On this episode of The Sailing Rode Podcast our featured topic is our recent weekend trip sailing the Ponce Inlet area of Florida.  For all the details and links to places mentioned in the show, go to our blog post on the Ponce Inlet Sailing Trip.
We talk about a few upcoming boat projects.  We need to address water leaking through areas of the back deck which allows water to collect in the storage under the rear berth.
We also need to replace our anchor rode which has chafed after 5 years of use.  It actually chafed four years ago before we started using a chafe guard.  We just placed an order with Defender marine supply for a new rode.   You can see what we bought here.
Finally we review our first TSR featured product.  The TaoTronics Collapsible LED Lantern.  We found it to be a great addition to our boat equipment.  They are available in our Amazon store for $9.99.  But you may be able to get one for FREE!   Just share the podcast post on Facebook or Twitter, or if you are feeling really generous, give us a five star iTunes review and we will do a randow draw from everyone who shared or review to give away one of the lanterns. We will pull the winner on September 15th, 2015.  Thank for listening and sharing!

TSR 002 - Ponce Inlet Trip Report

The Sailing Rode is about sailboat cruising and travel.  We share our lessons learned as we grow our sailing experience from local trailer sailors to global offshore sailors.  We discuss our sailing travel adventures and feature marine and general products we use on our boat.

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In this episode, we interview Harriett and TL Linskey who run a non-profit that brings books to schools and students in the Caribbean.  They cruise through the islands yearly on their 46 ft. catamaran and during the interview Harriett shares stories from their cruising history that goes back to the 1980's when they cruised their self-built Bristol Channel Cutter from Mexico to Japan.  We also have a great discussion about their move from monohulls to a catamaran. Intro Chat  We have had a busy summer with sailing cruising trips to Dunnedin and Tarpon Springs, the Adult Summer Games event on Lake Toho, Cocoa Beach and Labor Day weekend at Ponce inlet / Disappearing Island, met some young sailor buying boats for very low cost and living on the water. And couple with 38ft meadowlark w/ lee boards, 8 1/2ft beam and draft 1 ½ ft. designed by Herreshoff.  It is that time of year when the northerners have to pull and winterize the boats. Bummer. We are finally getting some boat projects done – waxed our blue hull, using a new ceramic coating – Hydro Silex  It was really easy to apply and we will see how it performs to keep the oxidation from coming back.  We also replaced our fuel filter that was leaking.  Replacing the fuel lines and tank pickups is next. My canoe build is almost done, but the final steps seem hardest to keep moving. Just need to install the seats, paint and varnish.  It is a Michael Storer Quick Canoe.   We have a trip planned to visit Salt Lake City, Utah in Mid-October and drive up to Jackson Hole Wyoming, maybe Yellowstone national park in Montana, then back down to Park City, Utah.  Let us know if any listeners live in that area and want to meet.  Interview Please join us in supporting a great cause to help the students get great books in the beautiful Caribbean Islands.  http://www.handsacrossthesea.net/ The ASA / Hands Across the Sea Sweepstakes - win a one-week, four-person bareboat charter in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and the Tobago Cays courtesy of ASA Affiliate Horizon Yacht Charters. Or you could win a luxurious seven-night stay for four (two rooms) at The Verandah Resort & Spa in Antigua or at the St. James’s Club, Morgan Bay, St. Lucia, courtesy of Elite Island Resorts. Here are the bios for Harriett and TL Linskey:  Harriet Linskey Executive Director • Hands Co-Founder Harriet's responsibilities include developing relationships in the Eastern Caribbean, fundraising, overseeing the CLASS program, setting up the logistics infrastructure, managing finances and working with donors, recipients, volunteers and board members. She is a trained secondary education teacher with five years of experience teaching English, Journalism, and Art History in New Zealand and Japan. At a rural secondary school in New Zealand, Harriet led the refurbishment of a dismal library and saw firsthand how the addition of new and relevant books can inspire all levels of readers. Before co-founding Hands Across the Sea, Harriet was for 18 years a marketing and sales executive. Harriet has a B. A. from Yale and a Diploma of Teaching from the Auckland College of Education, New Zealand.  Tom "T.L." Linskey Marketing Director • Hands Co-Founder Tom Linskey uses his 30 years of writing, editing, and photography experience to design and update the Hands website and create print and video materials for Hands. Back in 1986 T.L. built his own sailboat and sailed it, with Harriet, from California to Mexico, the South Pacific, New Zealand, Australia, and Japan. T.L. also raced sailboats; he was a three-time world champion crewman in the Olympic 470 class and a member of the 1984 U.S. Olympic Yachting team.    Sailing & Cruising News  to be updated  Product of the Week We use this gel pad at the helm as a comfortable seat when we are cruising for hours at a time.  It helps improve the comfort or any cushion and the gel does not soak up water. Sojoy iGelComfort Gel Seat Cushion    Amazon Store Please use our Amazon Affiliate links below for anything you buy on Amazon or look at over 90 items we have in our TSR Recommended Gear section on the website.  We use all the items on our boat and include notes of why we like them.  We also added over 40 sailing and cruising books we recommend.  You pay the same low Amazon price and we get a small commission.  USA Amazon Store  Canada Amazon Store  UK Amazon Store  France Amazon Store  Germany Amazon Store  Spain Amazon Store  Italy Amazon Store Please help us Support Podcast We need your help to spread the word about the Podcast.  Please share the podcast with your sailing & cruising friends and ask them to subscribe on iTunes, stitcher, or Google Play Music.  You can send them these links:  iPhone iTunes link Android Stitcher link  Google Play Music link It also helps when you share the podcast links on social media and sailing forums.  Please like or follow us on Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram  We will follow you too! Remember to tag your Instagram sailing related pictures with #thesailingrode Send us your feedback on the show and any show topic ideas to Crew@TheSailingRode.com  Patreon If you enjoy the podcast, you can support us on our Patreon site and get some special rewards. Check it out at this link: https://www.patreon.com/TheSailingRode How it works:  Patreon is designed for you to support your favorite content creators.  You can support our podcast creations by signing up for various levels of support.  You can set a maximum monthly amount so if we release a lot of podcasts in one month, you still only pay your maximum amount.  In return, you get some rewards for your support.  It is kind of like giving us a tip or buying us a drink after a good show. Thanks for listening and all your support!  We wish you fair winds and hope to see you on the water soon. –  Steve & Brandy The Sailing Rode / The Sailing Road

TSR036 Hands Across the Sea

In this episode, we interview Ruth and Garrett from the Salt and Tar YouTube channel where they have spent the last three years building a traditional 35 foot gaff rigged ketch.    Brandy is growing her fitness and nutrition business. We are working on a new website but if you are interested in a great program for eating better and staying in shape contact her at BrandyPayment@gmail.com or crew@thesailingrode.com  Just saw an article that says only 23% of the people in the United States get the recommended amount of exercise to stay healthy. It's the end of June and if you said this was the year you were going to get in shape and you have not got that habit started yet , then get started this week. Interview I have been watching Ruth and Garrett from the Salt & Tar YouTube channel for about the last six months.  They are on the third year of building their own 35' traditional wood gaff rigged ketch.  This will be their sixth boat and the are still in their 20's.  We talk about how they have been able to buy fixer upper boats, do the work, and sell them for a profit to build up to their current boat. You can see the design a Button #2 by George Buehler here.   Here are the links to:  The Salt and Tar YouTube channel Buehler's Backyard Boatbuilding for the 21st Century   Sailing & Cruising News  to be updated  Product of the Week We recently upgraded the queen size foam mattress on our boat and it is awesome.  The mattress was recommended by some friends who bought it on Amazon for the boat and it is super comfy.  We have had several trips with the new mattress and we get a great nights sleep. Best Mattress 6" Memory Foam Mattress Amazon Prime Video of the Week Great free sailing movies if you are an Amazon Prime Member We talked about the 1968 Golden Globe Race,  the first solo non-stop around the world sailing race, in the sailing news.  Deep Water is a documentary of that race and it is a great story. Link to Deep Water on Amazon Video Amazon Store Please use our Amazon Affiliate links below for anything you buy on Amazon or look at over 90 items we have in our TSR Recommended Gear section on the website.  We use all the items on our boat and include notes of why we like them.  We also added over 40 sailing and cruising books we recommend.  You pay the same low Amazon price and we get a small commission.  USA Amazon Store  Canada Amazon Store  UK Amazon Store  France Amazon Store  Germany Amazon Store  Spain Amazon Store  Italy Amazon Store Please help us Support Podcast We need your help to spread the word about the Podcast.  Please share the podcast with your sailing & cruising friends and ask them to subscribe on iTunes, stitcher, or Google Play Music.  You can send them these links:  iPhone iTunes link Android Stitcher link  Google Play Music link It also helps when you share the podcast links on social media and sailing forums.  Please like or follow us on Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram  We will follow you too! Remember to tag your Instagram sailing related pictures with #thesailingrode Send us your feedback on the show and any show topic ideas to Crew@TheSailingRode.com  Patreon If you enjoy the podcast, you can support us on our Patreon site and get some special rewards. Check it out at this link: https://www.patreon.com/TheSailingRode How it works:  Patreon is designed for you to support your favorite content creators.  You can support our podcast creations by signing up for various levels of support.  You can set a maximum monthly amount so if we release a lot of podcasts in one month, you still only pay your maximum amount.  In return, you get some rewards for your support.  It is kind of like giving us a tip or buying us a drink after a good show. Thanks for listening and all your support!  We wish you fair winds and hope to see you on the water soon. –  Steve & Brandy The Sailing Rode / The Sailing Road

TSR035 Salt & Tar

In this episode, we interview Sarah Steenland, The Cruising Cartoonist and her kids as they cruise Southeast Asia.   We have some more sailing / cruising news and our featured product will help make sure you never have to worry about expired signal flares. Intro Chat We have we been? Last show was after hurricane Irma last September.   As much as we wanted to get some shows out, we have been too busy with other activities.  We have done a couple boat trips, Cocoa beach area, St. Johns river trip over new years weekend. Gasparilla pirate weekend in Indian Rocks Beach.  Steve even built a cannon for the boat! No wonder we don't put out podcasts! Steve took over two additional areas at work so he is spending a lot of time in Atlanta and Nashville. And we have been busy with non-boat travel with trips to the Smoky Mountains, Nashville and Las Vegas We have an upcoming trip to the Abacos in the Bahamas, Marsh Harbour and Hope Town / Elbow Cay Steve re-started work on his sailing canoe and we hope to be sailing it before year end. Brandy receive great news on her leukemia and we are praying that she will be off her medication by the end of the year and truly cancer free! Brandy started a new health and fitness business.  If you are interested in a great workout and nutrition program then send her a note at crew@thesailingrode.com Our Amazon store is being rebuilt. Check it out at the link in the menu at the top of our site.  Let us know if it works better for you and if you have any products your recommend for us to include. Sarah Steenland - The Cruising Cartoonist Sarah and her family are cruising Southeast Asia in their boat Sea Monkey Check out all her  Coconut Telegraph cruising cartoons and really cool website here. Get all the latest updates on the family's cruising adventures and their environmental projects on Sydney and Indy's Sea Monkey Broadcasting News! Sailing & Cruising News  to be updated soon    Product of the Week Never worry about expired flares again with the Weems and Plath LED Flare.   Amazon Store Please use our Amazon Affiliate links below for anything you buy on Amazon or look at over 90 items we have in our TSR Amazon store.  We use all the items on our boat and include notes of why we like them.  We also added over 40 sailing and cruising books we recommend.  You pay the same low Amazon price and we get a small commission.  USA Amazon Store  Canada Amazon Store  UK Amazon Store  France Amazon Store  Germany Amazon Store  Spain Amazon Store  Italy Amazon Store Please help us Support Podcast We need your help to spread the word about the Podcast.  Please share the podcast with your sailing & cruising friends and ask them to subscribe on iTunes, stitcher, or Google Play Music.  You can send them these links:  iPhone iTunes link Android Stitcher link  Google Play Music link It also helps when you share the podcast links on social media and sailing forums.  Please like or follow us on Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram  We will follow you too! Remember to tag your Instagram sailing related pictures with #thesailingrode Send us your feedback on the show and any show topic ideas to Crew@TheSailingRode.com  Patreon If you enjoy the podcast, you can support us on our Patreon site and get some special rewards. Check it out at this link: https://www.patreon.com/TheSailingRode How it works:  Patreon is designed for you to support your favorite content creators.  You can support our podcast creations by signing up for various levels of support.  You can set a maximum monthly amount so if we release a lot of podcasts in one month, you still only pay your maximum amount.  In return, you get some rewards for your support.  It is kind of like giving us a tip or buying us a drink after a good show. Thanks for listening and all your support!  We wish you fair winds and hope to see you on the water soon. –  Steve & Brandy The Sailing Rode / The Sailing Road

TSR034 The Cruising Cartoonist - Sarah Steenland

In this episode we talk about our experience during hurricane Irma.  The remnants of the eye went right over our house around 2:30am on 9/11/17. The British Virgin Islands were hit hard by the hurricane and they need your help.  We donated to a fund started by Scott and Brittney Meyers from the Windtraveler blog.  Every dollar raised goes to help the local community.   Please give something, even small amounts help.  https://www.youcaring.com/bviimmediaterelief-943806  Scott and Brittney along with their friends and co-business partners Peter and Jody from the Where the Coconuts Grow blog, lost their boat homes and the catamarans the owned for their day charter business in the BVI.   Please take a moment to send them a message of support on their blogs or Facebook.  They are providing great support to the BVI community in the midst of them losing everything they own. We were lucky not to have any damage to our home or the boat.  See our blog post here for all the pictures Featured Producs We used a lot of products from the boat to help us during the hurricane.  Being a cruising sailor really helps prepare you for living off the grid!  Here are the products that helped us. Headlamp (Batttery-Cheap) Headlamp (Rechargable) Breathable Rain Jacket Honda EU2000i Generator LED Worklights Stanley Spotlight Coleman Solar Shower Coleman Camp Stove 5000BTU Air Conditioner Amazon Store Please use our Amazon Affiliate links below for anything you buy on Amazon or look at over 90 items we have in our TSR Amazon store.  We use all the items on our boat and include notes of why we like them.  We also added over 40 sailing and cruising books we recommend.  You pay the same low Amazon price and we get a small commission.  USA Amazon Store  Canada Amazon Store  UK Amazon Store  France Amazon Store  Germany Amazon Store  Spain Amazon Store  Italy Amazon Store Please help us Support Podcast We need your help to spread the word about the Podcast.  Please share the podcast with your sailing & cruising friends and ask them to subscribe on iTunes, stitcher, or Google Play Music.  You can send them these links:  iPhone iTunes link Android Stitcher link  Google Play Music link

TSR033 Hurricane Irma

In this episode, we cover our week long trip sailing the middle Florida Keys from Marathon to the Content Keys.  We have some more sailing / cruising news and our featured product will help you deal with smells from the head. Intro Chat  We had such great plans to get some more shows out this summer, but work and other responsibilities continue to eat up our time.  Steve has been dealing with lots of rental property challenges, good for future cruising kitty, but these hands on investments take a lot of time. Hopefully, we will be good for a while after September 1st and we can go somewhere on the boat for the labor day holiday weekend. We have been able to get out on two trips since our last podcast.  We spent a weekend in West Palm Beach that we will cover in a future show and we joined all our friends at a local lake event called Adult Summer Games, check out the video here of the 2016 event. Steve has been working on lots of boat projects, we got behind from buying and setting up the house.  Most of the work in standard maintenance like changing the gear and motor oil in our Honda 50 outboard.   We did have a mildew problem on the boat that is likely due to the new location at the house.  It is up against our shed and the circulation is not as good as it was in storage.  We also discovered a leak in the deck fitting for the mast light attachment and replaced the fitting, so hopefully we fixed it.  Since our MacGregor 26M has a deck stepped mast , we plug the mast light into a deck fitting and the old one that came with the boat was missing the cap.  We cleaned the inside of the boat with vinegar and placed a fan that runs continually.  Cruising the Middle Florida Keys  We left on Saturday 10/29 and trailered the boat from Orlando down to Homestead, FL.  The drive drown to Marathon is about 350 miles from Orlando, so we decided to stay at a Southern Comfort RV Resort in Homestead to break up the trip.   We had never taken the boat to a campground and it was a fun stop.  They have a Tiki Bar in the campground and we went to their Halloween party that night. On Sunday, stopped at the Lorelei Cabana Bar to meet  up with some listeners, Stefan and Andrea.  That afternoon we launched from a private boat ramp off on Avenue I off Coco Plum in the Key Colony area.    It was storming, so we anchored nearby in Coco Plum bay. Monday the weather cleared up but it was still blowing 15-20kn.  We headed eight miles down to Boot Key Harbor.   We entered through Sisters Creek.   We grabbed a mooring ball from the  Marathon City Marina for $22 a night. Tuesday morning we rowed a few boats over and met with with Carolyn Shearlock from the Boat Galley cookbook and website.   Her and her husband Dave live on a Gemini 105 catamaran and it was great to chat with them about the cruising life. Tuesday afternoon we had a great sail 12 miles to Bahia Honda State Park.  We planned to anchor between the bridges just south of the park but it was rolly so we went into their harbor and tied up to the seawall for the night.  $2/ft includes water and electric.   We also used their outdoor showers to rinse off.   The only other boat in the harbor was another trailer sailor, a West Rite Potter 19 owned by Don and Carmen who end up living just twenty minutes from us near Orlando.  We met up for a couple drinks sitting their cockpit that night.  Wednesday morning we dropped the mast to get under the US1 bridge and motored 4 miles to Little Pine key.   We anchored just offshore and had a great day relaxing the sun and snorkeling around the boat.   Thursday we sailed over to the Content Keys,  it is a shallow area everywhere except the channel, but the water is beautiful.   It was too shallow to anchor at the Content Keys so we moved over Crane Key for the night. Friday we started to head back to Marathon.  We sailed the 12 miles down through the Niles channel between Summerland Key and Ramrod Key.  We also stopped at a great snorkeling spot off Newfound Harbor Key.  They have several mooring balls on the reef. We decided to grab a slip in Marathon so we could sit see around town.  We found a spot at Burdines Marina for $3.50/ft  They have nice facilities and a great restaurant on site. We spent Saturday and Sunday touring Marathon's site, Tiki Bars and live music.  We had a great tour at the  Turtle Hospital.   Great meals, drinks and music at  Castaways,  Porkys Bayside,  Sunset Grill (drinks in the pool!),  Faro Blanco Resort (Fancy!), and the  Brass Monkey (not so fancy, but great live late night music by Freddie Dye and his band. Monday we motored back to the ramp into the wind through really rough seas and made the 350 mile drive home. Total trip cost about $1000 for 10 days, eight nights on water, one camping on land.  Truck and boat gas was $260, Docking, Campground and truck/trailer storage was $600.  $25 in Ice and $120 for trailer and tire storage.  Sailing & Cruising News   Cruiser discovers she is pregnant while sailing across the Pacific - She has to deal with finding medical care in remote places and does just fine.  Her boyfriend also finds a creative way to propose.  UK island brewery ships beer to mainland by sailboat - Ales of Scilly on St Mary's island started shipping their beer to the mainland by 18th century privateer sail boat.   Check out the sailboat it is beautiful!  70 year old sets record for oldest to sail around the world via the five great capes.  Congratulations Jeff Heartjoy!  Showing us all that we are never to old to follow your dreams.  Pen Hadow is leading a team that is attempting the be the first to sail all the way to the North Pole.  The ice pack may melt enough for them to get close this year.  Featured Product Bathroom / Head odors on the boat can be overwhelming in such a small space.  We found this great odor eliminator that makes the smell much more bearable.   Brandy says it reminds her of a nursing home, but the fresh scent really does quickly eliminate the odors.  We liked it so much that we also bought a bottle for home.  It only takes one spray to cover the odor so the bottle will last a long time.  With only monthly use on our boat, it will probably last for years!  Medi-aire Fresh Air Scent Biological Odor Eliminator 8 oz.  Amazon Store Please use our Amazon Affiliate links below for anything you buy on Amazon or look at over 90 items we have in our TSR Amazon store.  We use all the items on our boat and include notes of why we like them.  We also added over 40 sailing and cruising books we recommend.  You pay the same low Amazon price and we get a small commission.  USA Amazon Store  Canada Amazon Store  UK Amazon Store  France Amazon Store  Germany Amazon Store  Spain Amazon Store  Italy Amazon Store Please help us Support Podcast We need your help to spread the word about the Podcast.  Please share the podcast with your sailing & cruising friends and ask them to subscribe on iTunes, stitcher, or Google Play Music.  You can send them these links:  iPhone iTunes link Android Stitcher link  Google Play Music link It also helps when you share the podcast links on social media and sailing forums.  Please like or follow us on Youtube, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram  We will follow you too! Remember to tag your Instagram sailing related pictures with #thesailingrode Send us your feedback on the show and any show topic ideas to Crew@TheSailingRode.com  Patreon If you enjoy the podcast, you can support us on our Patreon site and get some special rewards. Check it out at this link: https://www.patreon.com/TheSailingRode How it works:  Patreon is designed for you to support your favorite content creators.  You can support our podcast creations by signing up for various levels of support.  You can set a maximum monthly amount so if we release a lot of podcasts in one month, you still only pay your maximum amount.  In return, you get some rewards for your support.  It is kind of like giving us a tip or buying us a drink after a good show. Thanks for listening and all your support!  We wish you fair winds and hope to see you on the water soon. –  Steve & Brandy The Sailing Rode / The Sailing Road

TSR 002 - Ponce Inlet Trip Report

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