A Well Deserved Surf

This is one happy guy!

Radar Replace Cont.

I'll spare you the images and language involved with trying to pull wires through the interior of the boat and out to the cockpit, all I can say is that Sasha forgot to eat lunch and was too tired to eat dinner on more than one day this week. If you know Sasha, this is saying a lot. Work was starting at 7am and continued till about 10 or 11pm.

Here is Sasha on the last afternoon of the project. The new radar display is larger than the old one, so we had to rearrange all the instruments to fit it in the same amount of space. Here you can see Sasha with his jigsaw cutting a new teak panel for the instruments. In the bottom of the frame you can barley see the tip of the black vacuum tube- I sat on the sidelines and did my best to "contain the mess" as he cut. We had to make the cuts in the cockpit because it was pouring down rain!

Here I am fitting all the instruments into the new instrument panel (yeah! they fit!).

After I mounted all the instruments Sasha came and connected the mess of wires, and amazingly enough everything booted right up! Wowza!!

We got everything finished just in time for a day of R&R before we take off for St. Martin. Looks like our best weather window is going to be on Monday Dec 12.

Radar Replace

After a year of Sasha trying to trouble shoot and figure out why the eleven-year-old radar unit would not work, it was determined that the dome itself had a bad circuit board. Mind you this is after Sasha has checked all the connections, wires, mailed bits and pieces back to RayMarine for diagnostics, and basically ripped the boat apart a few times. Of course, RayMarine no longer makes the replacement parts we need…. hum. Feel like buying and installing a whole new unit?

Here is Sasha aloft, yesterday. Good thing he doesn't mind heights because he was up there for well over an hour as we worked together to pull the old wiring out of the mast and feed new wires through, raising and lowering tools and parts up and down the flag halyards, and finally hoisting the new radar dome up and setting it on its mount. Really glad that was Sasha's job and not mine. Above you can see Sasha giving me a thumbs up on a securely mounted dome.

Tracing the wires through the boat is easy, it's ripping out the old and installing the new that's a bit harder. One wire plugs into the back of the radar dome up on the mast, runs down the mast into the generator box on the bow, then into the back of the saloon couch (bottom left open panel), then along behind the TV (middle open panel), then up to the instrument panel (top right behind Sasha). I do believe that Sasha is trying to hang himself with the old radar cord.

Here you can see Sasha climbing out of the TV cabinet saying "we're almost halfway there!".

UV Damage on the Genoa

As we were hoisting the Genoa we noticed that the bolt rope was beginning the tear because of UV damage. The protectant wrap must not cover that spot! As we were packing it to take into the sail loft for repair Sasha decided to see how far the tear would travel, about 2 feet is what we found! Glad to have this taken care of before the christmas winds pick up.

Thanksgiving Feast

Though I flew home to attend to some family business over the Thanksgiving holiday, I did not leave Sasha high and dry. I was planning to make a nice dinner on board Soterion, and since I already had the food I decided to cook everything and pack it in the fridge for Sasha to enjoy. Knowing how boys work, I also left him a detailed list of everything and where it could be found (panrty, fridge, freezer).

MOVEMBER!!

To help raise awareness for prostate cancer, many charter captains in the BVI participate in Movember. Everyone has one month (Nov 1 - Dec 1) to grow their facial hair as long/ crazy as they can. Some say Sasha has a head start on the competition, we believe that the other captains show a serious lack of commitment the other eleven months of the year.

Beardy Man # 1

Beardy Man # 2

December 2 shave off ... or... just better groomed.

Boat Show 11 Interior Pics

Cheque little bistro lunch of escargot, gouda cheese, and fresh baked breads.

Saloon snacks were Caribbean mountain mocha fudge, dark chocolate truffles, banana nut bread, and melon salad. Also on display is the first edition of Dining on Deck, a collaborative cookbook published by the Charter Yacht Society. Books on sale aboard Soterion!!

Starboard Forward cabin, set up to look like typical day use.

Port Forward cabin set for the start of a charter.

Master Cabin set for a quiet evening on a mooring.

Culinary Competition

Last minute plating- always a scramble. Sasha kept look out and gave me a 2 minute warning so that the food could hit the table hot just as the judges arrived. Here you can see that I'm plating dessert, I have the salt baked red snapper on the stove, along with the rack of lamb. YUMM!

Here are the judges and professional photographers running a muck in the saloon. The three dishes I made were:

Appetizer - Island Bites

Tostone w. jerked pork & passion fruit

Pappadon under salt-baked red snapper w. tomato-avocado salad

Caribbean spice pumpkin soup w. spicy seeds

Entree - Island Elegance Rack of Lamb

infused w. rosemary, thyme, and garlic supported by minted pea croquettes, over cassava sweet potato puree with hints of cinnamon and nutmeg.

Dessert - Cafe au Lait Pavlova

Coffee flavored pavlova with vanilla bean whipped cream and mocha fudge bites.

At the Governor's reception awards were given to the culinary contestants. Sasha and I took first for Entree and Appetizer. The loot that was scored were two beautiful glass plates made by Green VI, two bottled of Veuve champagne each with a little cooler bucket, and two Wanger rolling duffel bags.

Broker Hop Party

This year, as in years past, there was a broker hop party where boats volunteered to host brokers to a themed party of their choosing. This year the overall theme was "travel the nations". Brokers spent the evening hopping from one boat to the next sample foods, beverages, and playing games that corresponded to each boat's chosen nation. This one was a no-brainer for us.

We served three different types of home infused vodka- pineapple, ginger, and pear. Tara made peroshki, blini with salmon and caviar, and beet salad. The brokers were also encouraged to play our russian translation game! We had clipboards hanging in the cockpit with russian words and a hint in english as to what the word might be.

Here, we see Capt. Sasha in his stylish fur hat serving a bit of vodka to Ellen Stewart- a local St. Thomas broker.

Stern tied at the CYS Boat Show!

For the 2011 CYS Boat Show at Village Cay Marina, Tortola we were placed on C dock… which ended up being a total powerhouse dock!

All said and done…

Soterion swept the Culinary Competition, taking first in two of the three judging categories.

Secret Oasis was voted "best in show" last year, and threw the most imaginative broker hop party.

Nutmeg took first in the Multihull under 50' category.

Catsy took first in the Multihull over 50' category.

Caribbean Dream took first place in one of the three culinary competition categories.

We had three of the four new inducted CYS board members.

And, to top it off, we had the highest participation in the broker hop parties!

Yeah, C dock pretty much rocked it!

Yeah for mail!

Over the summer months Sasha and I always ship supplies to our St. Thomas mailbox. This summer we shipped a number of books, new crew shirts, flags, electrical supplies, etc. I'm not sure if our mail lady was happy to see us, or just happy to clean out her storage room. All our empty mail boxes doubled as headliner props, too! A little quick cure 5200 proved to be just what the drooping ceiling needed!

Soterion Yard Work

Sasha, as he makes his first walk around the boat when we arrived in the yard. (check out the new paint job!)

Showing off her new shine! Soterion got a new paint job this summer and she looks killer!

Captain Sasha gives the paint on the coach roof a big thumbs up.

Upgraded the entire propane system from aluminum tanks and copper pipes running to the galley, to carbon fiber tanks and rubber hoses to the galley. Just keeping us safe!

Foame's days were numbered (our old electric cockpit cooler), so we decided to have a custom fridge mounted in the transom. Huge space saver!

Summer Vacation

SailTrue is on summer vacation!  Relax, enjoy, we will be back soon.

Locked and Loaded

It was time to chip some ice off the ol' holding plates in the bottom of the fridge. He he he. Guess who got a face full of snow 6 times?? Unfortnatley there is no picture of Sasha's reaction to being hit with a snow ball while he was going about his usual routine of generator maintinance. It was priceless. Hope the ice builds up again soon!!

Closing Down Another Season of Happy ARRRR!

We are very proud of all our King and Queen Conchs from Soterion this year!! I think all the practice leading up to the show night really paid off :)

My Mom and I both knew enough pirate trivia to make it up for a dance!

This is what my Dad thing of conch blowing... or in his case "conch farting"!!

Spring Rolls Step By Step

Step 1: Chop & bag. Chop & bag. Chop & bag.

In this photo you can see my usual ingredients which are (left to right) chopped peanuts, mixed herbs & garlic, purple cabbage, pineapple, carrots marinated in lemon juice, mango, and spicy bean threads/ rice noodles. I top everything with peanut sauce and sesame seeds before rolling. If you are cooking for a crowd it's fun to put all the ingredients on the table and let everyone roll their own!

Step 2: Soak your rice paper until it's soft, then spread it on your work surface.

Step 3: Begin to pile the ingredients. I like to layer the meat (jerk shrimp, seared tuna, hoisin chicken) in the middle of the veggies.

Step 4: Top with a shake of sesame seeds, peanuts, or peanut sauce.

Roll!