The Day the Mast Went Up!

Wow! What an amazing day. I can’t believe it really happened. After all this time and work I am proud to announce that we raised the mast on SV Rad Mode. With the help of a bunch of friends it went a lot smoother than I initially thought it would. In truth I was dead…

The Day the Boat Won

I have to give it to her. Rad Mode has never sailed. She’s spent her entire 40 year life either on the hard or in a slip and apparently, she’s not ready to go sailing. Today, she fought me tooth and nail to keep me from putting in one of the boomkin tangs just above…

Is our boat big enough for 7 people?

I sit here in the V berth just past midnight fuming to myself that there is hardly any space. Our boat is big, but is it really big enough for 7? Honestly, not comfortably. And this is coming from a woman who is used to small quarters. Sometimes I just get tired of shuffling kids…

Rain… Rain Go Away… I Only have 10 Days Left!!!

Wow could it be the worst timing ever? We are on such a time crunch and now we have to add rain into the mix?!?! Come on man! Give us a break. Well when life gives you lemons you… fix your leaky stove, put in light fixtures, find out where all the leaks in our…

Just 2 Weeks Left… Or Better Yet 336 Hours

Wow! We haven’t talked in sooo long. Sorry about that. We have  just been so incredibly busy, as you can imagine. So what has been going on??? LOTS! Recently we got our 30 year old brand new Shipmate kerosene installed. Yes we were warned it is a bad idea, but hey it is new, we…

25 Days Left and We’re Beat!

The days are ticking away like crazy. I’m getting more and more frustrated with interruptions from the 5 kids as I try my best to stay focused on getting SV Rad Mode done in time to sail out of here in style. I try to remind myself that they are just kids and BLAM, another…

Just a Little Side Note… of SV Rad Mode

So many things have been happening I can’t hardly begin to describe them to you. The progress on the boat has been going good and I couldn’t be happier, but there is so much more than that. I mean our lives do not revolve completely around a boat being able to sail…  well almost. Ok,…

Less Than 30 to Go…

The past week since I last wrote to you guys has been quite the blurr. The time is flying by faster and faster as we approach what I like to refer to as “D-Day”. It makes me smile actually because I know we are moving onto the next exciting segment of our adventure. So what’s…

SV Rad Mode’s Winches

One of the lovely things about SV Rad Mode was her uninstalled, 35-years-new, premium Enkes winch collection. They were all still in the boxes with extra pawl springs and retaining rings and looked beautiful to boot! Just a bit ago, I yanked out our 26ST’s to check measurements for the construction of the genoa winch…

…36 Days… Wow

It seems like things are coming together so quickly, yet it seems so slow all at the same time. Order this, plan that, measure this, do that, blah, blah, blahhhhhh! One morning because I couldn’t get my head in the game I decided to work on the head Ha…Ha. Yep that wasn’t an ordeal, for…