Sunday Morning

Walk around the grounds of our new apartment.
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This is my office

Another sunset cruise
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Our new apartment

By the end of March we need to be out of the temporary accommodations arranged for us by Cathy's employer. We've found a two bedroom apartment to move to. It's in a resort-like complex next to an inlet off Tampa Bay, complete with swimming pools, beach volley ball court, and even a putting green.
We wanted a two bedroom apartment so we'd have room for visitors. This is one view out of our front door.
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My new ride.

Our old apartment was a 15 minute walk from the marina where I work. Our new apartment is couple miles from the marina through an affluent neighborhood and along the bay front.
I bought this Trek commuter bike to get to work and around town.
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Becalmed

Gorgeous, sunny, 80 degree afternoon but no wind.
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Facebook

I want anyone following this blog to know that, now while we're so very busy at Sailing Florida, I haven't as much time as I'd like to keep up with postings here. I do however post regularly on FaceBook. Look for me there.

Walking to another day of work at the marina, I took this photo with my BlackBerry.

A week of teaching.

About once a month I teach the American Sailing Association Basic Keelboat Sailing, Basic Coastal Cruising, and Bareboat Chartering cycle of courses back-to back.  That's a lot of skills and material to cover.  It's an intense 6 day program that challenges the Instructor as well as students.
 

Anchoring and docking.

Navigating

Steering and cruising.

Going ashore after a day of cruising.

                                              Provisioning and using the galley

My class for the week.  A great bunch of guys.

Man overboard!

One of the maneuvers we teach our students is sailing back to and recovering a man overboard.  It's a maneuver that seems awkward and complicated at first, but becomes easy with practice.

We use a Type IV floatation device to simulate the man overboard.  To make the exercise more personal I like to remind my students of the movie "Cast Away" with Tom Hanks and his volleyball companion Wilson.  Our goal is to make sure that this time, Wilson makes it home. 

One of the most important jobs in performing the maneuver is simply keeping Wilson in sight.  That task is quickly assigned to a crew member whose only job is to keep the helmsman informed of Wilson's whereabouts.

The helmsman's challenge is to quickly sail the boat back to Wilson and then slow the boat so he can be recovered.  That may sound easy, but until you've been shown how, it is not. 

Wilson lives!

Photos from my Feb 20 trackday at Palm Beach Raceway

Definately high season.

We've got more work than we can handle some days.  I'm out sailing with charter guests or students almost every day.  Here we are when a cruise ship heads out of Tampa Bay
 

Yesterday it was blowing 20 knots while I was out with guests from Georgia who are in the business of manufacturing shipping pallets. 

And another sunset sail with folks who live in Tampa.

I keep pinching myself to make sure this isn't a dream.  I'm incredulous.