Bumper Sticker: "Your worst nightmare is my favorite vacation"

This has turned out to be a LOOONG post... my bad.

Maria and I went to the boat a few weeks for the first sail of the season. Needless to say, I was very excited to get to her (the boat), clean her up (the boat again... not Maria), do some prep, and then spend several days just cruising the Chesapeake Bay with some good friends. Not all (or anything really) went as planned.

We learned alot that week. It didn't start well, when our friends who were supposed to come down on Saturday night kept getting delayed, and delayed... eventually only one of the two of them showed up on Tuesday morning.

Lesson #1: No longer plan around Jeff and Zora... simply tell them when somethings going to happen, and they can choose to take part or not. Maria and I took the week off for this, and I am done catering to people who don't respect Maria's or my time enough to even show up within several days, and constantly want my time, and my vacation which I invited them too worked around their schedules.

So, as we waited for them to show up, Maria and I spent a good deal of time cleaning the boat, and just relaxing. The weather was amazing the first part of the week... sunny, warm, and nice breezes... sure would have been nice to be out sailing, rather than waiting. But, it gave me time to do several things, and spend a bunch of money at West Marine. I bought a much needed battery charger, which I need to install properly still, and several other smaller items I needed. Once we got the batteries freshened up... I tested the bilge pump to be sure it was working correctly... turns out, it wasn't (glad I tested it). The bilge is a remote pump, with a hose to the bilge and remote float switch. There is a small impeller inside the pump that broke. I head to West Marine, as I didn't have a spare, and this little impeller is a $22 special order, that takes 3 weeks to get! Thats no good... for me... ofcourse, it means that West Marine was able to get me to buy a new bilge pump.

Lesson #2: Carry 2 spares for everything. When something breaks, have the spare, and have the second spare for when the first spare breaks while waiting for the order.



I decided that while we waited, I was going to climb the mast, just to do it, and maybe to change some bulbs. Since I climb, I felt more secure setting up prussik knots to ascend a rope, rather than be winched up. I was up there for maybe an hour... and couldn't get one of the light covers off. Which, turns out I didn't need too, that light worked, wish I knew that while I was up there. Then, I lost 1 of the bulbs I got while I was up there, so I never did get a replacement for it. Oh well, it was fun regardless.

Lesson #3: Get a more comfortable harness... and do that more often so I don't freak out if I do that in water with some movement. Climbing is scary enough... and mountains don't move. If the mountain starts swaying while your on it, then the lunch you ate was no good.

Tuesday morning rolls around, and Maria and I go to fuel the boat up, and pump out the head. Turns out... we may have tried to flush too much while at the dock (its a long way to the marina toilets)... and some of the "stuff" may have flowed out the cap at the top of the holding tank... and it may have been one of the most disgusting things I have ever smelled. The holding tank is under master stateroom bed... Maria loves that idea!

Lesson #4: Get a tank monitor... and maybe a more efficient head. Also... check the cap for a good seal.

So... finally... Tuesday morning, Jeff shows up, we have ice, wine, beer, food and dog... and are ready to go do some sailing. We throw off the dock lines, and begin motoring out of the slip. We get about 4 feet... and the engine dies. Note, we used the engine to get to the fuel dock, and the pump-out station just an hour or 2 before. Luckily, we are close enough to grab the dock lines... so we do, and pull ourselves back in... and tie up. Me, not knowing much of what I am doing... decide to change the fuel filter, and see if that works. The filter not only filters, but separates water from fuel. Pretty good thinking, I thought... with the boat having sat, and pumping in some new fuel... alteast it seemed simple enough for me to do. The guy who decided to write the instruction on the filter was an absolute genius... and I would like to give him a hug right now. It seems the incredible hulk tightened the fuel filter on... as I had to take the whole assembly off in order to get enough grip to torque the filter off. Finally, I get the filter changed, and full of fuel (luckily having bought a spare 5 gal fuel jug earlier that week and filled it.

But... not being familiar with the whole process, I didn't know that air pockets kill diesel engines, and that I had to bleed the system... all I knew was that the engine didn't start after that. The marina guys are helpful though, and pointed it out to me without making me feel retarded. So, instead of sailing to a remote deserted beach, in the sunshine, and grilling steaks for dinner... I was crawling around the engine looking for unlabeled bleed screws to turn, and watch for tiny bubbles. In all there are about 6. Luckily, I do have the original engine manual and an awesome diesel book, which I used as my guides... working my way through. After spending a muddling couple of hours (for a 15 minute job), the engine fires up... YAY ME.

Lesson 5: I am pretty awesome.

Wednesday morning, we decide to give this whole thing another go. Its a beautiful day, the weather calls for perfect winds to get us where we are going... sun's out... just perfect. Make some coffee, take the cover off the main, fire up the engine, pull the dock lines, and start motoring out. We get just out of my slip... and the engine cuts out!

Lesson 6: I am not that awesome.

Now, we are in the marina, heading for other innocent boats, with no power. I call for the main to be raised, we will sail her out of here. Luckily the wind is in just the right place... and we can sail out without much effort. The timing of the engine dieing this time is of particular note... we were just far enough away from our last pier to not be able to reach the dock lines with a hook. Timing is everything.



So I spent the day bleeding the fuel lines, running the engine, having it die, going and rebleeding the fuel lines... etc. I figured there's a leak somewhere in the system, so I start looking for it... as we are sailing up the bay. The engine runs for about 20 or 30 minutes before it dies, and there's always air in the fuel filter right after the tank... so there must be a tiny leak at this point. I tighten all the hose clamps, some where loose, try it again. Dies. I tighten all the filter caps... dies. I see a small leak from the one bleed screw on the second filter... tighten that, but still leaks. Hmmm... must be the problem. I clean the washer, and the top of the filter... reset it, it doesn't leak... try again... dies. Basically, this was my morning. I decide that the engine will run long enough for us to set an anchor later... so I rebleed, and prime the system, and then decide to enjoy the day of sailing.

Lesson 7: Don't let engine work interupt an awesome day of sailing.



The wind was supposed to be taking us to this little island where we would have a deserted beach all to ourselves. Basically... an awesome place. But, the wind didn't think we should go there, we were not making good time at all, so I decided that we need to find someplace closer to anchor. I listen to the weather, and figure out where the wind's going to come from so we are being blown onshore, then find us a nice little hole to anchor in... Browns Bay, on Mobjack.

We change our course, and start heading for the anchorage the winds pick up while we are headed that way... wish they had done that earlier. Eventually, we are doing some pretty good sailing. We have to make a tack though to get lined up for the channel. This is where I made my biggest mistake. I let my buddy do the tack. I was going to be right beside him though, so I thought it was ok. We tacked through, and were pulling the headsail in... ofcourse, someone had opened the forward hatch a little... and the sheet got wrapped up in it. I bounce up on deck (I am not sending anyone else on deck that quickly, in these conditions) and free it. Call back for Maria to sheet it in. As she's sheeting it in, the boat starts to heel over. Nobody is totally sure what happened next, either Jeff was freaking out about how heeled over we were and started to steer back up wind, or decided he's going to help sheet in the headsail, and he lets go of the wheel. We end up backwinding the sails, and heel WAY over the other way... either Jeff's letting go let the rudder snap back over, or us heeling over put enough pressure on the steering system that the steering cable broke! Great... all the sails are up, the winds are a little high (not too high but enough to be interesting), we have no steering, and an engine that MAY run for 30 minutes. Seems normal.

Lesson 8: My biggest lesson, and one I am most embarrassed I didn't do better. I needed to give better direction to someone new, I should not have had Jeff skipper through that tack, I should have had more command in that situation.

I run down, grab the emergency tiller... and stick it onto the rudder stock. Tada... steering again. Because of the arrangement of the wheel, and then tiller, and rudder position... I don't get much leverage with the tiller. We drop the sails, start the motor, and start on our way into the little bay. I have them upfront, and ready to drop the anchor for when the engine dies, and I need to re-prime it. We are mid channel, and tada, engine dies... I yell to have them drop the anchor, and keep a lookout. I drop below, and rebleed, and prime the engine in record time (getting good at it now). Start her up, pull anchor, and make it into the anchorage. Yay... we are now pretty safe. We are fairly protected here, but the winds can still reach us... and they were blowing 20 knots or so, with gusts much higher... with the spray coming off the white-caps, I would think around 30 knots at times during the night. Because I wasn't taking any more chances, and my luck was crazy bad today... I had let out alot of scope on the anchor... 12:1. We were the only ones in this bay, so we had the swing room, and I wanted something to go right.

Lesson 9: More scope = more confidence. I have plans on redoing the anchor setup... so that I can sleep at night in these conditions and not worry about crazy things like if I missed a spot of wear on the anchor rode, and it might just snap.

And... here we sat for a few days. We got bored. I inspected the steering cable, and figured I couldn't fix it. I went over the engine like crazy, and found a tiny hole in the fuel line leading to the filter... this had to be the leak... so I wrapped exhaust tape around it. Turns out, I had finally found the problem, and bandaided it. Yay me again... but this time for real.

I made the decision to stay in this little bay for the few days, as the weather wasn't awesome, and I didn't want to compound our getting home by pushing it in weather. I would have no issues sailing in those conditions with a working wheel, or more leverage on the tiller... I could do it... but if I didn't need too, why should I.

Saturday morning, it looked like we had a break in the weather, and had a window to make it home... so we pull the anchor, motor out (works flawlessly, I might add), and set sail for home. The winds are pretty light so as we are "sailing" I decide to tie a rope to me, and jump overboard with a hammer, and clean some winter barnacles from the prop and shaft. Because we are going nowhere... we decide to motorsail. We motor sail for several hours till we hit some pretty good wind 15 to 20 knots. The crew is stressed, so to ease the stress, I decide to drop the sails, and just motor. We make it the whole way to the channel, and make our turn to the marina. 12 minutes, and this adventure will be over. As I am making the turn... the boat decides to serve me with one more test... the head of the tiller, a very thick piece of aluminum, decides its time to break! Are you kidding me... all I needed was 10 more minutes. It had worked for a total of probably around 8 or 9 hours... whats 10 more minutes. Well, now we are in bad shape. I have to make a choice... we could try to drop an anchor just outside the channel, and hope it holds in these winds and the 3 to 4 foot waves... or I could try duct-taping this thing together. I spend 3 seconds deciding this, as someone gets the duct-tape. I wrap about half a roll of tape on it, and give it a try... it works! Lets get this overwith... and head in.

On the way in... we have a few harrowing seconds as the boat decides to try to commit suicide on the sea-wall... which we narrowly avoid. We make it around the bend, and start floating our way down the approach to the marina. I can see my slip from here. I start to gently turn her to head into the slip... oops, slightly too far, turn back... SNAP... tiller broke. No time to wrap the tape around it again... we are headed towards a pier, dock, and innocent and expensive looking yacht. The crew is upfront with boat hooks... I yell up... get ready for the crash, as they are wondering why I am running forward, rather than steering us away. We crunch into the dock... and ride up a little... I bounce off the boat, pulling her back... hitting the brakes... and stop her literally a few small inches from someone elses shiny fiberglass boat. Actually... we were pretty lucky... and I am glad that I was going as slow as I possibly could.

I am glad I brought all that climbing rope with me... as we wrangle the boat around the pier, and into an unused slip for the evening. She gets tied down... and we all congratulate ourselves on not dieing... as we drink any and all of the alcohol we have left. The next morning, we eventually get her pulled back over to her own slip where I tie her up, and she now rests... peacefully planning what she might test us with the next time.

Lesson 10: I bought boat towing insurance on Tuesday morning. No reason to do that again.

There are alot of lessons learned in that one trip... we had good weather for the first part, we all survived, there was no "damage", the broken bits are fairly cheap to replace/fix, I learned more on that trip that any other, and we ate really well. So... while stressful, I call it a good trip. A great trip would have been if we got to that island, and got to sail in the first part of the week when the weather was amazing.

I can't wait to go to the boat again! I miss her.

USCG Documentation renewal

I had the boat documented with the US Coast Guard as part of the requirements from the bank. They ask that you renew your registration every year, so that they can be sure that nothing changed about the boat, and that you still own it. This is a free service. They do not charge you for this. Infact, its one tiny form to fill out. If your address doesn't change, all you do is sign it, write "owner" and put the date on it. Then fold it, tape it, put a stamp on it, and go sailing.

Optionally, you can use Specialized Yacht Services awesome renewal service. This is a private company which will take all the hassle out of signing your name, writing "owner" and applying those cumbersome stamps for a one time (a year) low, low fee of $75!

For this very low $75, you get to sign your name, write "owner", put the date on a form, write a check (including another date, another signature, write the number twice, and tearing it out of the book) and put it into a provided envelope. Granted... you don't have to affix one of those stamp things... nor deal with tape... but you do have to lick the glue.

Act now, and they will sign you up to receive other awesome free offers via the USPS, and email.

Seriously... $75 fee to fill out twice as much info, but save $0.41 on a stamp.

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Mystic Venture trip report - 2007-08-18

Last weekend, Maria and I headed to the boat for our first time sailing with just the two of us. We arrive Friday evening, and got the boat ready to set out in the morning. Saturday we left around 10 or so in the morning... nice and casual. We only needed to make about 20 or so miles, so we had time to be lazy.

Saturday was the kind of day that makes everything worth while. The sun was out, the weather was amazing, the wind was decent... everything was awesome. We had an amazing sail from Salt Ponds to New Point Comfort. We anchored in a sheltered cove, hiding from the north eastern winds. We inflated the dive-yak... and went for its maiden voyage. Turns out, this thing is huge... and stable... and slow. It was like paddling a barge. Good work-out, but didn't get far. Maria saw phosphorescence for the first time... and it was pretty bright. It was an awesome evening.

For as awesome as the day was, the night, and next day was the opposite. Around midnight, the wind shifted to the south, and picked up to 15 or 20 knots or so. Our sweet little sheltered cove became a bumpy, un-sheltered, windy cove. I didn't really sleep that much, as I don't fully trust the anchor on the boat... but she held, without a slip. I was pretty impressed... but I did have allot of line out, I think I was 10:1 at that point.

Sunday we left the anchorage around 8 or so, and headed back. Because the wind was coming from right where we wanted to go, we decided to motor. I did some calculating based on the fuel gauge, and the distance and hours needed to motor and figured we had enough fuel. Turns out I was wrong... whoops. We bumped against wind and waves for hours, and were about a mile from the harbor entrance when the engine started to cut out. We shut her down, and raised a sail. I figured that with the boat rocking like it was, it cut the engine a little early and we would have enough fuel to get to the dock... this time, I was right... barely.

We cleaned her up, and headed home. The 9 hour drive home was not fun... and was made less fun by me completely missing our exit, and thus driving by Lexington KY on the way... only adding a few hours to the drive.

Saturday though... made it all worth it. What an amazing day.


View Larger Map

A Mystic Venture indeed.

Wow.... what a trip. Alot of people doubted that 4 people who don't know how to sail, on a boat which is completely unfamiliar, for the boats first trip of the season, and in waters completely unknown would live to tell the tale (or write a blog). Not only are we alive, have all of our limbs, and are better friends than before... but we had an awesome trip.

The crew for this journey are some friends of mine whom I met through climbing. TJ (now known as Consonant J), the legendary Aaron Taylor, and Kansas (who laughs in the face of adverse conditions... literally).

It wasn't all smooth sailing, infact, it didn't start out smooth at all. Our first night was spent sleeping in the parking lot of a VW dealer, which bumped our schedule off a bit... but in the end it was a good thing.

We arrived at the boat Saturday night, and proceeded to unload the tons of gear we brought. To set the mood for the trip... Aaron grilled some steaks to perfection, and we opened a specific bottle of wine... which we shared with the transom of the boat in a slightly ritualistic way. This was the first night spent on the boat.

Sunday was spent preparing the Mystic Venture for the journey ahead. We came to her with 7 bottles of wine, and by the end of the day, we were down to 9 bottles of wine... after drinking 3 since our arrival. We put her name on her, filled the galley with necessities, stowed all the gear, cleaned her inside and out, filled the water tank, bought some spare parts, and enjoyed the thought of the journey to come.

Monday was the sea-trial. The broker showed up, and was much less than helpful with the boat. We started the engine, ran her around the river, checking out the electronics, and being sure everything was operating as listed. In total, this "sea-trial" lasted 10 to 15 minutes because he had to get to another meeting... I would not recommend him to anybody.

Monday afternoon, with the right tide, we finally untied the Mystic Venture from the slip she was in, and moved her to the ocean. We stopped for fuel along the way, spending a total of $22 to fill her tank. The first night we spent on the hook in a little cove called Horseshoe Cove in Sandy Hook Bay... its something amazing to be on your boat, on the hook for the first time.

Tuesday morning, the crew and I woke up as early as we dared venture with the light, and made our way north into New York Harbor for the maiden voyage around the Statue of Liberty! Its quite something to cruise your own boat into NY harbor, and up to the Statue of Liberty for her first voyage! It is something that neither I nor the crew will soon forget. We then made our way to Manasquan inlet to spend the night. We sailed for some of this time, but mostly motored as we were heading right into the wind, and needed to make the miles.

Manasquan was not the prettiest place we stayed. We had to anchor in the harbor due to there not being any transient slips open in any of the marinas. We managed to find a tiny cove to anchor, with some help from a local. This "cove" was a bump in a river in the town... it felt like we were in a parking lot, rather than on the water. The train ran so close that the conductors would wave at us... and we could see which color Slurpee people were buying from the 7-11 across the way. Not an ideal place... but it was semi-secure anchorage for the night.

The next day, our plan was to get to Absecon Inlet, the inlet for Atlantic City. We woke a little late, and attempted to do some sailing, even though the wind was against us... which meant we had to do some tacking to make any headway. We headed about 7 miles offshore at one point, to see if we could find a different wind, which we didn't. We ended up not being able to make it the whole way to Absecon, and instead had to stop in Little Egg Inlet. The weather on the way took a turn for the rougher, and we ended up powering through 4 to 5 foot seas... but the boat handled it with no problem. Water came over the bow a few times, and washed over the deck, but I felt confident in the boat the whole time.

There aren't really good charts for Little Egg because the shoaling keeps changing here... which makes it tricky to find a place to anchor. Once in the inlet though, we spotted a couple of sailboats anchored up for the night, so figured that would be a decent place to go. As we were motoring over to them, we noticed a change in the water color likely indicating a shallow spot, but it could have been a current change also (strange currents in some of these inlets). We crept up to it, keeping a sharp eye on the depth gauge... once we realized it was shallow, we put the boat in reverse, and managed to only tap the keel into the sand bottom. There are two types of sailors, ones that have run aground, and ones that will. We spent the night on the hook here, where the boat sat strangely as the current and wind were in opposition to one another.

Thursday, we had to make up some ground... or water, as we were off our schedule some. The weather looked to be a bit rougher, and wetter. We motored for the entire day to make it to Cape May, NJ. The seas were not as rough as they had fore casted, but there was rain... and we had to don our wet weather gear for the first time. We made it all the way to Cape May in plenty of time, where we re-fueled, bought some fresh crab, and then made our way across the Delaware to a safe harbor on the other side. As we crossed the Delaware, we came across a huge pod of dolphins, probably 30 or 40 or so. They were tail slapping, jumping, and playing. We coasted close enough to see them, and they came over to see if they could surf our bow wave. We anchored that night in a beautiful cove, very protected, with only slight current. It was an ideal location... and would have been a nice place to get in a little earlier, and hangout at. Maybe I have to go back another time.

Friday was a day we expected to do alot of sailing. The wind was supposed to shift to a more desirable direction, and be generally nice for sailing. Turns out the wind was very light, so we decided to power on for most of the day... we had a plan of covering 65 miles that day... which is a big day. Our destination was Chincoteague... and I wanted to be sure to make it there before dark, as this is another inlet where local knowledge is needed... and we didn't bring any locals with us. We ended up finding a cool little spot to drop anchor, and had a great evening.

Saturday turned out to be one of the best sailing days on the whole trip. We woke up early, and began our 70 mile journey to Salt Ponds, Virginia, where the boat will be docked for the next several months. We motored for a while, until the wind picked up. Once we had a decent enough wind... I gave the order to raise sails, and we shut down the engine. We sailed for most of the day, mostly running with the wind, but with a few hours of beam reach. I had grown comfortable enough with the boat that I was tuning the sails at the same time as piloting the boat, while most of the crew lounged, read, or made meals. This was the day that made it all worth it... and the kind of day I hope to live again an again. We made port in the evening... crossing the Chesapeake with hardly seeing any other traffic. I was surprised to not see many others out as the wind was great, the water calm, and the sun warm.

The boat is now safely docked in her newest home-port... waiting for Maria and I to take her out. I can not imagine being able to do this without the amazing friends I took as crew... they all did an awesome job, and it wouldn't have been possible without them. My only regret is that Maria was not there for the trip... but, she and I will have many, many more miles in the Mystic Venture.

Mystic Venture Maiden Voyage - The Plan

Is this crazy?

Next week I will be captaining my new-2-me sailboat, the Mystic Venture, from Fair Haven (sounds like a postcard) New Jersey, south to Hampton Virginia. The trip is 258 nautical miles. I have never sailed before. This is the first time I will have been on this boat. I don't know the area we are sailing in at all. The boat will have been in the water less than 24 hours when we start this trip. My crew has had little to no sailing experience. Oh... and again, never sailed before.

Never mind... I answered that question.

Somehow, I have found 3 friends who are excited about coming on this trip... I even had to turn down several people who thought that this sort of thing sounded fun. I didn't lie to any of them about my experience... and no, they aren't getting paid! Maybe thats crazier.

Either way... this coming Sunday, 3 friends and I are going to cut the dock lines, and begin our 3 hour tour... or I mean our 5 day cruise down the coast to Virginia. The whole trip has been charted, and planned out to the best of my ability... so either this will be a boring trip, an adventure... or some sort of epic, where this blog entry will serve as a court document. I personally am hoping for somewhere between boring and adventure.

Here is a map showing our intented trip... along with where we plan on anchoring along the way. The fish icons just show other areas we can pull into if we need to escape a storm... or each other. I hope to be able to blog along the way... and upload some photos... so stay tuned via the rss or subscription box on the side.

Closing time...

Today, April 11th, is the official day of closing on my boat. Not going to lie... its a bit scary.

Now I just need to get some work done, and find a home for her.

Now the hard work

So... I bought the boat on Friday. Not going to lie... a little scary. Usually the greatest experiences start as being scary.



Guess I should learn how to sail!

New Jersey for a few hours

The purchase of the sailboat has been moving along a little slowly... waiting for the weather to get itself figured out. On Monday, I spent the day (a crazy travel day... barely made it there, and then barely made it out) on the boat with the surveyor. It was quite the educational experience.

The boat is a C&C 34, with a centerboard keel, which means the main part of the keel is not as deep as a fin keel, but it has a centerboard which you can lower down for better performance. The advantage of this is the ability to get into shallower areas (she draws 4 feet, instead of the 6 feet of a fin keel)... the disadvantage is performance. Since I do not plan on racing her, I am not concerned about the 1/2 a knot of windward performance loss. This picture shows the system to raise and lower the keel.

The surveyor was generally very impressed with the condition of the boat, and her systems. For being 25 years old, she is in awesome shape, and is very strong. There are a few issues with any boat this age however, some of them being more of parts just worn out, others being about bringing her systems up to code (for insurance) and some things have just broken. There was some water-infiltration around this fitting on the deck, and has infact shown to be leaking into the cabin. The leak has caused a high moisture reading for about 3" or so around the entire fitting, but it does not appear to have weakened the deck much. The leak can be simply corrected by bedding this fitting properly, however, the deck will likely not be able to be dried out significantly.

There were a few stuck sea-cocks, a broken shower pump, and a few minor things. The biggest area of concern for me (however the surveyor did not see it as much of an issue) was that there is some separation in the rudder. It sounds like the fiberglass on the rudder has separated from the core... likely due to water in it. It has not caused it to change shape at all, and there doesn't appear to be much effect on structure of it, from what he can tell without drilling holes.

The sail inventory is impressive. It has a new mainsail, a backup mainsail, 3 genoas (110, 130, and 150), a cruising spinnaker, and a racing spinnaker. Only the 130 is setup for the roller furling, so I might have the 110 cut for the roller furling, but that is something for down the road.

Now I am just waiting for the survey to get back to me... but this is a good boat for her age/price, with some issues that the broker and I are going to have to address to get corrected. The deal is not done yet, as it depends on the survey and a few other thigns.

There is a video below that I shot from the deck of the boat... this will give you an idea of how big... or actually, how small this boat really is. This will be like living in a small New York studio apartment, that rocks back and forth. Its a real paradigm shift in lifestyle if I choose to really go forward with these ideas. I am not going to lie... I freaked out a little thinking about this being my home for the next few years... but I think if I didn't getting a little freaked that'd be bad.

I have decide to name her the Mystic Venture. Mysticism from the Greek (mustikos) "an initiate" is the pursuit of achieving communion or identity with, or conscious awareness of, ultimate reality, the divine, spiritual truth, or God through direct experience, intuition, or insight. Venture is a wonderful undertaking, synonymous with Adventure. Thus... the Mystic Venture is a wonderful undertaking to discover the ultimate reality... or maybe just a way not work in a cube anymore.

If you want to keep up with just news of the Mystic Venture, click and bookmark this.


(The knocking you hear is surveyor's high-tech, german engineered, instrument testing for hull integrity)

Sailboat update

So... there are some out there asking the stage of the sailboat and stuff... so here is a little update.

Originally the acceptance date was February 24th, and closing date was March 3rd. Before I accepted the boat, I needed to have a survey done, and insurance and financing lined up. To get a survey done, the boat's hull needs a moisture test to determine the integrity of the hull... and the low temperature has to be above freezing for a few days, for this to occur.

Ofcoruse, it has been cold near the boat, but it is warming up... so there is a survey scheduled for next Friday now.

After this, it will be a week for acceptance, and another week for closing... and then I will be a yacht owner. After that... comes the real work.

Stage 2...

Just a little post to let the readers of this interwebloggy thing know that the seller of the sailboat below and I have reached an agreement on the purchase price of the boat. I now have until Feb 21st to arrange for everything I need arranged, including insurance, financing, survey, blah blah blah... and agree to the purchase.

Its all very cool, and awesome.

She is currently docked in New Jersey... I plan to move her to a more bikini-friendly location this summer.

What parachute?

Life is filled with defining moments. Yesterday was the start of an elongated moment which will last a few months, and propel me into an even longer life experience... perhaps. 3 or 4 years in the making, and I have finally a concrete step towards an idea sparked forever ago... finally made a move towards a personal paradigm shift.





I made an offer on a sailboat yesterday, and I have to say, it feels awesome, and makes me nervous at the same time. Awesome due to finally moving towards the idea I have dreamt of for a long time... nervous because I don't know how to sail.

Here are a few images from Yachtworld's listing of the boat... she is a 1982, C&C 34. C&C changed some interior elements for 1982, which made me think this is the right boat for me. She is a centerboard design, rather than the fin-keel... which means she has a draft of either 4'-0", or 6'-11" depending on board position.

The process will take some time, but by the end of February I should either be taking ownership, or finding something else to consider. There will be some work needed to get done on her... I will be adding a refridgeration unit, possibly a water-maker, and some solar panels.

I will be holding interviews for deck-hands (bikini clad girls get an automatic second interview).