Enemy Glory went into the water right on schedule Friday afternoon on April 1st.  We moved aboard Saturday morning and recommissioned the water system, generator, HVAC, and engine. Everything survived the winter in fine shape and we made a nice dinner in the galley, watched a movie and settled in for the night. Next morning I woke up to see the hull covered in about an inch of snow. With no snow shovel aboard, we decided to wait a couple of...

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After Greenport, we decided to take a ride from Essex  to Hartford on the Connecticut River.  By river, the path from Essex, CT to the end of navigable waters (navigable with a 4 1/2 foot draft anyway) is about 39 nautical miles long. It’s a pretty ride, but do be careful of the many posted “no wake” zones.  There are a number of them in the vicinity of the many marinas, but there are also a number of places where people raft...

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June 6-7 we headed off to Greenport, NY for our first real checkout run.  I’d spent the last couple of days loading up clothes, equipment, galleyware, etc.  With everything clean, and stowed in approximately the right locations, we were ready to move in.  Friday we spent our first night aboard, and Saturday we were planning to be part of a convoy with Whateva and Nordic Lady. We left in pea soup fog  near-zero visibility, but the Garmin...

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Sometimes things work out.  As it happened, a business trip I needed to take to Seattle moved earlier than expected, and some parts delays moved the ship date for Enemy Glory a little later than expected.  Thus, since I needed to be in Seattle on other business anyway, I was able to book an extra day and have a quick tour of the Nordic Tugs Factory in Burlington, WA. The tour was a great way to top off a business trip and was even better at...

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Though I’ve built many things, a boat is not on that list.  In principle, it’s a fairly straightforward thing, however as the size of the vessel increases, so does the complexity.  In a vessel the size of Enemy Glory, construction is a process requiring attention to, thousands of details. When I committed to Enemy Glory the dealer (Paul Tortora of Wilde Yachts – a great guy!  In fact, everyone at Wilde, and Nordic, has been...

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Since we’re planning on some long-range travel on Enemy Glory, I decided to add a marine SSB as well as 2 VHF radios.  SSB in case we’re outside VHF range and two VHFs for convenience (and redundancy).  I also wanted the ability to operate an Amateur (Ham) Radio station from aboard Enemy Glory for those rainy days when we’re just bobbing at anchor someplace. The effectiveness of an SSB is closely related to the quality of the...

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