C . Shelton and First Mate Austin sort out life’s challenges and pleasures aboard a 30′ sloop en route to Adventure. See also The LiveAboard cartoon
and links to other nautical sailing adventure blogs.
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The LiveAboard 
hi there, made it to your page, very cool but I’m curious, is this a blog or web page? I’m slowly slipping when it comes to publication techno. Once upon a time i had a web site set up but all is so different now ;(
Hey Edy,
This is the blog and the comic is at the comicpress version of wordpress at http://cynxing.com/liveaboard/
I like your website. I live on my 1965 Islander 33 and love it. A man’s home is his castle, a sailor’s home is the sea, love for mankind and my boat, is home enough for me. Fair winds and smooth sailing – live your dreams and share your love of life to all.
I’ve really enjoyed your website. I discovered it while checking out the Berkeley Marina and then Berkeley Marine.
We’ve covered a lot of the same territory, though in different centuries. I went to Berkeley in the mid 60’s and eventually graduated from UC Davis. I once spent a romantic week on a sailboat at Steamboat Slough, in the Delta, with a gorgeous man who I was madly in love with. I lived in Davis for 30 years and traveled frequently to the Bay Area via every road known just to break up the monotony of driving the same roads a few hundred times.
I am currently living on my sailboat on the East coast of Florida with my 9 month old Parson Russell Terrier puppy, Emily. The boat is a 1984 45′ Morgan Nelson/Marek named “Callooh”, homeport Edwards, CO. (I think the largest body of water in Edwards is a pond my father once built to raise trout in, but so what.)
My divorce will be final in a few weeks and, at the age of 63, I’m trying to figure out what I want to be when I grow up. Grad school while living aboard is one possibility which is why I was checking out the Berkeley Marina. I doubt that the University would want me back but it’s an interesting idea.
I love living on my boat, something I had wanted to try since childhood when my father took us cruising in Maine. Florida is not somewhere I ever wanted to live but I found my boat in this marina almost 2 years ago and here’s where I’ve lived ever since. Callooh has needed a lot of fixing and tlc and is still a work in progress but I’m not as handy as you obviously are, so I’ve had to hire people to help me. I’ve met some great craftsmen here who’ve done some fine work on her but it’s almost time to call the job done and go sailing.
I was very curious about the cabinet you show in a photo on this blog, the one with plate storage, coat storage?, chopstick holders, etc. Callooh was originally built for racing rather than cruising and there is never enough storage, especially in the galley. I would love to see more photos of what you have built if you would be willing to email them to me. I might be able to adapt your ideas to work on my boat.
Happy sailing,
– Molly
Hey Molly,
It’s for people exactly like you that I send my pictures and words out into the vacuum that is the internet. I would be delighted to send you more photos of the plate storage. Figuring out best function in a small space is a passion for me. I also emphatically recommend the book The Finely Fitted Yacht by Maté. It offers excellent ideas about how to live well on board, details of how to build each project, and much humor. Do come find me if you wind up in Berkeley (and if I’m still here!).
Cheers, Cynthia
Hi Cynthia –
I do enjoy reading your blog, just haven’t commented for a while. Life changes and sometimes we don’t have much control over it. I thought I was going to North Carolina for a week or so in October. Going to give reconciliation with husband one last try. I’m still in NC. Callooh is still in FL. Divorce is final, financial settlement is not so I’m in limbo.
Glad to hear that Austin is doing better. I’ve had similar problems with a number of dogs over the years. It’s very disconcerting to see your best friend in pain or not in full control of body. I hope he keeps getting better.
I’m heading to San Francisco on Monday, 1/24. I’m going with my two borzoi so that they can do their “walk-on” rolls in San Francisco Ballet’s Giselle. They’ve done this many times before but it was easier when we lived in Davis. This has become a big production just to get to SF. My ex had promised to drive them out but he flaked (as usual) and I wasn’t about to drive two dogs and self with pickup and travel trailer to SF in the dead of winter, especially with the weather we’ve all had this winter. Couldn’t find any volunteers to go with me. Actually I had one but he’s an alcoholic with pretty severe MS and, while he’s sailed across the Pacific many times and done a zillion other interesting things, I didn’t think he’d be any help changing a tire in a blizzard in Flagstaff so I passed on that idea. Do you like ballet? I’d like to have a chance to get to meet you, if it works for you. Are you still doing the dinner cruise job? I’ll be in SF until 2/14 and should have plenty of free time but I won’t have a car. The dogs are only on stage for about 90 seconds each performance and then they often go shmoozing (sp?) during intermission but that leaves a lot of down time. I can often get free seats for performances so let me know if you’re interested.
– Molly
Hi Molly–
I saw your blog–I also have borzoi who did a walk-on in Giselle last year here in Palm Beach Gardens, FL! Small world! Hey, they will probably be doing Giselle again in 2012–would you be interested in having your dogs in the production? My boy might be too old by then–he is ten. Let me know….
Hi Bev, I forwarded your message to Molly who happens to be visiting in my area at the moment. Hope you guys can meet and talk Borzoi Ballet together… Cynthia
Great blog I am glad I found your site.
I love your art. would you consider drawing a picture of me and my puppers aboard our Falmouth Cutter 22? Please, Please, Please?
Hello Ali – Sure I’ll draw you if it’s ok to put the picture on the website. We could start a new section about Friends Of or Fellow LiveAboards. What say you?
I just joined “She Writes” and found your blog and had to visit. Our family spent six years living aboard La Gitana a Formosa 46, during which we completed a circumnavigation. Dream of a lifetime! I recently started a blog “Living on the Edge of the Wild” and my post today was called “Sea Saga, Part I – Catching the Dream, which tells how it all began. I’m having a lot of fun writing my blog, as I know you must be. All the best to you!
C.,
I wanted to make sure you saw this:
http://www.change.org/petitions/the-city-of-redwood-city-california-stop-developer-s-plan-to-build-luxury-housing-on-bayfront-at-pete-s-harbor
Former neighbor (pseudonymous)
Thx for the tour of Pt. Lobos. The most fun I’ve had in wet foulies in a while. I sent some photos to you, hope they find their way thru the ether and into your mailbox at the liveaboard.
Greetings from North Carolina. I can’t find the page for subscribing to Dock Dorks which I’ve meant to do for months. I also need to buy a gift subscription for a friend. Planning to spend Christmas in FL on Callooh – can’t wait to decorate her with led Christmas lights. Coltie , Meteor and Emily send greetings to Austin.
– Molly
Kool place, rock …errrr…Sail on!
Hey, this is a long shot, but a few days ago I received a forwarded email from the Berkeley yacht club BYC-Cafe@yahoo groups. It was from C.Shell and it was about an Islander 24 sailboat in Vallejo that someone didn’t have time for and wanted to donate. I would be beyond stoked to live on and sail that boat. Let me know if it is still available and if I could meet up with the person who is donating it.
Thank you, and I very much hope to hear from you
~Jack