I HATE SHOES

It's probably the most common question I've been asked since I posed my proclamation a few days ago. I plan to keep my job as long as possible (I'll either quit mid July, get laid off, or get fired for not showing up for a week because it's forcast to be 78 and sunny for 8 days straight in June or something), so I should have a small chunk saved up. I've got quite a bit in my 401(k) and I won't dip into that unless absolutely necessary. To make up the difference and get me to San Diego, the basic plan, or lack thereof, is to work odd jobs for cash along the way to keep food in my mouth and the boat sailable. Material luxuries won't even be kept to a minimum, more along the lines of nonexistant. The luxuries I will enjoy will be in the form of working when I have to, sailing when I don't, and living a life people dream to have when they're 60 at 26. Not to mention the freedom, breathtaking scenery, and exotic surfing spots aplenty. It's a trade of...

"The decision to flee came suddenly. Or maybe not. Maybe I'd planned it all along -- subconsciously waiting for the right moment." Hunter S. Thompson I am leaving Boston. There is a laundry list of reasons why, but it boils down to an essential few. This is my third winter up here, and to be honest I've had about enough. The cold is oppressive; it latches onto your soul, sucks your vital will to live and leaves you breathless and desperate. It inhibits activity on both a mental and physical level. I've tried to get used to it, but the thoughts of what I could be doing if it were 30 degrees warmer have overcome me. My career, more than likely, will be put on hold. Had I known that I would be spending 8 plus hours per day staring at a computer monitor in the middle of a cube farm, while the world, my youth and my life pass me by, I would never have signed up in the first place. I have been with the same company for three years, since I graduated college, and I hav...

As promised...enjoy! Oh, and comment if you so desire, please :)

Over the past few weeks, I've really started to adjust to living on the Winchelsea . I've grown accustom to the squeaks, moans and groans of living on a boat in the water (and the ferry from Salem blowing its horn at 6:40 AM each weekday as it pulls into the wharf adjacent to mine). Maria figured out how to use the propane stove that is installed on the boat, so no more camping stove! I've also recently bought a pressure cooker (saves a lot of propane, so they say) and am starting to cook more meals on board. I am switching to a more vegetarian diet, especially when cooking on the Winchelsea because 1) cooking meat smells more, 2) meat costs more, and 3) meat is less available when out at sea (trying to simulate actual cruising conditions). The one exception I will make to this is fish for obvious reasons, plus its my favorite food. In place of meat, I have been introduced to textured vegetable protein (TVP) which is a soy product containing protein "equal to that of...

So I've been asked a few times why I have chosen the name Winchelsea . The name has personal historical significance as it was the name of the ship that Alexander Kady came over on in 1749. His name was changed to Kedy when he landed in Halifax (he was part of the founding party of Halifax) and then it evolved to Keddy when Clifford Keddy came to Boston around 1900. The list of all passengers aboard that ship can be found here . The original Winchelsea was a 24 gun sixth-rate frigate, similar to the one shown above. She was built in 1740, captured by the French in 1758 and retaken two weeks later. She was broken up in 1761.

Houses, are but badly built boats so firmly aground that you cannot think of moving them. They are definitely inferior things, belonging to the vegetable not the animal world, rooted and stationary, incapable of gay transition. I admit, doubtfully, as exceptions, snail-shells and caravans. T he desire to build a house is the tired wish of a man content thenceforward with a single anchorage. The desire to build a boat is the desire of youth, unwilling yet to accept the idea of a final resting-place . - Arthur Ransome The thought and desire to buy a boat evolved over the course of learning to sail over the past few years. It all really began to take shape in early September when my friend Anna gave me a copy of Sailing Alone Around the World by Capt. Joshua Slocum. It gave me the thought that circumnavigation was not impossible, and after doing some research, I found it was something quite a few people do. Fast forward a few months, and I am now the proud owner of a Columbia 34 MK II. ...