I HATE SHOES

My days in Boston are dwindling. If wind and waves look good, I'll be out of here Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. I'm sailing to Newport to start my new job aboard Aquidneck for the summer, and I can't wait! It's been almost exactly three years since I came to Boston in a 16' moving truck. I don't think I could have ever guessed that my departure from this city would be via my own sailboat. My schedule for the summer couldn't be better: 4 days on, 4 days off, 3 days on, 3 days off. The daily pay, including tips, is actually very close to what I made sitting at a desk. It's been a flurry of activity to get Winchelsea  ready to go in time. I leave the dock tomorrow, I'll be on a mooring near Rowes Wharf for a few days, then I'll leave May 4th or 5th. Trouble is, I don't have that wind turbine up yet, and I haven't hooked up the solar panels, either. Not having a connection to shore means I won't have A/C power to my laptop, charge...

The rain stayed away today and I got out the materials to refinish her backsides. Three hours later after wet sanding, compounding and polishing the name went on. A very special thank you to Miss Maria and her connections for the use of the vinyl printer, as well as the pictures. Also note how you can see a little bit of reflection in the new luster of the hull, and that was before  two coats of wax! Also, Hugh came up, helped us gas up the boat and had my camera from When and If, here are the best pictures, enjoy!

Since becoming freshly unemployed I have enjoyed many perks. They all culminate into one though; just being able to do flat out whatever I want to whenever I feel its appropriate. The temporary job I took as a deckhand on When and If  fell through due to the shit-ass weather around Cape Hatteras. Thats what happens when your life is dictated by wind and seas; you can't get pissed, you can't get stressed out, you can't plan on it. Which, honestly, is why I love this line of work and lifestyle. Emyl and Seychelles decided to take this opportunity and sail their personal sail boat up from West Palm to Charleston, just so it would be a little closer when they bring it all the way up north for the summer. Just because I'm unemployed does not mean I've been lazy. My dad came down Tuesday and we are assembling a bow pulpit/bow rail and a wind turbine . The pulpit is show below, which needs to be sanded, I'll have pictures of the wind turbine when its up. The wind tur...

Since this will be the third and final part of this series, and although I could go on for just about ever about this trip, I should mention why this is "the voyage that changed it all." Before I got that fateful Facebook message, I was struggling hard with the job I have, my passion for sailing and all that is associated with the Ocean, and trying to connect it all together in a way I could put food in my mouth. The people I met opened my eyes to a field of work that was exactly was I was looking for. I had to leave the When and If  abruptly due to her being stuck in Charleston for what looked to be over 10 days. The weather around Cape Hatteras was less than favorable. I flew back to Boston, with a weepy eye and thoughts in my head that I would not return to her, and the wonderful people I had met, ever again. A week past, and during this time I applied to nearly half a dozen jobs within the realm of getting me on a boat. From the lowliest bilge rat position on a moto...

Sunday may be just another lazy day for some people, but I chose to get this 38 year-old Palmer 60 engine going.... Here is what I had to work with: After heading to the auto parts store to get a portable gas tank, the filling station to get the gas, and siphoning said gas from the tank to the engine manually (via oral suction), oh, and a few sprays of ether, PRESTO. What's more, many compliments were given as to the smoothness and comforting purr of her idle speed. Excellent day!

I should mention, given the title of this blog, that neither Emyl or Seychelles ever really wore shoes. I was now included in this refreshing liberation of feet. It was more of a safety issue, really. Shoes and flippie-floppies can slip and when climbing out on the bobstays it is essential that you are able to grip the rope or chain with your toes and really be able to feel your footing. The rest of the crew arrived later that first evening. They included Hugh, a lively guy at 19 who had helped the previous summer with maintenance work on When and If ; Drew, a 28 year old boat builder; and Toby, he was 38 and had been doing crew jobs and deliveries since he was in his early 20s. There were six of us total, and four had their captains licenses. The combined experience on this boat was huge. My bunk was just adjacent to the galley. Seychelles had recommended this one since we would be on a starboard tack for most of the trip and it was the driest on the boat. It was also the nois...

Side note: I left my camera on When and If. It will be returned to me next week, patience on the pictures, please! It started out simple enough. I flew to Florida on Easter Sunday to have a cookout with my mom and brother, hung around with him for a couple of days, and went to West Palm on Tuesday morning to start the trip up the east coast on When and If . Thats where things stopped being normal and started to get ludicrously awesome in a hurry. I arrived at the marina at about 9:30 AM and called Seychelles. She said Emyl would be by to pick me up in just a few minutes. I walked down to the end of the dock at the marina and waited. As I looked around, I saw what I would later find out was the largest mast on any sailing vessel on the globe. It looked like a skyscraper; it was hard to imagine a sail that large coming out of that tower. Emyl arrived and I hopped in the dingy. We took an immediate U-turn stopped by a beautiful new boat that he said had just got in from New Zealand, a...

When and If is ready to go, we'll be stopping in South Carlina due to weather in a couple of days.

I cannot express enough how glad I am to have started (and more importantly kept up with) this blog. Last Saturday I got a message on Facebook from a friend from engineering school I hadn't seen in over three years. In short, she said that she'd been following my blog and her sister and her sister's husband captain a boat for a charter company that makes its rounds in the Bahamas in the winter and Martha's Vineyard in the summer. Right now, the boat (ship, actually) is in West Palm and ready to head up to start the season. She wanted to know if I'd be interested in helping them sail it up sometime in the next week or two. Yes, that's her on the right; I'll give you two guesses as to what I said. It is an 80' schooner, built in the 1930s and called the When and If . My room and board and expenses are paid for, and they said they may be able to give me some kind of compensation for my time as well (!). I am in Orlando at my brother's house currently...

I woke up to a jolt at about 6:30 this morning. One of the rubber bumpers separating me from the dock had broken free during the night and a gust of wind smashed my hull into a corner joint on the dock. I didn't think much of it until I heard the water rushing in...... APRIL FOOLS, ha. Actually, I had a survey done this morning, and outside of a couple of very fixable minor issues, she is "ready to take me anywhere" as he put it. He also gave me all kinds of advice for little things to fix up to make life aboard more comfortable and generally safer. I'll be posting on those when I get around to them this month. April will be crunch month for me and Winchelsea  as I have to be off of this dock and onto a mooring by the end of it, which also includes taking her down to Quincy to get her hauled out and painted/refinished. I'll be sure to keep this blog updated.