Sailing
Notes From A Trailer Sailor
RossInTampa is PyratSail’s Newest contributing author. We would like to welcome him aboard and look forward to his posts regarding “trailer sailing” Tampa Bay and anywhere else he can tow his vessel. Ross tries to take his boat, Lola to the keys…
Happy Holidays From PyratSail!
Ho, Ho, Ho and A Bottle of Rum! Hope all you sailors out there have a great holiday and Santa brings you everything you wish for. Take a look at our latest cartoon. Happy Holidays!
Cuba May Be Opening For Biz?
Top of Yahoo this a.m. - Fidel says he would talk to Obama. Maybe, after all the mutterings, an end to the sanctions is near? Being born in 1969, I guess I’m a little “young” to understand (or care about) the bad blood between the U.S. and Cuba. The old timey Cuban posters make it look [...]
Get A Poker Run T-Shirt and Help Toys For Tots!
The Poker Run is over but you can still get a cool shirt from the event and benefit Toys For Tots! Help families in need. Read more to get the link for the shirt auction or go to sailmonster.com …
Solar Power Game-Changer
Researchers at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute have discovered and demonstrated a new method for overcoming two major hurdles facing solar energy. By developing a new antireflective coating that boosts the amount of sunlight captured by solar panels and allows those panels to absorb the entire solar spectrum from nearly any angle, the research team has moved [...]
Let’s Light Up The Forums!
The forums have been up for awhile, but with little activity (page link at top right of the site). Since I’ve shifted the course of the site to include Weekend Cruisers from around the U.S. and beyond, it would be great to hear of other cruising areas, stories, etc. Please register and contribute your insights, [...]
Course Correction
After a little bit of thinkin’ and drinkin’, I’ve decided to change the course of this website from sailing and exploring the Tampa Bay area to sailing in all parts of the country (or even world). After all, why would somebody in Maine want to only read about Tampa Bay? Yes, according to web stats there’s a reader [...]
An Incredible Story of Love, Sailing and An Island
An amazing and inspiring story about a lifetime of sailing. In a desperate attempt to cross the pacific ocean from Panama to Australia, John Caldwell reunites with his wife and begins a life of sailing.
Article from the Citrus County Chronicle. There site is sort of a mess so I’m trying to post the entire story in [...]
Close Hauled 8-4
BUY THE SHIRT click here
BUY THE FRAMED PRINT click here
Lats & Atts Jumped The Shark?
I’m sort of bummed out. My favorite monthly mailbox arrival used to be Latitudes and Attitudes magazine. I would start flipping through it before I even made it back into house, and usually have the entire mag read within a few days. Now when it arrives, I sort of breeze through it and then consign [...]
We’ve Taken The Ship
New Boat, New Boat! It’s completely official- the deal is done on the Morgan 323. All the paperwork, insurance, survey’s, etc. - even going to the DMV twice because they just have a thing about wasting everybody’s time. The boat is resting comfortably in our slip in Gulfport. Now the fun begins. We’ve already had the cushions Stanley Steemer’ed, steemed cleaned and sanitized ($400), which seemed pricey, but they are two sided and were in dire need of a scrubbin’. Cannonball and I have gone through about every storage compartment and sorted the junk from the good stuff. In the process a few things were found that need to be fixed or changed immediately -
My Dinghy Don’t Work
Ug - I got this used dinghy for $100 and was told it had a slow leak in one of the pontoons. So far I’m up to 9 patched pinholes, scrapes and abrasions. I quickly ran out of the six inch square rubber patch material and gummy sticky stuff from a $40 patch repair kit [...]
Sea Trial Saturday On The New PyratSail Boat
Things are coming together on our possible new boat, a 1980 Morgan 32′ or model 323. We’ve passed the underwater/scuba survey, initiated the title search, secured financing and made arrangements for the full survey and sea trial for this Saturday at 9:00 a.m. This is all a first for me, as every one of our other boats [...]
Sail To Anna Maria Island
Bars, beaches and love bugs were just a few of the experiences the crew and I managed to endure on a three day trip to Anna Maria Island last week. The Anna Maria Island Chamber of Commerce says that the island “was once a best kept secret…” but it seems like a quiet place, just a little on the touristy side. The waters surrounding A.M. are a beautiful shade of green-blue that can inspire a sailor…
I Want A Pudgy Dinghy
Couldn’t resist, but hey, they named it not me. The Portland Pudgy. I saw this pudgy little dinghy awhile ago in a sailing mag and it got my attention. I have yet to need a dinghy (stop it) but always thought it would be good to have one that doubles as a life raft. I remember [...]
“Nola Notes” Strike a Chord
A few years ago while fanning through an old copy of Chapman Piloting that was left aboard my boat by a previous owner, I discovered a lost treasure. There, stuck between the pages of nautical knowledge was a single sheet of wide-ruled notebook paper. Written neatly in pen at the very top it read: “Nola” [...]
Attack of The Maintenance Monster
IT happened again. It, being an incredible day of sailing tarnished by a mechanical breakdown. These breakdowns don’t bother me too much, but each one decreases my chances of coaxing the crew back out on the water. The day was Thursday April 3rd, one day before my 39th birthday and impending mid-life crisis. As a [...]
Out Of Zone Experiences
Every so often I need to remind myself that sailing is forever bound to one of the strongest, most unpredictable forces of nature and that yes, it causes trouble most of the time. A rocking boat, waves, getting blown across the marina when the motor stalls - all of these things don’t happen to me [...]
Sailing Dunedin/St. Joseph Sound
Sailing in the intracoastal waterway from Dunedin North to Tarpon Springs and the Anclote River can be challenging and fun . I spent my first 12 years in Florida living in this beautiful area that has lots of activities, beaches, spoil islands, restaurants, etc. From what I can tell on Google Earth, St. Joseph Sound seems to be [...]
