I HATE SHOES

Summer is about half over now, and my thoughts are beginning to drift into what I will do at the end of the season. One thing is for certain: I will be heading south. New England winters and I get along like a raccoon and a bear trap and I can't tolerate another one. I plan to leave in early to mid October, dependant on wind and waves, of course. I already have one person on board for sure, a great girl Carla who does landscaping and construction and has plans to bike across the country next year in a custom trailer she's fabricating out of aluminum. My kinda people. I'm looking for at least one more and ideally two, but I think I can convince one of my coworkers to go with me. I imagine it will take me between 2 and 4 weeks to get there. I have completely made up my mind about that plan, no matter what condition the engine is in. I am heading south on Winchelsea in October, period. After I get to Florida though, I'm not really sure what I'll do. I need to get my ca...

It's been just over two months since I dropped the hook in Newport. As I may have mentioned before, my only regret is that I didn't do this sooner. Things are going very well; work is excellent, the dinghy continues to operate, I've almost solved all issues with the engine and I've made some great friends. Green and Isaac have both let me do entire sails without them touching the wheel, from off the dock all the way to back on. My confidence in my seamanship and boat handling has increased ten-fold since I arrived. I marvel at the simplicity of the single cylinder two stroke engine that gets me to work every day. It stopped working suddenly one night and I traced it back to using a oil/gas mix ratio that was too high, which I found was gumming up my spark plug. That and cleaning the bottom every couple of weeks have been my only maintenance. The new carburator on my inboard is excellent. It now starts with one or two tries, instead of a dozen with a dozen sprays o...