Just Out Looking for Pirates

[TaoJones]

This is from Pat and Ali Schulte's bumfuzzle.com that was just updated:

* * * * *

"Anyway, to test out my new tracking system I took the GPS along with us on a walk around the neighborhood. As we strolled down the sidewalk I looked at the screen and had a very strong sailing life flashback. There on the screen was our current speed of 3.8 knots. A number that is seared in both of our minds, as it seemed to be the single most common speed traveled by Bumfuzzle. It's truly sad to think that our leisurely walking speed, with my mom's fufu dog in tow, is the same speed that we generally attained aboard our sleek looking thirty-five foot catamaran sailing vessel. We really were terrible sailors."

* * * * *

I'm posting this because Pat Schulte has condensed the circumnavigation he and his wife Ali accomplished aboard their catamaran, Bumfuzzle, into a new book. Just published, and available online as either a traditional book or a downloadable e-book, it's entitled Just Out Looking for Pirates.

I wanted to bring this to the attention of CF members for a couple of reasons: First, because there are probably at least 5,000 new members of Cruisers Forum since the Schultes made things so exciting here, and they may not know anything about the pair, and second, because many new members are in their twenties or thirties and often ask, "What's it like to cruise?"

They get a lot of answers here, of course, but probably not a lot from their contemporaries. The truth is, there aren't a lot of younger cruisers. But Pat and Ali - whether you love them or hate them - are only in their early-thirties now, and have a successful circumnavigation under their belts aboard a 35' catamaran. And even older cruisers (or wannabes) could learn a thing or two from their experiences, even if it's just don't even think of letting out all of your rode in 600' of depth to get the twists out.

Anyway, here's a link to the site that is making the book available:

Bumfuzzle by Patrick Schulte (Book) in Travel

TaoJones

[SettingSail2009]

I know the controversy and all the debates surrounding them, but at the end of the day the completed their goal: they circumnavigated and had a great time while doing it.

I've been in touch with them a couple of times and they are very friendly and easy going. They've encouraged me to follow my dream ... and I am ... Though I would have done so even without their encouragement.

I'm sure their book is different from the normal cruisingbooks you read, but then so are they.

[sneuman]

wow! blistering average there for a cat. I suppose they managed to outrun all the bad weather AND the pirates!

[S/V Elusive]

Originally Posted by sneuman

wow! blistering average there for a cat. I suppose they managed to outrun all the bad weather AND the pirates!

Yeah ... so imagine how slow us mono-hullers would have been. ::sigh::

[Norm]

$10 for ground shipping of a paperback book seems about twice what is reasonable. They lost a sale today.

[TaoJones]

Originally Posted by sneuman

wow! blistering average there for a cat. I suppose they managed to outrun all the bad weather AND the pirates!

Come on now, sneuman, cruising is all about the journey, not the destination . . . yada yada yada . . . Actually, for a couple of people with less than zero big boat experience, that they pulled it off at any speed is astounding.

As far as bad weather goes, I believe their logs reveal that they hit the worst weather of the entire circumnavigation in the last 2-3 hours, off the coast between Miami and Ft. Lauderdale. And, although a lot of people were warning them about pirates in two areas they were sailing through (Indonesia and the horn of Africa) they always had a pretty cavalier attitude toward the possibility, if their logs are accurate.

Still, there were a couple of incidents that, potentially, could have been disastrous. The first was in SE Asia when they were very nearly boarded at night by "unfriendlies," and on their Atlantic crossing when another boat was acting in a very peculiar, almost hostile manner. But pirates? Who knows?

Originally Posted by Norm

$10 for ground shipping of a paperback book seems about twice what is reasonable. They lost a sale today.

Unless you live on the dark side of the moon, this strikes me as questionable. When I receive my copy, I'll see what the shipping and handling was and report it here. If you don't feel the need to hold the physical paper and ink in your hands, why not go with the e-book? Very reasonable, seems to me.

TaoJones

[exfishnz]

Originally Posted by sneuman

wow! blistering average there for a cat. I suppose they managed to outrun all the bad weather AND the pirates!

Maybe that's the secret, by going so slow the pirates get bored of waiting

[sneuman]

Originally Posted by TaoJones

Come on now, sneuman, cruising is all about the journey, not the destination . . . yada yada yada . . . Actually, for a couple of people with less than zero big boat experience, that they pulled it off at any speed is astounding.

What I said was more a commentary on all the hullaballoo about fast cat passages than anything else.

Hell, I envy the bumfuzzles. To be young and rich again (or, at least to be young!). Seems these two have stashed away such a fortune they don't seem to need to work any longer (once they sold their boat, they got in a van and drove across the country, then raced across ... ). But of course, it doesn't stop them from begging the rest of us for pizza money.

[cat man do]

Gee I'd have turned the key or got a powercat if that was the best average speed attainable.



Seeing as in their trip they never seemed to actually cop any weather, possibly they sat in port until there was no wind and tried to sail then?

Dave

[TaoJones]

Originally Posted by sneuman

What I said was more a commentary on all the hullaballoo about fast cat passages than anything else.

Hell, I envy the bumfuzzles. To be young and rich again (or, at least to be young!). Seems these two have stashed away such a fortune they don't seem to need to work any longer (once they sold their boat, they got in a van and drove across the country, then raced across ... ). But of course, it doesn't stop them from begging the rest of us for pizza money.

Point taken, sneuman. And, as a further point of information, they did The Great American Race (in a 40+ year-old Porsche 356C that had belonged to his parents) soon after they finished their circumnavigation, then obtained the 50 year-old VW van and had it restored for their meanderings as land cruisers. Who among us would consider camping through Mexico in such a vehicle posh?

"Rich," of course, is a relative term. I'm sure to some, they are probably rich, but to a truly wealthy person (Warren Buffett, Bill Gates, Carlos Slim), what the Bums have managed to sock away is chump change. Still, given their youth (early thirties) and the fact that these two Minnesota high school sweethearts attained their present level of comfort by their own hard work, I think it's an American success story worthy of admiration and celebration, not condemnation, as a few others seem to prefer.

Pat Schulte took on the commodities markets, and excelled. As a person who has some familiarity with commodities, I assure you that this is much, much harder than many assume. Steve Fossett, too, was an American of modest beginnings who secured his fortune through commodities, though he did it primarily by renting seats on the CBOE to others (it's a bit like the general store owner selling prospectors their picks and shovels).

The point is, it takes a lot of guts and more than a modicum of street-smarts to swim with the sharks, yet not only exit the pool intact, but with more than you had when you jumped in. If a man chooses to leave that behind and pursue an adventurous life with the person he loves, who can begrudge him his chosen path?

TaoJones

[TaoJones]

Originally Posted by cat man do

Seeing as in their trip they never seemed to actually cop any weather, possibly they sat in port until there was no wind and tried to sail then?

Well, they didn't take any foolish chances with the weather, but their circumnavigation was completed in about 3 1/2 years. And keep in mind that the vessel was virtually re-built in the Menzies yard in NZ for about six months, and they spent several more months in Australia, as well.

Many of the older cruisers (is that redundant?) that they met while cruising made snide comments to them about "racing" through their cruise when told they intended to do it in about four years.

TaoJones

[44'cruisingcat]

Originally Posted by cat man do

Gee I'd have turned the key or got a powercat if that was the best average speed attainable.



Seeing as in their trip they never seemed to actually cop any weather, possibly they sat in port until there was no wind and tried to sail then?

Dave

They actually seem to have resisted using the motors pretty well. They sailed a pretty high percentage of the trip. Certainly higher than most I've read about.

Also the boat was carrying a couple of extra tonnes of "water ballast" until new Zealand.

And they do point out that they weren't the world's best sailors.

[Therapy]

I wish I had their smarts and courage when young.
I wish I had it now.

[Little Otter]

I think that it is amazing that they made it in such an old boat! But I congragulate them on having the guts to do it and complete it before the 4 years was up.

[TaoJones]

Bumfuzzle, a 35' Wildcat catamaran, was less than one year old when the Schultes bought her and began their circumnavigation.

TaoJones