Thanks for the tour! This is great - I keep meaning to do this with our boat, but lately we're dealing with the clutter issue. We just need to invite some people over and that forces us to clean it up.
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...
Overall, things have been reletively routine in Newport. Work is going very well, Green and Isaac have let me take the boat from the dock a few times now, as well as let me decide where I want the sail to go based on wind, current and time. I'm learning a lot. Isaac has also starting giving me advice as I pull together documents for my captains license, which I should be able to apply for later this year. On Winchelsea, things are not going as smoothly. I have spent the past week tracking down a decent outboard. My plan was to attach an outboard to the bottom of the transom, and use that as my aux power while I spend the summer rebuilding the inboard. Well, $1700 and two whole days later I have an outboard and the specialized vertically adjustable mounting bracket...that doesn't fit. Winchelsea's transom sticks too far out of the water, and mounting it in the lowest possible place and then lowering the outboard all the way down (which is a long shaft outboard) the prop wo...
The plan I wrote about previously continues as, um, planned. I'm back in the Sarasota area and taking my captains license course and exam in the first couple of weeks of 2011. It has been a long time since I've spent any real time in this part of the country, close to my mother and brother along with his new wife and her family. I'm really enjoying it and I think I'll stay here for a couple of months, at least. After talking with some people I've met along the way, it seems the next thing to do is to log more miles and sea experience. From what I've been able to gather, the winter sailing season in the Caribbean seems to culminate around Antigua Sailing Week during the last week in April. I've been told its a great place to meet people and network. And by network I mean find my next boat to crew on towards my next destination. If I start in Fort Lauderdale around the middle of February and try to hitch crew spots down to Antigua, I should make it in plenty...
Comments