About Me

My photo
Alaska, United States
I am owned by Pauline and Mark Blasky. My hull was built at the Duncan Marine Yard in Taiwan and launched in Dec of 1980. It is a William Garden design based on the Pixie Design and called by Duncan Marine a Freedom 45. They are the fourth owners and have owned me the longest. They have done extensive refitting to me including replacing my entire deck structure and rig. My masts are roughly 10% taller than original and now are made of aluminium as opposed to the original wood ones, which, though pretty, were always problematic. You can read more about me under "MORE ABOUT SARI TIMUR"

March 17, 2024

Our New Wash Board

 Just finished with our new wash board.   We took the storm window off of the port side.  And decided to cut a new wash board for the main companionway.  The plexiglass is only 3/8 inch thick and the slot is just under an inch.  So we needed to find some trim board to make up the space.  While we were in North Carolina we scoured around to find a lumber man.  We found Mr Bill Jones who not only had some nice cherry wood but he also planed it to our exact dimensions of 1/2 inch by 1 inch.   For those not in the know when you buy a piece of lumber the size dimensions are pre planing, so a 2 x 4 is much smaller than 2”x 4”.  We finally finished the fitting out and varnishing.  This wash board replaces the top two and allows much more light into the boat.  It is also easier to go in and out than the three board system.  It is not perfect but we are very happy with it.  Of course now we have to sand and varnish the companionway!


Outside Looking In

Inside Looking Out

By Itself on the top step



March 6, 2024

On Our Way Home

We just spent a week in North Carolina visiting Mark’s mom and dad, his sister Laura, brother in law Steve, nephew Jacob, Jacob’s wife Baylee and daughter Emersyn.  Great time catching up with everyone and staying on the farm.  The only regret was the trip was a little too short but it will be nice getting back to Sari Timur.

February 25, 2024

New Bimini Canvas

As we said in the last post, we were going to take some time and renew our Bimini top.  Well, we finished it enough today to put it up.  There is still about a day's work to finish off the accessories (the pieces that go between the dodger and Bimini and the piece that extends aft) but it is up and we are bragging.  Good job Pauline, on her first ever Bimini!






February 20, 2024

La Bufadora

We are still in Ensenada.  A rather long story is behind our decision to stay but the short side of it is that Pauline’s dad went into the hospital and we didn’t feel we could be away for the three weeks to a month it would take before we could get back to civilization and have access to an airport.  One of the biggest dramas of cruising remote locations with aging parents but we decided there were a couple of projects we could knock out while we were here.  The biggest one being a new Bimini cover.

Yesterday we had planned to try and make a major dent in our Bimini project.  All good plans can get sidetracked however.  In the morning our neighbor came over and asked if we wanted to go to Costco and Walmart.  Since it is quite a distance from the marina and he had a truck, we said yes.  Well, we did more than grocery shopping.  He took us sightseeing.  We drove across the bay to Estero Point and La Bufadora.  Estero Point is a large resort and community and La Bufadora is a large blowhole or maybe a blow wedge about 17 miles south of Ensenada.  As there were no cruise ships in it was a perfect time to go.

 

View of Estero Point


Our neighbor Scott and Mark at the restaurant 






February 3, 2024

Back in Ensenada

 Well Pauline arrived back on Thursday the 25th of January and Mark arrived back on the 31st.  Sari Timur survived without us.  Pauline’s mom has recovered pretty well and her parents are doing pretty well for their ages.   Pauline’s father turned 97 while she was there.  (Mom turns 97 in May). 

Mark’s trip was successful though a lot longer than predicted.  The weather was pretty favorable for this time of year.  They basically had one bad day each way which is phenomenal for this time of year.  Anyway we are now back getting Sari Timur prepped for going further south.  We are waiting for a package to arrive Wednesday and then the next weather window we will take south to continue our trip down the west coast of the Baja. 

 The distance to Cabo (the bottom end of the Baja) is just under 700 nautical miles but we will do a few stops in some rather large bays on the way down so we will have to go over 800 by then.

January 6, 2024

Small Update

 We were planning to leave and head further south just after the New Year (Mark wanted to watch the Rose Bowl).  Pauline’s mom had some health issues and was hospitalized twice in quick succession, so we felt an unplanned trip to Singapore would be good.  Then Mark got a job offer so we extended for another month.  The good news is Pauline’s mom is home and doing pretty well for her age.  And Mark in her absence was able to touch up the galley varnish and varnish the two forward deck hatches.  And of course Michigan won the Rose Bowl.  

Mark leaves today to head back to work and will be taking a tug from Seattle to Long Beach and back.  So that is twice running the gauntlet of the Pacific West Coast in winter.  

Pauline is staying for her Father’s 97th birthday and may stay for her sister in law’s birthday as well.  So Sari Timur will have to fend for herself for a week or so.  We hope you all had a wonderful holiday season and wish everyone all the best in 2024.

December 7, 2023

Plans Change

 Well an update to the previous post.  We just extended our stay in Ensenada for another month.  Mark got a call to help take a tug and barge from Washington up to Skagway and back.  Since the cruising kitty is a little light we jumped on the offer.  It is for only about two weeks so he should be back for Christmas.  Mark had to take taxis back to and across the border but the process went smoothly.  Pauline had to keep up the Sari Timur line and joined the other cruisers for two for one margaritas!

December 2, 2023

Ensenada

We have been here just over two weeks.  We paid for a month, but we are starting to get itchy feet and will probably leave near the end of next week.  We have been relaxing and getting small jobs done.  We wanted to tackle a couple of bigger ones but this marina is very touchy about working on your boat here.  We did get the cover fixed on the starboard lazarette.  We made new spreader boots and installed them on the mainmast’s lower set of spreaders.  We installed the new masthead light.  We purchased a speargun for when we get a bit further south.  We are working on the guards for the water maker.  Celebrated Thanksgiving.  Tried the margaritas at the supposedly original margarita bar (a few establishments claim this throughout the country). Had several street fish tacos.  Fantastic and under a buck and a half each.  And of course have started learning Spanish.  As usual Pauline is way ahead of Mark at picking up the language.  But he is persevering and hopefully can order more than a cold beer or margarita before the New Year!  All in all we are having a great time.


The original? Maybe, but pretty damn good for certain




Food and music in a local cantina.  The sauce that Mark is dipping the chip into is mucho hot but very tasty


November 17, 2023

Mexico

 We left San Diego last night at about 1900.  This so we could make the overnight journey down to Ensenada and arrive in the morning.  We picked this time even though it was no wind the day before and the immediate days after we’re predicting winds from the south.  So we decided a motor was in order.  

Ensenada by road from San Diego is over 100 miles but by sea it is about 70.  We arrived at 0845 this morning and were greeted on the dock by two staff members catching our lines and a member from the dock master’s office beginning our paperwork procedures.  He asked us to come up to the office at 0930 to fill in the rest of our paperwork.  This we did and they soon drove us to a money changer to get some pesos and then it was off to the various offices to clear in and get a temporary import permit for Sari Timur.  The TIP as it is called gives Sari Timur the ability to stay in the country for up to ten years or the ability to go in and out of the country.  So a very valuable item.  The crew on the other hand only get 180 days.   

All of this was done with the assistance of the dock master’s office and we were back on the boat having lunch by 1130.  We can’t say enough nice things about this marina.  We were even told about two Cantinas for fish tacos and two places for margaritas.  Welcome to Mexico!!!!

November 13, 2023

New Water Maker

 Part of the reason for taking a berth in San Diego was to install our new water maker.  We chose the Sea Water Pro modular unit which makes 20 gallons an hour.  This unit comes with an auto back flush system and high and low pressure gauges as well as a real time TDS monitor.  Plus it is a low current draw device so we can run it on a portable generator or hopefully an inverter while we are motoring.  

It was a little more of an event than we thought it would be to mount it.  A lot of the places to put things proved to be an inch or two too small so lots of last minute rearranging and trips to the marine stores to purchase the necessary extra parts.  But the good news is Saturday morning we made water and everything works ok.  We still have some last minute tidying up to do, i.e. plumb the line to the tank and mount the control panel.  We also need to build some protection guards for the hi pressure pump and pre filters as these are in a rather large storage locker and we want to use the rest of the locker space for storage.  But these are smaller projects that can done in Mexico.  Except mounting the panel, that needs to happen before we leave.  We need four 4.5 inch screws for that and the longest we can find are 4 inch.  But I am sure we will solve said issue in the very near future.  

Our plans look like Thursday night we will have a reasonable weather window to make the jump to Ensenada.  Guess we better start working on our Spanish!


Panel still hanging on strings the membrane (top) is nicely mounted though



The locker where the pre filters and high pressure pump are mounted

The mounted filters and high pressure pump