Guildive Cruises Blog

December 22, 2008

            Sub-zero weather has reached Maryland and the North Fork of the Tred Avon River.  Morning though toasty in our cabin with our Reflecks stove revealed skim ice across the river.  The affect on Guildive was to dampen her motion in the gusts of westerly wind.  We had a restful sleep but always mindful of the weather with our concern mostly for frozen pipes!  We have found Guildive to be a champ as she fired up without hesitation thanks to a space heater in the engine room and ample insulation throughout the boat.  We are very thankful to all the work her past owner had put into maintaining our new charge. 

            Here is a brief history of Guildive previously know as Sixpence, Istar II and originally launched as Restless.  Guildive was built in 1934 and numbered hull 664 by the Wheeler Shipyard of Brooklyn, New York for Stuyvesant Fish.  She has had 9 owners one of whom we are proud to state, the United States Coast Guard under the United States of America War Shipping Administration through the years of 1942 to 1945.  As with all vessels of a grand age we are keen to record and celebrate her past and look forward to meeting people who have accompanied her and know of her passage.  Guildive is a fine example of William Hand Jr.’s design grace but she has been adorned with additions over time and so is a vessel alive with character and vigor.  We have chosen to celebrate her vigor and spirit by offering her the name Guildive a noun used in old French Caribbean Islands to name a rumm distillery. 

Spirits Up!

The Guildy’s

N 38º46.20′ W 076º05.63′

It has now been a week since the boat was moved from the Severn River to Easton where she will be for the winter.  We have begun at full speed to get her ready for winter.  Within the first 24 hours of moving her we stripped her sails, booms, life raft, anchor and all 4 shots of anchor chain.  All in a voyage of discovery.  Over the weekend we have some friends visit and ate our first dinner aboard, and cranked up the diesel heaters to get some warmth into the boat!  Thank you to Haley who stayed to help on Sunday as we started to design and put up our winter cover, made of PVC piping and clear shrink wrap.  We wanted a structure over the whole boat so we could work on her decks and cabin tops, but also have plenty of ventilation and a little bit of standing room.  We were under some pressure to get the cover on as the week turned into rain and the plastic we were using cannot be shrunk in the rain.  So Monday was a big push for Zander and I, eventually turning on the spreader lights and working late into the night to finish all the plastic.  As the last bit was being shrunk the rain started, with smiles on our faces, happy to have completed!  For the next few months Guildive will be a bubble boat to be revealed in the spring with some new shine.  With the last few days being rainy we took the opportunity to clean out several of the compartments, engine room, paint locker, line locker, and a few others.  Lots of stuff but all of it we are very excited about exploring where it goes and how it works.  Today we got a call from the past owner, who owned the boat for 30 years, which gave us a chance to answer many of our questions from the past week!  All of our conversations with him have solidified our thoughts about how great a boat she really is and how much we are looking forward to taking her into her next adventure.

Next week will be another exciting one as my brothers come home from College just in time to give us a hand with some bigger projects, and hopefully ones that will make a visual difference.   We will be posting pictures so please check back often and follow our progress.

~The Guildy’s

December 11, 2008 Transit Day 

0910 off the dock departure for Easton

Crew 3 Todd Kana

Kate Kana

Zander Parker

Underway M.E. 1000 RPM, Navigational lights burning brightly all instruments functioning.

0950 Severn River Bridge, speed 6.3 kts, 1050 rpm

,1030 set stays’l, throttle to 1200 rpm

1055 Thomas Point light, course S, speed 7.4

1133 Bloody Point, course 220, speed 7.5

1155 North End of Poplar Island, struck stays’l

1215 Abeam R 84 Course to 190, speed 5.9

1320 Abeam Sharps Island Light

1335 Abeam G 7 Course change to E to enter Choptank River

1439 Abeam Choptank River Light. Course change to enter Tred Avon River

1625 All fast at The Boathouse at Easton Point.  

We spent the rest of the evening tidying up the boat, returning and retrieving tools and materials used for the transit.  Our transit a total of 45 miles was routine as far as sea travel goes, with overcast skies, rain, light seas and mostly commercial traffic.  We spent our time getting a good feel for how the helm reacts with is swift and how she rides through the ocean.  She can make good time with our top speed of 9.5kts she may go faster yet but we were not pushing for any speed records just charging up Mr. GM to scare the cobwebs out.  Our transit up the Tred Avon is narrow but Guildive does seek deep water and we had no problems following the channel a good thing as the channel is as narrow as a garden snake.  Guildive looks great in Easton but mostly because both Kate and I are still viewing her through our future vision.  The work will come naturally and by spring Guildive will glitter with new paint refreshed bright work and all the trimmings that will prepare her for our sail north into Penobscot Bay.  It is our hope to have updates on a weekly basis if not more frequently but we will work that out as the time progresses.  

Spirits Up!

The Guildy’s