Personal Updates

Wooden Ships in Copenhagen Harbor

This past summer has been one of the most adventurous, amazing, mind-expanding summers I could ever have imagined. Despite so many setbacks, beginning with the struggles in the Gulf and peaking with the dismasting in the Atlantic, some amazing opportunities are beginning to present themselves.

After Iceland I had the privilege to tour some incredible cities in northern and central Europe, meeting old friends and making new ones, learning about the histories of various civil movements such as the squats in Holland and Denmark, the linguistic history of the Czech language, and the fascinating story of the origin and growth of Prague. I was able to top it off with a visit to Dutch Design Week to see some of the top European design and innovation - much of which revolved around the recognition of major shifts in the industrial landscape and a renewed focus on urban sustainability and localized production. As many of you know, these are themes near and dear to my heart — in fact, my interest in building and maintaining thriving and sustainable communities is one of the factors that lead me to explore living aboard a sailboat in the first place. As this intellectual and cultural journey continues, expect to see these themes coming more to the forefront of my activities, in many varied incarnations.

Speaking of the boat…

My poor boat has sat for far too long, immobile, against a dock head in the Southeastern US, awaiting my return from a summer of research, investigation, exploration, and discovery. She’s got a nice mess of waterline growth despite some high quality antifouling, and it’s definitely time to give her some much-needed attention.

I’ve contracted Tad Roberts, the naval architect whose designs are much discussed by my friend Bob at Boat Bits, to design a suitable new rig plan for Aletheia. I’m going to keep mum on the specifics at the moment, but suffice it to say that it will be a RADICAL departure from the conventional rig that these boats usually have (for both financial and ease-of-sailing reasons), but she will without question retain her seaworthyness, beauty, and hopefully a very much increased ease of handling. I should have the final plans in a month or so and will make a decision on whether or not to forge ahead with the actual work.

Last but never least, I have a whole batch of photos to share. I’ll be doing a few photo posts shortly, for those of you who enjoy them.

Thanks so much for reading and for sticking with me, sporadic as I may be!


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Uncharacteristic bright blue skies over Seattle beam down glorious sunny rays today. The conversation in this coffee shop is sprinkled with comments about how nice the weather is, reminding me of The Oatmeal’s clever dissection of Seattle weather. My friends and I have definitely been making maximum use of the good weather, finally putting my motorcycle license to good use riding my friend’s Buell XB9 around town just for fun. We also took a ferry trip out to Friday Harbor to visit Steven Roberts of Nomadness fame.



Oddly enough, though, I haven’t actually made it to downtown Seattle proper, yet. That will have to wait until next week, as I’m heading back to the San Juans to work on some boat projects with Steve for a couple days. We plan to have some great geekery projects to tackle, and hopefully some sailing in the process.

Still working on a review of Seattle’s coffee, microbrews, and the section of general lifestyle I’ve seen so far. Initial results are favorable for coffee, good to excellent for the microbrews (although Colorado still edges them out). City life I can’t judge but I can say that Seattle has some terrible traffic, requires autos to get nearly anywhere, and feels very congested - also people drive very slow out here making the congestion feel worse. Then again, I’ve been in the ‘burbs for the most part, and nice though they are, they are definitely not the downtown boroughs where a lot more social interaction happens. Stay tuned as I figure out if I can find a suitable scene in the limited time I have remaining, or if Seattle will have to punt… So far, though, the score is Seattle Transit Situation: Fail.

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It isn’t every day that the sun shines brightly over the town of Halifax, Nova Scotia, but it sure seems like it since I have been here. The locals talk about the unusually good weather as they head every night to one swimming hole or another. I’m told that if Canada so wished, every citizen could have their own lake, there are so many. I believe them and it is difficult not to just cast aside all else and enjoy the great outdoors all day and late into the evening. Most days in fact I have done so with great fervor, embracing my friends’ enthusiasm for the weather and the season with as much joy as they have and bounding down newly-trod paths to remote inland lakes. We sun ourselves on the warm rocks, splash around in the tea-coloured water, reddened by the tannins and the rich iron deposits in the soil and, refreshed, arrive back on the same rocks for a post-swim picnic and some lazy banter. The girls take pleasure in the opportunity to show off their physiques long hidden by rainy day clothing and cooler weather, and though I come from a warmer climate, their enthusiasm has the same effect as though I were seeing the first sundress of the year all over again.

Halifax, at least from the angle I’ve had the chance to explore so far, is a town of idealistic, energetic wandering hearts. It’s a town of soul searching creation, a music borne of the lost and found, the desired and the accidental mingling together and sharing dreams. It’s young minstrels from Toronto, French freshmen from Montreal, small-town runaways from Cape Breton. I’ve attended intimate and talented musical performances held in local homes, the largely hipster crowd drinking homemade moonshine from hip flasks and whispered discussions in the hallways between musical pieces. A beautiful young lady from Newfoundland, her dark eyes flashing, sashays up to me in suede boots and a pleasantly revealing sundress made of some invitingly soft-looking material. She’s a year from graduating with her D.M.D, she says, and we discuss employment opportunities in the States versus Canada briefly before a segue into hiking in Newfoundland. Her boyfriend isn’t too happy with the attention I’m getting and in another song or two he’s escorted her out the door into the night. She leaves me with a long, gentle stare and an invitation to return to the open mic night next week. He shuts the door a little too firmly. I grin and head to the kitchen to refill my glass with the French Rosé I’ve brought - being someone’s home, the party is BYO. In the hallway after I return is an enchanting redhead, rubbing her belly in a rather deliberate fashion. I make a small joke, and her smile is reward itself, though she explains she’s not her best due to someone putting milk in her coffee earlier in the day rather than the usual soy. I can appreciate this, and wonder what she’s like at her best. Later, she shares some slam poetry and a lovely song she’d written the day before on a ukelele, her first piece for that instrument. As far as anyone in the audience can tell, she’s been a uke’ virtuoso for years. The music all night has been enchantingly excellent, though the highlight may have been a young man’s superb violin rendition of a key theme from Amélie - a soaring solo performance that left even the hardest-to-impress audience members appreciatively silent and entranced. After the party, I talk at length with Karsten and Jacques, the latter of whom is a violinist for a few local groups and possesses a prodigious talent. We discuss traveling as a musician, and Jacques mentions he’s been through Atlanta. We reminisce a bit, and the conversation swerves to all the bands out of nearby Athens, before coming back to a discussion of the evening’s featured artists. Someone looks at a watch and we realize it’s already well past 3 AM.

The next day, Sarah and Hayley and I set off on bicycles to picnic in the park along the waterfront - one of my favorite pasttimes during this lovely summer. We snack on Ranier cherries, double-cream Chevalier, and another glass of that Rosé I’d brought. Hayley has made a lovely feta and chickpea salad, which we enthuse over while musing on relationships, discussing Sarah’s growing business, and celebrating Hayley’s hopefully-successful application to film school. She’s put a bold foot forward and is actively pursuing what she loves to do. I know that feeling, and our toasts are genuine and full of all the possibilities the future holds. Towards evening, we repack the remains of the picnic and head further into the park for a local Shakespeare production of the Merry Wives of Windsor. The performance is hilarious, vivacious, and pitch perfect - the cast clearly enjoy what they do and take their fun seriously. A group of four young university girls, arrayed on a picnic blanket in front of us, twitter quietly as they share jokes between each other about the various actors and actresses, some of whom they appear to know personally. The gentle teasing and banter drift towards us and occasionally they smile in our direction as we share a laugh at poor Falstaff, increasing the sense of communal enjoyment. After all, that’s what Shakespeare in the Park is all about. Near the end of the performance, the sun sets fiery behind the trees, its colorful salute to the day stretching towards us from behind the natural theatre.

It is, perhaps, the town’s way of flirtation, putting her best foot forward and wearing her best smile and favorite hat. If so, she’s put a fresh flower in it for me, and I think I’m crushing a bit for her. Even knowing that she’s not all sunshine and swimming pools isn’t putting a huge dent in my desire, and I can tell that this is one summer fling I’m really going to miss when it’s over.



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Wrestling sailcloth into position. Check out my awesome farmer’s tan!

Ahh, the Florida Keys. To most folks, the Keys speak of tropical breezes, miles of imported sandy beaches, and inevitably Key West’s famous Duval street. Of course the reality is somewhat different, with a lackluster economy heavily biased towards seasonal tourism, the Keys are inhabited by a relatively small year-round population (disproportionately representing the midwestern US in origin) who do their best to make ends meet any way they can in the doldrums between tourism peaks. I’ve had the privilege to meet a number of these folks who are truly wonderful people, many of them even brilliantly talented in one or more diverse subjects or skills. And of course there are those for whom the Keys represent the easy slide to the bottom of life, living bottle to bottle or high to high. Those in between these two are usually college students or recent graduates working in the service industry in order to stick around and enjoy the coast, the fishing, or the island lifestyle for a while before moving on. Some of them get stuck, some of them don’t.

Having been to the Keys a few times, my first impression was that they are tremendously depressing, with a lot of rundown infrastructure and people with very broken lives. The major entertainment around here is to go to a bar and drink. So coming here this time I decided to make my experience different, deliberately. Of course like most folks I enjoy a good beer with friends, and I always enjoy meeting new people and making new friends. But I was determined to find the scene that lay under the surface here - people worth knowing, and to put effort into creating or finding experiences that would be worthwhile.

So far, I can report this new effort has been a rousing success. I’ve had a crowd of folks over on the boat, jamming on guitars and cooking kebabs in the cockpit. I’ve met the aforementioned lovely people, too many to say hello to by name here. Some of them are Parole Officers with kind hearts and wise counsel, foreign affairs advisors to high government officials, congressional advisors who really Get It, tremendously talented tattoo artists and musicians, National Geological Service cartographers, and more pilots, divers, surfers, and paratroopers than I can count. Of course it’s not what your chosen profession is but who you are that counts, and there are many folks who defy easy description that are in the list of people I’m glad to have met as well. Some are passing through, some are staying and contributing to the community. It’s been really wonderful meeting these folks and through their networks finding more groups of like-minded individuals. It’s the community within the community, and it’s worth finding wherever you are; even in the most low-down, beaten-up, forgotten side-road towns there are people who Think Different, as the ad said.

When I haven’t been the social butterfly, I’ve been keeping myself busy with repairs to Aletheia, as she has needed some major work and I’ve had a mind to change a few things during the trip. Thus, I am attending to a short list of priorities on that front as well. The biggest items on the list so far are:

- Finish making the new Jib
- Install the replacement wind generator
- Pull and re-bed the starboard cap shroud chainplate as it seems it is leaking slightly (this worries me big time)
- Thoroughly inspect all of the standing rigging, re-tension the shrouds, and check everything for proper torque or chafe issues.
- Replace all brass hanks on the primary sails (jib, drifter, storm, and maybe the 110 genoa) with either soft shackles (most often used sails) or Wichard snap hooks (which I already own, and will put on sails I use less often).

The jib is coming along swimmingly. I’ve been working on it for only two days and I have all of the patches sewn in place (head, tack, clew, reef tack, reef clew, reef pennants) and all of the panels sewn together. At 10 feet away it looks wonderful! Of course my sewing leaves much to be desired in terms of precision, as this is my first major project with a machine, let alone my first sail. But I am learning and the stitches are solid if not perfectly aligned. The nice thing about making your own sail is that you can add reinforcements where you know your boat likes to chafe the sail, or extra stitching where you feel it is needed. A big shout out to Sailrite for the excellent kit, and to Tom Allen who helped me get it all sorted. Tom had to leave for the Bahamas and left me with some wisdom about how to get this sail assembled and so far his advice has been spot on. Sailrite really knows how to put together a heavy air sail and did not skimp on patches, cloth, or hardware. I’m very impressed and will do business with them again in the future.



It almost looks like a sail!


Which one is the clew again?

The other projects shouldn’t be hard, per se, as much as they’ll require a bit of time. Making all of the soft shackles will definitely require some time, as it currently takes me about 20 minutes a shackle, most of which is working the diamond knot tight. I’m a bit concerned about the leaking chainplate, as I rebedded it extremely well, but hey, it’s leaking so I couldn’t have bedded it perfectly or it wouldn’t be leaking. So… that’s about a day gone right there, but that’s how it goes.

One day at a time, though. And in the meantime I’m really enjoying myself so it’s part work, part play and that’s a good thing.

I also got myself a fun new item for the galley, check it out!

More soon!


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I hope each of you had a really great 11/11!

I spent mine down in the depths of the engine bay, futilely trying to pull a prop coupling off the prop shaft. After breaking 2 5-ton pulling jaws I’ve given up - a friend is bringing a small cutting torch by and we are going to try that before giving up entirely on the prop coupling and just cutting it free with an angle grinder.

So! A recap of the year is due so far, with a few forward looking thoughts. I’m sure many of you are wondering what the timeframe looks like now, and so I’ll start with that first.

While the list of “to-do” projects has amazingly declined, the engine setback has had the biggest impact on my timeline with an estimated 2.5 month delay directly attributable to the engine problems. This moves the November 11 “readiness” date out to about the end of January. With a little bit of extra time for shakedown and “new feature testing” that will put a likely departure readiness at around late Feb/early March if things proceed apace from this point forward. All the other projects are actually being completed on time or early to this point, so I feel pretty good about the rest of the schedule.

I don’t have a clever date in that timeframe to put as a memorable target so why don’t we just say Leap Day, 29 Feb 2012? As good as any!

So what kind of stuff do you get to look forward to between now and then? Here’s a teaser:

• A full re-rigging with the most traditional non-traditional materials you’ll ever see.


• New primary winches


• AIS, SSB, and other comms installation


• And the really FUN project: building a dinghy!

Yep, I’m going to BUILD a dinghy - its going to be terrific and you’ll get a front row seat to that action. But more on these later, we’re still in the middle of an electric motor install.

Here’s where we are with that (sadly not as many pictures this time, but I’ll make up for it!):

The electrics are all ready and cabled. I broke down and spent the money for an AWESOME professional cable crimper which makes the hefty 2/0 and 4/0 crimp connections about as easy as stripping 10AWG wire. Seriously. I moved all the chargers to the now vacant engine compartment, rewired the main 12V electrical busses to make it easier to access and clean up some of the cabling, moved the 12V fuses into the battery compartment where they should have been this whole time, and installed 2 brand spanking new bilge pumps.

So that means there really is only one thing left to do: install the freaking engine already! And even with the momentum of all the recent progress behind me, I still ended up completely wasting an entire day working on a problem that isn’t solved yet: how to get the damn coupling off the prop shaft so I can put the new coupling on it! Ugh…



As soon as that’s done, I have another problem that also requires some creativity: the existing engine mounts are spaced a bit too widely for the electric motor mounts to reach. I have contacted Scott at Electric Yacht and we came up with a pretty clever plan for fixing it without resorting to significant carpentry. Naturally, though, it will delay me further. So it goes.



But, once those two issues are solved, I think we have this thing licked. While I’m waiting for my friend to arrive with an acetylene torch, I’m going to go cut holes in the cockpit coaming and install the throttle quadrant for the motor. For some inspiration, here is a photo of the engine during one of the test fit sessions:



Not bad, hm?

More to come, as usual. Stay tuned and thanks so much for reading.


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