tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69087250412253170942024-03-05T12:55:32.724-05:00Sailing Side by SideThe Johnson Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02750465249429349355noreply@blogger.comBlogger131125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6908725041225317094.post-63320221428898979712011-01-03T09:12:00.000-05:002011-01-03T09:12:53.042-05:00Happy Holidays 2010-Recap of the Year
What a difference a year makes; our last holiday picture was taken on the wharf St. Croix, USVI. This year, we are still on the water, it’s just frozen. Saratoga Lake had a perfect sheet of black ice for a few days. It felt great being on the water again, only with many more layers on.
2010 started with a bang in St. Barts, the yachting capital of the rich and famous, including jet-skiing The Johnson Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02750465249429349355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6908725041225317094.post-52933284591418677932010-07-14T10:35:00.001-04:002010-07-14T10:37:16.958-04:004 Waterspouts in the Gulf StreamThe Johnson Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02750465249429349355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6908725041225317094.post-23100457969923588612010-07-13T19:09:00.000-04:002010-08-19T19:24:40.220-04:00Land trip, day 1 Thanks to the Grego's from Free Spirt who we have not seen in 2.5 years. They offered their home to us so we did not have to sleep in 104 degree heat. The day we were ready to leave, our ride to the airport has arrived but the boat and the Johnson's are not ready to go yet. Marc and I are still covered in sweat. Another The Johnson Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02750465249429349355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6908725041225317094.post-36967989624696977552010-06-21T18:30:00.000-04:002010-06-21T18:51:52.727-04:00Excitement at SeaAfter an exciting father's day, we are having a very pleasant sail. At about 4 a.m. last night a squall overtook us. The wind reached 35 knots and the boat, with one reef in, handled fine. The scary part were 3 very close lightening strikes. On land, there are other good targets for lightening. On the ocean, we have a 60 foot metal object that is the only tall items for miles around. The Johnson Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02750465249429349355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6908725041225317094.post-64438471155018490042010-05-31T15:30:00.001-04:002010-05-31T15:53:32.249-04:00Lost Children at AtlantisThe Johnson Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02750465249429349355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6908725041225317094.post-57322668924675255392010-05-24T17:49:00.000-04:002010-05-24T17:49:23.865-04:00Sabrina's Leap of Faith The Johnson Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02750465249429349355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6908725041225317094.post-67525527042271615702010-05-24T17:45:00.002-04:002010-05-31T15:54:08.670-04:00AtlantisOur weather guru, Chris Parker came on the SSB at 6:30 a.m. the other day and said, "all my weather models say something different and I have no idea what the wind will be like!". "However, plan on squalls to 50 knots from any direction". Nothing like that to get sailors excited. Especially sailors with kids who like to keep together with other kid boats. So over coffee and banana bread we had a The Johnson Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02750465249429349355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6908725041225317094.post-42497044546002591562010-04-29T22:20:00.000-04:002010-04-29T22:21:02.732-04:00 While in the Bahamas, a rocket launched from Cape Canaveral lit up the night sky over Stocking Island, Georgetown Bahamas. The pictures show when the rocket broke the sound barrier and the after cloud. The kids said, Mom, Dad, come see this. Enjoying our wine and company we were slow to come out and look but glad we did.The Johnson Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02750465249429349355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6908725041225317094.post-70427667372876408032010-04-29T20:49:00.001-04:002010-04-29T22:06:58.868-04:00 The Johnson Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02750465249429349355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6908725041225317094.post-89815062853959916412010-04-28T11:03:00.000-04:002010-04-28T11:03:27.173-04:00But I don't want to tack
Family Island Regatta Race week was something that we returned to Georgetown Bahamas to watch and hopefully participate in. Bahamanian sloops are the pride of each "family" island. For 4 days, they race several races a day with exciting anchor starts, aggressive tacks at the turns and usually several near collisions per race. The sloops are hand crafted mostly wood boats with over sized The Johnson Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02750465249429349355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6908725041225317094.post-71896359180756058592010-04-19T11:02:00.001-04:002010-04-28T11:12:27.359-04:00The crazy sport of free diving
While in Long Island we watched, as much as we could, the first day of the world championship free diving contests. Men and women from around the world, using fins or no fins descent into the worlds deepest blue hole in Long Island Bahamas without compressed air. They hold their breath for longer than 4 minutes, risk lung damage or worse so see who can go the deepest. We met a US free diver The Johnson Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02750465249429349355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6908725041225317094.post-36454192371843962812010-03-25T15:10:00.001-04:002010-03-25T16:06:34.947-04:00 Sabrina went hunting with Marc determined to land her first lobster. She has developed amazing ability to dive to 20-25 feet and hold her breath. As she tells it, she looked under a ledge and waited for a school of snapper to clear out. She could not believe it when she saw a huge lobster sitting there under the ledge Excited, she surfaced, took a big breath and went down, steadied The Johnson Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02750465249429349355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6908725041225317094.post-16403265897865900402010-02-23T14:07:00.000-05:002010-02-23T14:08:03.440-05:00Black and White Our friends the Cases came down from Saratoga. Even with sunscreen, it is hard to avoid the sun out here. Can you tell Angie's feet from Kelly's? We had a great visit and were sad to see them go back to the great white north. Now it is the craziness of Georgetown.. 300 boats and the fun of cruisers week. We love it.The Johnson Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02750465249429349355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6908725041225317094.post-52994506116681319262010-01-24T09:08:00.002-05:002010-01-24T09:14:44.197-05:00
Parker and Sabrina do their junior ranger program at the Fort San Cristobal in Old San Juan, Puerto Rico. Old San Juan is a jewel of a city in the Carribean.The Johnson Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02750465249429349355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6908725041225317094.post-20343729875010009402010-01-03T12:23:00.003-05:002010-06-06T12:06:53.412-04:00The Johnson's New Years Letter
Wow, how time flies. This is our 4th year sailing on Side-by-Side. The friends we made, the laughs we had and the memories we formed will be cherished for life. As you will see, 2009 was the year of Plan A turning to Plan B then Plan C Option 2a. Parker, our conscientious, studious 7th grader, thrives on wakeboarding, cliff jumping, hanging with The Johnson Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02750465249429349355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6908725041225317094.post-79691398999138735802009-12-08T08:21:00.001-05:002010-01-04T23:21:12.239-05:00Sabrina turns 11
Sabrina's 11th birthday was spent hanging in Road Town, Tortola, BVIs. She planned her day to the minute. Monster Pancakes for breakfast (a type of baked egg/pancake), painting nails on the boat then out for lunch. The kids both enjoyed a huge cheeseburger and Ting, a Jamaican grapefruit soda. After lunch we did some expensive grocery shopping. We found our hair braid lady in the craft stalls The Johnson Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02750465249429349355noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6908725041225317094.post-74985491300844608032009-12-01T13:45:00.000-05:002010-03-25T15:37:19.469-04:00St. JohnAfter exploring the north side of St. John 3 years ago, we headed to the
south side. Thanks to Laurance Rockefeller, about half the island of St.
John is National Park. The waters are protected by a sea park. Most of the
anchorages have mooring balls are are $15/night. In one such anchorage, a
park boat came along presumablely to collect while Sabrina tried to catch
the sea life. No, they The Johnson Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02750465249429349355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6908725041225317094.post-90584196977512298262009-11-25T13:45:00.000-05:002010-03-25T15:38:52.335-04:00Parker's ParadiseAfter 9 days at sea, Parker dreamed of a cheeseburger. When the St. Thomas
yacht club had a TRIPLE cheeseburger on the menu for the evening, he begged
us to go with the Watts out to dinner. Of course, we relented and enjoyed
our last evening with the Watts. Seeing Angie, Chris, Meghan and Christina
at Cowpet Bay after 9 days a sea was a real treat. Though they don't see
each other often orThe Johnson Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02750465249429349355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6908725041225317094.post-51937474243421533202009-11-19T10:50:00.000-05:002009-11-19T10:54:10.922-05:00In the middle of nowwhereSailing out here in the middle of the Atlantic, I realized that, besides our immediate family, no one knows where we are or where we are going. As a write this, due to modern GPS technology, we know exactly were we are. However, as we can't sail directly where we want to go, we don't know where we will end up or when. With many financial balls in the air to be juggled prior to being The Johnson Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02750465249429349355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6908725041225317094.post-22963968581102120062009-11-03T06:51:00.001-05:002009-11-03T06:54:06.609-05:005 kids boats with 11 kids for Halloween at Elizabeth City NCThe Johnson Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02750465249429349355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6908725041225317094.post-33826919517626706242009-09-29T18:34:00.000-04:002009-09-29T18:35:56.887-04:00Auto pump shut off On the boat, we are used to traveling for a month or more on 150 gallons of fuel. After all, we are a sail boat with two auxiliary engines. Our patience for slow sailing has increased with a 3 knot cut-off. If we are going less than 3 nautical miles an hour (maybe 4 miles an hour) we turn on an engine and motor sail. Now we are driving 40 feet of house down the road withThe Johnson Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02750465249429349355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6908725041225317094.post-78584525997840936892009-08-02T18:34:00.002-04:002009-11-03T07:24:35.550-05:00Heading west with no GPS
Goodbye Hastings. On Saturday, August 8th, after cleaning, fixing, and loading the “new” RV with food, we left Hastings Michigan heading west without a definite plan. A new tradition was established.. honk at the entrance to every new state. Bye Michigan, hello Indiana…. Goodbye Indiana, hello Illinois.
Scott, my brother, turned 40 that day and we were meeting himThe Johnson Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02750465249429349355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6908725041225317094.post-48754443555309267742009-08-01T20:43:00.001-04:002009-09-08T13:53:56.880-04:00Land LubbersAugust 1st , 2009 was a milestone day. In the morning, we negotiated our first RV purchase, a 37',1999 National "Tropi-cal" model with 35,000 miles.Why did we BUY an RV you ask. Side-by-Side was "on the hard" at the Severn River Marina in Virginia awaiting a new transmission. Most boat yards forbid living on the hard. We have done it once and it is no fun and nearly impossible for the 3-4 weeks The Johnson Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02750465249429349355noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6908725041225317094.post-39562942303711688302009-07-17T10:34:00.002-04:002009-09-08T13:34:25.505-04:00ReunitedClose friends. Sending out Christmas cards or wedding invitations our list of friends can swell to large levels. But when it comes down to the number of people you can call on for anything, anytime the number shrinks Those people who open their homes to you and tell you to stay as long as you need to, even beyond the standard "4 day" limit. Sailing, we meet other cruising who The Johnson Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02750465249429349355noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6908725041225317094.post-35270901791811095792009-07-08T16:33:00.005-04:002010-06-06T12:10:22.620-04:00One Big Bad U Turn
After 4 days and 450 miles into our trip south, between Cuba and the Cayman islands, we mysteriously stopped moving through the water. For 95% of the time, we had to motor with no wind or wind coming from the direction we wanted to go. We finally decided to drop the sails and punch our way to the Caymans using just one motor. The 140 miles left were going to be rough, bashing into building The Johnson Familyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02750465249429349355noreply@blogger.com2