Preparing for the next adventure?

We’ve been silent–mostly–these past few years. I’ll endeavor to post about the projects we’ve done and the things Mahdee has had going on but must admit that the time between 2016 and now has been pretty uninspiring on the boating front. We’ve both been doing some interesting things work-wise and continue our professional endeavors. But never fear, blog readers, it’s time for Mahdee to wander again. Even little MuskOx is getting excited about the plans.

Adventures await Muskox

Packages are arriving daily right now — a new weather station and new DST (depth, speed, and temperature) transducer from Airmar, quarts of varnish and Dolfinite from my favorite chandlery, as well as assorted bits of kit for the sails, rigging, and engine. Today’s arrival? Oh so exciting! I went to the marina office to pick up my new 5G phone — a Samsung Galaxy S21 FE — that replaces my old iPhone 6S Plus that I’ve had since late 2015 but that’s not the exciting bit of kit, oh no. The tiny little mobile phone package was sitting on top of my biggie — a StarLink satellite antenna! yup, the 1931 Schooner Mahdee is about to be outfitted with an extremely modern system allowing us to (in theory! fingers crossed) handle zoom video calls in remote anchorages. Presently from Southeast Alaska, through Canada’s waters, the entire West Coast, and even Mexico’s Sea of Cortez have become “available” to us as easy access cruising grounds. I wonder what will be next after that?

Starlink for our sailboat

I’ve daydreamed of the point when we might be able to both wander and work simultaneously. And it seems here we are. Baby steps, it will be fun to see how far off the 4G and 5G grid we can go.

Image source Steve Jurvetson on Flickr

The Belvedere Post Office Flag Pole Once Sailed to Hawaii

There’s a story about Mahdee making the rounds. Last month I had a little chat with the folks at Lat38 and the next thing you know, the stories about Mahdee, us, and her main boom-cum-flagpole are out and about.

Since we’ve been negligent in keeping up the blog and letting our readers know all about the happenings here, I thought I’d share a link to the flag pole scuttlebutt at a minimum!

It has been quite a while since our last post and we’ve been out and about up to the Delta, into Stockton for a lengthy haulout in the fall and then back to Westpoint Harbor with the new year.  Now that the coronavirus has everyone locked down, we find ourselves sitting at the dock and perhaps we’ll take this opportunity to catch up with the blog and share pics and stories of what we’ve been up to for the past several months.

Beryl wonders if we’ll ever get back to her favorite activity of sailing and watch standing which allows her to have petting 24/7.

Some pics for our readers of the happy crew of the Schooner Mahdee:

David and Beryl enjoying the Aquatic Park anchorage on Christmas 2019

Self-photo during my birthday sail (ok, motor) down from the Stockton to San Francisco in December 2019

Don’t go outside!

Since David is Beryl’s favorite person, she likes for him to stay close to her when we’re underway and this can be a problem. When watchstander David is inside the charthouse, no problem, but when he gets ready to go outside, lifejacket on and ready to go, Beryl clings to his leg and says in no uncertain terms “No! Don’t go outside, stay here with ME!” This leaves the watchstander in a quandary — it’s so nice and comfy inside with Beryl, do those sails really need to be adjusted? Maybe not.

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