in the Dominican Republic in Luperon. Because they only had a couple hundred dollars to live off of for six weeks (before they could tap into their savings), they didn’t do much except exercise & clean the boat. I give them kudos to that, as I know we couldn’t do that. We would probably spend the days drinking and soaking up the sun.

 

 

 The book is only 154 pages, so when I bought it, I thought, better have a backup book. As I searched for another, I came upon a three book series by David Beaupre. His first book, Quest and Crew: A True Sailing Adventure (Volume 1)is an autobiographical memoir beginning in 1999 when he came across an article about living in the Caribbean for $15,000 per year.  Now he had to convince his wife. And so began his adventure and soon his second book,Quest on the Thorny Path: A True Caribbean Sailing Adventure (Volume 2) came out in 2014. Finally in April 2015, his third book Quest for the Virgins: A True Caribbean Sailing Adventure (Volume 3) was released. I haven’t read them yet, so don’t ruin it for me. I think I’ll have some great reading material for our trip to Antigua in January!

 

 

 This past summer, one of my favorite books I mentioned a few blogs ago, Convergence: A Voyage through French Polynesia told a story about a sailor, John Silverwood they met one day. John & his wife Jean  had two kids and they became friends while anchored one week. Soon that family had to set sail for  Figi and then Australia. About one hundred & seventy miles into their trip, disaster struck. They were hit by a rogue wave, lost their boat and had to be rescued. John was severely injured and lost his leg in the ordeal. He also wrote a book about the event, called Black Wave: A Family’s Adventure at Sea and the Disaster That Saved Them. While I try to only read happy go lucky in the sun type books, I was intrigued by this one, as it could save our lives some day. I haven’t read this one yet, but probably will wait until after our two sailing trips in Antigua. (that will be another blog, but we are so excited).

 

Knowing how much information I am trying to absorb, Scott gave me a handful of books for my birthday – all about living aboard.

 

The two on the left, are simple and basic. Great tips and guidelines. Right now I’m reading “Living Aboard a Boat” by Mark Nichols. This is a great book for anyone considering living on a boat. He starts from day one and shares with you the pros and cons. He tells it as it is. One thing Mark doesn’t do, is tell you the obvious things you should do (i.e. buy life preservers, etc). He gives in depth detail about buying a boat and he learned by experience, as one of his boats was a lemon.
I haven’t read the fourth book yet called “All in the Same Boat” by Tom Neale. I figure, I better save something to read for next year! Scott’s parents saw the books and asked us “so when is this happening”. Well, actually we get that question all of the time and we don’t know yet. It will all depend on when I go back to work now that we sold the wine shop. Then we can save up some money, pay off some debt and hopefully go boat shopping by next summer!! That’s the plan at least. So stay tuned for more new reads!  Cheers! Ally

 

 

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Weather Weather Weather

Yes, it’s true. I’m obsessed with the weather. We live at about 750 ft above sea level looking down onto the valley. From our deck we face Southwest, straight to Tacoma. Looking north we see the SeaTac tower.  So when bad weather is coming our way, we see it long before the folks down below do.

On Facebook, I post a lot of weather photos & videos and often, they are just the same shot over and over. Like I said, I’m obsessed with weather. Weather determines everything when it comes to boating. It doesn’t matter if you are going out on your 25′ Bayliner on Lake Washington or going sailing in the Puget Sound. Nasty weather can sneak up at any time.
Here’s an example of the many photos I’ve taken of different weather patterns coming our way:

Obviously, if you are on a boat in the middle of the ocean, you can also see what’s coming your way. But if you live here in the Pacific Northwest, often our mountain ranges will block any bad weather coming your way. That’s why I love the weather site www.weatherspark.com as it uses data from NOAA and gives you a lot of detail and information.

We live at the base of the Cascade foothills and often, when I am traveling towards our house, I run into all kinds of crazy weather. Imagine what it’s like in the Cascades? Here’s what I’m talking about:

I have lots of weather apps on my phone, including NOAA, Accuweather & Intellicast. All of these weather apps will send you a weather alert and keep you updated. Living at the base of the Cascades, we get a lot of wind and with no protection, we get a direct hit. Add rain to that formula and it’s like being on a boat as the windows get pounded by wind and rain.

One thing is for sure, we live in a region that brings us all kinds of crazy weather, beautiful skies & gorgeous sunsets. If I could get paid for every weather pic I’ve taken, I’d be rich by now. Enjoy some of my favorites including ones I’ve taken on our trips.

If you love weather pics, then follow me on Twitter and Instagram, as I post them often! My twitter handle is allyr2. Cheers!

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Not All Articles in Boating Magazines Are Just For Boaters

We subscribe to A LOT of boating magazines. The more information we can learn and keep the better. But there’s more than just boating information out there. I have an entire binder full of articles ranging from boating safety, to tips, weather, to places to visit and then there’s also the food related articles. 
Many of the food related articles can be used easily at home. Here’s just a quick snapshot of some articles I have saved recently. In this article in Coastal Living, it explains how to clean a fish and lists the best fish for grilling.

Living on land, we forget that boaters have to deal with bugs and this was a great article. Many of the tips can be used at home too.

I save a lot of recipes that I like in boating magazines. Everyone tells us, our pantry will be limited and we’ll have to eat very simple dishes. In addition, there aren’t any grocery stores in the middle of the ocean, so it’s time to learn how to make your own staples. So to be honest, I’m not a big baker. When I need bread, I just buy it. Well, we were out of bread today and I remembered an article I saved. See below.  So today I made this VERY EASY bread recipe, and it turned out great! 

So don’t just look at the photos and quick boating articles…..there is much more out there! Cheers!

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A big change of events towards our journey!

For those of you who have followed our story from years ago, you know that our goal has always been to travel the world via a catamaran. Since then, we have been to boat shows across the country, sailed when we are in the Caribbean, read many books and follow many sailors and magazines.  The dream started just after we opened our wine shop, 10 years ago.  In order for us to start prepping for this new adventure, we knew we couldn’t keep working at the wine shop, so we decided to put it up for sale before our lease ran out. We are proud of what we created and wanted it’s legacy to continue.  And just like that, we found the perfect couple to take over and keep it going. We sold The Wine Alley on September 30th.  Now we are that much closer to our dream.
What’s next people keep asking me. Well, I’m going to take advantage of this down time to deep clean our house and also start getting rid of stuff. It is amazing how much stuff one couple with no kids can collect. This is my office, after I’ve cleaned it up a bit. (Yes, I share it with Mac our golden retriever).

 

That’s the number one thing everyone who moves onto a boat has told us……start getting rid of your stuff. Yesterday, I put a few things up for sale (new skis, boots, vintage camera).

I really could have an entire “store” if I wanted to. We have never had a garage sale and honestly we have so many things, we really could create an (online store). But I have to wonder, will any of it sell by simply listing a few things here and there. In the end, we know we’ll just have to do an estate sale, when we are really close to making the move.

I should have taken a before photo of the garage, but here’s what it looks like after we cleaned it up. We still have SO MUCH stuff. The next big task is going through the 10 years worth of documents from the wine shop and keeping only what the IRS requires, then find a shredding company to destroy the rest. Can’t wait for that project to begin!

Over the next month, I thought I would share how I am tackling the vicious task of “ridding of stuff” on our blog. Baby steps, but we’re that much closer than we were last month!!

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Lake Union Boats A Float Show 2015

We are very lucky here in Seattle, as we have two boat shows a year. The main show is in January, that includes the featured boats at the convention center and also on Lake Union. The other show, is always in the Fall, at Lake Union.  They typically will have quite a few trawlers, pilothouses, yachts, monohulls and sport fishing boats.
This year the weather was warm and sunny (we’ve been to it in the pouring down rain and it’s not fun). Since we just sold our wine shop, we are that much closer to buying our live-aboard and now we are really looking at specifics on boats.
First up was a brand new Sea Ray 510 Fly. This would be an awesome “weekender”, but for $1.4 million, it’s a bit out of our price range.

Next up was a brand new Meridian 441 Sedan. We actually like the older models better for a live aboard. We did run into a dealer from Canada who told us there were plenty available up in British Columbia, so we may look at that. Of course buying outside of the US, there are tariff issues that we would have to research. 

While we don’t plan on living aboard a trawler, there are many features on some trawlers we love. Here is the 2003 Selene 47.  The galley is very spacious and even the salon is nice a roomy. Engine room had plenty of head space, the master head had a tub and the other head had a separate shower. The steps had storage in them.

There are some pilot house Navigators we like. At this show they had a trawler ’48 Navigator. It had some really cool storage ideas. Apparently the washer dryer is down in the engine room (access through the galley floor).

The best part of the day is spending time with family and enjoying the sun!

We did go on a motor yacht that I actually really liked, but Scott didn’t. This was a Hi-Star Cockpit Motoryacht 55′ 1989. It was broken up into many rooms, so it would be a great live aboard. You entered first, into the “outdoor living room”. Then you stepped down into the main salon. Yes, it was a bit old, with lots of white cabinets, but for $215k it wasn’t that bad.

For kicks and giggles we went on quite a few new yachts. Check out the Marquis 690 Pilothouse Motoryacht. For a mere $1,375,000 it can be yours! Check out the “laundry room”. It even has a dining room table!

Lastly, we ran into an older Meridian, with the layout we like. It’s smaller than we would like, but actually for a ’37 footer, it would almost work. This is a 2006 Meridian 368 Aft Cabin for $185,000. We should have taken more photos of it, but had ruled it out due to it’s size.

So we have another boat show done for the season. But came away with some great ideas. For example, many of the couches/benches you see, lift up and that’s all storage underneath. We love the deep sliding shelves on the trawler. Ideas just keep coming our way. Cheers!
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New Reads

This summer, I had major surgery and was down for the count for a couple of weeks. Anticipating my bed rest, I stocked up on some new books.

I just finished Sailing The Waterhouse South Until the Butter Melts by Kelly Girl Waterhouse. Once again, this couple is from the PNW, specifically from Everett, WA. While the book doesn’t include their travels from Everett to Mexico (it begins in Mexico), it does detail the world circumnavigation, which is fascinating. Be sure to read it all the way to the last page and last sentence because it doesn’t end the way it looks like it will.  This is a couple I will continue to follow!

As you know, we also read a lot of magazines (see below). This month I found two magazines filled with great information. The first one is Harbors. This is a Canadian publication that features so many itineraries in the PNW, including so many inlets in B.C. This publication  is well worth the money.
The latest issue of Sea Magazine had some great articles and tips. There are so many “must have” subscriptions, that we can’t possibly keep all of the magazines (see below), so now I’m in the process of keeping & filing just the articles that are important. Especially those “how to” articles for when you are out to sea.

 

 One thing about reading true adventure stories about sailing is you have to use your imagination and imagery about the places, people and boats in the book. But my newest book, Convergence is FULL of photos and I love it! I’m only half way through and this book will take you around the world through the Society Islands. This is a must read!
 Friends of ours bought a Larson 360 a few months ago and we are looking forward to an afternoon on the sound with them in a few weeks. We’ll share photos from our outing. Until then…..more reading. Cheers.