Today is the good ole days

Ive  had a good life. My mom and dad brought me up in a camping , hiking, pack mule traveling and eventually sailing cruising lifestyle. I was brought up with the adittude of if you wanted something you could not afford than build it yourself. Want to travel long distances on a Bycycle with an open time frame ..then do it on your own and not wait for a group to hang out with. This simple mind thought has  enabled me to just get things done and keep moving ahead. 

Looking back in time its nice to have all these memories of places seen, things done and felt. Like the time when bycyling through the Grand Tetons in Wyoming at the age of 19 .I awoke in the fall morning haveing just slept in my down sleeping bag on top of a picnick table that night. The morning air was so crisp when poking my head out of this cacoon. My sleeping bag was completely frozen solid from my perspiration during the night. I was a popsicle outside with a warm inside.

I have been lucky many times in my adventures, from close calls from vehicles during my bycycle touring days, my hitchhiking adventures, hiking and backpacking trips to my singlehanded ,and offshore sailing trips. Ive cheated death a couple times or as I like to put it I was not ready to die. So I never gave up and Iam still out here looking around the next bend to see whats there.

 

Today finds me in the Leeward island of Dutch St. Martin waiting for Rachel and our dog to fly in. This is a hectic place for a guy like me, but its very dog fly in friendly so here I wait doing boat chores, some design commissions and ponder the present , the past and what the future holds in my sailing lifestyle.

The past is fun to think back on but it can never be recaptured. I still look back and forth to the present. We first sailed to St. Martin on the Hogfish 24 years ago with rachel and our young daughter Kalessin who was not yet one year old. We spent Christmas in Phillipsburg bay at anchor eating a can of smoked oysters and an avocado . We had sailed here to buy a duty free am radio. Life was so simple then. No email, Internet, GPS , engine, and not very many boats. We had just sailed from St. Barts where we had splurged on a French pizza for $23.00 ! Yes its always been very expensive there. A lot of miles have passed under our keels since then. lots of hard work getting ahead and staying ahead. This we have done as a simple couple not wanting more than we could afford making our kids a part of our rolling stone- vagabond life style. We just have kept on going with the many different opportunities that have come up and have delt with our daughters along the way finding entertainment when young and shore side schooling when older to get them involved in the locals lifes. Both girls have excelled in  schooling both having won collage scholarships based on merit and grades. Growing up with a boat bum like me has not held them back. That was the good ole days.

Christmas Day 24 years go in St. Martin. Looking at a second main Id made from Jim Melchors old Alerts mainsail.

The present brings me to having moved out of the Simpson Bay Lagoon to re anchor off the beach in cleaner water and not so much harbor traffic. I had anchored in a small shallow part of the lagoon to get away from all the mega yachts, and just yachts in general as I keep thinking what would happen if the Hogfish Maximus where to get loose and drift down on a half a billion in yachts. In the Bahamas and other farther flung anchorages Iam used to putting out 2-3 anchors with lots of scope. I call my big fishermans my breaks. Then I feel good about going out on adventures in the skiff. Here there are so many yachts , sailboats ,wrecks and just stuff about there is simply not enough room today.

Right now Iam anchored off the beach in what looks to be shallow water but is about 8 which is shallow for most boats here. Its very rolly and bumpy but I can see the bottom kinda and I could get underway under sail if need be so I feel better here. 

Since arriving here Ive met up with some old sailing mates of ours . Some have gone around the world 

 for the third time since last talking. Our talk now is mostly about whats up with finding work, local crime, the rising costs of clearing in and out of ports and how many f#%king boats are anchored through out the worlds anchorages today. Work is still easy to find if you have skills and work ethic . Local crime is always there , just lock stuff up. The costs of clearing in seems to be a racket now as all these islands are within sight of each other with the locals running their boats back and forth with no hassles but for us and all the day tourists what a racket. 

I realize Iam an old fart cruiser because the growing number of fiberglass huge 55-70 sailboats being run by retired couples that have had no previous sailing experience is overwhelming . These boats are new and are worth from $ 350,000.00  to  a million upwards . By my count I have seen since sailing in here the past two weeks at least 500 + and counting and trying to avoid. Thats just sailboats not power boats .What amazes me , boats dont appreciate like land can so where did all this wealth come from? Wow. 

Now I realize Iam an old fart under achiever. Ha Ill stay simple and keep my freedom.

The wind here is ever present with rain squalls lasting only a minute or two. The locals are still nice and fun to talk to. Eating a huge meal where the locals eat costs  $5.00 with a beer. At the water front bars the food goes up but alchole is still the cheapest thing around. I like to go in the evenings to the St. Martin yacht club bar and watch the yachts go through the bridge at 5:30 opening.

From my observations in life I have noticed that if you really want to show the world how much money you have to spend then you buy a MEGA yacht. A trophy wife are a dime a dozen, a huge house nobody ever sees, the jet you flew in on is parked with the 60 other look alikes at the airport.

 BUT in  a big ole mega yacht every one can see and when it squeezes through the Simpson bay bridge your captain will sweat but you can look down on all the minions waving up at you.

Thats why I like taking my yacht through the bridge .

Milling about waiting for the bridge opening. How would you like to drag down on that yacht ? Ah... Sir I can fix that.

If I anchor 100 away in the same anchoage as these yachts and eat at the same places, er maybe and see the same sights and breath the same air.. Should I consider myself a one percenter?

My skiff is the third one ... No its the white one... No ... What was its name again?

Theyre everywhere! 

Cueing up to get through, I went last... Safer

Going through. I have a friends condom boat on deck. They will be here soon to get it.

Now thats my kind of yacht ! Life is good , three big box wines, grocerys, and the whole crew in a 6 rubber condom boat.

 

Its a bit more hectic here now  but I have some change in my pocket and time to explore the new realitys of the present. 

I do have to confess, I have a trophy wife , and very nice house, a yacht and I do get high once in awhile so no jet ,who cares,

TODAY IS THE GOOD OLE DAYS !

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14 days sailing to the Leeward islands

It was great to be at sea again with nice bit of open ocean in front of me with only some ships and nothing too big to hit or avoid. This would be my third singlehanded passage down on two different Hogfish designs of mine. I have done the return trip 4 times which can be a lot easier as it should be mostly down wind. This trip is a challenge because you have to make at least 400 miles of easting to get far enough out so that when the trades are encountered you can lay the course down to the islands. On three previous trips with three different boats every trip was different but the easting was made , albeit in rough going for the first 4 days hard on the wind.

The forcast was perfect, the first 3 days the wind was to be in the north and then slowly veer to the NE and by that time I should have been out far enough to catch the trades on down for the last 700 or so miles. The forcast was right on for the first day and night with 20-25 knot winds with the Hogfish close reaching along with "Sinclair" the wind vane steering perfectly or I should say steering well enough that I could stay out of the wet and wind. This was to be our first real offshore passage together and I had to figure out all of his wims and needs. By the end of this trip I can say that this Aries Mark IV vane is the best vane Ive every owned. 

By day 2 day the wind was dropping out to under 10 knots. I still had to go due east another 300 plus miles before the wind would veer into the east. I can carry 85 gallons of diesel onboard but never have more than 20 gallons in the tank. We just dont motor that much. I left with a total of 30 expecting this to last me the whole winter. My mistake . 

Stowing our 123" fiberglass dinghy on deck is very easy with two people but its just a process doing it alone. This skiff I designed and built to be out sports car, truckster, dive boat, sailboat and our lifeboat. My idea is it will not sink even with a hole in it, it can move instead of just floating about and you can just untie it as the boat goes under and roll it over and bail it out. Of course Iam not a cold weather sailor so I have to limit my disasters to temporate climates.

This chart has a few of HFMs passages on it to and from the Caribbean. The red dots are this last trips daily runs. You can see I just got out far enough to lay the Virgins. 650 miles of beating to weather. Glad my girls were flying down as this would not be fun for them.

 

Some other passages in the Hogfish flat bottom line of boats sailed alone or with my family.

Sunrise on the third day out sailing in a bit of breeze.

There it is ! Another day but could use a bit more wind , still making eastward progress.

Sunset on day three with "Sinclair" doing the steering.

I reefed  the mainsail 28 times on this trip. Went through 12 squalls that I pulled the jib in while I Steered through them. And used 28 gallons of diesel when it went flat .

I love Tropic birds. They are almost always in pairs. I wish life was as simple as theirs when all you did was fish all day and think about where you were going to procreate next. Simple life.

The beginning  of 4 days of next to no wind. This can be lots of fun as you get to see lots of stuff in the water that you would normally not see.

A Dominican fish attractor. You cannot see them but a huge ball of fish down bellow.

Ghosting by a nice bucket with a Triple Tail fish hanging out. I wanted to swap out our split yellow bucket for this grey one but did not want disturb him and the other small fish. I could spear these fish with my HeadHunters pole spear as they dont move but I was alone and had plenty to eat.

Heres some more that are camouflaging themshelfs in white next to a five gallon jerry jug.

I counted 15 that I passed by.

I can open my diesel tanks and look right inside to clean and to really see whats left. Takes a minute.

Now its calm, with next to no swell, I have no electric auto pilot as I dont motor much and dont want to have an expensive thing just hanging around waiting to be used. So I ended up hand steering for 16 hours a day till night. For two nights the wind would come up after 8:00 and we could sail along at 2-3 knots till day light when it would go flat again. It was a nice way to move along at night. I take short naps with a timer at night lasting 15 minutes each. Iam always rested.

Sunrise after being becalmed all night long. I had 2 gallons of fuel left so I just drifted all night moving south 6 miles in 18 hours.

The Wind started to pic up on the 7 th day out and this French sloop came by to ask for cigarettes as they had run out 5 days ago sailing from the Canary Islands heading to the Bahamas. I dont smoke  

Six days more of sailing hard on the wind I was just able to lay the Annagodda passage and sailed into Virgin Gorda in the BVIs . The wind had headed me going into the SE so I decided to see an old friend Argorn in Beef Island. The BVIs are packed with boats. It was a Hugh culture shock to be suddenly trust back into a world of hundreds of very expensive boats to avoid. But the BVIs are very pretty.

Lots of boats , and vacationing people. With Hogfishes shallow draft I was able to anchor in 3 of water so could stay away from all the liabilitys of so many boats.

After my visit with Argorn and a few cold beers i made landfall at St. Martin sailing 98 miles tacking to weather in 20 knot winds to cover the 78 mile direct course to get here taking 26 hours. I passed by within a mile of Anguilla and its out laying islands . Ahead is the French side of St. Martin.

Iam now in St. Martin waiting for Rachel and our dog Bequia to fly in. This island is the busiest place in the islands for yachts and turist. Its nosiey , tons of traffic, good food and lots of good people watching but I cant wait to get out of here. Soon they come.

The best part is beers are only a dollar and rum drinks only two!!! So I can relax after a days work on the Hogfish and talk to all kinds of real sailors from all over the world. 

Next stop Saba ... Talk soon.

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