Perhaps a few pictures with explanations might help. These are mostly old pictures since currently the boat is ripped apart while we install new electronics, a watermaker and batteries etc.
Here is the boat. Though sailboats are historically referred to and often named as/after women, BAILA is instead an acronym: Brad, Anna, Isabelle, Lynn, Avery. And, Baila means 'dance' in Spanish. It was either Baila or Labia. Some would reasonably argue that we chose wrong. She is a Catalina '42 (Catalina is the make, like a Ford etc, and she is 42 feet long). Modern cruising sailboats do have engines. As much as we love to sail, from a practical standpoint often the wind isn't sufficient or we're manoeuvring into a dock slip and require use of the engine. She has a 56hp Yanmar diesel. Because Baila has 2 sails (mainsail which you can see poking out of the mast, and the headsail which is rolled up in the front (bow) of the boat) she's referred to as a 'sloop.' Both sails are rolled up here and easily deployed by pulling on some lines (ropes) to unroll them. Other terminology that I'm sure will pop up in our posts:
Here is the boat. Though sailboats are historically referred to and often named as/after women, BAILA is instead an acronym: Brad, Anna, Isabelle, Lynn, Avery. And, Baila means 'dance' in Spanish. It was either Baila or Labia. Some would reasonably argue that we chose wrong. She is a Catalina '42 (Catalina is the make, like a Ford etc, and she is 42 feet long). Modern cruising sailboats do have engines. As much as we love to sail, from a practical standpoint often the wind isn't sufficient or we're manoeuvring into a dock slip and require use of the engine. She has a 56hp Yanmar diesel. Because Baila has 2 sails (mainsail which you can see poking out of the mast, and the headsail which is rolled up in the front (bow) of the boat) she's referred to as a 'sloop.' Both sails are rolled up here and easily deployed by pulling on some lines (ropes) to unroll them. Other terminology that I'm sure will pop up in our posts:
- Bow: front of the boat
- Stern: back of the boat
- Starboard: right
- Port: left
Here is the port side of Baila with both headsail and mainsail flying.
Looking up towards the bow with both sails out. The position of the sails depends on where you are in relation to the wind. The smaller the angle the closer the sails are to the midline of the boat.
Avery at the wheel and Izzy at the table in the 'cockpit', or the area in the stern portion of the boat from which we steer, control the sails, have our navigation instrument displays, and of course seating, a fold out table and sound system! The area behind the cockpit is the swim platform where we can swim and board the dinghy (not what you're thinking.. it's a small inflatable rubber thing.... another try: a small inflatable boat used as our 'taxi' of sorts- see below!)
Boats can be either at anchor (like the distant Baila in the upper picture here), or at a dock as pictured here. We keep Baila 'docked' ('parked' is for cars!) permanently in Annapolis but when we go out we prefer to anchor when possible.
Isabelle watching the sunset from the cockpit.
A (dated) picture of the girls on the cabin-top looking up towards the bow. The "windows" that you see open are hatches that allow ventilation and light etc.
The kids have to wear life jackets whenever they're up above while the boat is underway (moving). They can remove their jackets down below. In open water or if it's rough they wear harnesses tethered to "jack lines" (that fixed red webbing-line that you can see above).
One can sit anywhere on top of the boat (cabintop) if it's not rough
Looking down from the top of the mast. It's 60ft, so a little bit of back and forth movement in the cockpit is quite exaggerated at the top! Sometimes you have to get up there to fix an antenna or check rigging etc. You wear a harness with a tether, and 2 separate halyards (lines that pull sails up) attached to you. Sitting in a 'bosun's chair,' you sort of half climb/half get pulled up with the assistance of someone pulling the halyard up using a winch (the round drums in the cockpit used to pull up/in the sails).
BELOW DECK
So far we've looked at the up-above portions of Baila.. but she also has a down-below area (yes I wrote that intentionally) which is where people 'live' when cruising. Here is Walter on the companionway stairs. That's how you walk down from the cockpit. Also, those stairs pull forward for easily accessing the engine
Looking from the companionway stairs down at the main cabin with our table. The table drops down with fill-cushions- great for kids' movie time. Contrast this with the current state in the righthand picture (everything ripped out for the big jobs!)
Typical stuff going on down below
Here's looking forward toward the "owner's cabin." This is a small room in the front where Lynn and I stay. It has its own "head" (bathroom) which consists of a toilet, shower, sink, cabinet. It's tight, but functional. The galley (kitchen) is to starboard. We have a sink, storage, oven/range (propane), refrigerator and microwave. If you turned around here, like in the upper righthand picture above, you'd look back toward two separate cabins which are on either side of the stairs. That's where the girls stay. They have their own head too (thank God).
This is the galley. The picture on the left shows how the stove (because it's gimbaled) moves on a lateral axis to stay level despite the boat being heeled over while sailing. You can see how the stuff on top of the stove is level while the rest of the boat heels over. This makes it feasible to cook soup etc while you're heeling. When the boat really heels, you find out very quickly what hasn't been properly secured and stowed-- notice how the cabinet door dropped down in the picture-- the latch was broken and when we tacked most of that stuff ended up on the other side of the boat. Luckily an easy fix but a painful cleanup.
Here's our inflatable armada. The dinghy is the one with the engine- it sports a 20hp yamaha so it really moves (exhibit A: shameful selfie above. HOWEVER- I've learned from my daughters that selfies are now considered cool, so back off). The dinghy is a RIB (rigid inflatable boat) which means it has a fiberglass hull with inflatable hypalon tubes. Fast and light. Not so important on the Chesapeake but we've been told this will be much more important in the Bahamas where we may have long distances (with frequently choppy water) between our anchored boat and shore. The newly installed arch on the stern of Baila (which now resembles a jungle gym of tubing) not only houses the solar panels and antennas but also has two davit arms that enable us to pull the dinghy up out of the water at night. The 2 paddle boards are inflatable too- when we're underway they are rolled up and stowed.
"So.. what the heck do you do on a boat for a whole week?" Here are some glimpses of past trips.
This was really cool. We happened across a massive pod of porpoises in the Patuxent River (Maryland). It was a really calm morning and we were the only boat out there. They came right up to the boat and really seemed to be checking us out. Here is a mom and baby taking their turn riding our bow wave.
Girls wrestling in our cabin
Girls make friends when we stop at marinas etc.
One of the many games played onboard
Great sunsets
A game we like to play: a wrong answer to a math or spelling question and she gets dunked!
Here is the new arch (the install of which ended at 3:30am.. the definition of blood, sweat and tears). The 2 solar panels are on top- each 260W giving us back (hopefully) roughly what we typically expend daily. If not, we can use our diesel engine or our little portable Honda generator to generate additional juice.
Last summer tearing along in big wind from Solomons Maryland across the Bay (hey Sandersons- I think you remember that day!)
Anna's favorite pensive perch
Walter being a lazy dog
So hopefully that helps give an idea of what being on a boat is like!
FALKS
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