Lagoon 380

Farley’s Friday: A Boatless Wheaten Terrier

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 5 Comments

Farley here,

I was born in the fall of 2008. In July of 2009, I moved on Mattina. She’s a catamaran and is great for dogs. The only life I remember is on my sailboat. I’m a cruising dog. I love running free on the beach. I get to chase crabs.

Farley on Deck

I think I’m a key part of our pack, but how come I don’t get a say in key decisions! Mathew and Kristina just laid a whopper on me.

They sold Mattina. How could they without asking me? You heard me right. They sold my sailboat.

“Why?” I bark at Kristina.

“Don’t us that tone with me,” she says.

I sit in my most handsome way, roll my eyes up at her, and lay my head on her lap. “But why?” I whine while my tail swishes back and forth on the floor. “I’m sad.”

“Don’t you remember living in the mountains?” she asks.

“Sort of,” I say in my low growl. I’m very suspicious of this.

“Don’t you remember Joe?”

My ears perk up and I peak around at the scene on her laptop. There he is. I remember him. I tilt my head to Kristina.

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She smiles. “I see you do. There are lots of dogs and lots of off leash time. You’ll be fine.”

And I will be.

Woof Woof.

 

Mattina Spinnaker Sailing

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

Even though we have our lovely boat for sale, Mattina continues to give us gifts as we sail toward Florida.

As we head north, the wind comes from the south at 15 knots and we raise the spinnaker. We sail for two days under these conditions, happy to be cruising at 7 knots over ground heading for our destination.

Mattina Sailing May 2014

 

With the wind and weather treating us well, we’ll make the most of our final days in the Bahamas. If you are interested in buying Mattina or would like to see her in Florida, please check out our listing. You can also contact us through that page.

 

Thanks for reading . . .

Farley’s Friday: My Human Came Home

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 5 Comments

Farley here,

My human is home.

Playing on the beach, I heard a noise. I know that voice, I thought. I looked left, looked right and there she was. Yay.

Farley Greets Tina

I’m was soooo happy I jumped on her. Now, I’m not allowed to jump on people, but I could see Kristina felt guilty about leaving me, so she hugged me instead of telling me to sit. I still don’t get where she went. Humans are strange sometimes.

Life is good again.

 

Woof Woof.

Farley’s Friday: One Sad and Lonely Wheaten Terrier

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 8 Comments

Farley here,

I’m soooo sad. I don’t understand what’s happened. My human is gone. Where? I just don’t know.

I watched her leave. She got in a dinghy of humans I don’t know very well, left our boat, and waved goodbye.

“Wait,” I bark. “Where are you going?”

I’m very suspicious because she has a suitcase with her. That can’t be good.  And look how pathetic I look trying to get her to stay.

Farley sad

 

I howl my best howl, and she waves and tells me to be good.

Matt, my other human, whom I love, but he doesn’t baby me like Kristina does, is doing his best to keep me happy. I didn’t eat dinner the first night. I thought that might make Matt get her back, but when that didn’t work, I ate anyway. I was just too hungry. I’ll need to try something else to make Matt understand.

But where – oh – where is Kristina?

And when will she come home? Matt keeps saying soon, but what does that mean? I’m soooo sad.

Woof Woof, Boo Hoo.

Women Sailing A Lagoon 380

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 3 Comments

We were out the other day sailing our Lagoon 380 with friends. There’s nothing like sailing in 15 knots off the beam in flat seas. Mattina sailed at 8.5 knots over ground.

I had to laugh at this photo of me and what the wind does to my hair. It’s a good think a person can’t see themselves most of the time.

Sailing in between Stocking Island and George Town give us lots of opportunity to tack and gibe. A piece of cake on our lagoon as she’s a catamaran and the boat stays flat during sail maneuvers.

Tina at winch

Anyway, sailing is everything about speed over ground and nothing about looks.

Thanks for reading . . .

Beach Yoga

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

Since Mattina is for sale, we are trying to make the most of our time in the Bahamas and one of my favourite things to do is yoga on the beach.

Beach Yoga 2014

What do you need to do this?

If you don’t have a yoga instructor handy, yogadownload.com has a variety of classes that you can download onto an iPod. Then you need a set of speaks with loud volume. You might be surprised how loud the waves are. We discovered this early on.

I love listening to a class that mentions wind or sky, and I’m actually outside and can feel the wind and see the sky.

The only downside is if holding a pose properly is important to you. Sometimes you shift in the sand or the wind pushes you.

Try holding the tree pose in a 20 knot gust.

Thanks for reading . . .

The Day We Bought Mattina

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

Now that Mattina is for sale, all kinds of memories are surfacing. Things I haven’t thought of in a while. Sometimes in life you just have to laugh at yourself.

On the day we moved on board Mattina, we drove from Ottawa to a marina in Delaware and met the owners. We’d met the previous fall when  we flew to Baltimore to see Mattina, and since had been corresponding at a furious rate about Mattina. As it turned out, not enough to know the boat.

Mattina Day 1 2009 07 13

After checking out our lovely new boat, we agreed with the previous owners to go out for a drink and celebrate. Well, drinks turned into dinner and darkness had settled  when we arrived back on board.

Did we think about arriving in the pitch black this ahead of time? Not so lucky.

Try getting on an unfamiliar boat in the dark and figuring out the electrical panel. It’s hard to know which switch to flip to give power to the lights when the lights are out. We managed, but the event was good reminder we better take some time and get to know our knew home well.

New boat owner mistake. Gotta laugh.

Thanks for reading.

Volleyball While Sailing?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 5 Comments

We often get asked how we keep fit while cruising, and usually I write about the sports I like to do. Today I thought I share a bit of Matt’s life on the  beach. He’s the one in the red shirt about to set the ball.

Volleyball

Everyday on Volleyball beach a group of people meet to play ball. There is anything from 2s to 9s at all levels of play. The 9s is fun volleyball. It’s comprised of nine people on each side, and as far as I can tell, a lot of laughter is mandatory.

On the other end of the scale is 2s. This is for the more serious players and Matt’s personal favourite. Next comes 3s and then 4s. Nothing like a bit of competition to make a guy happy.

If you’re interested in this lifestyle, Mattina is for sale.

Thanks for reading . . .

Writing Platform

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 3 Comments

Do you have place you love to write from?

Here is the view from my place this month. This is Sand Dollar beck in the Bahamas. I still can’t get over the colour of the water, and I’ll admit, it can be distracting. When I write from the bow of the boat, I usually use pen and paper. I worry about dropping my laptop overboard.

Using a pen for a change makes me write in a different way and I find it helps with my imagination. Then when I type the words I like to see the word count grow. It’s the little things that make me happy.

View from Mattina

Sometimes it’s good to sit back and reflect how great life can be. Then, back to work and get some words on the page.

Thanks for reading . . .

Why Did I Ever Watch Jaws?

~ Kristina Stanley ~ 4 Comments

Is there a movie you wish you’d never seen?

Mine is Jaws. Even though I watched the scary movie a long time ago, the dreaded music sounds off in my head – and you know the music I am talking about – as soon as I swim laps. I like to watch a scary movie, something like Aliens works for me. I know I’ll never have to face an alien the way Sigourney Weaver did – at least I hope I won’t. But sharks? I’m in the ocean most days. I love to swim laps, but I’ve yet to make it through a session without thinking of Jaws.

Below are two dolphins swimming along my favourite beach for laps. A mom swimming with her young one. A lovely sight. An amazing opportunity to swim in the wild with a wild animal.  A big grey creature, but not the kind to be afraid of.

Dolphins at Sand Dollar

My only close up and personal encounter with a shark happened while I was kayaking. Unlucky for me, I got between a shark and its lunch. The annoyed shark bumped the side of my kayak. A good message to tell me to get away from the buffet. All the food was spoken for. Was I scared – yup. Did I go right back to the same spot the next day – yup. Somehow I feel safe in the kayak, but not while I’m swimming.

Someone please turn off the Jaws music so I can swim in peace.

Thanks for reading . . .