Getting ready to set off

This weekend will be my last chance to get Justus ready for my journey down to Florida. I've still got some work to do, but I'm confident that she'll be ready in time. Mostly, I just need to stock up on food and water, and get the head functioning properly. Next weekend, I drive down to Florida, leave my car at my Mom's house, and fly back up. I get out of the Marine Corps on the 8th, and then Begin sailing down. Still need to plot my course and stops, and figure out when I'll be going offshore, and when I'll be using the ICW. I'm really excited, and a bit nervous, but it's the good kind of nervous. 

Fredrika Stahl

My new favorite artist. Especially great to listen to after a day of sailing, while I'm just kicking back topside with a drink in my hand and the moon overhead.

Fredrika Stahl

Please, support her if you enjoy her music.

Perfect day of sailing

Initially, we weren't going to go out, but a friendly neighbor convinced us to. Man, was it worth it! We hit about 6 knots for 13knm. Got about 25° of heel for a lot of it. Flanked by storm clouds, the wind was perfect across the beam the entire time.

"Never tell a man what he 'can't' do"

“To be truly challenging, a voyage, like a life, must rest on a firm foundation of financial unrest. Otherwise, you are doomed to a routine traverse, the kind known to yachtsmen who play with their boats at sea… “cruising” it is called. Voyaging belongs to seamen, and to the wanderers of the world who cannot, or will not, fit in. If you are contemplating a voyage and you have the means, abandon the venture until your fortunes change. Only then will you know what the sea is all about.

“I’ve always wanted to sail to the south seas, but I can’t afford it.” What these men can’t afford is not to go. They are enmeshed in the cancerous discipline of “security.” And in the worship of security we fling our lives beneath the wheels of routine – and before we know it our lives are gone.

What does a man need – really need? A few pounds of food each day, heat and shelter, six feet to lie down in – and some form of working activity that will yield a sense of accomplishment. That’s all – in the material sense, and we know it. But we are brainwashed by our economic system until we end up in a tomb beneath a pyramid of time payments, mortgages, preposterous gadgetry, playthings that divert our attention for the sheer idiocy of the charade.

The years thunder by. The dreams of youth grow dim where they lie caked in dust on the shelves of patience. Before we know it, the tomb is sealed.

Where, then, lies the answer?

In choice. Which shall it be – bankruptcy of purse or bankruptcy of life?”