Holiday Gifts for Sailors under $50

It is that time of year and you are stuck trying to figure out what to get for that person who has everything so you think to yourself "she or he loves to sail I'll get them something sailing related". Ah but what to get in your price range? Below is a list of great gifts for the sailors in your life. ( Or yourself)

Under $10
Honestly there is not a whole lot boat related under ten dollars. But there are always stocking stuffer needs. So then you decide are you going to go fun like a drink koozie with sailboats on it.

Or are you going to go practical like white electrical tape

$10-$25
SailorBag Sailcloth lunchbag- Perfect for a few drinks and a snack. This is ideal for a few hour sail or for the sailor in your life to bring to lunch. $15

The Marlinspike Sailor - This book is how to do all the fancy knotwork. Some fun stuff to do over the winter to learn better line handling and things like splicing triple strand. $12.75

A rigging knife- Every sailor should own one and it goes great as a package with the previous marlinspike sailor book. They are great for splicing as well as useful for all sorts of applications. $17.12

Mclube- Ok not the sexiest gift or the most exciting but honestly almost every boat owner needs an extra can of this stuff. It is the best boat lubricant and so useful. So for the practical sailor this comes in super handy.$16.99

$25-$50
Leatherman Skeletool - I keep mine clipped to my shorts while sailing. The perfect combo of pliers and knife without anything much extra weighing it down this is my favorite multi-tool. This year mine ( with frequent washing) has done everything from crack lobsters to open beers to fix halyards or cut a new batten to fit. $39.89

New Sailing gloves- Go look at their old ones and get a new pair because racers will chew through a pair in about a year and a spare pair is always a great thing. Gil ones $25.36

This Ships Flask- Come one this is an awesome way to bring some rum down to the boat. at $25.39 this is sure to warm the heart of your favorite sailor.

Holiday Gifts for Home Cooks under $50

Christmas and Hanukkah are coming up fast and soon. Holidays are a great time and we all have those that are foodies or cooks in our lives. The probably have many tools but the question exists what to get that great cook that is making you your favorite dish? Prices may change as they are of the day I wrote the list

Under $10
Digital instant read thermometer in cute colors $8.99. Every cook needs one or more handy.


Manatea Infuser for Tea $10  Adorable little sea creature for the tea lover. Also awesome in soup pots for things like bay leaves that you want to fish out later.

$10-$25
Pepermint hot coco mix from Sur La Table Seriously this stuff is amazingly awesome. It is like french kissing Santa's elves. $10.95

Magnetic Retro kitchen timer. It adds charm to the kitchen and is super functional and makes a nice bzzing sound when it goes off. Comes in lots of cute colors. I have a blue one and friends are always asking where I got it. $11.56

Silpat Once they own one it will boggle their minds how they ever did without. From cookies to roast chicken one of these goes under and makes cleanup a breeze on everything as a matter of fact feel free to get people a second or third if they already own one. $17.24

$25-$50
Immersion Blender soups gravy sauces and smoothies are a wonder using this. Fast as anything to make awesome salad dressings. All sorts of easy emulsions and smooth things. Comes in all sorts of cute colors or classics silver or white. $34.95

Oxo Good Grips non skid cutting board- Ok you are thinking a cutting board?!? Yes a cutting board this one has grooves for liquids and a silicone bit that keeps the surface on the obverse from touching the counter it is the best real cooks cutting board. It does not move around and is solid and not that expensive at $21.99

Le Creuset Stoneware mugs- They have the heft of a good diners mug with the pretty Le Creuset colors and style. They are great coffee mugs that keep the coffee hot and I will admit that I felt envy at my friends place when she served me coffee in them. $39.95

Peugeot Pepper Mill- These are the best lifetime awesome pepper mills and do a fantastic job of size control along with easy grinding. $35

Nutmeg grinder- If you have been reading this blog at all you have heard me rant about how much better real fresh ground nutmeg is then the dried stuff in a jar. You have probably converted to the fresh stuff and might as well help your friends out. $26.15

Keep tuned you merry gifters I will be doing higher price limit gift guides as well as sailor gift guides.
Happy Holidays.

A Few Good Sailing Movies

Ok so you have been watching the Americas Cup and after a comeback of epic proportions Oracle has won. Now what to watch to continue that fall sailing bug.

Wind
The best racing movie of all time and it is about the quest for the Americas cup. Not to mention female sailors will find a sailing hero. You must watch this if you love racing.

Morning Light
It is a Disney Film but do not hold that against it. This is the story of a team of young sailors from being recruited up to finishing the Transpac race. It has moments of greatness that are so real to any racer. When I was at the premiere years ago with a friend and the trim trim trim trim scene came on she doubted that was real and every racer knows that is real. Overall a great movie that has the character and warm fussy of Disney with the reality of sailing. ( Disclaimer I am friends with one of the sailors in real life)

Under Armour Women's Offshore Sedna Shorts

So I live in Baltimore home of Under Armour. I love the company and often sail right past their headquarters. So when they made a line of offshore shorts I was so happy. I went out and got a pair right away of the ones I tried on the Sedna were my favorite. I have been wearing them sailing. ( yes even sailing past the Under Armour headquarters)

Pros
1. Cute
2. The semi belt buckle aspect is lovey and makes them fit wonderful at the waist
3. The zippered pockets are convenient and open and close well but too small see cons
4. The fabric is durable and has held up to non skid without pilling
5. The fabric is sweat wicking and quick dry
6. Baltimore company

Cons
1. Too short : they are not long enough that if you are sitting on the rail your bare skin is against the rail which is painful
2. Related to 1 the too short aspect also causes rolling up in the thigh area with extensive movement
3. The pockets are not deep enough for a multitool or really much of anything a but deeper would be nice
4.A minor thing they only come in black and purple. I own the black which is nice looking but a dark tan or light gray would be good since well purple shorts are a but much for me.

Overall
B- I might get them again but they are better for cruising or hanging out at the bar rather then racing.

If you want to but them they are $37.99 and you can get them here

Note I am in no way affiliated with Under Armour I just wear their clothes and sail past their headquarters.

Review Musto Evolution Womens Sailing Shorts

Sailing shorts for women are hard to find good ones.

First lets define what makes good sailing shorts. 

1. Good fit. ( This is a major issue for most sailing shorts)

2. Pockets- they need to be of useful sizes and easy to open with gloved hands

3. Belt loops - I at least like to mini carabeener my multitool via a long line to a belt loop so I do not drop it overboard

4. Reinforced or padded and reinforced rear end.

5. Fast drying

6. Long enough to protect the back of your thighs when on the rail without being so long as to be ugly.

7. Movement you need to be able to have full movement for climbing around on the boat without the shorts pulling against your legs

8. Durable- Non skid can do a number on your clothes and given the amount of sailing I do has ruined several pairs of shorts. Sailing shorts are not cheap and for these prices should hold up. 

9. Style/Price

I have been searching for the best pair for years. I've tried on or owned almost all of the major contenders from Camet, Underarmour, Gil, Zhik, Atlantis,Henry Loyd ect. 

Finally I found a pair I actually love. Musto Evolution Performance Women's Shorts

So how do they do on the criteria we established above

1. Fit- Seems to be true to size. Waist to hip area is comfortable(which is rare usually sailing shorts either have a really tiny waist and huge hip area or no assumption of hips at all) and I wear the same size I do in most normal shorts. 

2.Nice deep pockets. The big thigh pocket I wish was on the right leg not the left but that is just me. It is plenty of space for your cell and money at the after party or during the race I often put the gloves in that pocket before the race. The thigh pocket is really two pockets the velcro one on top and the zipper one underneath. I mainly use the velcro one. It is nice for a roll of tape or a pair of gloves which getting things rigged up on the way to the race course. The hip pockets are also good I use the one on the right for my multitool and they are deep enough for that and that is a rare thing. After races it is big enough to hold a beer can. 

3. They smartly put the belt loops right at the top of the pockets so carabeenering stuff with an idiot line( a bit of light line connecting a tool to a carabeener so that you do not drop overboard like an idiot) to your belt loops and putting it in the pockets works great. 

4. These shorts do not have padding or the option for padding but that is ok. They do have a reinforced rear end which is nice and great protection against abrasion of nonskid. The texture also helps prevent slipping on boats with insufficient non skid when on the rail.  A comment from one of my guy friends was that the placement and grey color of the reinforced rear tends to emphasize attractive rear ends of female sailors due to the curve. I am not sure if this is true or my friend is just a typical horny sailor. 

5. Well last night I was wearing these and got splashed with bay water and soaked at one point on the rail and they were entirely dry by the end of the next leg. So they pass that. Not sweat wicking but they do dry fast. 

6.I'm 5'10''  with  lot of that extra height being legs so sometimes shorts are too short on me. These fall about five inches above my knee cap. This is long enough that they protect my thighs on the rail and help prevent those obnoxious rail line bruises. 

7. They have a nice oval in the crotch gusset and such so I can fully do the splits or get one leg entirely up and the other entirely down without issue. Total full range of movement in them without pulling on the crotch or back of legs. Perfect in this criteria. 

8.Durable. Since I bought these I have done probably 20 races in them things from ocean races Annapolis to Newport to Wednesday and Thursday night races on boats from 22- 80 feet and they still look brand new after washing. No rips, tears, pilling, or worn down spots. Rare are the shorts that can withstand all that with no damage. 

9.Style/Price- They are totally attractive enough to wear to the post race party but not so cute that you would wear them out in a non sailing crowd.  At $110 they are in the range but at the high end of the range for price of women's tech sailing shorts.

Overall I think these shorts are a 9 out of 10.  They are the best female racing shorts I have found go get yourself a pair.

What would I change?

They only come in Black or Stone. ( I own black) but my ideal color would be a dark tan. Stone is too light and shows dirt black is too dark and gets warm. 

I would put the thigh pocket on the right side not the left.

If they could get the price below 100 that would be much better.

Note: I am not affiliated in any way with Musto or any sailing gear manufacture. I just wear their stuff. I am also not affiliated in any way with APS which is where the link goes to buy these shorts. I just know they stock them. Neither company knows I exist and this review is unbiased in that regard. 

Champagne and Prosecco Saver

Rarely do I drink Sparkling wine, and rarer still do I end up with half a bottle left. Last Thursday, however a friend was over and we drank half a bottle of Prosecco (Italian sparkling wine). I put this Champagne saver on the bottle that I got years ago and have never had occasion to use and put the bottle back in the fridge. I forgot about it until tonight, we are now four days later. I saw the bottle in the fridge and thought to myself that it must be flat by now and ruined but uncorked it and it popped and fizzed. I then decided to pour some in a glass and tasted it. The wine in in wonderful condition still full of life and fizz and almost entirely as good as it was on the first day. I'm convinced and will never hesitate to save sparkling wine again. Oh and yes, I am drinking Prosecco while typing this post.

My father recommended Drag Queen to me. (Anchoring app not what you were thinking)

Sailing with my family last week I had the weirdest conversation with my father. He asked me if I liked Drag Queen.  I immediately gave him an odd look and asked him to explain.  Only then did he clarify that Drag Queen is an android phone app that alarms if your anchor is dragging.  Totally useful for sailors like my dad who worry about anchor dragging.  Thankfully we did not drag anchor but one night he had forgotten he set it and had his phone with him and it alarmed as we drove away from the boat in the dingy. So I am convinced it works. Plus it is just that weird to have my dad talking about drag queen. 

Sail Caribe and the Spanish Virgin Islands

Well i have not posted much in the last week because I have been on vacation. My family rented a boat from Sail Caribe in Puerto Rico and sailed the Spanish virgin islands. We were aboard a Jeanneau 409 which is a nice boat with three cabins and two heads. The best things about this boat were that it sailed very well and the fridge and freezer were fantastic. I know gushing about a fridge sounds weird but a good fridge makes a much nicer trip.
First night in Puerto del Ray.
   We did the thing where we slept aboard the night before the charter. This was nice as we got to go grocery shopping and get everything ready the night before. I recommend Thrifty car rental if you are getting a car at the airport as they have a drop off literally two doors away from Sail Caribe. Maria at Sail Caribe checked us in and got us to the boat. It is a lovely and humongous marina. Truly walking around the docks and just looking at all the boats is a pleasure in itself. Among thousands of other boats one of the ships from Pirates of the Caribbean was located there.
Checkout
  Ziggy did our checkout. The thing where they go over the boat and operation and make sure they can trust you with the boat. Ziggy was very thorough and great but took a very long time. However it was much more focused on boat then nitpicking and thus much better then most other checkouts. A quick docking at the fuel dock later and then we are in business sailing over to Culebra.
Culebra
 It was a nice sail about 10 knots breeze and easy navigation. We anchored at

ensenada honda( no relationship to the cars). Anchoring was easy. I love it when anchors hold right away. We ended up staying there two nights due to concerns over the wind being out of non typical directions and not wanting my mom to get seasick. We swam and beached and had a fantastic time. We rented a golfcart to go over to the flamenco beach. I would not do this again as it meant spending more time messing with renting the golf cart then at the beach. I would just cab over. Cheaper and less hassle. Flamenco beach was lovely and I found a great sand dollar however later in the trip my mother smashed it accidentally so it did not make it home. If you go look for a new one for me.
Culebrita
The next anchorage was Culebrita. This was a very pretty anchorage you could dingy in and walk a path up to a admittedly run down lighthouse but it was a nice walk and the cacti and views were fantastic. As we were grilling dinner that night aboard we saw several sea turtles swim by our boat. After dinner when it got dark we saw some glow in the dark something floating by. This was a bit of a rolling anchorage and a tougher place to anchor as the shore line goes from very deep to very shallow very quickly and you want to anchor where there is room to swing when you have enough scope out but not in too deep water.
Vieques
We moored at a private mooring owned by a nice woman named Christina in Esperanza. She charges 25 dollars a day and the mooring was recommended by the Sail Caribe folks. Truly one of the easiest moorings to pick up ever as she made it very obvious by tying pool noodles to her painters and very easy by having two painters not one. For those of you who do not moor typically a mooring is a concrete block  or other large secure heavy thing at the bottom with then lines that go up to a main ball from there one or rarely two painters these are lines that you pull from the mooring ball to the boat to attach your boat to the mooring. Having two makes it easy to attach it to both sides post and starboard of the bow of the boat. We had had a long sail from Culebrita to Vieques and spent two nights at this mooring. The thing I disliked the most about Esperanza is the dingy dock. Although I had no difficulty my parents and aunt had a ton of difficulty getting from the dingy to the dock at the dingy dock to the point that we ended up beaching the dingy letting them off and then  my going to the dingy dock. If Esperanza would simply add a place to step up from their dingy dock it would be much much improved as a location for boaters. During the first night we went to a place called Tradewinds for dinner. It was all the way to the left on the main street from the dingy dock. The conch  salad was fantastic and they have a rum drink that was triple rum triple juice that was on the happy hour menu that was dangerously tasty. The next day we went to sun beach via dingy and swam and relaxed. Then after dinner we went to the bio luminescent bay called mosquito bay for a kayak tour which was fantastic. See my other special post. But totally worth it do that.
Palomino

The next day we sailed to Palomino Island. The majority belonged to some fancy resort but there were several great free mooring balls and it was a lovely location. Perfect for trying to be back early the next day due to flights. The surf was up but the mooring balls were a lot more protected then you might have expected and it made a last stop of just tropical lovely.

Bioluminescent bay on Vieques

Sadly I can not show you pictures as it doesn't photograph well but let me tell you about the bioluminescent bay. We took a tour with Abes kayak tours. From our boat moored in Esperanza we dingyed in and then were picked up by Abes right by the short dingy dock. They took us to a parking lot where we signed paperwork then we got back in vans and taken over the most pothole strewn road I have ever seen.  Once finally in the kayaks it was so neat every time you disturbed the  water it glowed green from the plankton. Seriously you would paddle and the area would glow green. Then if you tapped on your kayak with the paddle the noise would disturb the fish and they would dart away in green trails. It looked like something out of a alien movie. Totally fantastic. I loved it. Sorry no pictures as the need for a fancy waterproof camera in order to get good photos prohibited me. But just trust me totally excellent.

Handy Silicone Cast Iron Skillet Handle Covers

A few weeks ago I bought these silicone cast iron skillet handle via a promotion that Fab was having. They are only $10 +shipping. 

They have been life changing. I love my cast iron skillet and use it just about every day. Seriously if you do not have one you should get one. But anyway onto the subject of the silicone handle covers. They come in a two pack blue and green although I have just permanently put the blue one of my skillet and have not yet used the green. Instead of always having to awkwardly grabbing an oven mitt you can grab directly on the handle and even leave the handle on while cooking. This makes it so much easier to make really anything and even to clean the skillet. 

Total life changer. I saw via dealnews.com  that Fab was having another special that you get 10 dollars off via this link  which means that you can go follow the link and get these just for the price of shipping. Neither Fab nor dealnews has a clue who I am. I just like these handles and thought you might too. 

Websites I love

We all have our favorite websites and blogs and I for one am always looking for more. In case you are wondering these are the ones that are tops on my to read list.

Sailing
APS Stern scoop- Rare but great gear reviews.
gCaptain - all the maritime news
Sailing Anarchy - Sailing news with a hint of snark
Spinsheet - Everything that is anything in the world of Chesapeake Bay sailing

Food
Bakerella- Cakepops and other cute food
CakeWrecks- A reminder that no matter how bad the dessert turned out it could be worse
Smitten Kitchen- A very pretty food blog with delicious inspiration
Sweetopia- She makes the most impressive cookies ever
The Kitchn- A major food website recipes products everything.
Tide and Thyme- An eastern shore of MD food blog with great ideas

ISAF Race Rules of Sailing 2013 The Changes

ISAF Race Rules of Sailing are the rules that govern the sport and almost all racing. Every few years the make the changes and release them in a new book of sailing regulations. This recent version is for 2013-2016 so these are the rules for the next three years.
Changes from the 2012 season are:
Part 1 Section 6: Environmental Responsibility-
                 Basically do not throw your trash in the water on the way to or during or way back from a race. Seriously, this should not be something even under question. Who does this? We sail in part because we love the water lets respect it and put the trash in a dumpster back at the marina.

Rule 20 Hailing Room to Tack section 20.3 Passing on the hail to additional boats

If Almonds are boats and the pretzel is an obstruction

              Lets say three boats are all on same course and Boat A hails for room to tack to boat B. It used to be that unless Boat B needed to tack for her own benefit she could not hail Boat C for room to tack. Now if Boat B needs room to tack in order to give room to Boat A while avoiding boat C she can now hail to Boat C for room to tack.

Surfing in section 42.3
Technically you used to only be able to manipulate the sails once per wind generated wave to surf. Now waves that are not at the same direction as the wind get that same treatment you can change sails once per wave to surf regardless of type of wave. This is a minor change and one that most people will not be aware changed.

Informing the Protestee section 61.1
RC can now inform a boat that they are being protested by RC after the race instead of as soon as reasonably possible. I'm not sure I like this rule as it eliminates the ability for the boat to do a turn to eliminate the protest. But let us see how it plays out in real life.

Protests in section 63
   If a judge sees the incident in question he or she must say so. Seems obvious, but this should make the protest room more fair. Removal of Bonus point system 90.3
There is no longer the bonus point system only low point system for scoring unless race rules state otherwise which is fine as the Chesapeake bay pretty much only uses low point.

A11 Scoring abbreviations
Now DPI= Discretionary penalty imposed  
This is fine although DPI makes me think of old printers dots per inch.

Clam Chowder and Lobster Bisque because the Ravens won

I live in Baltimore Ravens territory and most of my family lives in New England Patriots territory. We had a bet over which team would win the Championship and got to the Superbowl. Ravens won!! So I received in the mail the other day a package containing Lobster Bisque and Clam Chowder from Cape Cod Stuffed Quahog Company
Ravens victory has never tasted so delicious.
Both soups came frozen. The lobster bisque all you do is put the frozen bisque in a small saucepan and heat on low  or medium low until nice and warm. You know a bisque is fantastic when I find myself using a spatula to scrape down the side of the pan and get the last half a spoonful like you do with cookie dough.
The clam chowder you simply put as much milk(they say to use whole milk but I used 2% and it was creamy and delicious) in the pan as you do frozen clam chowder stock. Also heat on low or medium low until warm and tasty. Add a grind of fresh ground pepper and think of Massachusetts.
So so good. Glad the Patriots lost to the Ravens but also very glad to find this excellent company with the amazingly good soup.It is a total taste of new england down here in the mid atlantic.

Go Ravens!!


Disclaimer: Cape Cod Stuffed Quahog company has no idea who I am. I just loved the bisque and really liked the clam chowder. I have one container left of each and plan on ordering more soon.