The Log of Whisper

13 May 2009

Philadelphia!

The Piers Marina

We've arrived at our final destination! Philadelphia. Since our last posting, well, Kit Kat's last posting, we've visited friends in Norfolk and Deltaville, VA; sailed north up the Chesapeake Bay via Tangier Island, Solomon's Island (the BEST crab cakes ever), to Annapolis where we were anchored for two weeks. Kristen flew back to the Virgin Islands to work as first mate on s/y Felicia and Hans flew to Barbados to photograph a wedding. No matter how hard we try, we can't really leave the Caribbean! It took two days to sail up to Philadelphia from Annapolis; we arrived at 8PM on Sunday. We are tied up to our new home at the Pier's Marina right in downtown Philadelphia. It's a great location, just a two minute walk from the Old City, 5 minutes from Center City and a bike ride for Hans to Temple. He starts classes on Monday.

Our cruise is over: we're connected to shore power, but we're not swallowing the anchor yet. We plan on living aboard at the marina on Whisper or a slightly bigger boat for the near future. We're both excited about the new prospects that lie ahead in Philadelphia but also a little daunted by the change in lifestyle.

This will be our last Log of Whisper posting. Thanks for reading and for all the comments. It's been great for us to keep a blog for our memories, and knowing that you all were avid readers encouraged us to keep posting. If you ever find yourselves in Philadelphia, get in touch!

Fair winds!
Hans & Kristen
and Kit Kat too. meow!

We were hit with some pretty bad squalls sailing up the Bay. This one included not only thunder and lightning, but hail. HAIL!

Tangier Island

Crab shacks surrounding Tangier Island's harbor.

Whisper flies all of her courtesy flags to celebrate arrival back in Annapolis 2.5 years after we left.

Kristen and Suzanne dance the night away in Annapolis

taking our cocktails for a dinghy cruise around Spa Creek in Annapolis

Kristen and Suzanne catch up

Sunset over West End, Tortola, BVI

squally weather off Virgin Gorda

Captain Chris Bennett helms Felicia. average speed was around 8 knots, we hit over 11 sailing into the north sound!

Culebra from above

Sailing underneath the Bay Bridge just north of Annapolis.

Entering Philadelphia on Whisper.

18 April 2009

MEOOOOOW!!!

Life sucks! I feel very indignant. All I wanted to do was to jump off the boat onto the docks and run around and explore like usual, but those two-legs moved the boat as I was about to jump and I ended up in the water! Must I mention that it was FREEZING! And I'm not exactly an experienced swimmer. Still, I managed to swim ashore, in spite of much fuss from those two, and I climbed up a tree... so what if I couldn't get down on my own. I maintained my dignity. Humpf!

09 April 2009

Florida to North Carolina

Thursday, April 9, 2009
Southport, North Carolina.

We've been steadily motoring north up the ICW. Our sails remain furled but Boris, our diesel engine, is doing an admirable job. It's cold. There are cold fronts nearly every three days with strong winds, freeze warnings, thunderstorms, rain, and general discomfort. We're trying to make up for the bad weather with good food, as usual. Thinking about it, good food can be applied in every situation: celebrating good weather, bemoaning bad weather, waiting for weather. Go figure! One of the nicest things about the ICW is the large amounts of protected wetlands in Georgia and South Carolina. There are lots of developments, big big houses and bulkheads to prevent erosion, but there are also lots of undeveloped islands and marshes bordering the ICW. It's very pretty for us to look at, and also pretty nice for all the animals!

In other news, our friends the Tillmans on Someday Came have arrived in the Marquesas after a looooong passage from Panama. Check out their blog! Way to go Captain Morgan and crew!

checking crab pots

oops!

looks like a nice spot to have a picnic and go sunbathing, storm drain and all!

Hans is all smiles behind the wheel of Dave's Porsche. vroom vroom!

a couple boats behind us on the ICW next to Jekyll Island in Georgia

Nicely restored and maintained old houses in Beaufort, SC

Here comes the cold front! and yes, it was cold!

Two guys digging for oysters (clams, mussels?) just north of Charleston, SC

We've seen lots and lots of bird life along the ICW. Countless osprey everyday, but the highlight was these two bald eagles.

02 April 2009

North up the ditch

April 2, 2009

It looks like we'll be motoring up the ICW until this mess clears up:

satellite image courtesy of NOAA

01 April 2009

Florida!

Wednesday, April 1, 2009
April Fool's Day!

No, this is not an April Fool's joke...we're back stateside on Whisper, trading in the sunny, dry Caribbean for cool and rainy Florida. ugh!

We sailed from Nassau to Cape Canaveral a week ago, leaving Nassau on Wednesday afternoon and arriving in Canaveral on Friday morning, 288 nautical miles. Overnight we averaged almost 9 knots in the Gulf Stream! Full Speed Ahead! As soon as we entered the Canaveral inlet, the water color changed from blue to brown and we knew we were back on the ICW. We're currently in Fernandina Beach, Florida, enjoying the hospitality of our friend Dave (from s/v Shannon Glynn) and catching up on internet, email, laundry and hot showers. It's been fun slowly making our way up the ICW, watching houses go by and then snaking our way through marshland. At anchor the other night we saw osprey, two bald eagles, a loon and sandpipers on the mud flats.

Great Isaac Light, the western-most lighthouse on the Grand Bahamas Banks. Goodbye Bahamas!

Tell us Hans...how do you really feel about being back in the US on Whisper? (approaching Cape Canaveral)

Our first anchorage in the States. How scenic.

It's a small world: the other day we had the VHF radio tuned to channel 09, the channel the bridge tenders monitor, and we heard the boat "Free Spirit." Our friend Jerry from MA is on the boat Free Spirit...so we hailed Free Spirit on channel 16 and sure enough, it was Jerry! He is on his way north for the summer and we just happened to be in the same place at the same time. We had a fun night catching up and sharing stories.

One of the many bridges we'll encounter on the trip north, this one is in Titusville, FL. The bridges are a pain, but the friendly bridge tenders make up for the hassle. They almost always are cheery and wish you a good voyage.

Hey, aren't there miles upon miles of really nice beaches in Florida? Instead, this group choses to camp and sunbathe on the muddy ICW just a few feet from the highway. charming.

The Log of Whisper in print

Do you love looking back at old blog postings but hate having to search through the archives? Do you tell your old Aunt Mildred all about the Log of Whisper but can't show her because she doesn't have a computer? Do you have insomnia and need a sleeping aid? Great news! The Log of Whisper is now available as a book! Buy your copy now!

The default version is a hardcover with a dust jacket. Both soft cover and hardcover image wrap versions are available. They are identical to the dust jacket version except they will not include the information on the inside flaps of the dust jacket.

The Log of s/v...

maryland to Trinid...

By Hans & Kristen wit...

Book Preview

About Whisper"s crew

Hans:
Raised in Northern Sweden by fearless sailors and descended from a wooden boat builder, Hans spent more time as a kid skiing, fishing and terrorizing his younger sisters than sailing. After protecting the father land by serving as a medic/machine gunner in the highly ironic Swedish military, he was off to the United States for college where he met Kristen.

Kristen:
Raised in land-locked Southern Vermont by a Brit and a Vermonter, Kristen sailed sunfishes at summer camp but spent most of her childhood playing in the snow in the winter and building forts and dams in the woods in the summer. After college, the allure of living on a boat in the tropics was much more appealing than 3 years of law school and the inevitable debt.

Walking along the waterfront in Stockholm in the summer of 2001, the two would-be voyagers hatched their plan and worked towards it until their departure in November of 2006.

Kit Kat:
Reared in the backwoods of Northwestern Montana, Kit Kat had never seen the ocean until thrust down Whisper's companionway on October 23rd 2006. In spite of constant hunger, she has adapted remarkably well to the life of a boat cat.

Frequently Asked Questions

Q. You're so young. How can you afford doing this at your age?
A. The simple answer is prioritizing. We were lucky to chose the cruising lifestyle before we graduated from college, so nearly every major decision was based on our future plans afloat. All of our purchases (and lack thereof), career decisions, location and lifestyle were aimed at saving money for a 2 year sabbatical from the "real world." Once we found ourselves in the right place (Washington, D.C.) and in the right jobs (Hans: photography, Kristen: paralegal), we started saving money by living well below our means.

Q. Don't you get sick of each other?
A. 99.9 % of the time, no. Of course we have the occasional disagreement or misunderstanding but we're quite happy most of the time.

Q. Don't you think that you're going to get bored?
A. No, not really. There's always something to do on the boat, or another place to go with new friends to meet.

Q. What about storms? Isn't it very dangerous?
A. Try driving on the beltway at rush-hour! Sailing is very safe as long as you aren't on a schedule. Weather patterns are generally predictable, and we have the luxury of waiting for good weather before setting off on the next leg of our journey.

Q. What about Kit-Kat? How does she like the cruising life?
A. Contrary to her occasional blog posts, she likes it just fine on the boat. When things get a bit bumpy she finds a safe spot to wedge herself. When we're at anchor, she has the run of the boat, and enjoys lying in the sun and stalking the seagulls. No... she hasn't fallen in the water yet.

Q. So, did you both grow up sailing?
A. Not really. We both spent a couple of summers in our childhoods sailing on little dinghies, but nothing that would have prepared us for sailing a boat like Whisper. We learned through copious amounts of reading, and by trial and error on the Chesapeake Bay in the past two years. Lessons are for sissies!

Q. What will you do after cruising?
A. We don't really know yet, although we both agree that having all this time will help us make a very deliberate decision about our future. Of course, if there are any "get rich quick" schemes out there send them our way!
Update: Hans is starting medical school at Temple University in Philadelphia; Kristen is busy looking for work in Philadelphia and writing articles for sailing magainzes. Again, we're open to any and all "get rich quick" schemes!