"Never start vast projects with half vast ideas"

I actually found this title as a draft from 2011 when I last wrote for this blog. Well...

This blog is coming back with a vengeance!

I've debated a title change to this blog too, but it is the name of two boats that made me susceptible to catching the bug for boating and sailing, and growing up in South Florida, that is a very easy bug to catch. I have to give a shout out to two boats called Mon Ami as well, although this one actually took on a few different forms along the way, first being a Seacraft, and then being replaced by a Grady White. Both saw a lot of offshore fishing and the Seacraft took me to the Dry Tortugas. What a place to fish and dive. That was my first trip where you took everything you needed and left nothing behind. Water, ice, food, everything. You washed your dishes in the same salt water the boat was floating in, as well as bathed in it, and you took block ice because it melted slower than bags of cubes. This is where I learned the right way to pack a cooler and not to go to the Tortugas in the winter. I can imagine sailing to Havana maybe in the same conditions since most of the prevailing winds appose the currents and if you've ever sailed over a line of elephants trunk to tail, that is how it is described, or at least that's how it looks on the horizon. No circus animal tricks for this guy, especially on a sailboat during a long cruise. I say that in jest of course because of what I am about to describe.

You may have noticed by now that below (or above, I forget which order they are listed), there's my  ambitious post to sail from Maine to Key West, map included, back in 2011. Well it was either that or get a job. Ironically, I actually got a job and as fate would have it, a pretty damn good one, and completely by a chance occurrence. Details on that later because it has nothing to do with sailing.

A coworker once introduced me to "Sailing La Vagabonde", a wonderful YouTube channel. That, my friends was a SERIOUS mistake, because it started a very unlikely turn of events. Now obviously, since this blog was started in 2011, that wasn't really "the beginning" but it definitely revived my inner desire for adventure and made me google Laura Decker. If you don't know who she is, google Laura Decker. When you watch her on Guppy circumnavigate the globe at 14 years old (a world record) in a 40'+ sailboat, you start to think your fears are pretty silly. She went around the southern tip of Africa I think. Most fears are, but no one tells you that and you have to actually get out there to test them before you start getting an idea of what there is that's really worth being afraid of. It's very little I can tell you that.  Not to say she didn't have challenges, and yes, she sailed much of her young life, but she had a knock over (amongst other things) and thought, well, that happened. Most people I know would have already called the Coast Guard to evacuate them off their boat. One thing that has always stuck with me ever since I heard it... "A sailor always gives up long before his boat does" or something along those lines. Hearing that has always been a great comfort and motivates me to endure, whatever comes my way on a sailboat.

After work, I would come home and instead of going out to bars with friends, little by little, I was wondering what adventures Riley and Elayna were up to on La Vagabonde. It's a story of fearless adventure when you learn how they got started. Think buying a boat without knowing how to sail, finding the perfect girl to join you on your crazy adventure, and learning along the way. I'm actually not sure who was more crazy, Riley or Elayna. Maybe I'll be able to ask them one day. They are currently getting close to taking possession of a brand new Outremer Catamaran that Outremer gave them for I think it is a year as a result of this adventure they started many many months ago, ignoring their fears and going for it. It is well worth going back to their first episodes though and following along from the beginning. Don't forget to give them a thumbs up too.

So back to that title, no half vast ideas here. This seems very natural to me, so here goes with the vast idea. Learn how to sail, find a way to get some experience (preferably affordably because sailing lessons aren't cheap), and then go cruising around the world. Well ya know how when certain things start falling into place, you start to wonder if this is meant to be? Well let me tell you a little story about that. This might be familiar to you and if so, you're way ahead of me, but if not, it may seem a little spooky.

Reverse a couple years in time. I'm sharing a boat with a childhood friend, it's kept in a very affluent yacht club and he asked me to be a member. Sure, that would be pretty cool I initially think, until I hear the $16,000 initiation fee and related annual costs before you even get a slip for an actual boat, let alone a yacht, hence the "yacht" in yacht club. Fast forward a year and well as most boat arrangement go, things dissolved and I wasn't going to spend $200 on gas every outing so this aligned quite well with... you guessed it, sailing. Ya know, use the earths natural resources to propel yourself for free around the world. PERFECT I thought. Turns out there's been a great sailing club just down the street from that swanky yacht club as long as I've been alive and I'VE NEVER BEEN THERE. Shame on me because what a find it was. Initially I took a keel boat class and Rich, the instructor always talked about how nice it would be to have more instructors. This was a cheap shot at me because I hear instructor and instantly think, yeah, I can do that. If I taught people how to fly, how hard can this be? You can actually stop and talk about what could have been done better or differently on a sailboat. Heave TO! As with everything a guy does, there's always the better faster higher syndrome we tend to suffer from (maybe that's just me but I doubt it), so of course there came the Cruising class, and then the Bareboat class and the sailboats kept getting bigger. At this point, thanks to the social aspect of the club and the fact they did an informal Flying Scot racing series every Wednesday evening when it was still light after work, I got some free crash courses in making a small boat go fast by employing the little bit of wind there was left in the evenings. Turns out there's quite a lot on Biscayne Bay. Lake conditions and sea breezes as everyone likes to say. Oh, and that crash course? There was actually a little contact. This is what happens when you watch way too many Youtube videos of old sailers talking about racing theory and strategy, except you're the new guy at the club and on the boat, but you're so excited to employ what you just learned. Then your fellow seasoned sailors and club members politely remind you of a few cardinal rules. First, you may have the right-of-way until there's collision and then it's your fault no matter what. Second, you can win the battle, but will you win the war? A very prudent point when you're turning someone up into the wind thinking you're so smart while everyone else in the fleet is leaving you both behind. Lesson learned. Also, one very important point. Learn who has recently had their brand new boat crashed into by a club member trying to leave slightly intoxicated and running into it with their car, and don't pick them to turn up into the wind thinking you've got them. Ouch. Luckily after a little bumping during a race, I had to say my mea culpas and we are friends now. I was definitely in the wrong and I had no idea about the recent collision to his boat. He took it better than I would have. This was also brought up when I tried to join the sailing club. Luckily things had been smoothed over and everyone had a sense of humor about it.

Anyway, as luck would have it, we were all around the bar talking one night and I was expressing my desire to take all this sailing to the next level and do some blue water cruising. I can't remember exactly what was said but somehow I ended up being introduced to a gentleman I heard had given a presentation with his wife about cruising. They had apparently been doing it for 30 years and at one point he mentioned they were in need of crew. I said "I'll do it." Now you have to understand something. I didn't even take a breath before saying that. Didn't think, didn't ask what the boat was, didn't ask what their experience was or where they had sailed, didn't ask around about who these people even were. I just said, "I'll go." Recognizing I might have been drinking, it being a sailing club and us sitting at the bar, he suggested we meet over a beer and talk about the details to see if I would still be interested. In my mind I was already planning. This is what everyone fantasizes about. Quit your job, sell all your stuff, sell your place or move out of your apartment, etc. This was the moment, and I didn't even breathe before saying I would do it. Now there are things that happened to me earlier in life that enabled me to be able to say I'll go without fear or regret. Sometimes things happen that make you realize that life is short and you better damn well take advantage of opportunities when they arise because you just never know when something may happen and you can't. So we met, and we hashed out all the details, and I still said... I'm going. But don't you have a job? I might not after I tell them I'm going on this trip! There was no way I was going to sit down with my boss and say, so by the way, I'm leaving for 6 months and think they would let me keep my job. No. Way. In asking a few other questions I got to the meat and potatoes. He said, I have one rule: Bring your own scotch because you better not drink any of mine! Evidently someone came empty handed to crew for them and helped themselves to his stash. Let's just say that was an unwelcome personality trait.

The emails started back and forth. What do I need to bring? (Foul weather gear). Where am I meeting you? (New Zealand). What date do I need to be there? (March 1st. No, wait, we need a little orientation time so February 21st). WHOA! Time is starting to fly and I haven't even gotten started.  The For Sale ads went up, the emails and calls came, and the talks had to happen. Time was awastin' and to be polite and professional, at least 30 days notice should be given. I also needed someone to take over my apartment lease, and oh yeah, where am I going to put all my stuff while I'm gone for 6 months... and my truck! So here's where the spooky part comes in. About a week after I notified work I was leaving, and they said, well that's great for you but we can't guarantee you'll have a job when you return, and then asked if I was sure and if I had actually bought a plane ticket already... they announced that one of our clients wasn't going to be very busy over the summer and wanted to send one of their employees down here to work in our office for... you guessed it, about 6 months. They wanted to keep her and thought it would be great to have her work for us for a bit. So, she will need a desk in our office, a place to live and yep, a car. Hmmmm.

I kid you not. As of this writing, she will be living in my apartment, driving my Jeep, and sitting at my desk at work. The only thing that didn't work out was she wasn't willing to take care of my dog. I'm still betting somehow that might still happen because my dog does Jedi mind tricks on people, especially when they have a sandwich in their hand, but I don't want to jinx it by telling everyone. The only thing that put a damper on this whole universe blessing my sailing adventure was the fact that a week after all that, my tenant in my condo up north announced he would be leaving in March. Well, you knew the good news had to end sometime right? I'll get that worked out but damn if that didn't bring the party to a screeching halt.

So here I am, sitting down to start up this blog again after sailing in a regatta all day, downloading, to the best of my recollection, what the last few months have been like and the crazy occurrences that have led to the fact that in 10 days, I will be on a two day flight to New Zealand with everything I  need to survive a 6 month adventure on a sailboat from New Zealand to French Polynesia, to Hawaii, to Alaska. That's a pretty long sentence (like this trip) that may or may not be a run on... and speaking of this, I do plan to write... A LOT... but I don't plan to be at my most alert, after coffee in the morning, editing everything I write, so please... just let whatever it is you find wrong with grammar, spelling and punctuation... go. I am going to, and that's a very, very tough thing for me to do. I was the son of a reading teacher, but is it really that important when the ocean is crashing over the bow of your boat in 40kt winds and you've been at sea for three weeks? Nope! Nope... it's not. That's the mentality I'm taking on this trip and in doing so, rearranging the priorities with which I view life and the things around me. I'll let you all know how that goes. You're coming along for the ride hopefully.