Tag: Sea Rose

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Geologic Activity Tour, Ep. 107

This blog episode welcomes our first guests of the 2019 summer Mediterranean sailing season on board Sea Rose. Longtime friends, Mary and Dave join us from Madison, Wisconsin. They actually ‘booked’ their date over a year in advance as they planned other travel to Europe.

Mary and Tom worked together in Oakland California almost 30 years ago at the shipping company, ‘American President Lines’. I was doing some IT consulting at APL at that time, and I met both Tom and then Mary through a corporate ski-team … yes, snow skiing, if I had a dollar for every skier I met who also sails or every sailor who skies in the off season, we’d be flying high!

Tom and Mary developed a fast friendship with once-a-week yoga evenings and plans for outings with mutual friends. They even bought a canoe together! Who knew their boating relationship would last so long? By the time I met Mary, Dave was already a well-established figure in her life – in fact, they were married!

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Oh, So Familiar! Ep. 106

If you have a weather window, you’d be wise to use it. That was our overarching motto as we took up our dock lines and headed out of the marina in Gaeta to begin our 2019 summer adventure. We had a moderate wind that would help us on our southbound route, and we jumped at the chance to get off the dock. We also had the advantage for the next few days to sail in familiar waters. Familiarity. It’s a catch 22 of sorts to return to where you have previously been. On the one hand, you know where to go, where to anchor, where to find groceries and what sights to see ashore. You can drop the hook with aplomb knowing you were here before and the holding is good. You don’t waste time wandering like a gypsy ashore with your bags of garbage trying to find a rubbish bin while trying to look cool and nonchalant around your high-fashion Italian peers. But then again, you’re not seeing anything new, which limits how much ‘adventure’ you’re truly having. However to start off the season, Karen and I needed the comfort of a little familiarity.

With an early start and favorable winds, we considered the many options that were a day’s sail from Gaeta. The Pontine Islands, with their huge multicolored cliffs, were tempting but would put us a little too far west. There was the small fishing hamlet at Ventotene which we had sailed by last summer but did not stop at, however the entrance seemed tricky and shallow. We opted for the longest option – 35 miles – to Ischia. We were quite familiar with Ischia from last summer, having visited all but the west side of the island, which is where there were rumored to be thermal baths. Soaking in warm water seemed like the perfect gift to ourselves for getting Sea Rose launched.

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Enchanting Elba Island, Ep. 105

If you are sailing along the west coast of Italy, you’d be hard-pressed not to run into Elba. It sticks out like a big ink blob in this popular Tuscan region of Italy. Students of European history will ask ‘Hey, isn’t that where Napoleon was exiled?’ Indeed it is! But for a couple of non-history majors, all Karen and I were looking for was a rest stop on the great water super-highway to Cinque Terre.

Cinque Terre. If I had a dollar for every time someone had suggested to us – when they learned that we were going to sail around Italy – that we should visit Cinque Terre, I’d be a mighty rich man. But getting all the way north to Cinque Terre requires a bit of time and a comfortable weather window. Elba was the perfect halfway point from our start at the southern end of Corsica. With two 75 mile hops, separated by a little R&R at Elba, we’d be in the Five Lands in no time!

Yet, like so many other times this summer, the particular ports-of-call that guide books and online forums had played down turned out to be unexpectedly extraordinary. Dare I say, enchanting?!

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Check out our YouTube channel for the latest Sea Rose videos! Ep. 104

Hi! Tom here – just a quick note to let you know we have posted recent videos to our YouTube channel ‘LifeFourPointZero‘ of our sailing adventures around Italy, plus an episode of us in a completely different setting… cross-country skiing through the beautiful northern woods of Maine! Check them out here!

And if you are really bold, and want to hear about our tips for anchoring your boat, check out the latest in our of series of how-to videos titled ‘Boat Anchoring 101’!

Finally if you are not already getting notified when we release videos on our YouTube channel, be sure to click on the subscribe button on our YouTube channel, and then the ‘bell’ icon below any one of our videos. If you don’t have one already, you’ll need to create an account on YouTube in order to subscribe. Then, YouTube will email you whenever we post a new video!

Happy spring!

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Northbound Along the Sardinia and Corsica Coastlines, Ep. 103

Our friends in and out of the sailing community are often surprised to find that we typically don’t stay in one place more than one night. “Why the rush?!” they ask. It’s a question we debate regularly, and I’ll admit our fast pace can make the cruising life a bit stressful at times. I’m sure this fast pace leads our European neighbors to box us right into the American stereotype of working one’s self to the bone., but there is so much to see. They don’t call the Great Lakes “great” for no reason. And the Mediterranean, well, let’s just say that it’s a massive body of water, steeped in history that puts our American history timeline to shame. Our original plan was to cruise the Med for two seasons – the first would be in the western portion, and the second in the eastern. With half of our first summer already in the bag, there was plenty more to see before we checked the box in the West.

But whoa … hold on American cowboy! Are we done with the island adventures of Sardinia and Corsica? Not yet! It was time for a second helping of island exploring.

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Sardinia – It Only Gets Better After Finding the Dead Man! Ep. 102

I came into this sailing adventure knowing very little about Corsica, and even less about Sardinia. There are a few things that a Southern California upbringing lack, and an appreciation of history is one of them, especially when it involves land masses halfway around the globe. So, you’ll need to excuse me if I gloat over these substantial Mediterranean islands. Even as adults, we didn’t know what to expect when we sailed across from the French mainland. It wasn’t for lack of intel. We had so many cruising and travel guides of this area, I was afraid Sea Rose might list over and capsize. Though my appetite for history has grown leaps and bounds since grade school, travel books don’t always do a place justice, or captivate you enough in the evening after a long day on the water. You have to get right up close for an immersive, sensual experience to really get drawn in. This certainly describes our experience when we made our Corsica landfall at Galeria. And that was quickly followed by the sights, sounds and scents that are Sardinia. We just needed to rescue a few travel mates from the airport first!

Sardinia highlights

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Corsica – Up Close And Personal, Ep. 101

Before we left the U.S. to start our summer adventure onboard Sea Rose, we had several friends express an interest in joining us. Karen and I were of course thrilled about the strong interest, but we had to chuckle a bit. Just a year prior, while we were cruising through the Great Lakes of the U.S., we got very few takers. Apparently, a transatlantic flight, foreign language, and jet lag was not enough to dissuade people from an opportunity to sail in the Mediterranean. That said, if you have the chance to navigate the Erie Canal or sail the Great Lakes, you should really accept the offer. It is a fabulous and under-appreciated sailing destination. Check out our YouTube series “Sailing into the American Heartland” for more details.

Our longtime friend Emmy was quick to sign on as a guest, booking her ticket to France months ahead, showing us she was not leaving anything to chance! We had mapped out a rough itinerary for the summer and there were various legs that were either coastal hopping or offshore crossings. To our surprise, Emmy was intrigued by the idea of an offshore crossing, especially if it involved an overnight experience. As we settled into our new boat and finished cruising the Balearics, it became clear that we would be doing a longer passage from the French mainland over to the northwest coast of Corsica. This is roughly a 100 nm trip. We had done several similar length crossings – namely to cross over from Spain to Mallorca and return back from Menorca – and for both of those trips we left before sunrise and arrived before dusk to try to avoid a complete overnight trip.

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Exploring Mallorca’s East Coast – SuperCALAfragilistichespiralidoso! Ep. 98

Unlike the isolation and jagged cliff landscape of Mallorca’s north coast, the eastern side of the island is peppered with small calas and a sprinkling of little villages providing beautiful beach access to island visitors. There are steep cliffs here – Mother Nature’s forceful hand toiled on this island as it did on so many others in the area – but these cliffs are in the 100 foot high range, not thousands of feet like the north coast. We were needing a little village scene, after being the only boat anchored out in the northerly harbors. With this goal, we headed around Mallorca’s northern tip, Cabo de Formentor, and found a vigorous breeze on our beam, sending us down the eastern side with determination.

Cabo de Formentor

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Our Maiden Voyage on Sea Rose! Ep. 96

When people think of the French Riviera, I can bet they don’t think of a place like Canet-en-Roussillon. This little coastal hamlet is tucked away in the very southern extreme of France’s Mediterranean coastline, practically on the door step of Spain. Indeed, for awhile it was part of the Catalan region. Canet has its expansive beaches, but it’s devoid of the glitz and glam, the flashy big super yachts, and the well heeled sophisticate of the French Riviera. It’s the summer vacation choice of the everyday French family, and its port facility is where you come to roll up your sleeves and get work done.

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Winter Updates Ep. 89

It’s winter in New England, which for some of you might conjure up romantic notions of snow-filled meadows adjacent to a snug log cabin with a rousing wood fire burning inside. What it is not is a time for sailing, unless you are one of these crazy devils from the Boston Sailing Center’s Frostbite Racing Series.

Boston’s Frostbite Series

Instead, for Karen and I, we have been busy preparing to take delivery of our new Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 440 “Sea Rose” in France this Spring. I can assure you we will be posting lots of pictures and videos of our experience in the Mediterranean, where the only ice you will find is in the freezer or the cocktail glass!

In the meantime, I just recently completed two YouTube videos related to our preparations. The first video explains our boat buying experience in Annapolis this past Fall, including the standout features of the Jeanneau 440. The second video details our new travel companion – the Google Pixel 2 phone and Project Fi service. I’ll admit it didn’t take much to bring out the inner geek in me, but for any of you that travel overseas and need an easy way to stay in touch and online, these two solutions should be on your short list.

If you enjoy the videos and want to be reminded when new ones arrive, simply click on the button at the end of the video to subscribe to our channel, LifeFourPointZero, or go here. And a thumbs up  is always appreciated it!

Stay warm!