Pipe Dream Adventures

PIPE DREAM HAS BEEN SOLD

2008-08-10T11:20:00.001-07:00

Dear Friends,
The crew of Pipe Dream has been enjoying life on the ocean for the past eight years. It has been a wonderful adventure but it's time to do something different. We have sold Pipe Dream and have decided to become landlubbers for a while. We bought a house in Ajijic, Mexico, and you can follow our adventures on our separate blog at http://morepipedreamadventures.blogspot.com/>For Pipe Dream's Newsletters, Photos, and Adventures during the past eight years, keep clicking on "Older Posts."

Come sail with Pipe Dream.....

2008-08-10T09:47:00.000-07:00

Another perfect Day on Pipe Dream in Paradise

2008-08-10T09:45:00.000-07:00

Imagine yourself cruising on Pipe Dream

2008-08-10T09:41:00.000-07:00

Pipe Dream at the dock

2008-08-10T09:39:00.000-07:00

Pipe Dream Port Side showing MackPack

2008-08-10T09:34:00.000-07:00

Relaxing on Pipe Dream

2008-08-10T09:33:00.000-07:00

Guest Bathroom

2008-08-09T08:12:00.000-07:00

Forward V-Berth

2008-08-09T08:11:00.000-07:00

Galley

2008-08-09T08:10:00.000-07:00

Main Salon

2008-08-09T08:09:00.000-07:00

Master Bathroom

2008-08-09T08:08:00.000-07:00

Dresser and Hanging Locker in Master State Room

2008-08-09T08:07:00.000-07:00

Pipe Dream Master State Room, Double Bed

2008-08-09T08:05:00.000-07:00

Pipe Dream electric wiring

2008-08-09T08:04:00.000-07:00

Pipe Dream with new bottom paint

2008-08-09T08:03:00.000-07:00

Pipe Dream at sea

2008-08-09T08:00:00.000-07:00

Pipe Dream’s May 2008 Newsletter

2008-06-06T16:18:00.000-07:00

A Rum Soaked Princess Visits Pipe Dream!

Yes, the crew of Pipe Dream is sailing back to Florida but only for a short period of time. We will be storing Pipe Dream on the hard in Fernandina Beach, Florida, for the Summer Hurricane Season. For you land lubbers “putting her on the hard” is pulling Pipe Dream out of the water and leaving her in dry dock. We have our fingers crossed about hurricanes. The last time we left her in Florida for the summer, Hurricanes Jean and Francis went right over her in Fort Pierce.
To give you a little recap: In the last newsletter we had just finished the Georgetown Cruisers Regatta and the Bahamanian International Music Festival. Jutta had finally got her head out of the clouds after her “You Tube” performance and things had gone back to normal, or as normal as normal can get on Pipe Dream. For the month of April we remained in Georgetown, Bahamas, looking forward to entertaining two more sets of guests and the Family Island Sailing Regatta.
The first April visitors were Brandon, Jutta’s eldest son, and his girl friend Susan. This was Susan’s first visit to the boat. We showed her all the sights around Elizabeth Harbor which included a stop at the “Chat’n Chill”, the local island bar on Stocking Island. Susan had her first introduction to a “Gombay Smash” which is an umbrella drink made with rum, rum and a little more rum and coconut rum. I think there is also a little pineapple juice in it for fill and some orange slices. After four or five Smashes, contrary to rumors, I can assure you there was no slurring of words or dancing on the tables at Pipe Dream. You know you can trust me. I have an honest face!!! We got to see another side of Susan. Yipes, welcome to the family! It took some time for Susan to dry out. While visiting Pipe Dream Brandon proposed to Susan on a moon lit night on the bow of the boat (that’s the pointy end) and slid the Hope Diamond on her finger. Susan needs to go to the gym so she can learn to keep her left finger up. I proposed to Jutta six years ago and gave her a rubber “O” ring for an engagement ring. She holds her finger up at me all the time but I think it’s a different finger!! Brandon should have talked to me first; he has started a bad precedence!! Another night we dinghied across the harbor to the local fish fry and witnessed Brandon and Susan’s musical talents at karaoke. Susan worked on her tan the entire visit to Pipe Dream. It seems she had been taking an antibiotic before she came to the boat and her tan turned into a mass of bumps. You should have been there, it was very attractive. After ten days of playing on Pipe Dream Brandon and Susan caught a flight back to reality and Jutta and I started provisioning for our last guests of the season.
Don and Jacque, my sister and brother-in-law arrived just after tax season. Their visit coincided with the Bahamian Family Island Regatta. We spent the week watching the Bahamians racing their traditional boats and sipping rum drinks. We also sailed to Emerald Bay because Don invited me to play golf with him at the Four Seasons Resort. I gave up golf eight years ago but I said I would give it a try. At Four Seasons’ prices, after eighteen holes, I lost fifty dollars worth of golf balls, which amounts to about a dozen. I think it’s time to retire the golf clubs again. Still, we had a wonderful time with them and it was nice to get to know my sister all over again.
Jacque and Don left at the end of April and Jutta and I packed up Pipe Dream and headed back to reality. We checked into the United States at Fort Pierce which is a real treat. We all know how “Homeland Security” has made our shores safe from subversive groups. I’m sure we pay billions of tax dollars for the service they provide. For those of you none boaters here is the procedure: First you buy a yearly $25.00 customs sticker for your boat (just another tax.) When you leave the country you don’t need to tell anyone, you just sail away. When you re-enter a US port you have to call the 800 US Customs number. After you are on hold for at least one to two hours a live person actually answers. The person who answered my call had such a thick accent, maybe East Indian, Iraqi, or something, I could hardly understand him. He asked for my customs sticker number and about ten minutes worth of other questions to prove I was Me. Then the big security questions came. Do you have any meat, produce, or fruit products in your refrigerator? Of course I don’t, what do I sound like, a food smuggler? Do you have over $10,000.00 dollars in cash on your boat? Of course not, being a good American I count out $9,999.99 of my cash and throw the rest over board. He then gave me about a twenty digit number to take to the local Immigration Office within the next 24 hours. This usually involves a costly cab ride. Fortunately, some boating friends gave us a ride. Upon arrival I handed over my 20 digit number and I was done. Last year I arrived in the US on Memorial Weekend. When I called customs the answering service told me they were closed for the three day weekend. I was told not to worry about check in until next week!!! I hope those of you reading this will sleep better tonight knowing Homeland Security powered by your tax dollars is protecting us from imported produce and meat.
We fly back to Arizona on the 4th and I am worried about security taking away my cologne or toenail clippers! What’s wrong with this picture?
Well, that about sums it up for this cruising season. Pipe Dream is put to bed in the shipyard and Jutta and I are off to Mexico by car for some house hunting. We have had to tighten our purse strings since donations for the “Help Ferdy Cruising Fund” have been a little slow. The high price of gasoline is also causing us worry, but Jutta, being German, has volunteered to push our car around Mexico to stay in shape while I steer. Keep Jutta off the roads and send you dollars today.

From the decks of Pipe Dream

Ferdy and Jutta

Bahama Music Festival and Cruiser Raft Up in Georgetown, Bahamas

2008-04-21T05:45:00.000-07:00

For any of our readers who would like to see more of the Cruiser's Raft Up in Georgetown, Bahamas, go to YouTube, then colinbilge, then look for the following videos:
Folks on Boats RnR Raftup
Folks on Boats RnR Raftup2
Eddie's Edgewater by Folks on Boats
Folks on Boats at the Bahamian Music and Heritage Festival

Newsletter March/2008

2008-04-21T05:39:00.000-07:00

Pipe Dream’s

March 2008 Newsletter

We be hav’n Island Time Fun

Yep, we’re back with the exciting adventures from the crew of Pipe Dream. I n the last newsletter our good friends Duey and Nan had been visiting on Pipe Dream for three weeks. We had been traveling to some of the remote islands in the Bahamas and having a wonderful time. Much to our chagrin Duey and Nan had to return to reality.

As you can probably guess, after our guests departed, it was time to re-provision Pipe Dream. We checked the bilge for our food and drink stocks and found them to be a little light. The rum was dangerously low, what a sailor’s crisis!!! We had to get ready for Regatta.

The Georgetown Cruisers’ Regatta took place from March 7^th through the 18^th. There were about 300 cruising boats in Georgetown for the festivities. Jutta and I signed up for several events, the first being the coconut harvest. In this event, a four member team has to paddle out using one swim fin each in a dinghy without the outboard motor. The officials then release about 400 coconuts and each team has to gather as many coconuts as possible. We were allowed to have one bucket in the boat to try to swamp the other dinghies and have their coconuts wash out of their boats so we could steal them. There were about 25 dinghies competing and I can’t tell you how much we laughed. After the coconut collection we had two-man coconut carrying races for most of the afternoon. The crew of Pipe Dream missed the winner circle by about 10 places. Oops!

Another event was the Stocking Island sailboat race. Jutta and I crewed on a very large catamaran with three other couples. Luckily they held last place open for us. Oh well, we had a good time anyway.

I signed up for beach golf which was a nine hole (pardon me, nine bucket) course on the beach played with one club, one ball and a tee for every shot. When your ball landed on a sloped sand beach and rolled into the surf you had to get it out of the surf with the club or take a penalty stroke. I was pretty wet at the end of the game. In case you were wondering I didn’t win any rum in that event either. There were activities going on every day during the 10 days of the regatta including several dances on the beach under the stars.

The last weekend of the regatta just happened to coincide with the “Bahamian National Music Festival” held in Georgetown. This is a three-day event downtown Georgetown with many music groups from the Exumas and other Bahamian Islands. Two years ago, the cruisers in the harbor put a band together and showed off some of their talents. The tourist bureau asked the cruisers to attend again this year and the “White Folks on Boats” group scrambled to put a few songs together for the festival. Jutta was asked to play percussion in the group. The day before the performance, the group did their dress rehearsal on the catamaran “Freebird” in front of a dinghy raft-up in the middle of the harbor. Needless to say, everyone involved had a great time.

The “White Folks on Boats” were the opening act for the Bahamian headliners on Saturday night. They did a great job and had the crowd of 1500 screaming for more when they finished playing. Songs like “Johnny Be Good”, and Santana’s “Black Magic Woman” were just a few they played. If any of you are interested in seeing them on the internet, google “Folks on Boats” and see what comes up.

During the regatta Jutta’s friend Pamela and her daughter Alice arrived from England. Jutta hadn’t seen her in 15 years. They were roommates living together in London while they were working as flight attendants. I promised not to tell you the year but Charles Lindberg had just finished his trans-Atlantic solo flight (I’ll pay for that one). They both had a wonderful time and Pamela has the distinction of being the first person visiting Pipe Dream who can’t swim. Her getting in and out of the dinghy was a sight to behold. One evening we took Pam out to Eddies Edgewater Bar and Restaurant to experience real Bahamian music. As the evening rolled on several Bahamian “Rasta Men” latched on to Pamela on the dance floor and she danced the night away. Remember, the British once owned the Bahamas and it was sort of like hands across the water, or international relations???

It probably isn’t any surprise Jutta and I are still in the Bahamas playing! You have got to remember this is our vacation. This Bahamas portion will only last for 6 months the other portion lasts for 6 more months. After we leave the boat somewhere during hurricane season we usually become a burden to our friends as we travel through the States and Canada. You better look out, that next knock on your door could be Jutta and good old Captain Ferdy look’n for a bed, free meal, and a hand out!!! Send your dollars to the “Help Ferdy Cruising Fund” and keep Ferdy and Jutta off your door step. Remember, “A Dollar a Day Will Keep Ferdy Away”.

From the Decks of Pipe Dream

Ferdy and Jutta

2008-03-27T11:48:00.000-07:00

2008-03-27T11:43:00.000-07:00

Bahama Music Festival

2008-03-27T11:42:00.000-07:00

Pipe Dream’s
February 2008 Newsletter
Or
This cruising life can be dangerous!

Yes, we are back again with a Pipe Dream whacky newsletter. Things finally settled down after the holidays and we got some rest. In the last newsletter we had sailed to Georgetown, Bahamas, for Christmas and New Years Eve. A great time was had by all. We’ve decided to spend another cruising season in the Bahamas. This place is hard to leave!
Duey and Nan, our good friends and past cruisers from Hollister, California, joined us on Pipe Dream for about three weeks. We provisioned the “tuna schooner” with food and rum and we were off for Long Island and the Jumentos. The Jumentos Island Group lies south of the Exuma Islands and south of the Tropic of Cancer. These islands are virtually uninhabited. There is little protection from the wind blowing from the west or north. Naturally, two days into our trip the wind turned north and we were blown out of the islands. Back to Georgetown to re-provision. Two days later we were off to the Jumentos once again. This time we had a wonderful stay, snorkeling, fishing, swimming, hiking, and kayaking. While diving for “bugs” (lobster) a black tip shark came in also looking for an easy meal. A few days later we fished at Water Cay. We had a tough time getting the fish into the boat. The sharks were grabbing them off of our line faster than we could reel them in. Needless to say, we cancelled the swimming that afternoon. I guess, we cheated death one more time. After a week we pulled up the anchor and headed for Long Island and a little civilization.
Jutta and I are constantly being asked if we are ever worried about pirates in all our
travels. Our answer, up to now, has always been “no”. On our return to Long Island we encountered a situation which could have really gotten out of hand and got me into a lot of trouble. A new beach bar “Parrots of the Caribbean” had opened up in Thompson Bay with three dollar beers, great rum drinks, and good food. Our friend Duey and several other cruisers brought their guitars and we had a wonderful jam session. Of course, somebody had to support the new business enterprise and it was my job to man a bar stool for the afternoon. It’s a rough job but someone has to do it!
Duey and Nan had to go back to reality. We sure enjoyed their visit. Jutta and I are back to doing yogert (yoga) on the beach three time a week and we play volleyball almost daily. With beach walks, snorkeling for lobster, cocktail gatherings, dances under the stars, and socializing we hardly have time for anything. And I wonder why I am always so tired. Next on the agenda will be the week-long Cruisers’ Regatta with lots of activities. Some day, when I retire, I will take it easy!!!!
Looks like this newsletter is going to be a short one. This is what happens when we don’t do much for a while. Don’t forget to keep sending those dollars to the “Help Ferdy Cruising Fund”. “Parrots of the Caribbean” won’t take my IOU’s any more and I gave up on getting drinks on my good looks???.

From the Decks of Pipe Dream

Ferdy and Jutta

Newsletter Xmas 2007

2008-01-06T07:11:00.000-08:00

“That Fickle Couple ain’t got no stinking Direction in Life”

To expand on my perfect English above, we don’t know where in the world we’re going from day to day. In the last newsletter we told you we were headed for the Caribbean. We had arrived in Fort Lauderdale from the Chesapeake in mid November and stayed as always at Bruno’s Zoo (our eight boat marina hideaway in Ft Lauderdale.) Our good friends Bruno, Dano, and Brit were waiting at the dock when we arrived. We figured we would be there for about two weeks waiting for a weather window to cross the Gulf Stream and sail on to the Bahama Bank. Tuesday we worked on the boat getting her ready and found an internet connection for the marine weather forecast. The weather report called for the north winds to abate on Thursday, Turkey Day. That was all the good news we needed. Tuesday afternoon we rented a car and provisioned for our trip which included fuel, boat parts, diving stuff, etc., a twelve hour marathon. On Wednesday we stowed the provisions (for those of you in Yuma Arizona, “stowed” is putting the grub in the wagon or boat in our case) and got the “ole tuna schooner” ready to go to sea. Our bags were packed, the boat was provisioned with beer, wine and rum, and we even remembered to take a little food for the trip.
Early Thanksgiving Day, while most of you were waller’n in turkey and dressing, the mighty crew of Pipe Dream sailed out of Fort Lauderdale. We traveled overnight to arrive in Nassau, Bahamas, 30 hours later, about 165 miles. How’s that for speed? We checked in with customs and paid our $300 cruising fee. (Remember the “Help Ferdy Cruising Fund?”) After a couple of days in Nassau we sailed off to the Exumas (one of the island chains) and into paradise.
Jutta and I are back in our element playing in the islands. We have spent a lot of time on the eastern sea board of the United States and really enjoyed it, but it is very expensive. Now that we are in the islands, things have changed. We can try to live off of the land experiencing the true pioneer spirit, like Christopher Columbus, Sir Francis Drake, etc.? .You probably can imagine how sick and tired we get of eating lobster dipped in garlic butter all the time; and garlic butter is so expensive!! There goes the budget.
The crew of Pipe Dream has landed in Georgetown, Bahamas, and we have planted our anchor for a while. On the Friday before Christmas we sailed out of Georgetown bound for Long Island and on to the Southern Caribbean. The seas were perfect, the wind amassing, and the day beautiful. We had planned to spend Christmas in the Dominican Republic or the Turks and Caicos Islands. On the northern end of Long Island after six hours of perfect sailing we had a discussion and decided to turn around and head back for Christmas and maybe another season in the Bahamas. (What are those two thinking??) In another month there should be close to three hundred boats in Georgetown. We’ll have many playmates there.
A cruisers’ Christmas Eve was spent on the beach with caroling and a bonfire. It ended about 10pm. Us cruisers got nothing to prove when it comes to staying up late! Christmas Day we attended a potluck for about a hundred people. Everyone made a dish and the Turkey and Ham was provided for $5.00 a head. I thought the budget was blown again but I won a bottle of wine on the raffle. What a stroke of luck! After dinner Jutta and I hit the hay about 8:00PM. We had to get up at 2:00AM to go to Junkanoo. Junkanoo is a festival held on Boxing Day (Dec.26), started during slavery by the blacks to honor their customs, traditions, heritage, and emancipation. It’s a parade starting at 2:00AM and ending about 9:00 or 10:00 in the morning. There are brass bands, lots of drums, cow bells and whistles, the noise is incredible, the costumes and floats are breathtaking and everyone is dancing and partying. White folks could learn a thing or two about partying from the Bahamians. The mighty Pipe Dream party animals gave out at about 8:00 AM and returned to the boat for a little sleep. This getting old is not for sissies! You need to keep in mind we are just a few days away from a New Years Eve party and need to pace ourselves.
News Years came in with a bang. The Saint Francis Resort right around the corner from our anchorage hosted a New Years Eve Party for all the cruisers in the harbor. John on the sailing Catamaran “Free Bird” supplied 5 hours’ worth of dancing music and we danced until our feet were sore. By 2:00 AM the party cleared out and it was time to return to Pipe Dream and a little sleep. After all, we had to be fit to watch the local New Years’ Day boat races.
Well, that about wraps up 2007 and another year of Pipe Dream Adventures. We sure have a lot to be thankful for and we are eagerly looking forward to 2008.
We wish you all a wonderful New Year, remember to keep us in your thoughts and it wouldn’t hurt to keep us in your pocket books!

From the Decks of Pipe Dream

Ferdy and Jutta

Georgetown 2007

2008-01-06T07:09:00.000-08:00

Jukanoo, a Bahamian Boxing Day Parade dating back to their African Roots.

George Town, Bahamas, 2007

Georgetown 2007

2008-01-06T07:07:00.000-08:00

Cruisers' Christmas Potluck on Stocking Island, Bahamas

Georgetown 2007

2008-01-06T07:05:00.000-08:00

Local racing boats at Georgetown, Bahamas

Georgetown 2007

2008-01-06T07:04:00.000-08:00

Junkanoo Parade in Georgetown, Bahamas

Georgetown 2007

2008-01-06T07:03:00.000-08:00

Ferdy's big catch

The biggest lobster we ever caught.

Caught near Conch Cut, Exumas

Newsletter October 2007

2008-01-06T06:26:00.000-08:00

The Kids are going back to the Islands to play

Jutta and I are back and getting Pipe Dream ready for the trip to the Caribbean. In the last newsletter we had just returned to the boat from our summer vacation. I say it that way so you don’t think we play all the time! This life isn’t easy but someone has to do it!
We left Savannah and headed up the Intra Coastal Waterway to Annapolis, Maryland and the “Annapolis Boat Show”, our favorite. Our first night on the waterway was in Beaufort, South Carolina, the most beautiful little town you will ever visit. “Prince of Tides” was filmed there. As we were pulling up the anchor in the morning, the windlass (anchor winch) was making lots of nasty grinding noises. It was time to take it all apart and fix it. Not to fear, another day in the life of a sailor. In a couple of hours Jutta and I had it fixed, lubed and put back together. As we pulled up our 69# anchor we also pulled up a 10 speed racing bike. What a stroke of luck, we thought at first. After hanging over the bow for almost an hour to get the barnacle encrusted rusty bike untangled from the anchor chain while Jutta drove Pipe Dream back and forth in the narrow estuary, luck never again entered my mind. We should have known this was the start of things to come. The next day the master head (toilet) stopped working. A sea plant was growing in the raw water inlet hose and had wound through the pump assembly. A few days later our instant on demand water heater stopped working. Had to replace the water pump. Then we finally got sick of our “snaking” autopilot and decided to dig deeper into our cruising kitty to replace it. Keep in mind the word “BOAT” means bring over another thousand. I did find a way to save lots of money and keep the barnacles off of the bottom: Instead of paying someone to scrub the bottom, I ran aground several times in the waterway. If that doesn’t knock the crap off the bottom I don’t know what will? See, this life isn’t always a walk in the park.
In Georgetown, South Carolina, Jutta and I took the dinghy to town (our family sedan) to buy some fresh shrimp from the shrimpers’ dock market. After our purchase, and a couple of happy hour beers we decided to return to Pipe Dream for a Thai-shrimp dinner. To prevent theft, we always lock our dinghy to the dock. During our absence the tide had come in and we found that our lock was four feet under water. This was a great way to start a romantic evening, stripping down in your dinghy at the town dock and diving down four feet in the dirty water to unlock the dinghy. This year seems like one thing breaking after another. Sorry, but weighing all the negatives, repairing the boat is still better than working!
Everything appeared to be ok until we reached Norfolk, Virginia. It was a very windy day and Jutta and I were sailing through the huge harbor marveling at the enormous military fleet. Norfolk Harbor has about the same amount of traffic as a Los Angeles Freeway. Two large sport fishers cut in front of us at full speed in the main ship channel. We stood there in the cockpit staring at their large wakes heading for Pipe Dream. Realizing at the last minute that all the hatches were open, Jutta raced downstairs to close them. Pipe Dream rode over the first huge wave, then dove into the second wave like a sub marine sending a wall of water three foot high completely down the length of Pipe Dream. I was at the wheel and was almost knocked down by the tsunami. Jutta got down into the salon just in time to be doused by two giant waterfalls entering through the hatches. As you can guess, we had three inches of water in the main cabin, and galley. Both couches and all the rugs and pillows were soaked in salt water. We headed for the first marina we could find and spent several days washing everything. Ah, a perfect day in the life of a sailor. It’s too bad Jutta isn’t as fast as she used to be!!!
We finally did make it to Annapolis and the boat show. We had a wonderful rendezvous with our good buddy “Viva Bob”. If you read about the shortage of rum on the eastern seaboard, he was the probably cause. We also ran into some cruising buddies (“Dulcinea” and “Kachina”) we had met in Mexico six years ago and Brian and Lisa on their new boat “Wasabi”. See, it really is a small world!
The week of the boat show Corina and Jochen, Jutta’s niece and her new husband arrived from Germany for a visit on Pipe Dream. We were very excited at their arrival and rolled out the red carpet. The first evening, we had dinner on the boat and put them to bed for the night. There was a slight breeze but Pipe Dream was in the inner harbor tied to a mooring ball. It seems Jochen does much better on dry land. He managed to “feed a lot of fish” all night long. The next morning, he got a taste of the American medical system. Twenty minutes at the doctor, a pat on the butt and a few pills, and he felt better. I’m sure the $150.00 fee made the doctor feel a lot better, too. After that adventure, they decided to spend the next night at a hotel. What a bunch of sissies!
After Annapolis, we had an uneventful trip down the Chesapeake and the waterway to Florida. It was nice to spend a few days at Bruno’s Zoo in Fort Lauderdale again. Brit and Dano rolled out the welcome carpet and cooked us a fabulous dinner.
Well, that about wraps it up. Sorry it’s not very exciting. Jutta and I will sail east for the Caribbean in the next couple of weeks. I’m hoping our next two or three years down in the islands will be more entertaining. Until then, keep sending your dollars to the “Help Ferdy Cruising Fund”. Things are breaking faster than I can fix them. In closing remember these words from Ben Franklin, “We do not stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing!”

From the Decks of Pipe Dream

Ferdy and Jutta

ICW 2007

2008-01-06T06:24:00.000-08:00

2007-08-13T14:49:00.000-07:00

Visitors Jody and Ryan in Nassau, Bahamas

2007-08-13T14:46:00.000-07:00

Visitors Brandon and Kat at Isla Mujeres, Mexico

2007-08-13T14:44:00.000-07:00

Just another fabulous sunset, Isla Mujeres, Mexico

2007-08-13T14:43:00.000-07:00

Entering the Panama Canal at the Bridge of the Americas, Pacific side

2007-08-13T14:42:00.000-07:00

A rainy Panama Canal Transit on Pipe Dream

2007-08-13T14:40:00.000-07:00

Pipe Dream after a successful exit out of Bahia del Sol, El Salvador

2007-08-13T14:36:00.000-07:00

A cruisers' get-together on Isla Providencia, Columbia

2007-08-13T14:32:00.000-07:00

Having fun on Isla Providencia, Columbia

2007-08-13T14:31:00.000-07:00

Bananas, anyone?

2007-08-13T14:30:00.000-07:00

Buttonwood Cay, Belize

2007-08-13T14:28:00.000-07:00

Erika and Claus enjoying the Gourmet Meals on Pipe Dream

2007-08-13T14:27:00.000-07:00

Taking a break on Pipe Dream

2007-08-13T14:11:00.000-07:00

Bahia Carillo, Costa Rica

2007-08-13T14:07:00.000-07:00

Jesus Tree, Ballena Bay, Costa Rica

2007-08-13T14:04:00.000-07:00

First Mate, Panama Canal Crossing

2007-08-13T14:02:00.000-07:00

Las Hadas, Mexico

2007-08-13T13:57:00.000-07:00

Exuma Island, Bahamas

Pipe Dream Photo Gallery

2007-08-13T13:46:00.000-07:00

sunset at Sand Dollar Beach, Bahamas

Newsletter Summer 2007

2007-08-12T20:33:00.000-07:00

"A Country Boy gets a real Key West Welcome! "

Yahoo, Captain Ferdy and crew are back with another late newsletter. It seems with all the fun we are having we neglected to let anyone know what we are doing. To give you a re-cap, in the last newsletter we had just finished reworking Pipe Dream in Fort Lauderdale and were heading for the Florida Keys for the remaining 8 weeks of cruising season. For those of you with the first signs of Alzheimer’s, our insurance company won’t allow us to be in the Caribbean or Florida between June 1 and November 1. It’s some silly thing about hurricane losses. These guys can’t take a joke!
Our first stop was at Key Largo to visit our friends Ray and Kath from Tennessee. We had a wonderful time and made plans to visit their home in Johnson City, Tenn. this summer. Jutta and I moved on to Boot Key Harbor on Marathon Key and spent a few days with Daisy and Ed of the sailing yacht "Siesta." Ed was doing charter adventures with the Boy Scouts and didn't have much time between work. "Uck", just the thought made us nervous, it was time to hit the trail. Our next stop was New Found Harbor to seek refuge from an approaching storm. All night long we were entertained by gale force winds of 40 to 50 knots trying to tear out our anchor. As you can tell, our life is not always a walk in the park!
Our final destination in the Florida Keys was Key West. Yes, that’s the place where men love men and women are safe! Most of my life I have had a love affair with automobiles and all types of racing. Our first day in Key West we saw a poster for drag racing. I convinced Jutta she must go to at least one drag race in her life time to see what goes on. Well, Key West has a new twist on "Drag Racing". It seems all the entries consist of hundreds of drag queens in full garb. Gay men wearing heels, fish net hose, slinky dresses, falsies etc., etc.. The races were held on Duval Street and the format went something like this: Two competitors would take a shot of booze, run through car tires, like we did in high school football practice, but without spike heels, jump into a waiting shopping cart that was then slalomed around plastic cones down several blocks by a pair of muscle men wearing nothing but a thong and tennis shoes. After another shot of something which I’m sure was some type of estrogen cocktail, they jumped back into the shopping cart and were wheeled back to the starting point. This went on all day. It goes to show you there is another side of life out there which a country boy from Yuma is not familiar with! Bed races on Duval Street were on the agenda for the following weekend. We were there enjoying adult beverages along the street with hundreds of other spectators waiting for the race to begin. Two hours after the advertised start time I was told by a policeman that the race would start as soon as all the competitors had tanked enough fuel at the Hog’s Breath Saloon. Well, I think it’s rude to keep a fully certified captain waiting. We skipped the races and enjoyed a blue grass jam at the Green Parrot Saloon instead.
Jutta and I cut the anchor line (pull up the anchor) and sailed back to Marathon Key to pick up Jim and Gail Philo from Arizona. The Philo’s open their home to us homeless sailors every summer. It’s not easy to repay their kindness so we try to roll out the red carpet when they visit Pipe Dream. For ten days we took them sailing through the Florida Keys and back to Miami from where they jumped on a flight back to reality. We sure miss them!
It was time to sail north to leave Pipe Dream in Savannah for Hurricane season. We had left our “Rocket” (the Hyundai) at Sail Harbor Marina in Georgia, ready for our return from the sea. Jutta and I drove back to Arizona the long way, which included a side trip to visit Kath and Ray in Tennessee, and to renew an old friendship with Susie and Larry in Albuquerque. This visiting is sure cheaper than hotels! Remember, never invite a homeless sailor unless you mean it.
After several weeks of being nurtured and well fed by Jim and Gail in Casa Grande, Arizona, Jutta and I flew to Germany to visit Jutta’s mother and to attend her niece’s wedding. We spent a month with German relatives and bummed around Bavaria with a side trip to Paris. In Germany, beer is cheaper than water and I’ve heard you couldn’t drink the water in Europe, so just to be safe I stuck to wine and beer. Being on a budget, I thought it would be a great way to cut a few corners. You know me, always trying to save a buck!!!
Our return to the States was uneventful. The only terrorist attack we encountered was from the luggage handlers in Paris and Atlanta. After our arrival in Atlanta, we were told by Air France that one of our three bags didn’t make it out of Paris. That didn’t bother me; a real man doesn’t need to brush his teeth, comb his hair, or change shoes. We still had most of our clothes in our other two bags. We cleared customs and caught the next flight to visit Jutta’s son, daughter in law, and their brand new baby. On our arrival in Chicago, United had lost our other two bags! I don’t need clothes, I’ll go naked, a la-natural, I just left France. You’ve got to keep a positive attitude while traveling. You know how hard it is to carry those heavy bags out of the airport. That was no longer our problem. We walked out of the airport, bag less, like we owned the place. On the positive side, I still had my wallet!
That just about wraps up our adventures up to now. We have been in Chicago for a couple of days and are still waiting for one more piece of luggage. Jutta is very excited because she gets to play with her first, new granddaughter, she is now a grandma. I have always been fond of older women! We hope to get the rest of our clothes, toiletries, and shoes before we leave for Toronto to visit more friends. You will hear about that trip in the next newsletter. Well, keep those dollars pouring in to the “Help Ferdy Cruising Fund”, clothes and shoes are not cheap in Chicago.

From the Decks of Pipe Dream

Jutta and Ferdy

Newsletter Jan/Feb 2007

2007-08-12T20:32:00.000-07:00

"Fickle Ferdy has done it again!!!"

We’re back and with lots of Pipe Dream news. In the last newsletter I said we had put Pipe Dream up for sale and were looking at newer and bigger boats. It has always been my dream to own a catamaran, you know, a party condo on the water. After listing my “tuna schooner” with a broker he started showing us catamarans in the 38 to 40 foot range. These things were gigantic, lots of space for entertaining, three or four bedrooms, large decks for parties and big all over. I just stood there and dreamed of the future while Jutta looked at the basics. She’s no fun! She called me into the galley (for those of you land lubbers that’s the kitchen,) only one drawer and two cabinet doors. Where is all the storage? Oh, it’s under the settee (couch). We both love to cook and this sucks out loud. No problem, we can solve this; we will look at cats (catamarans) in the 42 to 45 foot class. That was more like it: Queen size beds, extra large galleys, lots and lots of cabinetry. These are the cats for me! Oops, a quick look at the listing price of $400,000 to $500, 00 made my stomach do a somersault. Due to the lack of response in the “Help Ferdy Cruising Fund”, $3 dollars in the last six years, these tubs were out of the question.
We might have been slapped down by reality but we weren’t whipped yet. We started looking for used mono-hulls (one hole in the water to throw money into rather than two) like Pipe Dream but with new, modern amenities. After looking the entire month of December we finally found the boat we loved. But again, the dollar sign was the only hindrance from owning a beautiful Hylas. My god, you should have seen the price tag!!!!
Yes, you guessed it, we are keeping Pipe Dream and are remodeling. We are adding a large freezer, flat panel TV, new dodger and bimini (canvas and cockpit shade), solar panels, new easy to use rigging (things that control the sails,) a state of the art crackerjack navigation system, etc.,etc.. I forgot the decorator items! The sad truth is we didn’t find one boat that had been maintained and babied like Pipe Dream. In another month and a half we should be liv'n large, cruising the Bahamas, play’n again like the idle rich. Then we will run north, up the Eastern Seaboard and put Pipe Dream to bed again in Savannah. It seems Jutta has a niece getting married in Germany in July and we must attend the wedding. More ammunition for my next newsletter!
A lot of thought went into keeping Pipe Dream and continue the cruising life for several more years. We have decided to start chartering Pipe Dream on a part-time basis. Part-time so it won’t be like work! This is a “crewed charter” which means Jutta and I will pick up a couple somewhere in the Bahamas, the Caribbean, the Florida Keys etc, and take them aboard sailing for 3-5 or 7 days. They will have our master stateroom, gourmet meals and drinks included (yes, booze). We would like to have others experience the joy of sailing in paradise, and what a thrill to be aboard with Captain Ferdy. Oh, by the way, I forgot to mention I passed all the tests for my captains (master) license and am anxiously awaiting the written proof of my accomplishment from the Coast Guard. I wonder if they would be interested in donating to the “Help Ferdy Cruising Fund?” I will expect a little more respect in the future.
Jutta took off the month of January to visit her mother in Germany. This freed up my time to work on the boat and study for my captain’s test. I was very glad I had things to keep me busy; I get really tired of chasing those cocktail waitresses around the decks!
It's mid-February and we are finishing up the odds and ends on the boat. The Miami Boat Show starts in a few days and we plan to purchase the navigation system at the show and get the boat show discount. Installing that piece of equipment and putting Pipe Dream into the ship yard to paint the bottom should just about finish our remodeling of Pipe Dream. Then, "ADIOS", we are out of here, back to cruising in paradise.
Living on a sailboat gives you lots of time to think of the future and adventures to come. If this charter business pays off, this could be a financial windfall to the owners of Pipe Dream. If any of you are reading this newsletter would be interested in buying stock in the “Help Ferdy Cruising and Charter Business” let me know. This could be your retirement nest egg (or mine!). If you have any friends/ acquaintances who are interested in a crewed charter trip on Pipe Dream, please have them contact us.

From the decks of Pipe Dream

Ferdy and Jutta

Newsletter July 2006

2007-08-12T20:30:00.000-07:00

"A funny thing happened on the way to the airport! "

The zany crew of Pipe Dream has been a little lax in their checking in. In the last newsletter we had entered the United States through Cape Canaveral and found a marina for Pipe Dream in Savannah, Georgia. It took about two weeks to put Pipe Dream to bed (remove sails, dinghy, bimini, etc.) and prepare her for several months during hurricane season.Jutta and I headed out of Savannah in mid June and flew to Phoenix to visit my two grown children, Jody and Ryan. Jutta thought she had died and gone to hell. It was only 113 degrees for eight of our ten days in Phoenix. What a sissy! Since I sold my truck four years ago we decided it was time to reward ourselves and buy a fancy foreign touring car that was up to our high standards. The Humvee was too big, we didn’t like the stereo in the Lexus, and the Ferrari was too small. What's a sailor to do? Well, we bought a used 2004 Hyundai Accent, better known as "The Rocket". We were preparing for our next adventure, a land trip driving through Mexico and possibly all the way to Panama.Before taking off for Mexico, Jutta and I drove "The Rocket" to Yuma, Arizona, to visit my brother, and then on to Long Beach for our yearly slumber party (which we missed last year) with cruising friends Sue and Jake of the sailing vessel “Sipapu.” On the way back to San Diego to see Jutta's daughter, Kat, we stopped in Del Mar for a quick visit with cruising friends Doug and Lisa who had sold their boat “Mamouna” and were getting ready to move to their new house in Todos Santos, Mexico. Jutta’s daughter, Katryn, had just been hired by a medical company and she was moving to San Francisco. Naturally, we volunteered to move her to the "City by the Bay." It goes to show you, there is a fool born every day! Jutta and Kat packed up the apartment, loaded it into the moving van, and we were ready. Jutta drove "The Rocket", Kat drove her Jetta, and I was lucky enough to get picked to drive the U-Haul eight hours to San Francisco. We got a very early start and arrived in San Francisco in the mid afternoon. I pulled the truck up to the apartment building and we started to unload. Kat neglected to tell us she was renting on the fourth floor and there was no elevator. She owes me big time! Next time she moves, I'm leaving the country. After we finished unloading, the crew of Pipe Dream returned the truck and headed out of the City and south to Hollister, California, to visit our cruising friends Duey and Nan. Duey and Nan, former owners of the sailing yacht "The Great Escape", had recently sold their boat and are now doing the “land lubber thing.” We had a wonderful visit with them and got to spend time with their good friends Fernando and Nancy. They are fun people if you overlook their one flaw, they own a power boat (stink pot). Well, nobody's perfect. Nan and Duey were wonderful hosts and gave us an intimate tour of the road between Monterrey and Hollister. After a week we said Adios, (for those of you reading this in Boston that's Good Bye in espanglish). We fired up "The Rocket" and headed to Los Angeles to spend a few days with Brandon, Jutta's oldest son, to witness his room mate plus girlfriend and two yappy dogs move out. While in LA, we enjoyed a great breakfast with Julie, movie director of the film “Must love Dogs” (we’ve already booked our seats for her first Oscar Celebration.) Contrary to past experience, Brandon drove his Audi in a most civilized manner. I didn’t have to wear my “Depends” while riding in his car. Jutta and I helped Brandon arrange his kitchen, and mop and clean his cabinets, etc. I know I’m half Hispanic but moving furniture and cleaning houses looks like a pattern I don’t like developing????? Again, we fired up "The Rocket" and drove to Phoenix to pick up our good friend Gail Philo, then finally started our trip to Mexico. We crossed the border at El Paso and drove to Chihuahua. After a couple of days there, several days in Zacatecas, mucho tempo in Guanajuato and San Miguel de Allende, we braved the road into Mexico City. I won't bore you with details but we saw many beautiful places, took a lot of pictures, sampled varios tacos, and drank muchas cervezas! After several hours of fighting traffic on Mexico City’s ring road (the “Periferico”) we arrived at Jutta's uncle’s home on Friday, August 4. Gail stayed over the weekend and together with Jutta’s uncle and her cousin Trixi we enjoyed a boat trip on the Floating Gardens of Xochimilco. It seems something always happens to the zany crew of Pipe Dream. Monday early morning we loaded Gail into a cab and the three of us headed to the Metro (subway) for our trip to the airport. When we entered the subway, morning rush hour was just starting. As I was stepping onto the train, someone stumbled in front of me to create a commotion while his compadre slid his hand into my front pocket and lifted my wallet. Of course, I never noticed my wallet gone until the train was under way. A classic case of pick-pocketing you read about in tour guides!! There goes my money, two credit cards, ATM card, driver license, and my AARP card. Darn it, with it went my AARP discounts! We got everything canceled Monday morning, Gail made her flight and I was just out the cash. Things could be worse or so we thought. Jutta's uncle told us if I got caught driving in Mexico without a valid drivers license they could impound the car and I would need to grease a lot of palms to get the car out of Mexico. I first called the Mexican Tourist Protection Agency listed in our AAA tour book. After several calls no one answered. That didn't bother me, I can fix that, I'm an American and I’m going to the United States Embassy for help. The Embassy referred me to the Mexican International Drivers License Bureau. They told me if I brought in my US drivers license they would issue an international license. Well, that sounded like a “Catch 22.” Back to the Embassy. The next person at the Embassy told me they couldn't help but he was sure the State of Arizona would FEDX a copy of my records to me in Mexico City. Sure, I bet that would happen, my tourist visa in Mexico is only good for six months! I finally asked the embassy staff if they could come up with a very official looking letter with a big stamp saying I was robbed, lost my drivers license and this was a temporary permit to drive until I returned to the United States. Judging by their puzzled looks, it was clear that nobody ever suggested anything as unofficial as that before. They reluctantly agreed and had me write a statement and for ONLY $30 they put a very large and important looking US Embassy stamp on it. Remember there is only two things you can count on in this life, Death and Taxes. Don’t rely on your embassy in foreign countries. I guess I’m just going to have to wing it myself on the Mexican highways. Once a salesman always a salesman! I am counting on all my rich friends back in the USA to bail me out of a Mexican jail in case my 30 Dollar US Embassy stamp won’t work. Well, that’s about it, we’re still in Mexico City and will be leaving in a few days. “The Rocket” is full of gas and Jutta is at the Metro station trying to raise money in a tin cup. I’ve about sold all the pencils and these dark glasses are killing me. Remember to send your much needed dollars to the “Help Ferdy Cruising Fund”. Adios! From the Decks of Pipe Dream (or “The Rocket”) Ferdy and Jutta

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Newsletter May 2006

2007-08-12T20:29:00.000-07:00

"The Nation is safe with Homeland Security!! "

Yee-Ha, the zany crew of Pipe Dream is back! It’s been another month and time for your copy of the Pipe Dream newsletter, subscription information to follow (just kidding)!
Pipe Dream is now in Georgia sitting in a very nice marina. The Pipe Dreamers are getting her ready to leave for the summer. We must remove the sails, batten down all the hatches, and secure all equipment in case a hurricane blows through while we are gone. We should be out of here in about a week. Our friends, Dick and Vickie, on the sailboat “Chimere” found us the slip. As luck would have it, Dick will keep an eye on Pipe Dream during our absence.
In our last newsletter the Pipe Dreamers were in Georgetown, Bahamas, participating in the boat races of the Family Island Regatta. It took about three weeks for my backside to heal up after hanging out over the water on that twelve foot beam. Good rail meat I’m not, that’s for young guys! After the races we provisioned Pipe Dream with food, water, took on another keg or two of rum, lots of limes to go with our tonic - we don’t want a scurvy problem - and we were ready for sea. We sailed out of Georgetown Harbor in the company of sailing vessels “Millenium Falcon”, and “Varuna”. When you travel in the company of these two boats it’s party time every day. Our first stop was Long Island for a little sight seeing and cantina hopping.
Then we moved north up the coast of Long Island to a settlement called Sims. There we met up with some friends of ours on the boat “Free Bird”. We made reservations at the “Blue Chip Café” and had a farewell dinner party which consisted of all you can eat conch, fish and lobster. After dinner the Blue Chip had a “Rake and Scrape” band playing in the bar. We danced and sang island music until the wee hours. The next morning we said our good byes. Free Bird sailed south, Millenium Falcon sailed for Florida and Pipe Dream and Varuna sailed on to Cat Island. We spent a few relaxing days on Cat Island just playing in the sun and water. We needed a rest!
Our next stop was a small island called Little San Salvador. This Island is totally owned by Carnival Cruise Lines. The water surrounding this island is the most pristine we have ever seen. At the time we arrived there were no cruise ships anchored in the harbor. We called the office on our VHF radio and asked for permission to explore the island. We spent five wonderful days on Little San Salvador lying out on the lounge chairs and hammocks, taking wonderful showers after every swim and just exploring the Island. We walked through disserted bars, shopping areas, water-sports complexes with not a soul there. Aaah, the life of the idle rich! As soon as a cruise ship was scheduled to anchor, a large boat would arrive from Eleuthera, the neighboring island, carrying fifty workers to entertain the guests. The cruise ship would sail out of the anchorage, everyone would leave, and the island was once again ours to enjoy. During our stay at Little San Salvador the power cat “kath n’I”arrived with Ray and Kath aboard, who soon became great friends and joined “Varuna” and “Pipe Dream” for the next leg of our journey. Once again there was a cold front approaching the Bahamas and we had to pull anchor and run for cover. Sometimes we feel like “Chicken Little” and the sky is falling. Adios, we’re headed for Eleuthera Island.
The weather front did arrive and it blew twenty to thirty knots for two or three days. The one saving grace was that the power cat “Kath ‘n’ I had caught five big Mahi Mahi on the trip over. Ray hosted several Mahi barbecues and still had fish left in the freezer. The weather cleared and we were off to visit the picturesque town at Governor Harbor. Then we all moved on Royal Island for a few days to wait for a weather window to head for the States. The morning of May 24 the weatherman on the single sideband radio was predicting rain squalls and wind of 10 to 15 knots today. The rest of the week there would be no wind. Today was the day to cut the anchor lines and head to sea. We said our adieus, and there were a few tears shed in parting. We motored out of the harbor…and motored…and motored…and waited for that 10-15 knot wind. By the time we arrived in Fort Pierce, Florida, we had been motoring for 33 hours.. If any of you would like to know what the word “weatherman” means in English, it’s “LIAR”. There wasn’t a breath of wind the entire trip and not one rain squall.
On the evening of May 24 we entered the harbor at Ft Pierce. Being a good tax paying American, the crew of Pipe Dream should have taken a cab to the airport to check in with Customs and Immigrations. Well, we just took on Diesel, spent the night at anchor and headed out to sea at first light for Cape Canaveral. This is a large international cruise and commercial port and seemed the obvious place to check into the country. We entered the port and called on the VHF radio for directions to Customs and Immigration. Our next question was, where was the Customs dock? The conversation over the radio went something like this. “We don’t have one”. “Well, where can we dock the boat?” “Maybe one of the marinas will let you tie up there!” To make a long story short it seemed there was a fishing tournament going on that weekend and there was no room at the inn. We, being good Americans, stopped a policeman patrolling the harbor in a boat and asked where we could drop the anchor for about an hour to check into the country. He told us there was no anchoring in Port Canaveral and for us to enter the Intra Coastal Waterway and go to another port. By then it was 5:00PM on Friday evening and we knew the office was closed. The next morning I got up and was very nervous about being in the great USA without checking in. We had heard Homeland Security was getting tough about border security. I called on the cell phone to Custom and Immigration, “protectors of our boarders”, and asked about the possibility of returning to Cape Canaveral to check in. I was told by a very nice lady at their answering service that the office would be closed over the weekend and Memorial Day. Why don’t I try to check in next Tuesday? We traveled through Florida over the weekend and finally checked into the country at Fernandina Beach, a town at the Florida/Georgia border. The moral of that story is our borders are safe Monday thru Friday from 8:00 AM to 5:00PM. The rest of the time it’s a crap-shoot. I know you will all sleep better knowing the Office of Homeland Security is taking care of us!
On a very sad note, this newsletter is dedicated to our close friend and sailing buddy, Bob Saemisch, who visited Pipe Dream with his wife Tish everywhere throughout Mexico, Central America and the Bahamas. He passed away suddenly of a heart attack this week. He will be truly missed.

From the Decks of Pipe Dream
Ferdy and Jutta

Newsletter April 2006

2007-08-12T20:28:00.001-07:00

" Butt putty saved the day!"

The famous Pipe Dream Newsletter is back, you’re probably thinking this is your lucky day. The zany crew of Pipe Dream is winding down for their last month in the Bahamas. We haven’t just been sitting on our duffs all this time while in Georgetown -“we was busy.” I’m sitting here typing on the computer trying to build up calluses on my two fingers while watching Jutta mending our bimini shade and sewing a new wind scoop for one of our hatches. The weather is finally beautiful most of the time. Everyone had been talking about the awful weather in the United States this winter. Keep in mind, all that weather moving across the USA usually flows down through Florida and out across the Bahamas. The weather pattern this cruising season has been three or four days of nice weather followed by getting hammered by one cold front after another. This has put a little crimp in our travels but anything is better than working.
The first week of April we made our break and the Pipe Dream crew and Bob and Viv from sailing vessel Varuna buddy boated to Long Island. The people of Long island are the friendliest we have ever encountered in the Bahamas. Jutta and I had signed up for “Captain Bobby’s Budget Tours” given by Bob from Varuna and the price was right (free) and we didn’t even have to buy him a beer! Bob and Viv showed us the finer points of sticking out your thumb every time a car passed. We hitch-hiked all over the island for five days and rode in the back of more pickups than I can count. Our first stop was the settlement of Simms, then we hitched a ride north to Cape Santa Maria Resort, where Keith Richards from the Stones stayed several years ago. What a beautiful resort! We walked around and then went into the beach bar for a cool one. We all ordered a “Kalik” beer, the beer of the Bahamas, and when we got the bill they charged us $5.50 a beer. “Holy Christmas” they must have thought the Vanderbilts were in town. Adios, we are out of here. As luck would have it, there was a little bar on the highway and they had $2.50 Kaliks for the budget minded cruisers. That evening we ate at the Blue Chip Restaurant and had one of the finest dinners we have had in the Bahaman.
The next morning we sailed off to the settlement of Salt Pond. From there we hitched hiked to Dean’s Landing and snorkeled the deepest Blue Hole in the World, over 600 feet deep. After the dive we had to go to Mac’s Conch Bar for food and refreshments. In the afternoon Bob’s Budget Tours took us to explore some underground caves. We just barely had time to clean up for Happy Hour at the local hangout. The following day we caught a ride to Clarence Town and attended a kids’ sailing regatta. A storm was closing in on us and we had to bid Bob and Viv adieu (for those of you in Phoenix that’s French for bye-bye). Jutta’s son Brandon was due to arrive in Georgetown in a few days and we had to get back and beat the weather.
Brandon arrived on Pipe Dream and had five full days in Paradise. The night he arrived he got the Bahama Baptism. It was blowing 30 knots in the anchorage and we put his luggage in garbage bags, gave him a foulie jacket and had him put on a bathing suit on the dock and then headed for Pipe Dream in the dinghy. All were wet but we made it. The next day we found some shelter from the wind and waves in another anchorage. It was time we got off the boat to explore. We took Brandon to the “Chat and Chill”, the local beach bar and cruiser hangout. Brandon was hungry and got a fish sandwich and Jutta and I just had a Kalik. Big mistake! Brandon spent the next 24 hours hugging the porcelain god. We fixed him up with some butt putty we keep in our medical bag. “Welcome to the Bahamas Man.” Brandon had a wonderful three days left on Pipe Dream. Sometimes it’s fun to see a lawyer suffer!
Our days in Georgetown are drawing to a close. The last event before sailing out of the Exuma chain was the Family Island Regatta which is a four day racing event of the original style Bahamian sailing boats. Large island freighters were bringing the colorfully painted boats from every island. With a sign “Need Crew?” taped to my chest I volunteered to be “rail meat” on some of the boats. The race boats come in three different sizes: “C” class, the smallest, thru “A” class, the largest. The “A”class boats are about 20 feet long and have a 60 foot mast and a boom which is about 30 feet long. These boats have the largest sail I have ever seen. A weighted keel is built in but with such a large sail the only way to keep them upright is with a “pry”. The “pry” is a 3 x 10 inch plank about 12 feet long of which the “A” boats have two. They slide them out the side of the boat and five large men sit suspended over the water on each plank, that’s 10 bodies hanging over the water sometimes flying 10 to 12 feet above the water. The A-class boats have a 13 to 17 man crew, depending on the wind speed that day. This is why they call my position “rail meat”, we hang out over the water to keep the boat from tipping over and at maximum speed. Four days of racing and four days of straight partying just about wore us out. Sliding up and down on those planks took its toll on my sensitive behind. Thank God we had some diaper rash ointment in our medical kit! But, you know what they say about when the going gets tough?
Jutta and I have the month of May to travel north covering some new parts of the Bahamas. It seems our insurance company has a problem with us being down here during “Hurricane Season”. I thought a hurricane was a drink I had in New Orleans. By June first we must have the boat above the Florida/Georgia boarder. We have big plans for this summer, you will hear about them soon. Keep those big checks coming and remember not all the poor people live in the ghettos. Some have sailing yachts!

From the Decks of Pipe Dream

Ferdy and Jutta

Newsletter March 2006

2007-08-12T20:26:00.000-07:00

"She’s not a rock star but her head got bigger!"

We’re baaaaaaaaaaack, anchored in Georgetown Harbor in the Exuma Island chain. It has been a great month for the zany crew of Pipe Dream. In last months newsletter the Pipe Dream crew was on the way to Georgetown. After island hopping for five days, and playing with friends, we finally reached Georgetown on March 3. We sailed into this secluded, protected bay thinking we were the only boat in paradise. The anticipation was building as we entered the anchorage. Out in front of us we could just make out masts of a few other sailboats, almost 400 of them. The 2006 Georgetown Cruisers’ Regatta had begun which meant 10 days of Pipe Dream Party Time. This year we participated in a many more events than in the previous year. To begin with, we crewed once again on the racing boat “Millennium Falcon”, owned by our good friends Bob and Bev from Toronto, hoping for at least 3rd place like last year. We were ready, we had practiced, and we could taste the bottle of rum for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd place finishers. Well, we finished last. All was not lost, of all the 28 boats in the race we had the best after race party!
Next, Jutta and I entered the team kayak race. Last year we took a third place against 20 kayaks all manned by teenagers. This year Jutta and I had been exercising for the race and we came in fourth place looser!! Those damn teenagers, where was the senior division? After that we entered the scavenger hunt with two other couples. Each couple needed to have their own dinghy because the list of items we needed were spread over the entire Georgetown Bay with only 90 minutes for the hunt. Hurray, we took a second place out of twenty teams. It was about time. Another memorable success for the crew of Pipe Dream. All in all we had a terrific time
. One of the highlights to this year’s travels to the Bahamas was the Bahamian Music and Heritage Festival held the week after the cruising regatta. This three day festival brought musicians from all over the islands, many of them recording stars. The Bahamas Tourist Bureau asked the cruisers if they would like to present a band playing music at the festival. The group was made up of John, keyboard and bass, Colin, lead guitar and bass, Bob, guitar, and Ashley, lead singer, and Jutta, believe it or not, percussion and back up singer. The group was called “White Folks on Boats.” They were the only white entertainers. “White Folks on Boats” opened for the headliner on Saturday night and brought the house down. The crowd of about two thousand were going wild. As you can probably guess it was hard to live with Jutta for a few days. It isn’t easy being a big star!!!! A couple days of boat jobs brought her back down to earth. It’s easy to be humble when you’re polishing stainless steel.
So far, the crew of Pipe Dream has made one trip out of Georgetown to visit Cat Island and Conception Island. Our trip was cut short due to bad weather. Our hopes are to visit many other islands before returning to the USA in June. We hope the weather Gods will be favorable.
As for “El Capitan”, that’s me, Ferdy. I also had several milestones during the month of March. To begin with we had a very large anniversary party on Pipe Dream to celebrate the 20th anniversary of my 39th birthday. If fact this will be the last birthday I will welcome. If any of you have been remiss in purchasing my present don’t feel bad I will just take the money!!!!!! The second milestone for me is I am now taking Yogurt, some of you call it Yoga, but what do you know? Every morning I roll out of bed at 6:00 Am and are at my yoga class by 7:30. I haven’t bought any crystals yet but I am thinking about levitation, then I won’t need a dinghy.
Keep those cards and e-mail coming we love to hear from you. It makes us feel good that you have enough time from your busy wourlk, no, worlk, no, sorry I can’t remember how to spell it, schedule. Remember to keep the money coming, keep in mind, a dollar a day keeps Ferdy away.

From the Decks of Pipe Dream

Ferdy and Jutta

Newsletter February 2006

2007-08-12T20:25:00.000-07:00

“We be here on Island time”

We’re finally back on “Island Time” where the day starts with coffee and ends with a sundowner (cocktail). In our last newsletter the crew of Pipe Dream was in Fort Lauderdale waiting for a weather window to cross the Gulf Stream and head for the Bahamas. We had been pinned down for a week waiting for a norther (heavy north wind) to subside. On Feb 6 the wind clocked around and very early in the morning (seven o’clock on Pipe Dream )we made our break across the Gulf Stream and on to the Bahama Bank. A north wind of only 15 knots against the Gulf Stream will build short and choppy waves 6 to 12 feet. That’s the reason we wait for a weather window. We have taken real beatings in those kind of seas and we don’t care to repeat it.
Jutta and I reached Nassau on Feb 8 after two stops to get some sleep on the Bahama Bank. Unlike our lengthy visit to Nassau last season we had three items of business to take care of before we left. We had to check in with customs and pay our $300 cruising permit, go to Potter’s Cay in Nassau harbor to have a conch salad and some conch fritters, and, most importantly, we needed a rum and cognac shopping spree before we left for the Exuma island chain. It seems the finest rum is about $10 per liter and French VSOP is $12 per liter. We never miss a bargain. All these things were accomplished in one overnight stay in Nassau and the crew of Pipe Dream crept out of the harbor and off to the Exumas.
The weather prediction was for a big cold front approaching the Bahamas in a few days. Our friends, Viv and Party-Bob on the boat Varuna, were headed for Pipe Creek and Pipe Dream was hot on their heels. It took two days to catch up with Varuna and we renewed old friendships over a barrel of rum and a plate of fresh caught lobster. The headache I woke up with the next morning was probably due to Bob’s cheap rum. One day I’ll grow up and be more careful, but remember: You’re never too old to have a happy childhood!
Well, the weather front arrived the next day and blew 30 knots all day and night. The following day the wind was down to 20 to 25 knots and continued to blow for 8 days straight. The Bahamas can be really suckie in January and February.
The weather finally settled down and Jutta and Viv went kayaking while Bob and I went diving every day for lobster. Bob shoots lobster like fishing in a barrel, meanwhile I draw blanks on the score board. I got buck fever on the only shot I took and missed. All was not lost. I volunteered to cook Bob’s lobster on my boat. It just goes to show some guys will do anything for a friend. I hope Bob appreciates it! It wasn’t a couple of days later I caught my first lobster of the season.
The crew of Pipe Dream and Varuna left Pipe Creek on Tuesday the 21st and headed toward Georgetown in the Exumas. If we really sailed hard we could be there in about 24 hours. But on our travel schedule it will take us about a week to get there. Remember, we are on “island time”. The Cruisers’ Regatta begins the first week of March and it lasts 8 to 10 days. You know we never miss a party!. I hope we don’t get a hold of some of that bad rum. Those headaches are tough.
It’s February the 26th and Jutta and I are preparing for another weather front approaching from the north. We are watching the thunderheads coming at us at an alarming rate. If you ever wondered where the saying “Batten down the hatches” comes from, it’s from people on boats.
Those of you who have been waiting to send your dollars to the “Keep Ferdy Cruising Fund” for the new state of the art weather prediction system, it might be a little late. We will just put on our rain coats, bend over, and hold on.
In a day or two we will be into the month of March and you will receive this newsletter. At the same time Ferdy will be enjoying another birthday on Pipe Dream. And remember it’s never too late to send something. We miss you all and Adios.

From the Decks of Pipe Dream

Ferdy and Jutta

Newsletter January 2006

2007-08-12T20:24:00.000-07:00

"Something smells in the fridge and it’s not the crew!"

Well, it doesn’t seem like your luck is going to change for 2006. Yes, Ferdy is still sending those annoying newsletters. The zany crew of Pipe Dream is back with a vengeance. In our last newsletter we had left you and the boat in St. Mary’s, Georgia. Jutta traveled to Germany for a month and I visited Arizona for three weeks. We both had a wonderful time catching up with our families and spending time with old friends. I, Ferdy, El Capitan, flew back to Georgia the first week of January and Jutta came back from Germany a week later. Temperatures in Georgia were in the 30-40F range! Brrrrrr! Keep in mind Pipe Dream’s wardrobe is outfitted only for “Island Time”. We were freezing!
This season’s itinerary involves another trip to the Bahamas and Island Time for about five months. After our return to the boat, our main priority was to stock Pipe Dream with beer and wine, the liquid for our fountain of youth. I ordered fifteen cases of beer and a few cases of wine from the local grocery. It is really hard to carry that much on our bicycles, so we used a rental car to haul everything back to the boat. We raised a lot of eyebrows at the store when we picked up the beer. Everyone wanted to know where the party was. It may appear like we want to open a liquor store, but you must keep in mind beer (Bud, Coors, or Heineken) costs $50.00 per case of in the Bahamas. After the alcohol came aboard it was really hard to find room for some food. Well, who needs it? I heard it’s fattening!
We returned the car and prepared Pipe Dream to travel down the Intra-Coastal Waterway through Florida because the weather was rather nasty outside in the Atlantic Ocean. At Fernandina Beach we were pinned down at anchor for two days while a storm blew through. In five years of cruising we had never experienced a steady 35 knots of wind with gusts all day and night to forty knots. We looked like a cat on a tin roof trying to hold on. We survived and headed down the ICW making stops every night to explore and play tourist.
At Cocoa Beach, Jutta and I stopped in to visit with Paul and Frances Fernald. We decided to stay a few days and enjoy the company, the hot showers with all the water you want, and a bed that doesn’t move. When we left Cocoa Beach on Sunday morning we noticed that our refrigerator was defrosting. Much to our dismay our refrigerator had taken a dump on us. (a “Dump” is a sailing term) We dropped the hook in Fort Pierce and called the refer mechanic, Mark, who promised to be there first thing the next morning. Our freezer and all its contents – remember, we had just provisioned for the Bahamas – was thawing fast and we were frantically looking for ways to save our frozen meat. Fortunately, Cindy and Rich on “Chapa-ai”, whom we met at Harbor Town Marina during our stay in 2005 were still there and offered to store some of our frozen goods in their giant freezer. Mark found a small leak at a connection and recharged the unit. Hallelujah, we were back in business. We rushed over to our friends’ boat, got our partially frozen food, and refilled our freezer. Three hours later the freezer was defrosting again. Back again to try to save the food. Mark returned, took everything apart again and found a factory defect in the cooling unit. Since we were still under warranty we called the factory and had the new part air-freighted to Florida. You can just imagine how sympathetic the factory was about all our food. All in all it took six days to get the freezer back in action. The frozen food took a beating and we’re still trying to figure out what color frozen chicken should be?
We are now in Fort Lauderdale waiting for a good weather window to cross the Gulf Stream and sail to the Bahamas. It looks like things will be favorable in the next three or four days, as long as nothing else breaks.
For those of you who have our cell phone number it won’t work once we cross to the Bahamas, which will probably be after Super Bowl Sunday. Once we leave the States we are incommunicado by phone and must rely on e-mail. If all you cheap-skates our there had been giving to the “Help Ferdy Cruising Fund” we could afford a satellite phone and global satellite e-mail, like the big dogs. I guess being poor is nothing to be ashamed of, it’s just damn inconvenient! We’ll see you in paradise!

From the Decks of Pipe Dream,

Ferdy and Jutta

Newsletter December 2005

2007-08-12T20:23:00.001-07:00

"A major lawsuit could break us!"

Greetings and Happy Holidays from the zany crew of Pipe Dream. It’s December 8 and Jutta and I are sitting in a marina in St Marys, Georgia. The wind is howling around the boat and it’s been raining cats and dogs. Why did we ever leave the Tropics?? In a few days we will be vacating the boat and heading out to visit family for the holidays. Jutta will be flying to Germany to visit family, and I will go to Phoenix, yes, sunny warm Phoenix, for a couple of weeks.
Before I go any further with the Holiday Newsletter I must straighten out something in the last newsletter to prevent the possibility of legal problems for the crew of Pipe Dream. I think the newspaper industry calls this a retraction. In October, a week before the Annapolis Boat Show, Jutta’s son Brandon and his girlfriend Alison came to visit the crew of Pipe Dream. We sailed to Saint Michaels, spent the night, and returned to Annapolis. Alison, a Chicago city slicker, was terrified of “Jaws” attacking the boat and devouring the crew of Pipe Dream. You have probably read many accounts of shark attacks in a semi fresh water environment, 130 miles up the Chesapeake Bay??? Brandon just enjoyed the water and had a few beers. We had a wonderful visit with Brandon and Alison but with all the euphoria about our new engine we totally forgot to include their visit in our last newsletter. They were very disappointed for not getting honorable mention and turned in a complaint. So here is our apology. Brandon is one of those “ATTORNEYS” and we don’t want to make any of them mad!!!!!
In the last newsletter we left you with Pipe Dream’s crew looking for a free turkey dinner at a homeless shelter. Well, Jutta and I could not find a free meal so we opted for a home cooked dinner on the boat hoping not to replicate the disastrous turkey dinner five years ago in La Paz, Mexico. I can still visualize my kids, Jody and Ryan, politely trying to eat a turkey that must have been frozen since the last ice age. We nearly caused a fish kill at the anchorage after tossing what tasted like old cardboard over the side. While shopping for a turkey we overheard conversations in the poultry department like, ”do we want a 20 or 22 lb. turkey this year”, or “we need leftovers for how many to take home this Thursday?”. Jutta and I walked right up to the cooler with our heads held high, reached into our backpack and pulled out a tape measure. I grabbed a perfect turkey, put it into our shopping cart and measured. There was a chilling silence before the high fives and hoo-rahs excited the crowd of onlookers. The turkey was 11 ½ inches high. It would just fit in our oven. Kwel! Our dinner was a success, we pulled it off, and we had a scrumptious Thanksgiving aboard Pipe Dream.
The morning after Thanksgiving we cut the dock lines in South Carolina and headed south down the Intra Coastal Waterway toward Georgia. We usually try to make about 50 miles a day before dropping the anchor for the night. Keep in mind we travel at only 6 to 7 miles (or knots) per hour. Along the way, we met new and old cruising friends, did some “dredging” through the shallow mud banks of Jekyll Creek, explored the wild expanses of Cumberland Island, bicycled and picnicked at Fort Clinch and enjoyed the small town atmosphere of St. Marys and Fernandina Beach. Don’t underestimate our tourist mentality or us being out of character, we always look for the local watering hole to “slam down a couple of beers” during Happy Hour after a long bike ride.
Our plans for January are to travel down the coast of Florida a fast as we can, then wait for a weather window to sail to the Bahamas for another wild and zany season in the Islands. I have already started polishing up my thong bathing suits for “Island Time”. Isn’t that a scary thought!!!
The zany crew of Pipe Dream would like to wish everyone a wonderful and safe Holiday season. Keep in mind, when you remember the hurricane victims, the crew of Pipe Dream barely escaped those storms and could use a few bucks also.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

From the Decks of Pipe Dream,
Ferdy and Jutta

Newsletter Sep/Oct 2005

2007-08-12T20:21:00.000-07:00

"The country boy goes to the big city!
He’s been lax on writing newsletters. "

Since I haven’t published a newsletter in a while I will try to give you a whirlwind tour of our adventures to catch you up. In the future, I’ll try to be more expedient about writing.
New York, New York, the town that never sleeps. Yes, sports fans, the crew of Pipe Dream made port back in New York City. Jutta and I left Newport and Narragansett Bay bound for New York. We arrived on Aug 29 and tied up to a mooring buoy at the 79th Street Boat Basin on the Hudson River (79th Street and Broadway in Manhattan). All total we stayed 10 days in New York and didn’t waste a second. Jutta and I toured art museums, took in two Broadway shows, explored China town, Greenwich Village, Little Italy, Ellis Island, and walked Central Park on several occasions. We stayed busy and on the go every waking hour. On Labor Day we caught the subway to Brooklyn for their Caribbean Fest. This is the largest single day event held in New York. I had never seen so many people. There was an all day parade and exotic food booths were tempting us everywhere. Yes, you were probably thinking it, there was also tons of beer!!!
A lot has happened in the last two months. Pipe Dream had developed engine problems and we knew it was time to make some much needed repairs. We left New York and sailed down the coast of New Jersey until we reached Cape May. From there we piloted Pipe Dream up the Delaware River through the C and D Canal to reach the Chesapeake Bay. Our destination was the Boat Show in Annapolis, Maryland, held the weekend of Oct 8 thru 11. We needed to talk to marine engine distributors and try to find a place to have Pipe Dream’s power plant replaced. Our search was successful in finding a marina to change out our engine. We intended to pay for it with our lottery winnings but our luck didn’t hold long enough for our lottery ticket to win. We left Annapolis to cross to the eastern shore of the Chesapeake to Haven Harbor Marina to have a new Yanmar engine installed. (If any mariner reading this newsletter needs any work done we highly recommend Haven Harbor Marina in Rock Hall, Maryland.)
Exactly two weeks to the day, October 30, we cut the dock lines, bundled up in every piece of clothing we could find on Pipe Dream, and motored out of the marina/shipyard bound for points south. We even purchased long underwear the weekend before we left. I used to make fun of the winter visitors (snowbirds) arriving in Arizona every winter. Now I understand why they run from the cold weather. Pipe Dream is not set up for the cold. Our cockpit is not enclosed and we don’t have heat on the boat. We left the shipyard in forty degree weather standing in the wind with a cup of hot coffee and covered in goose bumps. Our one pair of long underwear is holding up just fine and we don’t need to wash them until they stand up by themselves.
Our travels south, after leaving Chesapeake Bay and Norfolk, Virginia, are taking us down the Intra Coastal Waterway (ICW). We took an alternate route on the ICW and spent two days motoring through the beautiful Dismal Swamp Canal which presented itself in full autumn colors ending up in Elizabeth City, North Carolina. The city, built on the waterway, offers fourteen free city docks to visiting yachtsmen and hosts a wine and cheese cocktail party to all yachtsmen if there are at least five boats at the docks. The key word is free!!!! To offer a free cocktail party to a cruising sailor is like announcing the bank is giving away free money. I’m sure it doesn’t surprise you that the zany crew of Pipe Dream attended the party and stayed until the wine and beer were all gone.
We have finally reached a city from where to send the newsletter. The zany, cold crew of Pipe Dream has pulled into Beaufort, South Carolina. We drove right up to a marina, pulled out our visa card, tied Pipe Dream to the dock, hooked up the electrical, and cable TV. All those other cruisers anchored out in the channel think we are a couple of visiting millionaires in town for the holiday. We will stay tied to the dock for four days and enjoy Thanksgiving. I hope they serve a good free Thanksgiving dinner at the local homeless shelter.
Every month I try to end my newsletter with a little humor but not this month. I need to give you a little insight about the cruising sailor. In most of my newsletters it seems our cruising life is made up of spectacular beauty, profundo sensations, parties with friends and our luxurious ability to travel 100% of the time. We don’t sit home in our recliner and read the paper and watch the news on TV every night. We take life as it comes on a daily basis. Today we might be having fun and tomorrow we might be out on the ocean fighting the elements. We grab life by the balls everyday. Two weeks ago we received notice that our very good friend and cruising buddy Bob Willmann lost his boat “Viva” to Hurricane Beta on the Columbian island of Providencia in the Western Caribbean. Bob is safe but his boat was a total loss. Upon receiving the news Jutta and I poured a glass of wine, went up on deck, and to a beautiful sunset toasted to “Viva Bob” (as he is known) and to the cruising lifestyle. We hope his future journeys will take him back to the Sea.
The crew of Pipe Dream wants to wish all of you a very Happy Thanksgiving. If the temperatures don’t warm up soon, we will be asking for some clothing donations from all of you. One pair of long johns will only last so long.

From the decks of Pipe Dream
Ferdy and Jutta

Newsletter July/Aug 2005

2007-08-12T20:20:00.000-07:00

"Those stinkin’ tourists are everywhere!"

Yes, sports fans, the zany crew of Pipe Dream has gone full blown tourist. I bet you can just picture Captain Ferdy in plaid Bermuda shorts, a Hawaiian shirt, black socks, brown loafers, and don’t forget the camera hanging around his neck!!! This has been a “See America” summer. Last months’ travels (May, June) we left you in New York City. From there we have traveled up Long Island Sound in day hops and have anchored in many picturesque harbors along the way.
One particular town we visited around the end of June, Mattituck, will be remembered for years to come. We left the Sound and entered a narrow canal that wound along for about two miles and ended in a small basin at the tiny town of Mattituck. The basin was just big enough for four boats at anchor and it had a small marina on the east end. Jutta and I unloaded our newly acquired folding bikes and started to explore this part of Long Island. Low and behold there were about 20 vineyards located around Mattituck. “Holy Christmas”, what a stroke of luck for the crew of Pipe Dream. It was time for a proper wine tasting. That same evening we decided to stay a few more days and explore, possibly taking in another wine tasting. The next morning we arose to a blustery day. To those of you in California that means the wind was blowing like stink! We loaded up our dirty laundry and rode our bikes to the Laundromat. When we returned two hours later, Pipe Dream was gone. In a panic, we looked around the basin and spotted Pipe Dream backed into an empty slip in the marina. Jutta and I dropped our bikes, jumped into the dinghy, (family sedan), and raced across the water to the marina. The dock attendant had just finished tying her up. He said the wind had picked up and he watched our boat slowly drag her anchor across the bay, just missing two large, very expensive motor yachts and slide perfectly into the only empty slip in the marina!.. I know I have some Hispanic blood in my veins but I’m sure there is also some “Lucky Irish” in there somewhere. Yes, Pipe Dream cheated death again! After giving the dock attendant a reward we knew it was time to push on to Block Island and the 4th of July party. We would belly up to the bar for a wine tasting another time, the anchor gods just weren’t with us that day.
Block Island was a hoot. What a party! Block Island, Rhode Island, is situated about 25 miles off the Newport, RI shore or about 50 miles southwest of Cape Cod. To enter the inner harbor or as the locals call it “The Salt Pond” you have to sail through a very narrow waterway. We entered Salt Pond and dropped our anchor among at least two thousand other boats trying to find a spot. The Salt Pond should probably only accommodate about half that number of boats, so you can imagine the mess. I’m sure the majority of the boats had never left their marina overnight. This meant 75% of the anchored boats had no idea how to set an anchor. By observation, we learned some very innovative new ways of anchoring. The evenings were usually socked in with heavy fog and the wind would come up every night. As the wind would pick up you could hear voices yelling and motors starting through the fog as many boaters would drag their anchors and bump into someone else’s boat. Almost every morning we would awake to new boat neighbors.
One of the highlights at Block was the baker Mr. Aldeammo in his 14 foot skiff selling fresh baked goods to all the boaters. Every morning you could hear his deep voice through the fog calling AL-DE-AMMO. The first morning he came past our boat I waved him over and purchased two very small croissants, and two very small cinnamon rolls. The total came to $14.00. At that point I decided to forgo the fresh pastries and just listen to him call every morning through the fog. You’ve got to remember the zany crew of Pipe Dream are fulltime year around cruisers, better known as “CARBS”, which translates to “cheap arse rag baggers”. (The misspelled word allows my old friends at Merillat to receive this newsletter without having to rewrite a puritan version.) Ah, the e-mail censors are always watching!
Four or five days in Block Island were enough for the crew of Pipe Dream and we moved on to Newport, RI, sailing capitol of the East Coast. I had never seen so many giant sail boats in one place. For those of you who are sailors I don’t take pictures of anything with less than four spreaders on the mast anymore, and I have lots of pictures. Pipe Dream’s size at 40 feet looks like a “tuna schooner” in this bay.
After exploring Newport for about a week we sailed up the bay to Wick ford and met up with Carolyn and Pat, Jutta’s friends from 25 years ago in San Diego. We spent a weekend with them at their beach cottage and enjoyed ourselves immensely. The crew of Pipe Dream had to get dressed up one evening because Pat took us to our first international polo match. We had reserved seating in the country club section (“TA-TA”). We looked like a “Grapes of Wrath” couple in the big city! Just kidding, we know how to eat with a knife and fork; we’re just a little out of practice! One thing we really found interesting at the Polo match: At half time the people in the stands went out on the Polo field to stomp on the divots in the grass left by the horses, exactly like in the movie “Pretty Woman.” This Arizona country boy was smart enough not to go out there. Those horses leave other things on the field that may look like divots but I wasn’t going to kick them!
In mid July Jutta and I hooked Pipe Dream up to a mooring ball for a week and jumped on a bus to Canada (yes, after our last Greyhound experience, we actually dared to do it again). Our destination was Montreal to visit our good friends and fellow sailors, Bob and Viviane Fleury who we met last winter in the Bahamas. Bob turned out to be an excellent tour guide of Montreal and Quebec City. There were street festivals going on every night and we thoroughly enjoyed our stay. If you ever have a chance to visit Canada, don’t miss Montreal and Quebec City. Bob Anderson and Beverly McLean from Toronto, other Canadian sailing friends we met in the Bahamas, joined us at the Fleury’s for a partying and catching up slumber party!
Our initial plans had been to sail all the way north to Maine but by the time Jutta’s sister Conny and brother-in-law Otto arrived from Germany, we were still in Newport. We were all set to sail with them to Cuttyhunk and Martha’s Vineyard but the morning we were to pull anchor, Newport was yet again completely socked in with fog. We opted to hike the Cliff Walk along Newport’s fancy mansions instead. Along the hike, Otto, a true landlubber, confided that he wasn’t all that keen on sailing out into the Atlantic. So instead of Cuttyhunk, we sailed out of Newport, ventured along the coast for a couple of hours, then sailed back into the Sakonnet River which connects with Narragansett Bay. Narragansett Bay is so large, one could spend several summers exploring its many coves and towns without ever seeing everything.
We have had a real ball here. There are festivals going on throughout the entire summer, neat places to visit, and the friendliest people you have ever met. This is a must see place for all cruisers. Unfortunately we have run out of time. We won’t get to see Maine this year. It’s time to turn south and follow the Canadian Honkers toward the warm weather. For those of you in Arizona, Canadian Honkers are big fat birds with long necks, not Canadian motorists from up north!
Keep those e-mails coming and remember to give to the “Ferdy Cruising Fund” till it hurts. See you at the Polo matches, I’ll be the one next to Julia Roberts!!!!

From the decks of Pipe Dream
Ferdy and Jutta

Newsletter May/June 2005

2007-08-12T20:19:00.001-07:00

"The Boy comes to America"

Yes, sports fans, it’s another newsflash from the crew of Pipe Dream. During the months of May and June, Pipe Dream has covered a lot of ground, or water, and we are back in the United States.
In the last newsletter I told you my kids, Jody and Ryan, were coming to Nassau to join us for a week and their visit went by in a flash. Jody brought her new boyfriend, Lou, and Ryan just brought loads of money to go gambling at the Atlantis Casino in Nassau. We spent a few days shopping in Nassau, playing tourist, and then we cut the dock lines and headed for Rose Island for fun in the sun and enjoying the crystal clear water. We experienced some of the best snorkeling we have had in the Bahamas. The water was clear and the fish were abundant. We snorkeled with bags of bread and old crackers to feed the fish. As soon as we opened the bags in the water the fish were all over us fighting for the morsels. I think a good time was had by all.
On our return to Nassau I promised Ryan to do a little gambling with him at the Atlantis Casino. I really hate to gamble, they always seem to take my money. This trip to the casino will be one to be remembered for many years to come. Ryan and I both fleeced the casino on that infamous evening. The Atlantis didn’t close but I am sure they had to dim the lights to save on electricity! Let’s just say it was a very special evening for both of us.
After the week with the kids, Jutta and I waited for weather to leave Nassau Harbor. Our intention was to sail to the Abacos and spend about two weeks exploring before our return to the United States to hide from hurricane season. After being stuck in Nassau with adverse winds for four days, we canceled our plans for the Abacos. The winds were perfect for a sail across the Gulfstream. We threw in the towel, turned Pipe Dream towards the US of A and sailed back to reality, which incidentally really sucks! We made landfall at Lake Worth, Florida, and proceeded to Customs to check into the country. On a humorous note, the customs officer didn’t like the name of our vessel, “Pipe Dream”. For those of you in Yuma, a pipe dream is an unreachable dream. The origin of the words comes from the Chinese opium dens. I guess the customs agent couldn’t take a joke!
Our travels up the eastern seaboard have been a real kick. The crew of Pipe Dream sailed on the outside (The Atlantic Ocean) until we reached St. Augustine, Florida, where we stayed several days. We then entered the Intra Coastal Waterway (ICW) for an inland passage through Georgia, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Virgina. At Norfolk, the southern end of the Chesapeake, we sailed outside again and made an overnight passage crossing the mouths of the Chesapeake and Delaware Bays to Cape May, New Jersey. After a few days in Cape May waiting for weather we continued up the coast to Sandy Hook and into New York Harbor. Sailing into New York Harbor had been our goal for this season and it was a memorable occasion. Pipe Dream sailed under the Verazzano Bridge early in the morning, past Ellis Island, right under the Statue of Liberty, along the Manhattan Skyline, and down the Hudson River where we grabbed a mooring ball at the 79th Street Yacht Basin in New York’s Upper Westend for $30 a night. We had the best seat in the house to play in New York City. We were four blocks from Central Park and two blocks from Broadway.
After three exciting days in the Big Apple, we sailed along the East River taking in the sights of Brooklyn and Manhattan’s East End on to Long Island Sound. As I finish this newsletter we are about to leave Long Island Sound and sail to Block Island for the Fourth of July bash. You know we never miss a party!
I forgot to mention, we acquired a couple of folding bicycles when we found out they don’t have chicken busses in the US. It’s a great way to get around and get some much needed exercise (what’s that?) in the progress.
After spending the 4th of July on Block Island, Pipe Dream plans to explore the coastal areas of New England and Maine. Well, it’s time to close. We must find a library to send this newsletter – not always an easy task. Unlike Central America, there are no internet cafes in this country.
I will leave you with a thought provoking quote by Mark Twain:

“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the tradewinds in your sails. Explore, Dream, Discover”.

Remember to keep those dollars coming for the “Help Ferdy Cruising Fund”. We are still looking for our first real dollar. You could be lucky the first!!!

From the Decks of Pipe Dream

Ferdy and Jutta

Newsletter March/April 2005

2007-08-12T20:17:00.002-07:00

"What month is this? or The Party's on"

In the last newsletter I told you the zany crew of Pipe Dream had fixed the transmission and was on the way to Georgetown. It just so happened, there was a cruisers’ rally taking place in conjunction with the arrival of Pipe Dream. What a coincidence! We were just in time for another party. This was the 25th anniversary of the Georgetown Cruisers’ Regatta with about 350 boats attending. The event lasted for eleven days and a good time was had by all. There were dances on the beach, pet parades, mask contests, beach volleyball, baseball games, kayak races, sailboat races, rowing races, seminars, etc.,etc.
The crew of Pipe Dream competed in the team kayak race and took third place. To explain the third place, I must say that we were out-powered by youth! There were twelve double kayaks in the race and ten of those were manned by teams of teenagers. The Pipe Dream rowing team (Ferdy and Jutta), powered by Caribbean Rum, led the pack through two of the four gates but was finally over taken by youth at the finish line. If there had been an over fifty category, like in many of the other events, we would have taken first place hands down. We also crewed in the around the bay race and the around the island open ocean race on the sailboat “The Millennium Falcon.” We took third place in both events. Not bad for a couple of old wine and cheese sailors! Of course, there was a celebration party after each race.
Everything on Pipe Dream is in good working condition. We have made a new bimini, dodger, and cockpit cushions, and all the woodwork shines with a brand new coat of varnish. All the hard work in the shipyard in Florida has paid off. There have been NO MORE breakdowns. I would knock on wood but every time I do I discover another piece of teak trim that needs re-varnishing. I better knock on fiberglass!
Jutta’s brother Claus, and his wife and daughter flew into Georgetown during Spring Break from a cold and snow covered Germany. After the end of the rally, we sailed out of Georgetown to visit some of the out-lying cays and do some fishing. Claus managed to reel in a three foot Wahoo and we shared a terrific fish dinner with our friends on the sailboat “Varuna.”. After all the cold weather in Germany, our visitors really enjoyed the sunshine and 80 degree temperature. As you can probably guess most of their time was spent trying to get a tan so they wouldn’t go back home “shark belly white.”
The Strecker family left on a Friday which left one day to clean the boat before our friends Bob and Tish Saemisch arrived on Sunday. It was also time to reprovision the boat. Not an easy task considering the exorbitant prices and meager pickings at Exuma Market. The Saemisch’s were not as lucky with the weather as Jutta’s family. Of the ten days Bob and Tish were aboard Pipe Dream, the wind blew twenty knots day and night for the first seven days. Mother Nature also threw in a few rain squalls so it wasn’t any picnic. They hardly had a chance to get a little tan on their cadaver white skin. It didn’t matter to grouchy Bob because he spent most of the time working on his computer. Next year we will let him spend his vacation at the office and Jutta and I will play with Tish
We made the best of a bad situation and stayed in Elizabeth Harbor, Georgetown. We hiked the islands, walked the deserted beaches, and, not to be out of character, we did spend time at the beach bar, “The Chat and Chill”. The wind finally quit honking and a week after their arrival, Pipe Dream sailed out of Georgetown and headed north with the motor purring because the wind was right on the nose!
The Saemisch’s left out of Staniel Cay on the 13th of April bound for Florida and Arizona. Jutta and I have two weeks alone before my son and daughter arrive in Nassau for a week. We had intended to sail to Nassau via Eleuthera but as usual, we are hiding out from yet another cold front blowing down from the North. So far, our cruise to the Bahamas has not been the most enjoyable. It seems we hide from cold fronts coming across the United States every week. January and February were the worst months. We were told when April rolls around the weather will be perfect. Guess what sports fans, April isn’t much better. After my kids fly back to the States in May, we will turn Pipe Dream north, spend a week or so in the Abacos (Northern Bahamas), then head up the eastern seaboard to see what the United States has to offer.
Keep those e-mails coming and I will be more diligent about my monthly newsletters. Jutta and I hope to see all of you somewhere in our travels through paradise. Keep those dollars coming for the “Help Ferdy Fund”. All of you who could retire, but are still working, keep this in mind: Once retired, if you run out of money you can always go back and make more, if you run out of time…..????
From the Decks of Pipe Dream,

Ferdy and Jutta

Newsletter February 2005

2007-08-12T20:17:00.001-07:00

"Welcome to the Bahamas “Mon” "

You can’t believe the welcome we received in Nassau. It was one of those special things you remember all your life. Paul and Jim, the rumcoholics I wrote about in last month’s newsletter had just departed. Jutta and I were anxious to escape from Nassau and get back on “Island Time”. One last provisioning at the super market and we were ready to blow this town. At 3:30 in the afternoon we rode our dinghy (family van) to Harbor View Marina and locked it up at the Texaco fuel dock. We walked across the street to the market and returned 45 minutes later to find our stainless steel cables and locks cut, our new Yamaha outboard and gas tank gone and, of course, no one saw a thing. There we stood, on the dock, loaded down with grocery bags, gaping at the empty spot where our one year old Yamaha outboard used to shine. It’s people like us who strengthen the economy of the islands. After spending hours at the police station attempting to file a theft report, we gave up and went out to purchase a new Yamaha 15 horse power outboard. Thank god for insurance! The Bahama Police Department is the closest thing to the Keystone Cops! We have been told that Yamaha is the finest outboard engine money can buy. Apparently they never get old because someone steals them before they have time to wear out.
All was well; we licked our wounds and sailed out of Nassau with a smile on our face, a new motor on our dinghy, and giving the finger to all in Nassau Harbor! “Just Kidding!!!”
The crew of Pipe Dream is back on Island Time and we are headed for the Exumas, an island chain south of Nassau. We are back where we belong, sipping umbrella drinks, sunning our bodies to a golden tan, playing like the idle rich! What else could happen to the mighty crew of Pipe Dream? Lucky for you, you are getting the real story.
Our first stop was Allen’s Cay (pronounced key), a wonderful spot with a very small inlet and protection from wind and waves. One of the small islands that make up Allen’s Cay is home to large prehistoric iguanas. High powered tour boats come out from Nassau twice a day to view the lizards. These iguanas are so conditioned to being fed they come out on the beach in large masses at the first sigh of boats, dinghies, or any floating craft. After several days in Allen’s Cay and BYOB cocktail parties on Pipe Dream, Jutta and I capped our keg of rum and headed to another anchorage. Normans Cay, about 12 miles down the bank, was our next island hangout. The Bahama Bank, known as “the Bank,” is hundreds of square miles of very shallow water, atolls and coral reefs. Norman’s Cay is a large protected anchorage with a sunken cargo plane in the middle of the bay that crashed there during a bungled cocaine run. Columbian drug lords owned the island during the 80’s and one of their drug planes missed the landing strip. During our stay in Norman’s Cay we befriended the crew from the sailing vessel Varuna. Bob and Viviane, although Canadians, (we didn’t hold that against them) were great fun and we spent many an hour diving for conch, lobster, and having sundowners on the beach. For those of you receiving this newsletter in Washington State or Chicago, a sundowner is sitting on the beach in a bathing suit, having a cocktail, and watching the sun set on the horizon. It has nothing to do with wearing winter parkas and mukluks!
The crews of Pipe Dream and Varuna buddy boated for several weeks. As I alluded above, “what else could go wrong?” After a week in the Pipe Creek anchorage Varuna and Pipe Dream decided to move south towards Georgetown. We hauled our anchors at the early morning tide, bid adieu to the other cruisers and headed out of the anchorage. Pipe Dream, our dependable steadfast steed, moved about 60 feet when the transmission turned loose. There we were, stranded in Paradise, five miles from the nearest phone with nothing but a dinghy for transportation. It was time to pull the transmission. Bob and Viviane stuck around for moral and technical support. The cruising community joined together to lend us a hand. We received calls to render assistance over the radio from other cruisers we had never met. The sailing vessel Michel with Elsbe and Hans aboard brought us veggies and fruit all the way from Nassau. Our long-time friends Greg and Meg on The Wet Bar in company with Brian on No Regrets came to Pipe Creek for “fix the transmission parties” and liquid refreshments. After waiting a week and a half for parts to arrive from Nassau we were told the transmission parts would be delayed because they had to be ordered from England. For those of you reading this newsletter in Yuma, Arizona, England is the place where they have a real queen (not a gay bar!) The cruisers to save the day were Art and Lynne on the sailing vessel Margaritaville. They contacted their son who has a yacht service company in Fort Lauderdale. After a couple of phone calls to Florida the parts arrived the very next day and Art and Lynne delivered them to Pipe Dream. One hour of work and Pipe Dream was ready to “rock and roll” again. Greg and Meg, and Brian joined us for a transmission party and a fun time was had by all. We will push on to Georgetown in the morning.
Well sports fans, that breakdown was the first serious mechanical problem for Pipe Dream in four and a half years. With the theft of our outboard motor, the cost of the parts for the transmission, and forty five dollars per case of beer, money is getting pretty tight. Be sure to keep those donations coming to the “Help Ferdy Cruising Fund”. Don’t be the only one not giving. You too, could own a small piece of Ferdy!

From the Decks of Pipe Dream
Jutta and Ferdy

Newsletter January 2005

2007-08-12T20:16:00.000-07:00

"Yahoo, we’re back in Paradise "

Greetings, landlubbers, from the decks of Pipe Dream. In our last newsletter, Jutta and I lingered in Fort Lauderdale waiting for a weather window to cross the Gulf Stream and once again enter paradise (Bahamas). On January 2nd we sailed from Ft Lauderdale to Miami on an ugly, cold, blustery day to join our friends, Nan and Duey on “The Great Escape,” and stage for a crossing to the Bahamas. The weather was windy and cold in Miami and we had to dig our winter clothes out of the bilge. While the rest of the United States was getting pelted with floods and snow, we were freezing our butts off in Florida.
We finally got our break to tackle the Gulf Stream on January 6, the first pleasant day in about a month. The trip to Bimini was relatively painless. Miami lies about 40 nautical miles due west of Bimini and our trip took about 8 hours. Remember, we only travel at 5 to 6 knots (5 ½ or 6 ½ miles per hour). We had to sail due south for a couple of hours to accommodate the Gulf Stream current that carries us north at a rate of 4 knots.
In the middle of the Stream we got a distress call from our friends on “The Great Escape” that they had lost all power while motoring into the wind. To get out of the way of a freighter that was steaming toward them at a rate of 25 knots, they were going to fall off course and go to sails. Shortly after, another call came over our VHF radio reporting”we have lost all steering”. We immediately turned around to render any assistance needed. You need to keep in mind that we were in 2000 feet of water in the middle of the ocean and the loss of power and steering could be disastrous. While we kept circling around “The Great Escape”, pondering the problem, the freighter changed course and passed. Duey, being an old Navy man, stripped down to his underwear and dove under the boat to check for any damage. This was an ugly sight, Duey is no Brad Pitt! Duey appeared on the surface, climbed on the boat, and radioed he had found the problem and could rectify it in a few minuets. We were mystified. We were afraid he had lost his prop which in turn hit and damaged the rudder. It appeared while crossing a rough section of water, Duey’s 55 lb. anchor had jumped out of its secured position on the bow of the boat and had dumped a 150 feet of chain and 200 feet of anchor line overboard and was dragging it through the water. While Jutta and I sang “anchors away” over the radio we told Duey that was the first deep water anchoring maneuver we had ever witnessed. All went well and we learned that in an emergency, dropping the anchor in deep water would definitely slow down the boat. It will be many years before Duey gets over this embarrassment!
During this maneuver we had drifted 4 miles to the northwest in the Gulf Stream. We finally made it to the Bahama Bank and anchored in front of Bimini late in the evening. One more stop on the Bahama bank at the Northwest Channel Light to get some sleep and we arrived in Nassau on January 8. It was a good trip and many laughs were had by all at Duey’s expense.
A few days in Nassau were spent cleaning up the boat and preparing for our first visitors to the Bahamas, Paul and Jim from Arizona. They arrived on the 12th and I told them I could not keep them in beer for 17 days. We didn’t have the refrigerator space. They would need to switch to rum. As I write this newsletter they are on their 17th day of vacation before they fly back to the United States tomorrow and they have gone through 18 ½ quarts of rum. That doesn’t include three cases of beer and a tour of rum tasting at the Bacardi plant in Nassau. By some miracle, neither of them has fallen overboard. Thank goodness Jutta and I only have one drink at cocktail time (5:00 PM).
We traveled the Exuma island chain with Paul and Jim and a great time was had by all. Unfortunately, January in the Bahamas is very cold and we are continuously plagued by winter storms moving across the US and down through the Bahamas. We motor sailed back to Nassau in 25 knots of wind and rolling seas, a 6 hour trip. Jim and Paul were both looking a bit green around the gills and it was the first time they didn’t start their rum and cokes until late afternoon.
Nassau, located on New Providence Island, is a crowded city with tons of traffic. The tourist sections and the resort areas are beautiful, but not the real Nassau. If you think we are in paradise, check out this price list: A hamburger costs $10.00 anywhere in town. A case of beer, Budweiser, Heineken, or Kalik (Bahamian local beer) costs from $39.00 to $52.00. A bottle of beer at the Atlantis Hotel is $6.00, Groceries are 20 to 30 percent higher than the United States. A gallon of gasoline is $3.31 per gallon. “Yikes”, paradise lost!!!! Every day there are three to six cruise ships at the port unloading “cotton heads” for the “duty free” shopping. What a joke!! Everyone (the sailors) comes to the Bahamas for the outer islands, the crystal clear water, and the diving or snorkeling. Lobsters are abundant and there for the spearing and conch (pronounced konk) litter the bottom. We make the best conch fritters, cracked conch and fried conch you have ever tasted. After a while we sure get sick of eating lobster. I’m certain that has happened to all of you at one time or another!!
Jutta and I will sail out of Nassau in a few days and play in the islands for the next month and a half. Our next destination is the Junkanoo (a Bahamian festival) at Little Farmers Cay, then we will sail on to Georgetown where Jutta’s brother and his family will visit us from Germany.
We will keep you posted of our adventures in our next newsletter which will be sent from Georgetown, Bahamas. Keep those e-mails and letters coming; we are still looking for those dollars in the mail. Anything would help, remember we are getting sick of lobster and can’t afford a hamburger!

From the decks of Pipe Dream

Ferdy and Jutta

Newsletter December 2004

2007-08-12T20:15:00.000-07:00

"My God, Why hasn’t He Written?"

Yes, sportsfans, the crew of Pipe Dream is still in Florida, alive, well and kick’n. I have been remiss in publishing my newsletters for a number of reasons. Busy? A little. Working on the boat day and night? Yes, that’s true and the word “work” just makes me sick saying it! Just plain lazy? That’s the biggest problem! Well it’s time you got caught up on the life and times of Ferdy and Jutta.
In our last newsletter Pipe Dream had just gone through Hurricane Francis and sustained cosmetic damage on the starboard side. ( For those of you in Montana reading this letter, starboard is not celestial boredom, it’s the right side of a boat when facing the pointy end). We intended to have the damage fixed somewhere on the eastern coast of the United States and get the hell out of Florida, which is the hurricane and bug capitol of the world. We paid our fees at the marina and gave notice to vacate our slip on the coming weekend. When the word got out we were leaving Florida a new lady entered my life, “Hurricane Jeane”. She was out in the Atlantic heading east and she heard we were still in Florida . Jeane did a loop and returned to Florida, came ashore at Fort Pierce and again hit Pipe Dream We canceled our plans to leave the marina, tied Pipe Dream down in her slip with twenty or more lines, and evacuated to Tampa with friends. A stroke of luck, no damage to Pipe Dream.
At that point we decided the weather gods wanted us off of the boat. We extended our contract at the marina and boarded a Greyhound Bus for a 950 mile trip to Annapolis, Maryland to visit the Annapolis Boat Show and our friends Duey and Nan on the boat, ”The Great Escape.” Two weeks in Maryland was what we needed and many nights were spent relaying the story of our trip from hell on the Greyhound Bus. After salivating over all the fancy new boats at the Boat Show, we bid farewell to Duey and Nan and drove their car back to Florida and Pipe Dream.
This brings us to the final chapter of Pipe Dream’s Christmas newsletter, “Life on the Hard”. It was time to do a little, you know what, that four letter word, work on Pipe Dream. The repairs from the hurricane and other much needed maintenance had to be done. Jutta, being a real workhorse on the boat, did what any red-blooded German girl would do when the chips were down and faced with this situation. She hopped a plane to visit her mother in Germany and left me standing alone on the decks of Pipe Dream, ready to enter the shipyard. There is a song about the cruising lifestyle and living in a shipyard which goes something like this, ”it’s a hard, hard, hard life, life on the hard”. It all begins with putting two straps around the belly of Pipe Dream and picking up those fifteen tons with a crane, then gently setting her down on the dirt, keel first, with jacks around her so she won’t fall over. The next step, they give you a twelve foot ladder to climb up to Pipe Dream, which is still your home and where you’ll be living, “on the hard”. Keep in mind Pipe Dream has two heads, or bathrooms to you land lubbers, neither work because you are on the hard. It’s only a fifty yard stroll, down the twelve foot ladder, across the boatyard to the office bathroom and shower which is only used by about one hundred workmen during working hours. We won’t describe the bathroom and shower in this newsletter! I have a wonderful galley on the boat, or kitchen to you land lubbers, and I love to cook. Keep in mind I can’t run water in the sink because everything runs out the drain and pours below the boat. All dish washing and running of water in the sink is done in a bucket and hauled down from the boat on a rope. Meals can only be described as sparse. The closest restaurant is ¼ mile away and it’s a greasy spoon. The nearest bar is ¾ of a mile away and I must walk through dark warehouse streets to get there and back. The rent-a-cop, who is one of the few living souls in the shipyard during the night, thinks he’s Elliot Ness. You are always looking over your shoulder thinking you could get clubbed by the guard heading for the bathroom in the middle of the night. As the song goes, “it’s a hard, hard, hard life, life on the hard.” The one driving force in your life, at this time, is to work 14 to 16 hours a day, seven days a week, to get out of the shipyard. Jutta did return after 14 days to tell me how nice everything looked. After twenty seven days at Cracker Bay’s Shipyard, Pipe Dream was launched and we sailed into the Intra Coastal Waterway and out of the jaws of hell. We are now in Fort Lauderdale for Christmas and provisioning for our jump to the Bahamas after the holidays.
Jutta has made a nice sign I can hold up on some street corner which says some thing like this. “Going Cruising, please help, God Bless”. Yes sports-fans, life is great.
Jutta and I want to wish all of you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We hope some of you, if not all of you, would put down your hammers or briefcases and go out and play as we did four years ago. You can’t take the money with you, but you can send me some if you have any extra!

Happy Holidays from the decks of Pipe Dream

Ferdy and Jutta

Newsletter September 2004

2007-08-12T20:14:00.000-07:00

"Pipe Dream’s still afloat!"

We’ve taken a lick’in but we’re still tick’in. We’re Baaaaack. Jutta and I moved our return date up by 10 days to get back to Florida. We were anxious to get back to our lady and check for damage.
Poor Pipe Dream is a little bruised and bloody from Hurricane Frances but we are still afloat and we are getting the hell out of Florida. At the end of this cruising season (July) Jutta and I brought Pipe Dream up from the Yucatan, Mexico, and into the “protected waters” of Florida. It was time to return to the West Coast for our yearly visit with friends and family.
After a fabulous 4th of July spectacle in Miami, we traveled up the Intra Coastal Waterway (ICW) looking for a safe marina to park Pipe Dream, our home, for a few months. Several marinas were rejected due to lack of protection from currents and surge, or because the marina manager reminded me of my last boss at Merillat during my working days, “the dark side”. Jutta and I finally settled on Harbortown Marina in the lovely, serene community of Fort Pierce, Florida. The only other marina in the running was City Marina, also in Fort Pierce, a quarter mile down the waterway from Harbortown. We had studied all the weather patterns, researched hurricane history and decided to berth Pipe Dream on the east coast of Florida. What convinced us to stay at Harbortown Marina were the words of assurance from the marina manager I will remember as long as I live: “Fort Pierce has not been hit by a Hurricane in one hundred years.” Guess what, sports fans, Fort Pierce, along with Pipe Dream, took a direct hit from Hurricane Frances!! Pipe Dream took winds of 100 miles per hour for 24 hours and gusts of 120 miles per hour. The storm surge was three foot above the docks and the marina was under water. Pipe Dream was double and triple tied to the docks but she still had a little cosmetic damage to her teak rail around the port side from pounding against the piling in the heavy wind. (For those of you in Michigan reading this newsletter, the port side is the left side facing the pointy end, not cheap wine!) We consider ourselves very lucky. Everywhere in the marina there are boats under water. Behind us in the dry storage lot, there are twenty or more boats knocked off their braces and lying on their sides. The City Marina, which we considered as a spot to leave Pipe Dream, is completely gone, yes gone!!! There are wrecked boats stacked up on shore and nothing but a few pilings sticking out of the water.
Jutta and I flew back to Ft. Pierce on September 11 and have been frantically preparing Pipe Dream to “Get the Hell out of Dodge” and head north for inland protected waters. As I write this newsletter I’m watching the weather station on TV covering the progress of Hurricanes Ivan, Jeanne Karl, and Lisa churning across the Caribbean. It’s time to run and hide!
Our visit to the west coast was very nice. Jutta’s son, Brian, got married in Mission Bay this summer and it was a beautiful wedding. Lots of flowers, lots of people, and free food and drinks. My kind of party.
My summer was spent visiting friends and family in the Phoenix area. Luckily it was warm there (110 degrees) and I didn’t need to travel with lots of winter clothes. I did break away for several weeks on a beer drinking and trout fishing trip with old buddies in Montana and Nevada. I’m sure Anheuser Busch stock jumped several points during out trip. Then I rushed back to Phoenix to take my daughter to Las Vegas for a long weekend. You know, that father-daughter bonding stuff! You just don’t know the pressure I’m under!
Due to the lack of response to the “Help Ferdy Cruising Fund” during the last four years of cruising, I have found a new outlet to fund our trip. Since I quit work and sailed away, I have fantasized about being on the Federal Dole. The amount of money I have paid in taxes over the years is staggering. I found out FEMA (Federal Emergency Management Agency) is handing out money like a slot machine for hurricane damage. Since Pipe Dream is our primary residence, we qualify! I will fill keep you updated on our progress dealing with the federal government in the next newsletter.
Today’s date is September 21. Pipe Dream is put back together and ready to move on. We will do some last minute shopping and go to the library to send the newsletter. I have been busy making a cardboard sign to hold up on some street corner in town this afternoon to help with donations for our trip. I hope this works otherwise I will have to appeal one more time to your generosity. Well, keep those dollars coming anyway.

From the decks of Pipe Dream
Ferdy and Jutta

Newsletter June 2004

2007-08-12T20:11:00.000-07:00

"Back in the USA where things are sure expensive! "

The fourth cruising year of the Pipe Dream saga is drawing to a close. It’s time again to put Pipe Dream to bed in a secure place for hurricane season and get back to reality for two months. Yuck!!! If you will notice, the usual humor is always absent in the last cruising newsletter of the season. We hate to leave this wonderful life, even for a couple of months! Jutta and I have sailed over 9,000 miles in the last four cruising seasons. We have seen all of Central America on the Pacific Ocean side. Last November we crossed the Panama Canal, then traveled north on the Caribbean side to the Bay Islands of Honduras, through Belize, along Mexico’s Yucatan coast, and to Isla Mujeres. We also spent a month backpacking in Ecuador. For those of you in Yuma, Arizona, my hometown, Ecuador is in South America. That seems like a lot of traveling but I think we have just begun!!
Jutta’s daughter, Kat, and her boyfriend Jeremy joined us in Belize City in May and sailed with us to Isla Mujeres. For those of you who don’t know where Isla Mujeres is, it’s a resort island across the bay from Cancun. On our arrival, we had an awards presentation for Jeremy for not throwing up once during the trip. We kept him well medicated! Jutta’s oldest son, Brandon, joined us in Isla Mujeres. Jutta and I made the mistake of introducing Kat, Jeremy, and Brandon to the best taco stand on the island. For the ten days they were in Isla Mujeres we ate dinner there almost every night. We are sure we set a great, health-smart example.
People always ask us which country or place we enjoyed the most. This is a difficult question to answer. We loved Mexico for the fabulous taco stands, the teeming market places, the ice cold Pacifico Beer, the friendly people and, of course, the Mariachi music. We visited Guatemala from both coasts (Pacific and Caribbean). Guatemala has very diverse landscapes from cool mountains to steaming jungles. You can find remote mountain villages or international travelers’ destinations like Flores and Antigua. The Mayan site of Tikal is one of the best we have visited. We enjoyed El Salvador because of all the friendly people at Bahia del Sol and the refreshing Pilsner Beer. Traveling through El Salvador and Nicaragua gave us a first hand glance of two countries struggling to come back after ten years of civil war. Costa Rica has beautiful coast lines and many great anchorages. However, prices are higher and it has become a land of petty thieves. Ferdy and I spent an entire year in Panama and are very partial to that country. We have hiked Panama’s rain forests, sailed for miles through the most picturesque mangrove channels, anchored at remote islands, witnessed their 100 year festivities in Panama City, and transited the famous Panama Canal.
From Panama City we flew for a five day visit to the Columbian port of Cartagena and were mesmerized by the painstaking restoration of its colonial Old Town. We also enjoyed fabulous dinners at fine restaurants for minimal prices. Another side trip took us on an adventurous four week back packing trip through fascinating Ecuador.
Sailing on the Caribbean side, we could easily have spent more time on the Columbian islands of San Andres and Providencia. The Bay Islands of Guanaja, Roatan, and Utila (part of Honduras) were pretty in the tourist areas but the towns were fairly dirty. The Cays along the Barrier Reef of Belize were post card images of tiny islands surrounded by pristine turquoise water. The rest of Belize seems slightly overrated in the travel brochures. In fact, the country’s capital, Belize City, is an ugly, dirty, and in parts dangerous city. Belize is also the most expensive country we have visited so far.
After a great time in Isla Mujeres, we left together with cruising friends on “Gitana”, “Far Niente”, “Enkidu”, and “Compania” for our last passage to Florida and checked into Key West on June 20th. We had not returned to the States in 12 months and our arrival into Florida was real culture shock. Key West is just a giant tourist trap, everything is very expensive and life is very fast. What happened to the $1.50 pitcher of beer we were used to? Key West is also one of the “gay” Mecca’s of Florida. I dropped a dollar at dinner one evening and had to kick it all the way to Miami before I dared to bend over and pick it up! Just kidding, I’m a little homo-phobic.
It took us about a week to travel along the Florida Keys to Miami, gunk-holing all the way. For those of you who don’t remember, gunk-holing is stopping to party, snorkel, explore and just hurrah.
In the Miami area we anchored off of Key Biscayne for about five days. This gave us time to sample delicious Cuban food, dance some salsa, and watch the Fourth of July celebration in Miami City.
It was time to end the partying, say good bye to our cruising friends, and head north in search of a secure, protected, marina for Pipe Dream. We found a temporary home for Pipe Dream at Harbortown Marina in Fort Pierce, Florida, on the Intra Coastal Waterway (ICW). On July 15 we will fly back to the West Coast to visit friends and family. In September we will return to Pipe Dream and cruise north on the ICW for a few months or until its gets too chilly. We then will sail back to Florida, cross the Gulf Stream and spend about four or five months in the Bahamas. It looks like another kwel adventure.
This is all for now, we are frantically packing to vacate the boat and fly to the West Coast. Be safe this summer and remember the adventure will continue in October.

From the Decks of Pipe Dream
Ferdy and Jutta

Newsletter April 2004

2007-08-12T20:10:00.000-07:00

"We just don’t get tired of having fun! "

The spring flotilla has arrived, or so we call it. Pipe Dream, in the company of eight other boats, has arrived in the Bay Islands of Honduras. For those of you who are landlocked a flotilla is a bunch of boats traveling together. If we were winter visitors to Arizona traveling in motor homes we would be called a caravan. After a 30 hour sail from the Vivorillo Cays we entered the island of Guanaja through an opening in the coral reef. This reef pushes back the sea and gives boaters a ¼ mile waterway around the island and provides protection from the surf. Guanaja’s water is pristine and crystal clear. On the way in Jutta and I caught a Barracuda and we filled the freezer with fresh fish. Life doesn’t get any better than this! The flotilla anchored at Josh’s Cay, and we were greeted by Graham, the owner. Graham lives on the Cay and has a restaurant, a small hotel and, of course, a bar. He offered us free ice, water, and a free washer and dryer. You have no idea how excited we get over a washer and dryer. If you are wondering how we normally wash clothes on Pipe Dream: We use three large plastic buckets and a toilet plunger and then hang all the clothes in the rigging which makes Pipe Dream look like a Chinese laundry. Many of you know how I can agitate a crowd; you should see me agitate a bucket of clothes. This was Semana Santa or Easter week, and we spent four days anchored in front of Josh’s Cay enjoying the beach, the bar and camaraderie of other boaters. Graham’s place was packed with local families enjoying the holiday. For those of you in Yuma, a Cay is a piece of land surrounded by water.
The Monday morning after Easter we bid farewell to Graham and sailed out into the blue waters of the northwest Caribbean bound for Roatan Island. The crew of Pipe Dream has finally reached a point in the Caribbean where we can travel from island to island and do it all in day hops. No more overnighters for a while until we reach the north end of Belize. Roatan, the largest of the Bay Islands of Honduras, is located about 40 miles north of the Honduran coast. The language is English, which makes it easy. The British owned the islands before they gave it back to Honduras. Most of the original inhabitants are descendants of pirates and runaway slaves. Because of this, Roatan’s bays (called bights) have wonderful names like Calabash Bight, Fiddlers Bight, Hog Pen Bight, French Cay, and Coxen Hole, to name a few. Again the water is clear and the people are friendly.
Since the crew of Pipe is on vacation 365 days a year, we watch our money and always try to save a buck when ever we can. We found out we could buy beer by the case at the local distributor at a great savings. Jutta and I purchased 5 cases of “Salva Vida” beer (“life saver” in Spanish). The taxi dropped us and the beer off at the French Harbor Yacht Club which sits on top of a hill overlooking the harbor. From there to the dingy dock we had to walk about 80 steps down the hill. While walking down carrying all the beer, the plastic shrink wrap around the cases came apart sending beer cans tumbling in all directions. You can just imagine the sight, beer cans rolling away, spewing geysers of beer with Jutta and me running after them, while getting drenched with beer. When the “Coxen Hole Beer Barrel Roll” was over and the final tally taken, we decided it would have been cheaper to buy the beer at the grocery store one can at a time. Some days it just doesn’t pay to get out of bed.
The crew of Pipe Dream gunk holed around Roatan before hoisting the sails and heading for the island of Utila at the western end of the Bay Islands. Gunk holing is moving from bay to bay and dropping the hook (anchor), “sailor talk”, arg! Utila is the smallest island in the chain and the cleanest. Everywhere there are garbage cans. I don’t know where the trash goes but I live by the premise, “what I don’t know won’t hurt me! It might be floating on the other side of the island. While anchored in Utitla Jutta and I planned our route to Belize. The trip was going to take us 12 to 14 hours if we went direct, by-passing stops on Honduras mainland. We needed to reach the reef at mid morning so we could read the water and see the coral heads and shallow bars with the sun behind us. We thought our overnighters were done but we decided to go the direct route. One more time we headed out to sea at seven in the evening. We should have known it was not going to be a fun trip since the wind had been howling for two days. Our passage was another one of those bone crushers with a heavy following sea and twenty five to thirty knots of wind. It is really scary to sail at night and to see 10 foot waves cresting above the stern of the boat (stern is the back, “mo” sailor talk.)
The coral reef protecting the eastern shore of Belize is approximately 180 miles long, the second largest barrier reef after the one in Australia, with about 10 or 12 breaks in the reef for a boat to enter safely. A vessel can enter the opening in the reef in blue water 1000 foot deep and be immediately in 12 feet of water and be looking at the bottom. This really gets your attention. If there’s a big swell at sea you will be surfing down breaking waves going through the cut in the reef. As you can tell from reading this newsletter we made it through, and this is not one of those tragic sea stories. Jutta and I will stay one month in Belize gunk holing from cay to cay. Each cay or island is about one to 8 miles apart. A few hours a day is being spent refinishing the teak trim on Pipe Dream which is looking in need of a little TLC. The rest of the day is spent snorkeling the reefs and diving for conch. I make the best conch fritters you have ever tasted; and my lobster piri piri is no pushover either. Who said you couldn’t live off of the land, um, excuse me, sea?
Well, that about sums up the dull boring days of the zany crew of Pipe Dream. We will reach Florida at the end of June and put Pipe Dream to bed in a nice marina for a few months. There will only be a few more newsletters this season. Jutta and I will travel by plane to Arizona and California to visit our kids and try to pick up a few extra bucks mowing lawns, raking leaves, or collecting aluminum cans to fund next season’s cruising budget. We are still looking for a good used grocery shopping cart to push around this summer. If everyone had sent their dollars to the “HFCF” (Help Ferdy Cruising Fund) Jutta and I would not be so destitute today. Remember the Army needs a few good men; Pipe Dream needs a couple of bucks!

From the decks of Pipe Dream
Ferdy and Jutta

Newsletter March 2004

2007-08-12T20:09:00.000-07:00

"Those old sea dogs are off on another zany adventure"

Yes, you guessed it, the crew of Pipe Dream is back on the boat and off on another sea adventure. After extensive medical examinations in Bocas del Toro, Panama, we were given a clean bill of health. Jutta and I were extremely worried we had developed webbed feet from all the stink’n rain. We returned on February 9 from our trip to Ecuador in hopes to find a weather window and sail out of Bocas del Toro. We would do anything to escape Bocas, and Pipe Dream finally vacated the harbor on March 16 without a good weather window. For the past five weeks it rained almost every day and we finally made our break. To be honest, we really motored out of Bocas and 40 hours more to reach San Andres Island, Columbia. We were motoring into 20 knots of wind right on the nose with six to eight foot churning seas. As if that wasn’t enough, we also had to fight a 1-2 knot current. Pipe Dream’s hull was making the most ungodly sounds slamming down into troughs of waves, it sounded like a fat lady plopping down in a church pew on Sunday morning.
On Feb 11 we arrived at San Andres Island after slogging for 46 hours. For those of you in Yuma Arizona that’s the sun up twice and the moon up twice. And no, for those land lubbers, we don’t drop the anchor at night in the middle of the ocean and go to bed. We also couldn’t find any hotels along that stretch of ocean to take a quick nap. Approaching San Andres, we had finally reached the land of painted waters. All we could see was turquoise in hundreds of different shades. We could see the bottom in 20 – 30 feet of water. I had always appreciated looking at bottoms but this is a whole different enchilada! We anchored in front of Club Nautico, put down the dinghy, and went in for a cold Colombian beer and a greeting from the Port Captain, Customs, and Columbian Immigration. Check-in took 15 minutes and we were legal tourists in Columbia. For those of you who flunked geography, San Andres and Providencia are resort Islands belonging to Columbia, although they are off the coast of Nicaragua.
San Andres is a busy resort island with commercial beaches, duty free shops, beach bars, restaurants, and water sports of any kind, inhabited by approximetly 7,000 people. Three or four airlines fly in daily bringing tourists from around the globe. Jutta and I spent two weeks in San Andres working on the boat, going to discos, dining out, and just play’n. . A special treat was the movie theater – air conditioned, surround sound, stadium seating – where the waiter brings your order of popcorn and soda to your assigned seat. Where in the world do you get that kind of treatment for $2.50?

After two weeks of thoroughly enjoying the busy resort life, we moved on to Isla Providencia. This mountainous island of 2000 souls is fifty miles to the north and very different from San Andres. The downtown consists of about two city block and provisions and supplies are very limited. The beaches are beautiful and mostly deserted with few small hotels.” We spent three days in Providencia enjoying the “tranquilo” atmosphere, riding a motor scooter around the island, and renewing old friendships with the twelve other sailboats in the harbor. There were cruisers in the bay we had met two years ago in El Salvador, and it was fun comparing our different experiences and travels.
On Saturday morning, April 2, the crew of Pipe Dream sailed out of Catalina Bay on the Island of Providencia bound for the Bay Islands of Honduras, 400 miles away. We hoisted and trimmed the sails, which is sailor talk for raising them up and adjusted. Our intermediate stop was the Vivorillo Cays, 150 miles east of the Bay Islands. For two days and nights we had the most incredible sail since leaving San Diego four years ago. The seas were almost flat, we had a light easterly breeze and a full moon at night. We have finally reached the land of sailing ships. During the last three and a half years cruising the Pacific Ocean we would sail a couple of hours on a ten to twelve hour passage, if we were lucky,. Pacific in Latin means tranquil sea or waters and that’s exactly what it is. On the Caribbean side the trades blow continuously. We are jazzed, we are sailors, we now have the wind!
We are now anchored in the middle of the ocean surrounded by a coral reef with eleven other sailing yachts. Jutta and I are finishing the newsletter, and enjoying the clear water, snorkeling, sun and the breeze. Pipe Dream sits in calm waters while we look out across the reef at the ocean breakers pounding the reef in its endless struggle to beat it back Tomorrow we will sail to the Bay Islands of Honduras, stay a while and then on to Belize.
I would like to point out that my first article “How to Find a Cruising Mate” was published in the March issue of Latitudes and Attitudes. We are waiting for notification on the second article submitted. As you can probably guess we have made it to the big bucks. When we get our seventy five dollar check we will be in tall cotton, playing like the idle rich, spending the publisher’s money, never having a financial worry again. Now, being a new member of the literary guild, the readers of our newsletter should consider themselves lucky. The printed word comes gratis, from the bowels of Pipe Dream. Not only is the newsletter free, you also receive a full share of bull “dung” with every e-mail (“dung” for those at Merillat). With a smile on our faces and a cold beer in our hands, we bid you farewell.

From the Decks of Pipe Dream
Ferdy and Jutta

Newsletter Jan/Feb 2004

2007-08-12T20:08:00.002-07:00

"What the hell are those sea dogs doing in South America? "

Our last newsletter (a few weeks ago) left the crew of Pipe Dream in Bocas del Toro, Panama, trying to develop webbed feet from all the rain. The day finally came, when we decided “enough is enough.” We can just be kicked around for so long. It was time to vacate Bocas del Toro, Pipe Dream, and the continuous torrential downpour that was ruining our lives. Our initial reason for going to Bocas was to work on the Teak trim and spruce up Pipe Dream before our passage to Florida. She loves to strut her stuff when she’s fixed up.
The sunny highlands of Ecuador looked like a good change of scene from rainy Bocas. The decision was made and we “were out of here.” It was my first trip south of the Equator, and South America. I might witness my first Llama rodeo, who knows?
I have always considered myself almost grown up, although most of my close friends would argue that point. I have done a lot of crazy stuff in my past life but I am sure I’ve grown wiser by now. Whatever possessed me to get on the roof of a box car and take a five hour ride through the rugged Andes with a couple hundred of my closest friends, or to dine on pork in the open market sitting eye to eye with a baked pig’s head, or to partake of spit-roasted Guinea Pig... Well sports fans, I guess I’ll never grow up, and I don’t really want to!
Jutta and I landed in Quito, capital of Ecuador, for our one month jaunt through the Andes. Since we live on a boat and have traveled the Pacific coast for the last three years, we decided to travel through the Central Valley. After all, one coastline looks like another. I neglected to tell you Ecuador is extremely inexpensive, to the point of being cheap, and they use the American dollar which makes it very easy to travel.
Our first stop by chicken bus was in the town of Latacunga with a side trip to the indigenous market in the small mountain village of Saquisili. What a treat it was. The scene was like leafing through pages of National Geographic Magazine with all the indigenous people in their colorful traditional dress. Spread out all through the village plazas and streets were huge baskets with squirmy guinea pigs and rabbits, squawking chickens tied together with string, fresh produce and fragrant flowers, woven baskets, intricately patterned textiles and blankets, etc. While the women, wearing felt hats, were busily selling their wares, the men stood idly around doing nothing. What a great life!
Our next stop was Los Baños, known for its therapeutic hot baths, located at the base of Tungurahua, a 15,000 foot smoldering volcano. We hiked all over the foothills of the volcano and pampered ourselves with hot baths and the most wonderful $20.00, one hour massage we have ever experienced. Across from our hotel was a restaurant which grilled cuy right on the sidewalk. As they say, “while in Rome do as the Romans do,” I walked in and ordered cuy. It really tasted quite delightful, like chicken, but doesn’t everything? In case you were wondering, cuy is guinea pig and a national dish in Ecuador. If you ever wonder what to do with your children’s pets after they leave home, you could always give an exotic dinner party featuring cuy.
Once again we boarded a bus for the five hour ride to the town of Riobamba, the location of the train station. Once checked into a hotel, we hired a driver to take us to the first climbers’ refuge in the National Park of 16,470 foot high Chimborazo volcano. We stood at the base of the volcano at 4800 meters, 15,748 feet, gazing at the permanent glaciers on the steep flanks of Chimborazo. At 4800 meters we could only take a few steps before becoming out of breath. We walked around grave stones and read endless numbers of names of international climbers who lost their lives trying to reach the summit of Chimborazo. It is an eerie feeling looking up at a volcano that took so many lives. I thought about trying to climb to the summit but changed my mind when I realized it was almost cocktail time. I do have my priorities!
The next morning our one dollar Micky Mouse alarm clock, the only one we could find on cheap street in Panama, awakened us at 5:30 AM. We checked out of the hotel, and walked the few blocks to the train station. There before us on the track were about six or seven rusty box cars hooked up to a well-used locomotive. We rented a seat cushion and climbed to the corrugated tin roof of the box car along with a couple hundred other people. The train company had bolted a two inch piece of angle iron along the edge of the cars to put your feet against so you wouldn’t slide off the train. For five hours the train wound through rugged canyons until it arrived at the infamous Nariz del Diablo or the “Devil’s Nose.” This section of railway was carved into a sheer cliff face, the floor being over a thousand feet below. What an adrenaline rush! During the trip the train stopped at various towns and venders boarded the roof of the train to sell beer, food and candy creating a festive party atmosphere. Our train ride ended in the town of Alausi, and once again we boarded a bus for a five hour ride to Cuenca, our next destination for several days.
Cuenca, in the south, is the third largest Ecuadorian city dating back to the 1500’s. With its cobble stone streets, colonial architecture, majestic churches and groomed parks, it’s by far the prettiest city and our favorite in Ecuador. Jutta and I could walk the streets anywhere at night and feel safe. If we would ever consider living in Ecuador, Cuenca would be our first choice. We spent many days exploring the city’s sights, taking pictures and getting a taste of the night life.
After three weeks traveling through the mountains, it was time for a change and we decided to return to Quito via the Amazon feeder basin on the eastern side of Ecuador. On four different busses, we rode for thirty hours on dusty gravel roads. In the middle of a pitch black night, the bus stopped at the banks of the Pastaza River, one of a number of large rivers feeding the mighty Amazon. All the passengers were told to get off the bus and cross the raging river on a rickety foot bridge, suspended by cables with no sides to hold onto. With our backpacks strapped to our shoulders, we gingerly plodded along the wooden planks praying that no plank was missing. It was so dark we could barely see the shadows of the other passengers in front of us. We both felt like kissing the ground, when we finally reached the other side where a bus was waiting to take us to the jungle town of Tena.
In Tena, Jutta and I hired a guide for a two day trip into the jungle. We literally had to hack our way through the jungle with machetes wearing knee high rubber snake boots for our protection. Our one night sleeping in the jungle was preempted by a torrential downpour during the night.
This adventure through Ecuador, one of the cleanest countries we have traveled in, was one of the most exciting trips we had taken in years. On February 9, Jutta and I once again boarded Copa Airlines for our return to Panama and Pipe Dream.
Well, there it is sports fans, another chapter draws to a close for the zany crew of Pipe Dream. We are back in Bocas del Toro preparing Pipe Dream to go to sea. Our next destinationwill be Isla San Andres, Columbia. Jutta spends most of her time working on the boat, while Ferdy (The Captain) panhandles on the streets of Bocas del Toro trying to get enough money to sail on and continue the adventure. It’s a shame his affluent friends have not funded the “Keep Ferdy Cruising Fund.” It would keep him off the streets and in the bars where he belongs! Just Kidding.

From the decks of Pipe Dream
Ferdy and Jutta

Newsletter December 2003

2007-08-12T20:08:00.001-07:00

"I got better look’n again this year! "

Yes, we are back with another newsletter. In our last newsletter we were anchored in Colon Harbor, just outside the Panama Canal on the Caribbean side. Our plans were to sail north to Bocas del Toro soon after the canal transit. So far, we have been stuck here for three weeks with constant rain, and “I do mean rain.” When Pipe Dream’s water tanks are low, we can open them up and take on 100 gallons of rain water within twenty minutes.
We were finally fed up with the rainy weather and the crummy anchorage in Colon Harbor. Every day we had to fight the wind and waves just trying to get back and forth with our dinghy. Another irritant was constantly having to watch our backs while walking down any of the streets in Colon. Our guide book says a mugging in Colon is not only probable, it’s very likely. It was time to cut the anchor line and head for greener pastures and better weather. The weatherman said today was the time to go. We were provisioned and ready. We pulled the anchor, hoisted the main sail and headed out of Colon Harbor in a torrential rain squall with winds at 20 knots. Ugly, ugly, ugly! Once we made our way through the breakwater, things settled down somewhat and we thought the trip would be ok. We had made our break Two hours out, the stuff began to hit the fan. So much for the weatherman’s prediction! The once smiling crew of “Pipe Dream” was beaten up for thirty hours. The seas were very confused, large swells coming at us from all directions. It felt kind of like loosing a slapping match with an octopus. We sought what little shelter there was in the lee of Isla Veraguas and went to bed. Early the next morning we started on the 40 mile leg to Bocas del Toro. It only took thirty minuets of pounding into the saltwater without making any headway, and we turned back to the island. Another night at Isla Veraguas. On Day three we woke hours before sunrise to a star lit sky, not a breath of wind and flat calm seas. Adios, we are out of here. Our weather ordeal temporarily over, we motored six hours toward Bocas del Toro, and our first marina visit in two years.
We are continually painting a picture of our life cruising in paradise, throwing our cares to the wind, living the life everyone dreams of. Well, our trip from Colon to Bocas del Toro gives you a glimpse at the flip side of this life. This does not happen very often, but when it does, it sucks out loud, or as Jimmy Buffett says “another shitty day in paradise”.
If any of you want to experience the joy of cruising at sea in a large sailboat, but are stranded on dry land, here is how to go about it: Go downtown to your local do it yourself laundromat. Ask the attendant if you can climb into one of his large commercial washing machines. Have him turn it on and come back to check on you in about thirty hours. Remember, don’t sleep a wink while trying to hold on for dear life, wear hot bulky rubber coated rain gear, and to top it off, add a little nausea.
A week after our landfall in Bocas del Toro our good friends Jim and Gail Philo arrived by plane for a three week visit. Unfortunately, the weather did not always cooperate. We found out that the Bocas del Toro area does not have a true dry season. While the rest of Panama has a definite dry season between January and July, overcast skies and misty rain showers are an almost daily occurrence in Bocas for much of the year.
Our Christmas dinner was to be a potluck at the marina. On Christmas Eve day the marina put a whole pig on a spit and everyone had to sign up for “turn the pig” shift. Jim and I had the 2 to 4 AM shift on Christmas morning which was interrupted by a large earthquake at 2:35 AM. No damage in Bocas del Toro but lots of damage on the Pacific side of Panama. Thank God, the pig didn’t fall off the spit! The Christmas party started at 2 pm and lasted into the wee hours of the morning. After a very short night for ourselves and our visitors, we departed Bocas del Toro for the city of David and a 5 day inland trip through the mountains of northern Panama.
Our visitors, Jim and Gail, were very impressed with Panama’s beauty, and especially the fifty cent beer. Jutta and I led them through the Sendero de los Quetzales, better known as “Jutta’s death march”. The hiking trail starts atCerra Punta at an elevation of 6,300 feet. From there we climbed another 1000 feet to the ranger station and the entrance to the National Park. We then hiked seven hours through rain and cloud forests to the town of Boquete, elevation 3200 feet. With the exception of soar muscles we lived to hike another day. Great fun was had by all and we returned to Bocas del Toro on New Years Eve, and yet another party at the Marina. This life isn’t easy!
We bid our farewell to the Philo’s on January 4th and Jutta and I started planning our next adventure to be released at a later date.
Jutta and I wish everyone a wonderful, happy and healthy New Year.
In 2004 the Chinese are celebrating the “Year of the Monkey”. In the United States there is a rumor that George Bush will announce that 2004 is the “Year of the Pipe Dream”. Be the first one on your block to give to the “Pipe Dream Cruising Fund”. A dollar a day keeps Ferdy far away.
From the rain soaked decks of Pipe Dream
Jutta and Ferdy

Newsletter November 2003

2007-08-12T20:06:00.002-07:00

"We’ve got to get out of this place before we get too fat! "

John Steinbeck, much like the zany crew of Pipe Dream, wrote excerpts of his travels. In John’s book, “The Log of the Sea of Cortez”, he gets very scientific (us authors refer to each other by first names). The crew of Pipe Dream has also dabbled in scientific studies during our three year trek down Central America, through the Panama Canal, and into the Caribbean. We feel the time is right to release our studies. Much to our chagrin, we came to the conclusion that “Partying is fattening”, and that sucks!!!!
We finished the last newsletter a few days before the centennial celebration party of Panama - and what a party it was! Due to our celebrity status in Panama City, we were invited to a “small” two day party on Balboa Avenue (which is the city’s waterfront boulevard). Estimates put the crowd at about 1,000,000 people. There were stages set up at various locations and stars from all over Central America performed. There were parades in many parts of the city lasting all day, and the most spectacular fireworks displays I have ever seen. Every hundred yards or so there were beer, food, and refreshment stands for us to enjoy. Keep in mind, Panama, Balboa, and Atlas beers are fifty cents per can, and we drank our share. It was the polite thing to do.
Our brief stay in Panama City lasted over two months. This is a very cosmopolitan city and hard to break away from. There are wonderful restaurants, wine bars, super markets, and a myriad of boat hardware and electrical stores to drag us back on shore on a daily basis. From our anchorage we look out on one of the most beautiful skylines we have ever seen. The big drawback is that it’s really easy to spend money. Panama City, being an international port, offers goods and services at a very good price. It seems we are going broke saving money. A few repairs to Pipe Dream and the purchase of a wind generator, thirty yards of canvas material, re-wiring the boat, etc. etc. etc. took care of any extra cash we had lying around. I forgot to mention the Panama Canal transit fee which is a big blow to the pocketbook. Well, easy come, easy go, I can always get a job as a greeter at Wal Mart.
Broke, tired, and a few pounds heavier it was time to blow this town and cross the big ditch. Jutta and I have plans to return to the Pacific side of Panama some day but we will tell you about that at a later date. It was time to schedule our transit of the Panama Canal. This has been a real mile stone for me as a sailor to cross in my own boat. (I would have said “yacht” but the tax man might be bugging the e-mail!) Our canal adventure started with arranging with friends to act as line handlers, hanging tires all around Pipe Dream to serve as bumpers, eighteen to be exact, and renting four 125 foot ,7/8 inch lines to hold Pipe Dream during the passage through the locks. We then notified the canal authority that Pipe Dream was ready to cross the canal. At this point, admeasurer comes out to the boat and literally measures the boat to the inch, length, beam (width), and height above water line. He spends about 1 hour asking dumb questions about the boat, like how much fuel we carry, are we transporting frozen foods, do we have any pets, does our head work etc.(for those of you in Yuma Arizona, a head is a bathroom on a boat). That same evening after 6:00 pm, we called the scheduler and he gave us our transit date. Oh, I almost forgot, I had to go to the bank and give them $1440.00 for the transit, of which $640.00 was for the transit and $800.00 was a buffer or deposit to be refunded. I assured them we wouldn’t damage their canal but they still needed a deposit. On the morning of November 20, 2003, Pipe Dream headed for the Miraflores Locks in the Panama Canal. Aboard were five friends acting as line handlers (four needed by the canal), and an advisor or pilot employed by the canal. We climbed approximately 85 feet through three locks, then motored 5 hours through Gatun Lake to reach the last three locks that would dump us into the Bay of Colon and the Caribbean. During the last three hours of our crossing we were in a torrential downpour. If you have ever been in Central America in the rainy season, water literally comes down in buckets, sometimes for days on end. Our crew, all dressed in foul weather gear, looked like drowned rats but smiling all the time. It truly was a great adventure and fun was had by all. Upon completing the final lock, a pilot boat came along side and we bid farewell to our pilot. We proceeded into Colon Harbor, dropped the hook, broke out the champagne and caviar, and it was another party. The celebration lasted well into the night and all the line handlers stayed on Pipe Dream, our first pajama party, and we do have beds for eight.
The highlight of our stay in Colon was to be the Thanksgiving dinner at the Panama Canal Yacht Club. The Panama Canal Yacht Club is a crumbling, broken down building with docks in the same condition. The important thing is they have a decent bar (although cockroaches have been seen scurrying along the counter top) and restaurant. When we saw a flier announcing Thanksgiving dinner for $8.00 per person with all the trimmings, we thought what a bargain, and signed up. One day before the dinner we found out the cooks were Chinese, a dinner with an international flair! The turkey tasted like cardboard, grandma’s dressing was Chinese style and the gravy was Kikkoman style. The instant box potatoes topped off the meal. Jutta named it “Turkey Chop Choy with all the trimmings”. (To Ryan and Jody I just want to say that the Christmas turkey in Mexico wasn’t that bad after all). Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful, we were thankful we survived this memorable dinner.
The zany crew of Pipe Dream has been in Colon, Panama for about two weeks. It’s time to raise the anchor and sail north to Bocas del Toro. Jim and Gail Philo from Phoenix will be joining us for the holidays.
Please keep in mind Christmas is a time for giving. There are a lot of less fortunate people in this world who are suffering. So remember the “Keep Ferdy Cruising Fund”, a dollar spent today keeps Ferdy farther away.
From the decks of Pipe Dream
Ferdy and Jutta

Newsletter October 2003

2007-08-12T20:06:00.001-07:00

"We should be in The Tourist Business"

We’re back and none too soon. The zany crew of Pipe Dream has been really busy since the last newsletter. Don’t read too much into my last statement, it isn’t anything like woork, wourk, whork, or however that word is spelled.
We arrived safely in Panama City and grabbed a mooring buoy at the Balboa Yacht Club, (BYC). The BYC is located about ½ a mile from the Miraflores locks, which are the first set of locks of the Panama Canal on the Pacific Entrance. From Pipe Dream’s mooring we can watch 800 to 1000 foot long ships passing within 50 yards of us, 24 hours a day. This may sound very exciting, but it gets a little unnerving and also the wake from the ships makes us turn summersaults at times. The only reason we moor here is because the BYC has a very social “Happy Hour”, and pitchers of beer are really cheap. We cruisers know a bargain when we find it.
Bob and Tish Saemisch arrived on Sunday, September 28 and we had a fun filled two weeks ready for them. When our friends John and Mark on the 51’ catamaran “Little Wings” arrived in Panama City for their Canal Transit., we volunteered to line handle for them, and the four of us hitched a ride through the Canal. Our transit, which took about 10 hours, ended at the Cristobal Yacht Club on the Caribbean side of the Panama Canal. From there, we hopped on a bus for a 2 hour ride back to Panama City and Pipe Dream. The transit was a real thrill for all of us.
It took all of the next day to provision Pipe Dream to go to sea with Bob and Tish. We bought all the necessary life sustaining items, wine (red and white), hors d'oeuvres, ice, beer, and a little food. We sailed out of Panama Harbor and on to the Perlas Islands, 32 miles away. The Perlas chain is where the Television series “Survival” is being shot for the second time. This archipelago consists of more than 100 islands with numerous bays and anchorages. On one island, Mogo Mogo, a film crew was shooting a segment of their up coming Survivor series and we were asked not to cross over to the other side of the island. I guess, an inflatable dinghy with an outboard, and footprints on a deserted beach is a dead give-a-way for civilization; that’s showbiz!! We spent four days cruising a few islands and it was then time to return to Panama City and another leg of our world cruising tour with Bob and Tish.
Upon our return to Panama City we boarded an airplane and flew to Cartagena, Columbia. Cartagena, the walled city on the Caribbean, is the most beautiful city I have ever visited. Columbia, as a country, is totally screwed up due to drugs, drug wars, guerrillas, civil war, etc. I even heard Juan Valdez of Folgers Coffee is into coke! He traded in that mule for a Hummer. The city of Cartagena is neutral territory for Columbia. For some reason it is left alone by the drug lords for the tourist industry. The rich of Central and South America come to Cartagena to play and so did the zany crew of Pipe Dream and their visitors. Most of the walled historic part of the city has been restored. The original buildings, dating back to between the 1533 to 1700, are breath taking with balconies of concrete and rod iron with flowers and vines cascading down the walls. If you ever get a chance to travel to Cartagena, don’t pass it up. Prices are extremely cheap. Jutta and I would go out for a gourmet meal at one of the finest restaurants in Cartagena, and the total bill including drinks, wine and coffee came to $24 to $26.
Jutta and I had planned to fly back to Panama City with our friends, but we were having such a great time in Cartagena, we said our goodbyes to Bob and Tish at the hotel and stayed another two days in Columbia. Ah, the high stress life of a cruiser!!! We flew back to Panama City with good intentions of transiting the canal. After realizing Panama was having their 100 year celebration on Nov 2, 3, and 4th, we decided to stay for a little longer. There went our itinerary and our plans for a October Canal crossing. We have never been known to miss a wild party. I’ll check my day planner but I think I can fit the Canal into my schedule in mid November?
During our last three years of cruising, Jutta and I have anchored in beautiful spots, have traveled through various countries and encountered many friendly and interesting people. Although most times it seems like we’re living in paradise, bad stuff can happen, no matter where in the world you are. After returning from Cartagena, we heard on the Single Side Band Net, that our friend John was attacked in the middle of Cartagena harbor as he was launching “Little Wings” after a brief haul-out at the Shipyard. Apparently, three thugs climbed aboard, tied him up, stripped the boat and left him adrift in the bay. Fortunately, he was not hurt physically and managed to untie himself and take the boat back to the marina, where he put up a $ 1000 reward for the capture of his attackers.
It’s a shock to all us cruisers when things like that happen, and it is also a reminder that even in paradise we have to remain alert. However, High Seas Piracy really doesn’t scare us as much as running out of gourmet food, wine or cold beer. Everyone needs to have their priorities in place. Don’t worry we try not to take any chances.
Jutta and I are now anchored around the corner from the Panama Canal Entrance at Flamenco in the Bay of Panama. It is very calm here and we don’t get tossed about from wakes of passing ships. We can still watch the tips of the huge freighters and cruise liners pass by on the other side of the causeway. From the decks of Pipe Dream we have a magnificent view of the entire downtown skyline of Panama City. The 100 year anniversary of Panama begins in about two days and continues for four days. We are shining our dancing shoes and resting up. We have also installed a new wind generator, rebuilt the heads, changed out the alternator, and done other repair jobs. As you can see, this life is not all fun and games.
Well, that’s all for now. The next newsletter will be from the Caribbean side of the Panama Canal. Remember, if it feels good, “do it”, if it looks like work, “ignore it”.

From the Decks of Pipe Dream
Ferdy and Jutta

Newsletter Aug/Sep 2003

2007-08-12T20:05:00.001-07:00

"We’re finally on the way to the “Big Ditch”! "

Well, we are back, and just in time! The crew of Pipe Dream has been remiss in keeping up with the mandatory newsletter. We’re just too busy playing to spread the news.
About August 1st, I loaded my last newsletter on a floppy disk and headed to the City of David and the internet café. I am such a computer guru, when I loaded the disk on the computer, it was blank. I guess the newsletter fell out on the bus. It took three or four days to get it reloaded and resent. Don’t laugh, I bet Bill Gates had his problems too!
In my last newsletter, Jutta and I were going back and forth to David to get the inverter fixed. After the funeral and last rites for our old inverter, we bought another one in David. With our navigation computer back in action, we decided to take Pipe Dream inland twenty five miles to Puerto Pedregal. We had never dared this trip before because one of the first obstacles to overcome, was an approximately (or supposedly) 55 foot high power cable across the estuary we had to travel. At the lowest tide, we slowly approached the wire with Jutta standing on the bow looking up and me behind the wheel trying to calculate the cost of the damage if we happened to hit the power cable. Well, since you are receiving this typed newsletter, you probably realize, we made it under the wire without any mishap.
For two days we traveled through incredibly scenic mangrove channels with Barú, Panama’s only volcano, looming in the background, stopping for one night to catch up with the required high tide. The fauna and flora were magnificent. For those bachelor friends of mine in San Diego, fauna and flora are not the twins we met in a bar on Shelter Island. I won’t go into any detail, you know who they are!
After arriving in Pedregal, we dropped anchor in chocolate brown river water -remember, this is the rainy season - in front of the worst looking marina you ever saw. However, we enjoyed watching white faced monkeys playing in the trees and the occasional crocodile floating by on the lookout for a stray swimmer! We stayed for about two weeks, and our time there was well spent. We had some much needed stainless steel welding done to Pipe Dream and did a general clean up. Being inland, we took a few days off from boating chores, hopped on a bus, and headed over the mountains to Bocas Del Toro on the Caribbean side of Panama. After three days in Bocas, we were excited about crossing the ditch (Panama Canal) and taking Pipe Dream to the Archipelago of Bocas Del Toro. For those of you in Yuma, Arizona, this ditch is wider than most canals you’ve ever seen.
It was then time to provision, cut the dock lines, dig out the “How to Sail Manual”, retrace our steps through the estuary, and head back out to the Pacific Ocean. The zany crew of Pipe Dream needed to get their feet wet again and go island hopping. Our final destination would be Panama City to await the arrival of Bob and Tish Saemisch. To reach Panama City, we had 350 miles to go, and at the rate we travel, it only left us a month to get there.
Our first stop was at the Contreras Island group. In the large, deep bay on Brincano Island we dropped the hook and explored the island for three days. There were artesian springs all over the island with waterfalls cascading into the sea. After several days of napping, reading, swimming, gourmet meals and cocktails at sunset, we were exhausted. It was time to move on.
Our adventures at Bahia Honda will be with us for as long as we live. Bahia Honda’s entrance is about 150 yards wide, opening up to a bay 1 mile wide and about 2 miles long, completely surrounded by jungle. All traffic to this bay is by boat or mule train, there are no roads connecting to any highway on the mainland. A local character, Domingo, who has lived in Bahia Honda for 50 years and considers himself the official greeter of any foreign yacht sailing into the bay, arrived promptly at “Pipe Dream” by panga to take our order of fresh fruit and veggies from his finca (ranch). On a daily basis, Domingo would come to our boat or we would go to his house. He had no money, so everything was done through bartering. Domingo appointed himself as our guide, and led us through the mangroves for miles to the pueblo of Salmonete. These village people had no electricity or phones, they had mud floors and some lived in straw huts. We felt like we had gone back 100 years in time. Yet, the people were extremely friendly, they all came out to greet us. There was a school in Salmonete with four teachers. After our visit, we gave them everything we could spare on Pipe Dream: Paper, pens, pencils, etc. We put out a call on the radio for other cruisers coming this way to buy supplies to help the school. Because we are traveling in the tropics, we always carry lots of Neosporin ointment on the boat. Many of the children had infectious sores, so we gave them all our Neosporin. As we were leaving, a mother ran out of her hut and gave us three eggs to say thanks for the ointment. We never realize how good we have it in the good old USA, until witnessing the plight of others.
After a week in Bahia Honda, it was time to leave. Having witnessed Domingo’s sparse furnishings, we told him we had a special farewell gift for him, and presented him with our only surviving folding dock chair. We unfolded the chair and invited Domingo to sit in it. He gingerly climbed into the chair not quite trusting this modern contraption. Then his face lit up and he started to grin from one ear to the other. We think our old deck chair will be put to very good use!!!
We said our goodbyes to Domingo and his family, loaded up on fruits and veggies and the crew of Pipe Dream sailed into the sunset, and on to our next kewl adventure. We made numerous overnight stops on Cebaco Island, kayaked to the island’s beautiful beaches, walked for hours along the jungle clad hills, and enjoyed the sun sets and rain showers. Onward we moved to Bahia Naranja where the ocean swell was so bad that Pipe Dream (with us inside) was doing somersaults all night long. In this bay, we spent two days preparing Pipe Dream for the passage around the dreaded Punta Mala, renamed Punta Malacaca by some of our cruising friends who got beat up on that leg due to the high winds and the giant waves creating by the strong Humbolt current which flows around the point. Once again, the crew of Pipe Dream cheated death. We literally motored around Punta Mala in almost flat seas and 5 knots of wind. If it hadn’t been for a rain squall right at the point, we could have played cards in the cockpit along the way.
We have now entered the Gulf of Panama, and we are on the home stretch to Panama City. We have been away from civilization for 3 ½ weeks. Its time to play in the big city, make some repairs to Pipe Dream, and wait for the Seamisch’s to arrive.
We have been asked about the weather in Panama. This time of year, the rainy season, June through October is known as winter. When we wake up, usually around 7:00 am, our thermometer reads 78 to 82 degrees and 70% humidity. At noon it’s 80 to 85 degrees and 70 to 75% humidity. It usually clouds up toward the afternoon and we get a medium to heavy rain in the evening, sometimes raining all night (which is great because it fills our water tanks). The rain is warm and you can live in a bathing suit 24 hours a day. Bugs or insects are not a problem if we anchor at a safe distance from shore. All in all, we consider this paradise.
In closing, I must tell you how disappointed I am in my good friends. After sending my newsletter out to all of my friends for three consecutive years, I finally received my first dollar for the “Help Ferdy Cruising Fund”. It was e-mailed to us from Jutta’s cousin Bibi in Mexico City, not from any of MY GOOD FRIENDS!!! That dollar filled the entire screen. We’ve been trying to figure out how to cut it out of the screen so we can spend it!!

From the decks of Pipe Dream,
Ferdy and Jutta

Newsletter June/July 2003

2007-08-12T20:04:00.000-07:00

"The Beer is hot and the crew is passed (spelling error, oop’s) "

Yes, I know, all of you are waiting for the next newsletter from the zany crew of Pipe Dream. After two traumatic months back in the United States, we finally made our break and returned to paradise. Don’t take this the wrong way, it was wonderful visiting our friends and spending quality time with our kids. Back in the States, life just moves too fast for the crew of Pipe Dream. Being a self appointed philosopher, I really think the solution would be for everyone to quit their jobs and chill out. Cocktail time should start earlier and end later. This would eliminate rush hour. Most of you have not realized, as of yet, that work really sucks. Try playing, it’s a lot more fun
Since I wasn’t in any hurry while driving slowly on the freeways in Phoenix and San Diego, I’m afraid I didn’t recognize quite a few old acquaintances, who passed me at a greater rate of speed (the speed limit). For those of you who waved with one finger, I will make a better effort next summer to wave back. You guys have got to chill out!!
Jutta and I arrived in Panama City the evening of June 22. Although it was hot and steamy, we were smiling from ear to ear. Checked into a very nice hotel in downtown Panama City, and went out for a cold “Panama” Beer and some steamed clams (free appetizers) for a total bill of around $ 1.40. Life doesn’t get any better than that! We purchased a new Yamaha 9.9 HP outboard, made our yearly pilgrimage to a dermatologist in Panama, rented a car and headed across Panama to Costa Rica and Pipe Dream. In case you were wondering about the quality of the dermatologist, he spent 10 years at John Hopkins in Boston. This explains the exorbitant fee he charges; $40.00 for a full examination. No wonder I am slowly going broke!
We arrived in Golfito, Costa Rica, about June 27. We climbed aboard Pipe Dream, unpacked all our zillion boat parts, nuts and bolts and wires, and the work began. Leaving a boat locked up in the tropics during the rainy season is asking for trouble. The heat and humidity present is a perfect breeding environment for mold and mildew. We had grey fuzzies flourishing on all the wood work. It took Jutta four days to wash down the entire interior of the boat with Clorox water. I would have helped, but being the captain, someone needs to be in charge! (If you know Jutta, you know better than that). We turned on the refrigerator to cool the beer and nothing happened. It had given up the ghost! At that moment, we knew we were in trouble, no cold beer!! Our friends at Downwind Marine, San Diego, saved the day. They sent a new refer unit to Panama via air freight. The freight and custom charges were almost as much as the compressor and freezer unit! Thank God beer is cheap in Panama. Our onboard computer did very well in the humidity but the printer died as soon as we turned it on. It was off to the store for a new printer. You probably consider Panama as being very primitive, well, we purchased the new printer at Price Mart which is Cosco of Central America. We never miss a bargin!
We finally cut the dock lines in Costa Rica and set sail for Isla Parida in Panama, about 97 miles by sea. On the way, our inverter died and there went the power for the computer and our navigation program. Yes, “stuff” does happen! (for those of you receiving this newsletter at Merillat, I cleaned “it” up). We bought a small inverter to run the computer and are having our large inverter fixed in David, Panama. In total we have sailed about 100 miles in the last month and it cost us about $33.00 per mile. I wonder how much it will cost to get to Florida? I don’t care what people say, ice cold beer does help in situations like this!!! The new refer is working, the beer is cold, and I am typing away on the computer, life doesn’t get any better than this.
Jutta and I have finally made it to the islands and things have stopped breaking for the time being, we have our fingers crossed. Life again is pretty simple. Jutta is the gatherer and I am the hunter. It’s July 23, 2003 at 1:30 PM and I have already supplied the meat for the evening’s meal. I bought two large Lobsters from a fisherman that paddled by our boat in a wooden dugout. The total bill was two fifty cent packs of powder milk, 6 oatmeal cookies and a El Salvador, tourist, tee shirt I don’t know what Jutta would do without me. It isn’t easy being me!
Some of you might think cruising with Jutta is all fun. You don’t know the cross I have to bare in life. Jutta found a great deal on a portable stair stepper in San Diego and insisted on hauling it all the way to Panama and the boat. She has me working out on it every day, plus using an ab roller and dumb bells. I think, it’s some type of a satanic ritual or else she is trying to kill me. I still think, a man looks good with a little weight on him!! And I get better looking every day.
Jutta and I plan to slowly head towards the Panama Canal zone, island hopping along the way (for those of you in Yuma Arizona, islands are mounds of dirt with water around them). Our friends, the Saemisch’s, are going to join us in Panama City at the end of September. We’re hoping, Bob will pass another kidney stone while on the boat, we need a little entertainment.
Please keep sending in those dollars for the “Keep Ferdy Cruising Fund”. To date, we are still waiting for our first dollar’s arrival. Remember, if you need to wave on the freeway please use more than one finger.

From the decks of Pipe Dream,
Ferdy and Jutta

Newsletter March 2003

2007-08-12T20:02:00.000-07:00

"Let’s move to Panama - the beer is cheap! "

Were baaaack, and on the final count down before our return to the States. Jutta and I have completed our third year of cruising. Every summer we return to the USA for two to three months to visit friends and family. This year we plan to return for about six weeks and bolt back to Panama. The rainy season in Central America, or their winter, begins about mid April and lasts into October, and we plan to come back to experience it. Beautiful warm days, crystal clear snorkeling, dazzling white deserted beaches, and every evening a torrential rain storm to cool things off. I forgot to mention, the beer in Panama is fifty cents a bottle in the bars or thirty five cents in the markets; why else do you think I want to return so fast! In my last newsletter I said I became PADI dive certified in Bahia Drake. I neglected to tell you we were diving with sharks and I grabbed one on the tail with my hand, it was kwel!
In February,the crew of Pipe Dream sailed on to Golfito, dropped the hook (anchor) in front of the Land and Sea Yacht Club in Golfito Bay, and stayed for about two weeks. Golfito is the last port of call in Costa Rica. Our three month visa was running out and we needed to clear customs, immigration and the port captain to exit Costa Rica and move on to Panama. Luckily for us there is a duty free zone in Golfito and the zany crew of Pipe Dream took full advantage of it before we left. The boat’s waterline went down a couple of inches after we loaded many cases of Chilean and Italian wines aboard, rum was also a real bargain! We knew, with the war in Iraq about to start, we needed to provision for an emergency. We could be stranded on some tropical island for months eating coconuts and drinking pina coladas. You know you have an emergency, when you run out of drink umbrellas!
We said goodbye to Costa Rica and sailed through the night to arrive at the island of Parida, Panama. It was time for us to recharge our internal batteries and experience the solitude of a deserted tropical island. It truly is rewarding living off the land and
foraging for yourself. There were three giant mango trees on the island laden with fruit, and I finally got to use my Mexican machete on the coconuts that were lying all over the beach. To add to the cuisine, fishermen brought us lobsters, red snapper, and veggies. We also attended a crab barbecue and beer bust thrown on the island by four Columbian families spending the weekend. This Robinson and Crusoe survival shit is the greatest. Jutta and I struck up quite a friendship with the Colombians and visited them in David, Panama.
We finally got tired of lobster and it was time for an inland trip. We decided to sail to Boca Chica, where we left the boat on the hook and caught a minibus to David, Panama’s third largest city. We were accompanied by Bill and Doreen of the sailing vessel “Lanikai”. By the way, you may have noticed, we call our boats sailing vessels instead of large boats with vertical sticks on them. We never call them “yachts” because the IRS might monitor e-mail, those bandits are everywhere!!! From David we traveled by bus into the mountains above 6000 feet to Cerro Punta. Cerro Punta is a tiny village in a mountainous farming region with hillsides covered with strawberries, boysenberries, and all types of fruits and vegetables. We almost froze to death during the night as temperatures dropped to near freezing . Our main purpose for the trip was to hike the Sendero de los Quetzales (the Trail of the Quetzal Birds) in the Parque Internacional La Amistad, one of the most breathtaking national parks in Panama. Our hike began at 2500 meters or 7500 feet above sea level and ended in the town of Boquete at 3100 feet. Jutta talked the crew of Lanikai and me into hiking the park. At the end of the day we were sure she had a death wish for us. We hiked through Quetzal habitats, which are places where some unseen, red bird with a long tail lives, rain forest, cloud forest and very rugged terrain. After nine hours of hiking, we finally reached the asphalted main road to Boquete. The weary hikers were lying on the benches of a rural bus stop waiting for the last bus to Boquete; it was 5:45 pm. An old Indian man walked passed us and in our best Spanish we asked him what time the bus came by. He looked at us and said “they say there’s a six o’clock bus and a seven o’clock bus, but I don’t believe it!”, then he trundled off down the road, shaking his head. With our last ounce of energy, we tore ourselves of the concrete bench and reluctantly started walking down the 5 mile stretch to Boquete. Thank goodness, God takes care of drunks and fools: the bus came shortly after we started walking. I think Jutta was disappointed all of us lived. I must admit it really was a beautiful hike. After staying a few extra days in Boquete and David, we were off to Pipe Dream and the call of the islands. We also had to prepare the boat for visitors from the United States.
On March the 6th, we picked up our good friends Paul and Pam for a two week stay on Pipe Dream. Our time together was spent island hopping, snorkeling, fishing and searching the islands for places to re-provision our beer supply. Paul, not being out of character, set a new beer drinking record for the sailing yacht Pipe Dream. We went through 11 cases of beer in 13 days. Jutta and I limited ourselves to a couple of beers day so we wouldn’t run out. Paul lived, and we think, really enjoyed himself.
Those of you reading this newsletter should have bought short term stock in Panamanian beer, you could have made a fortune! Jutta and I bid farewell to Paul and Pam, we provisioned the boat with more fruit and veggies, and we took off to the islands. We will hang out at the islands until the end of April, greeting boating friends coming down the coast from Costa Rica and points north. At the end of April it’s off to reality, the U.S. of A. for a visit with family.
In looking back over the past three seasons of cruising Central America, we have had lots of fun, we’ve seen wonderful sights, and lived life to the fullest. In the coming years we plan to do the same. From some of the e-mails we have received onboard, a lot of you are very envious of our lifestyle. Well, let me assure you, things are not as they seem. You landlubbers have the ability to have supermarkets close by, large freezers and refrigerators in your homes and everything at your fingertips. On the other hand, we need to provision for weeks in advance. Our refrigerators and freezers are very small. You have heard of sailors living on hardtack or biscuits and water for weeks on end, and the threat of Scurvy from lack of vitamin C is also a concern. Please don’t worry about us, we will be ok. A typical menu is as follows, fresh squeezed orange juice and coffee, fresh papaya or mango with home made breads for breakfast. For dinner we had fresh caught (by Ferdy) Pacific Sierra served with a cream caper mustard sauce, accompanied with angel hair pasta tossed in garlic and olive oil, fresh Plantains fried in butter, and a very nice bottle of chilled Chilean Chardonnay. Tonight we are having fresh lobster. They are alive in a bucket of salt water on deck. Bring on the butter, life really sucks sometimes.
For those of you receiving this newsletter, this could be your big chance to become part of the Pipe Dream honorary family. On TV, you have seen the ads to adopt a child in Africa for a few cents a day. Now for a limited time you too can adopt the zany crew of Pipe Dream. Remember, just a few pennies a day will keep Ferdy and Jutta away, that’s worth millions to some people.
From the decks of Pipe Dream
Ferdy and Jutta