Log of SV Free Spirit and ships company

The chronicles of the schooner Free Spirit and her crew, embarking on an open ended journey upon the great rolling heap. Free Spirit is currently pursuing humanitarian and commercial goals in the Dominican Republic, on the island of Hispaniola. Working under the Ocean Reach USA and Paradigm Research banners, she is serving as logistics headquarters, workshop, and development laboratory for many ongoing projects. This is the log of her journey.....

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Sunday, April 25, 2010

The Caves On Crooked Island With Uncle Raoul

Blayde, Christina, Kashara, Valin, Drake and Dylan off for a day of adventuring fun with Uncle Raoul.



Blayde, Raoul, Kashara, Valin, Drake, and Dylan donning swords like real pirates should.



Blayde just hanging from vines through the roof of the caves...



Christina's turn!



Raoul needed to take a turn as well!!



Kashara



The vines outside the cave....




Blayde, Valin, Dylan, Christina, Kashara and Drake



Beautiful girls! I miss you both sooo much!



I wish that I could have made it to the caves for this adventure...



New growth is a beautiful thing.



The beach outside the caves.



posted by CT | 10:33 AM | 0 comments

The Bird Rock Lighthouse ~ Crooked Island

~Bird Rock Lighthouse~



Up close and personal.... I fell in LOVE with this place, and was ready to drop the hook and refurbish this lighthouse into a bed and breakfast.



Not only is it in a beautiful setting, but the island is the perfect size to live on.



Rusty stuff.... At least it was not on the boat ;-)



View from the base of the Lighthouse



View from the top of the Lighthouse



The edge of the island



The beach



The inside of the base of the unit was divided into 6 or 8 rooms that were fairly large.



The rickety, rusty, falling apart steps to the top of the lighthouse.



Mathieu coming to shore after some island snorkeling and spear fishing.



Valin, Kashara, Lori, and Christina, taking a break on the front steps.



My little friend :-)



posted by CT | 10:25 AM | 0 comments

Landrail Point, Crooked Island, Bahamas ~ 5-8 / 5-18 2009

Just a little birdy...



Nathalie and the kitten that I think she would have loved to have brought back to the boat for Squat.



Local kids playing in town... This was the cleanest community we had visited in the Bahamas. The people here were very friendly and helpful with anything we needed.



The Gas Station



Tamer and I went out for a date night while we were here, and visited this little family run restaurant. When we arrived we were informed that they would not be open due to a birthday party they were having for a family member. But, they immediatly invited us to join them in their celebration, which turned out to be a full amazing dinner, and dessert. We also got to meet most of their family members, who were all kind and generous to us throughout our stay.



The smaller of the 2 grocery stores..



This is the local library, which we were never able to visit, because it was NEVER open :-)



posted by CT | 10:17 AM | 0 comments

Seaside Internet ~ Various Locations

The internet table at Southside Marina Provo, Turks & Caicos



Our Beachside Internet at Sumner Point, Rum Cay



Raoul, Tamer, Me, Christina and Mathieu at the Nut House



Christina working diligently on the porch of the grocery store in Landrail Point.



Lori, David, Nathalie, and Dylan playing with kittens and surfin' the net, what could be better :-)



posted by CT | 10:09 AM | 0 comments

Rum Cay, Bahamas ~ 5-5 / 5-8 2009

A small church in Rum Cay..



~Christina~



Rum Cay was a very small island community just North of Crooked Island. It was our second stop after leaving Georgetown. The first one was at Conception Island, which is a uninhabited Island. We ended up staying here for only 3 or 4 days. We had to wait for the delayed mail boat to arrive so we could buy some fresh provisions.



A little Bar/Restaurant on the beach by the main dock.



Rock carvings were all over the area surrounding the marina on the south end of the island.



Just hangin' out being crabby :-)



Christina snapped this picture, and I find it hilarious. It would really appear that Mathieu and Bretton are being arrested! Fortunately, this was not the case :-)



~Drake~



Sumner Point Marina was our Internet Cafe location here on the island. We had to pay $10 a day for it, so we would all take turns getting done what we needed to!



posted by CT | 10:02 AM | 0 comments

~UBUNTU~

Our dear friends on Ubuntu; David(not pictured), Lori, Kashara and Dylan traveled with us from Georgetown all the way to Luperon, Dominican Republic. We had briefly met them in marathon, Florida before we headed to the Bahamas back in February. We are so thankful to have had the opportunity to spend some time getting to know their family. They are a welcome addition to our Flotilla any day!



~Ubuntu~



David & Kashara helming us over closer to the Lighthouse at Landrail point.



Drake, Blayde, Valin, Kashara, Dylan and Lori



Bretton, getting in a little fishing on the short trip over. Because Ubuntu is a catamaran, they are able to travel over much shallower areas than us. We did not end up catching any fish this day, but the effort was there.



Drake and Dylan



Bretton and Mathieu in the cockpit of Ubuntu..



Getting ready to drop anchor...



Ubuntu at anchor, from the top of the Lighthouse.



posted by CT | 9:45 AM | 0 comments

Introducing Propcalc 4.0

Use Propcalc to easily match your hull with your engine, transmission, and propeller
Put the known data in the top fields, then hit the Update button to get the answers.
Results, of course, should be verified by a Naval Architect or qualified surveyor.
Data is provided for three bladed propellers of average type
For two or four bladed props, use the modifiers shown below.

Fill out the fields as follows:

Vessel LWL (ft) = Waterline length
Vessel Disp (lbs) = Vessel displacement
(max) HP = Rated Engine Max HP
Engine RPM max = Engine RPM at Max HP
Engine RPM cruise = Desired or estimated cruise rpm
(Cruise or Max) Kts = Speed to work the calculations for
Slip = Propeller efficience. 45% is average for a displacement cruiser.
Gear ratio = 1: Gear ratio of transmission
SL Ratio Adj. = This value will be added (or subtracted, if a negative value) to the calculated S/L ratio.

Key information:

If the "hp required" is greater than the "cruse HP", you have your cruise RPM set too low for your engine parameters.
If the "hp required" is significantly less than the "cruse HP", you have your cruise RPM set too high for your engine parameters.
If the "hp required" is greater than the "Max HP", then your target speed is too high for your engine/hull parameters.
The S/L ratio is calculated automaticaly based on your input. It can be adjusted if necessary, but normally it should be left alone.
If the calculated S/L ratio exceeds S/L MAX, then the results are likely to be non-predictive. Try a lower speed requirement.
SL Ratios of 1.1 - 1.4 are typical of displacement hulls. Semiplaning or planing hulls can go higher.

Typical propeller slip values:

Sailing auxiliary, barges, etc less than 9 Kts............45%
Heavy powerboats, workboats 9 - 15 Kts....................26%
Powerboats, Lightweight Cruisers 15 - 30 Kts..............24%
High speed planing boats 30 - 45 Kts......................20%
V bottom race boats 45 - 90 Kts...........................10%


Note:

it is possible to get irrational answers by irrational input , I.E specifying excessive speed for hull type and length
Any attempt to exceed hull speed (1.34 times the square root of the waterline length in feet) with a displacement hull are likely
to fail unless the hull is extremely fine (multihull) or otherwise exceptional. In such cases, an S/L adjustment would be in order.

2 and 4 bladed props:


For two bladed propellers, multiply the diameter by 1.05, and the pitch by 1.01
For four bladed propellers, multiply the diameter by .94, and the pitch by .98
PROPCALC
  Inputs:
Vessel LWL (ft) =
Vessel Disp (lbs) =
  (max) HP =
  Engine RPM max =
  Engine RPM cruise =
  (Cruise or Max) Kts =
  Slip =
  Gear ratio = 1:
  SL Ratio Adj. =
   
    Solutions:
  Prop rpm max =
  Prop rpm cruise =
  Pitch =
  Diameter =
  Static Thrust =
  Cruise HP =
  Cruise HP% =
  SL Ratio =
  DL Ratio =
  SL Max =
  HP Required =