General and Miscellaneous – Page 3

I’m your (almost) Captain. Goings on ashore.

Port Townsend, Wa, 18-May-2019 – Call me Almost Captain. I’ve passed all the tests, taken a Red Cross-approved first aid course, had a physical. There is only getting a TWIC card (background security check), getting a drug test and assembling 720 days of sea time, and then, with the addition of another few hundred dollars I will have a 25-ton master’s license for near coastal. Oh yeah, I also will have sailing, and assistance-towing endorsements.

This will allow me to captain, for money, power vessels up to 25 tons gross vessel weight based on volume (not displacement); the vessels will weigh, empty, much less than 25 tons. I can also master a sailing vessel of unlimited weight and get paid for towing boats that need assistance. In the US, it seems I can do all of this on non-commercial vessels, for no pay, without any license. (In other parts of the world this isn’t true: one must actually have training before doing these things.)

Transitioning back

DL2955, 114 Minutes east of Seattle, 19-MAR-2019 – It is a transitional time. We’re headed back to Seattle with two houses sold, one undergoing renovation, one about to start. My friend and editor, Peter Coleman, sent me an email discussing the boat he bought in the UK (he lives in Australia), his plans for motoring through the canals of France and a sincere invitation to skip our transatlantic sail and join him and his spouse.

Back in the PNW

Back in Port Townsend, after an overnight on Caro Babbo, we return to a water leak at the PT house.

Port Townsend, WA, 30-DEC-2018 – It’s 4 am. I haven’t made the complete transition to west coast time.

It is a fitting morning to be in Port Townsend. The wind howls and buffets Jennifer’s house here, while Caro Babbo sleeps 30 miles away, across Puget Sound, safe in her slip on Lake Union

Stuck in the ATL

Decatur, GA, 23-NOV-2018 – There is no joy working on these houses. We won’t get the first two done before we head north for Christmas. Jennifer won’t be going to Berlin.

We might get one house done, the second underway, and the third, perhaps, contracted to completion before we return to Atlanta in January.

Our, well, at least my life revolves around Caro Babbo.

The reckoning: what did we spend?

We were gone for 171 days, and spent $9400, for an average of $55 per day.

Where did the money go?

Decatur, GA, 31-OCT-2018 – For 2018, we decided to take six months for our sail to Alaska. Why? Because we could.

The trip, in my eyes, wasn’t really a trip. Looking backwards, it was just living on-the-go for six months. I’m not sure at what point something moves from being a trip into being how one is living.

A Shanghai break

Shanghai, China, 01-APR-2018 – It is interesting to take such a break from prepping. Generally, when we are away from Caro Babbo, we are working on some business project.

We took the opportunity to cash in some mileage and join some of our marina friends in Shanghai. Continue reading “A Shanghai break”

Back on Caro Babbo; Purchases start arriving

I wonder whether this annual buying spree will ever end.

In the last few days bunch of things have arrived. Today, a waterproof tablet arrived and graphics for the dinghy and for CaroBabbo.

I knew there was some sort of screwup at boat US when my contact there called to make sure that I had not placed my order twice, intentionally. Apparently, the double order wasn’t caught until after the graphics were cut: Ron didn’t charge me for the double order, and he was nice enough to send me everything. Continue reading “Back on Caro Babbo; Purchases start arriving”

Paducah, Kentucky

6-MAR-2018, Interstate 24, heading west – Paducah Kentucky is a long way from Caro Babbo, but not too far away to spend money.

Jennifer closed on one of Hilary’s houses this week, and signed all the paperwork for the second closing, so we needn’t return for it.

We’re riding in a Budget 12-foot box truck, driving some of Hilary’s belongings up to Port Townsend.

Continue reading “Paducah, Kentucky”

Caro Babbo Youtube Channel? I say no, no, no *

27-FEB-2018, Jet Blue flight 598, SEA-BOS – There will be no Caro Babbo Youtube channel for the few people who asked for one, and for everyone who didn’t.

I did want one. As a narrative mechanism, videos are a great contrast to written words. There are two major, equal holdbacks: The amount of effort to edit a video and the amount of video content that must be captured to generate a good video episode. Continue reading “Caro Babbo Youtube Channel? I say no, no, no *”