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CaptMurph crossing
Port Royal Sound, May 2015

Captain Murph (Allen Murphy) is a retired US Coast Guard Licensed Captain.  OK, he had a more normal career for many years, but this blog is more about the adventures he's enjoyed, like sailing thousands of miles cruising full time on his small sailboat, singlehanding most of the time.  One experience was published in Sail Magazine.  Learning to sail as a youth in the Boy Scouts in 1968, he sailed the inland lakes of Ohio and Indiana on other people's boats and eventually on his own 11 foot, lateen rigged, cartopper Snark Sunflower.  

Murph at MidAmerica Boat Show,
Cleveland, Jan. 2011

Over the years he, his family and friends sailed, raced and cruised a variety of boats

Kelly II on the Chesapeake, 2010

including Kelly  (Catalina 25 w/swing keel, traditional layout), 
Kelly II (Hunter 170), Kelly III (Catalina 27), Kelly IV (Endeavour 32) and Irish Rover (Catalina 250). His own boats were sailed mostly on Lake Erie for over 4,000nm, all within the coastlines of the Lake.  His experiences on Lake Erie were a primary basis for his being an instructor at the GLCCSchool.  For the first few years of the GLCCSchool he presented a webinar on Cruising Lake Erie.  He also provided his presentation at the 2011 Cleveland MidAmerica Boat Show.  It turns out he's accumulated significant experience over his years of sailing.

His full-time cruising dream culminated with Kelly IV, an Endeavour 32 sloop.   He cruised and lived aboard Kelly IV, from May 2011 through August 2016.  

2,500 nautical miles, over 1,300nm of that was singlehanded

His adventures took him from Erie, PA on the southern shore of Lake Erie, the length of Lake Ontario, down the entire St. Lawrence River, through Quebec, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, across the Bay of Fundy, along the Maine coast and into southern New England.  After his 2,500 nautical mile Down East Cruise in 2011, CaptMurph set up shop for a couple years as a yacht broker in Annapolis, MD living aboard Kelly IV in the same marina where his brokerage office was located.

Two years were spent part-time gunkholing about the Chesapeake Bay on weekends but that wasn't enough for CaptMurph so he quit selling sailboats and returned to full-time cruising in 2014.  After a summer enjoying the middle Chesapeake Bay he and Kelly IV wrapped up the year by continuing the adventure and sailing south following the IntraCoastal Waterway for 1,049 nautical miles from Annapolis, MD to Melbourne, FL.

In Florida, CaptMurph found a wonderful addition to the crew for Kelly IV.  In fact, she quickly achieved the level of Admiral and led Kelly IV on another full-time cruise.  In 2015 Karen and CaptMurph sailed north along the ICW returning to Annapolis where they cruised the Chesapeake Bay all summer, sailing south to Florida in September.  One more winter in Florida and multiple discussions led the Admiral and Captain to a decision to make a final cruise north up the ICW and around the Chesapeake Bay ending with the sale of Kelly IV in August 2016.  They did a cruise together aboard the small RV and trailerable sailboat going to the Chesapeake Bay and the Great Lakes in 2017.  After delivering Irish Rover to Florida in 2018, they sailed the northern reaches of the Indian River Lagoon out of Titusville, FL.  While it was great fun sailing with family & friends, especially the rocket launches, CaptMurph decided it was time to pursue more "land yachting" adventures and sold Irish Rover in December of 2019.

CaptMurph's rig for cruising Land and Sea

Now CaptMurph cruises aboard the small RV "sailing" to windward at 60 miles per hour!    :-)

Murph's full time RV status led him to Jada, a renowned clay artist from Tucson, AZ, another full time RVer.  While both land cruise their separate routes, they regularly cruise together, crossing off bucket list items together.