Attempted Trip to Bermuda

[boatman61]

LOL... Good one BO... you are making use of all available tools...
And what is insurance... just another tool..

[Alecadi]

Hi BO

You should write a book with all your posts! I certainly buy a copy if you do it!

What is your planning, if any? Where else after KW?

We'll sail into KW end of this month and will say hello.

[Moonpie]

BO - I really enjoy your tales and though you certainly did dive into the deep end a little early, one thing is for certain - you sure have a positive attitude and a great appreciation for people and their influence in you. Love it. Where to next? Give us your plan

[Seaworthy Lass]

Originally Posted by Moonpie

BO - I really enjoy your tales and though you certainly did dive into the deep end a little early, one thing is for certain - you sure have a positive attitude and a great appreciation for people and their influence in you. Love it. Where to next? Give us your plan

He is a fellow cruiser now. No plans most likely

I just love your tales BlackOak. That enthusiasm for life and willingness to give things a go seems sadly missing in much of today's homogenised society. I applaud all your endeavours.

[BlackOak]

next stop on this adventure is still a bit cloudy. I know there are places I would like to see, off shore, but for the immediate future is something local is in mind. Boca Grand Key, is a short hop, 15 miles + or -, then Marqueses Key, just past Boca, then Dry Tortugas. If I survive that and make it back to this mooring ball, then Bahamas, Turk Caicos, and then north to Bermuda. I think the most awesome thing about a sailboat like mine, is the fact, anywhere in the world is possible.

As in the movie, Lawrence of Arabia, when he, Lawrence says to Sherif Ali, "Aqaba is over there, its just a matter of going"

[endoftheroad]

[QUOTE=BlackOak;1149394]next stop on this adventure is still a bit cloudy. I know there are places I would like to see, off shore, but for the immediate future is something local is in mind. Boca Grand Key, is a short hop, 15 miles + or -, then Marqueses Key, just past Boca, then Dry Tortugas. If I survive that and make it back to this mooring ball, then Bahamas, Turk Caicos, and then north to Bermuda. I think the most awesome thing about a sailboat like mine, is the fact, anywhere in the world is possible.


I think these (above) are great tentative thoughts.
You will definately like the first 3 destinations.
I may be able to make the first 2 or 3 with you (buddy boatin').

[rtbates]

Originally Posted by brutb

He's been towed, how many times?

He thought he was going to die in a little rough weather

He cussed sailing and sailboats.

He said he was going to sell his boat.

Doing fine????????? He's doing and that's great. Hopefully he'll continue as he said he didn't even post his boat for sale in the last anchorage.


For BO: Keep ON doing what makes you happy...And I do enjoy reading your posts. Our approach is opposite, our goals similar.
Keep on jumping if that works for you. I prefer to do my homework BEFORE jumping and enjoy what I'm doing.

And are you still locked to the land or are you out using your Cape Dory 25 to or for its main purpose. If your are not careful, you may wind up when your old and gray wishing you were BO and saying I could have been like him and had the greatest adventure of them all if I had just a LITTLE of his reckless spitit....

Right NOW I'm happily on land. I just turned 65 and retired. My 25D is getting prepared for a little travel. Have no fear about me, I'd never wish to be BO. I've done my share of adventure through my many years of living. And I've always done my homework before hand and it's always worked for me. Living in the central american jungle for 6 months wasn't easy but I was prepared. 3 months traveling via motor cycle from Texas to Canada to Belize, back to Texas, etc. Adventure is one thing jumping in when one has no clue is not adventure, TO ME, it's reckless. Fortunately in today's world of sailing there is a host of folks who make a living helping out the less prepared. And from what I've read it's a darn good thing. Me, I like to be as self sufficient as possible.

For BO: Keep on doing what makes you happy. I enjoy reading your posts. Our approaches are opposite, our goals similar.

[BlackOak]

Not exactlly TowBoatUs, but any will do in a pinch. I was just entering the garrison bight, and she coughed and spuddered, and then she quit. Ah no worries, I was not far, and a good rowing seems like a good idea, since it has been awhile, well since Marco Island. This feller came along, and asked if I wanted a tow, at first I declined, but he insisted, so I said OK!

It was my intention, to get dink fuel yesterday, but hanging out with some friends at the Turtle Kraal, during happy hour, just wiped that thought from my brain. I got back to the marina, and it was late. I saw endoftheroad there, and asked what time did the fuel dock close, he said about an or or so ago. Ah no worries, I knew I had enough to get to the boat, but getting back was questionable. So I did a Scarlett O'Hara, "I'll worry about that tomorrow."

I wasnt a 100 yards from the dock, but thought yall would like a snapshot.

BTW, after I got to the dock, I loaded up the gas can in my bike and rode over to the fuel dock. where I met Carmen, a bahamaian girl who lived in KW around the same time I did, but stayed here and grew up here. It was a good time talking about the old Key West back in the middle sixties. Spent better part of an hour just chatting it up, and I made a friend. It was awesome, so ya see, sometimes ya miss something, and perhaps I was to forget to get fuel yesterday, cause if I did I may have never got to know Carmen at all.. Folks!! Things happen for a reason....just remember that!

[Moonpie]

BO - tell us about your scouting experience.

[Caribsurf]

Originally Posted by BlackOak

It was awesome, so ya see, sometimes ya miss something, and perhaps I was to forget to get fuel yesterday, cause if I did I may have never got to know Carmen at all.. Folks!! Things happen for a reason....just remember that!

Photos or it didn't happen... of Carmen. Love that name..

CS

[Moonpie]

Originally Posted by Caribsurf

Photos or it didn't happen... of Carmen. Love that name..

CS

Yes, pix please!

[David_Old_Jersey]

Originally Posted by Moonpie

Yes, pix please!

+1

Not sure of the weather in BO's locale - is it Bikini weather by any chance?

Just askin'

[GrowleyMonster]

BO I think you ought to ask Carmen to pose for you on or next to your boat, and post it. Tell her your CF friends will not take no for an answer.

[Mambo]

Originally Posted by BlackOak

Well, cant go to Bermuda till early May, anyway. I am enjoying wacKey West, and holding here till I get my GPS/ChartPlotter delivered. Dont wanna be going into a coral head, and prefer real time info in waters like here, instead of just using my paper charts. Lots and Lots of reef, and similiar to what I can expect when attempting Bermuda. So it will be a good training scenerio for me. There is still the Bahamas, and Turk Caicos, I can sail off to for more practice, in the coming weeks.

I plan to do Boca Grande Key, then hop to Marquases Key, then hop to Dry Tortugas in the next couple of weeks, with the new nav equipment. Gonna try it out and see if it will be want I need.

Been sitting out here on the boat doing some cleaning...deep cleaning...and noticed, the longer I sit inside the boat, the more the little things pop out at me. Like, the left over screwhole, or screws/nail in the walls that at one time used to hold up something like a photo. A couple spots peeling paint, how dull the teak is looking, spots where the PO used duct tape, scotch tape, black tape, and left the residue on the walls, and wtf did he need to attach with tape. Scraping off little spots of splattered paint off the wood, when the PO painted and didnt clean up or have a drop cloth.

Pulled the floor up yesterday, and tried to figure out where all those hoses, wires, and cables went to and what is their function. Today I clean the floor, and underneath it. Sprayed some pledge funiture polish on the wood floor, and found I could sorta skate around with my socks on. I was amazed how fast that runner can slide right out from under your feet and leave ya grabbing air for something to hold onto. Decided I needed some more stratigically placed grab rails inside the boat. I went a little crazy with the funiture polish, but everything smells so lemoney, and everything is shiny, and slickery.

Its been a little crapy weather here, 20kt winds out of the north, and 3 to 4 footers under the boat. Been rockin and rollin for 2 days now. Last night I had something clanking the mast, check all my halyards, sheets and rigging, and couldnt find the culprit. Grabbed a handful of zip-ties, and ran around on deck zip-tieing anything that moved. Tried to find it today while the sun was out, but its not clanking anymore. I tried sleeping in the v-berth, during the blow, and i was told that sleeping in the middle of the boat is less bumpy, and less noisey. Gonna try that tonight, maybe I can get some sleep tonight.

PS. I havent even put the boat up for sale on Craigslist, which I usually do at every port I make...wonder what that means?

To all those who say that the forums never change anyone's mind, I say this: Post 397 of this freakin' thread finally changed mine.

I was always rooting for you BO, but I honestly can't say (and granted I was only exposed to what you wrote) that I thought you were doing your part to pull of this adventure. I didn't think that you were learning from your mistakes, I didn't see you asking for assistance but rather weaving a yarn about a voyage -- the success of which was at times more a testament to dumb luck than any skill courage or effort which you put into it. Sometimes you appeared to be almost the inverse of John Vigor's Black Box theory (google it if you don't know).

Was it interesting enough to keep me reading? Certainly, but I am not one to turn away from a train wreck either. And, while I didn't much admire the way you were going about things, I both recognized the desire to "just do it" and some of the hurdles and mistakes which come with that approach. I did much the same myself -- no formal training or big boat experience just a lot of reading and picking the brains of others along the way before I jumped in and went. Finally, I never really got your detractors. As you and others have seized on, many of the posts condemning your "voyage" seemed routed in the poster's own limitations or experiences. And that is simply not right. While I was a skeptic, I didn't join them mostly because, well, it didn't seem to me that you ever asked for advice.

Of course, many of your cheerleaders were equally wrong. Many of them were (are) non-sailors or non-boat owners who were inspired by your doing everything the wrong way. That is just as bad if not worse. I'd never tell anyone that they need an ASA class or the tutelage of others in order to become a competent blue water sailor -- but I would also never suggest they follow the hapless git who bumbles along from anchorage to anchorage by the grace of god and the good will of strangers. I mean, congrats man but I don't find it admirable or a great role model.

BUT then I read post 397 . . .

All of a sudden, it seems like something clicked and the sum of your experiences have begun to produce something reminiscent of a sailor. You are comparing the features of various cruising grounds which you have not yet seen and I am pretty damn sure that means you've either seen a chart or picked the brains of others about the waters in your future. Good stuff.

You're getting a chartplotter and actually gonna practice with it. Two monumental leaps forward! All of a sudden, you'll be one of the bazillions with a chartplotter but one of the few who also know a bit about DR too! Do I hear Erick Hiscock stirring? I'll leave the hyperbole to you, but it is obviously a major step forward.

But what was most striking to me -- and the thing that made me stop and re-read your post #397 was when it became clear that you were now looking at your boat like a sailor. You were noticing its shortcomings -- even just the seemingly cosmetic details of missing screws or tape residue. You were probing to see how its systems work. That is the stuff that matters and makes you a more competent and safer sailor (IMO, of course). It is not the ASA class (which may well help) but the partnership you ultimately reach with your vessel -- understanding it and knowing all of its details and beginning to understand what it can and can't do for you in all sorts of situations.

It sure seems to me that you are now on the path of a sailor -- and you got there with a sense of humor, your storytelling in tact and without a big head. Again, good stuff. So, while I don't think I was a ever a detractor, but I sure was a skeptic. Now I am a convert -- I think you are well on your way to successful cruising (whatever you decide that means for you).

Of course, none of this is noteworthy, but I totally got a kick out of you changing my mind . . . at post #397!

Good luck! I'm looking forward to hearing what comes next.

-M

[endoftheroad]

Mambo,
You hit it right, BlackOak is on the path to becoming a sailor.
He is my friend, we spent a long day together today, he is a competent man and a quick, natural learner. I have no intentions to push our interests on BO, I leave pushing/preaching for the religious fanatics. BO is an old school early 50's quality gentleman who has been a member and observer (done alot of homework) here since something like 2008. He jumped into the water without knowing exactly how to swim and it didnt take a stepfather forcefully throwing him into the swimming pool. It is his way of doing things and its working very well for him.

BlackOak is not an armchair sailor/learner. He took his risks and is now thriving as a cruiser/liveaboard. If he never sails another mile, he has succeeded.
He is full of positive energy and enthusiasm.


Regarding nautical lingo, BlackOak is starting to finish me sentences.

endoftheroad