Twenty Months and Counting

I may just beat the May ’14 deadline for having the boat ready. Actually, I believe I’ll have the boat ready by December of 2013. That will give me an even 12 months to practice boat skills and prepare the rest of my business to leave in December ’14.

That’s the plan now – leave on December 1, 2014. The Gulf hurricane season closes the last day of November and doesn’t reopen until June 1. That gives me six months of sailing and fooling around without worrying about big storms. By then I’ll have decided if I like the lifestyle. Then it’s a matter of running south to get below the hurricane belt or north back home.

I have the good fortune of a mentor arriving at just the right time. There's the usual "committee" that I consult on various projects - paint the mast or not, what stove works best, anchor sizes for my particular boat - that sort of thing. This fellow is a captain with many years of experience operating crew boats and delivering private yachts in the Gulf and the Bahamas. He's willing to teach me the nuts and bolts of navigating, charting, trip planning and other necessities of getting around safely. He's also volunteered to go sailing with me and show me how this sailing thing is actually done. That will be a real time saver.

After class is over, we'll celebrate with Mexican food!

Two Birds, One Stone

While I was helping a fellow liveaboard install his wind vane steering assembly, I mentioned I was selling my Miata. I figured I could take the cash from the sale and get, what else, boat stuff. We fiddled with the assembly for a while longer and went our separate ways.

Later in the week he proposed that I trade him the car and maybe a little cash for the vane steering gear. He needs a car and I have one; I need a vane steering system and he has one. Since I’ll be ready to leave before him, he can replace the steering gear later.

So now I have a Cape Horn windvane steering system in my garage where the little red car was. We celebrated over Mexican food.