AWOL

Winter Lodgin's

 AWOL

Hello, friends!

I've got to apologize for my disappearing act. I had planned a smooth transition, but life intervenes. I left you hanging without so much as a fare-thee-well!

I don't know if I've mentioned this, but we have been caretaking a lodge every other winter (alternating with another couple) for the past several years. It's a mixed blessing... we trade freedom for freedom chips (Lynn and Larry Pardey's term). 

A fringe benefit has been time for writing, and access to the internet. When the job ends, we sail back off the edge of the known world. And we're in this phase, now. Thus posts will be spotty until October 2013.

Last summer, we sailed south among the "Inner Channels", extending our range by another 100 or so miles. Saw old friends and made new ones. There is really no end to the beauty of our archipelago!

This last winter (our nominal year off), we caretook a second lodge, as a (paid) favor. In this case, time, but no internet or phone. Plenty of wildlife in another glorious spot. Lots of tidal and estuarial shoals, fractally arranged, make this little stretch of coast particularly appealing to us. The bay opens directly onto Chatham, looking south, and across to the mountains of Baranof Island, looking west. Wild and wooly and gorgeous!

I did get a lot written on my long delayed book, TriloBoats DIY: Design and Build Your Own, so its horizon is considerably closer. I solved the illustration problems that have been stonewalling me for years, which has really helped move the project along.

I've started a video channel on YouTube... it's unpolished and sparsely populated, right now. We'll be updating, in the coming months. Right now they're more scenic than informative, but you can see a bit how a box barge sails. Eventually, I hope to get some handling videos out, and showcase the junk sails and yuloh.

We're starting to look toward building our next and last boat. SLACKTIDE has proven the concept, so we'll (most very likely) build a longer TriloBoat. We're waffling between two forms in the 32-36x8 range. I'll get a post together on some of the thinking going into them, soon.

Last spring, we got to visit Erik Andrus of the Vermont Sail Freight Project, who is building a TriloBoat variant of his design. They plan to carry locovore goods from Lake Champlain, down the Hudson River to New York and return organic imports (e.g., French wines and cheeses). They just concluded a successful Kickstarter campaign to raise $16K for the project. As kind of a crazy uncle to the project, I'm both proud and humbled!

So lots doing! I hope you check in, and I'll try to do my bit.

Fair Winds!

Dave and Anke

One of the views we had to endure.