Betty Jean is the opposite of Grand Slam: she is smaller and closer to the water yet almost 20% heavier, with a full keel and bowsprit. She is a ketch, with a main, mizzen main and genoa, as opposed to a sloop with a large main and jib.
Did I go for the easy title? Perhaps. Do I regret it? Not for a second. Earlier this year, the family took on a team project of constructing two identical Eastport Pram dinghies from a kit. We estimated that in a few weeks time we’d be finished – and several months later (who’s counting anyway)…
In November of last year, Bud (Grand Slam’s new owner) and Adam orchestrated the ol’ switcheroo – simultaneous trips moving Grand Slam up to Long Beach and Betty Jean down to San Diego. Bud and his son drove down to San Diego where they began their trip while Adam and I drove Bud’s car up…
Here’s our new boat Betty Jean: This picture was taken last November at the public docks in Newport Harbor, CA. She’s one of 100 or so Fuji 32s, designed by John Alden and built in the late 1970s. We have hull #51, built in 1977. Molly’s dad told us that one should have a boat…
We’re here!! After several months of planning, list making, repairs, provisioning (nautical term) and imagining, last Friday we tied up loose ends at the Marriott Marina, and said goodbye to Slip B33, Grand Slam’s home for the past 12 years. The Catalina plan was an idea we’d been toying around with for a while. We…
Contrary to the title of this blog, Adam and Molly haven’t taken the boat out of the slip since New Years in Catalina. In the first few months of the year, we would talk about going sailing, in total agreement that only losers turn a sailboat into a stationary apartment. But as the months went…
All of California is being hit by a bad storm this week. With Molly out of town, the cat and I are here to brave it on the boat. The storm is supposed to go through Thursday, so at a calm moment this afternoon, I decided to run to the market for a week supply…
Adam and Molly Go 