Putting it all together, a newbies tale

[sailorboy1]

It all started I believe with a beer! Bare with me and I’ll try to explain (you should go get a beer, or two, ahead of time so you will not have to get up during the story).

I admit I had already had a beer a 2 hours prior, so maybe that clouded my judgment some. All that I’m really sure of is that I went to get the beer out of the boats’ reefer, and the next thing I was wet and dead!

My theory is that when I opened the reefer to get said beer that opening the lid caused the systems’ pumpy thing to kick it. This apparently dropped the voltage of my group 3 house battery bank too low causing my autopilot to trip out. I don’t know why this would have happened as I had charged the batteries just the other day. Anyway, since I was out in the deep bluewater and had the stereo clanked up to max volume, I didn’t hear the autopilot alarm go off.

So I took the beer out into the cockpit to watch the sunset because that’s what having a boat is all about. As I sat there I noticed the sails didn’t seem trimmed and thought to myself “That can not be right as they were perfect just 3 hours ago, I know because I looked up the picture in my sail trimming book. I wonder if there is something wrong with the furler.” So I knew I needed to go forward and check that damn new age gizmo drum thingy!

Being a safe sailor who always thinks ahead I knew that first I needed to get my harness and tether so I would stay on the boat while going forward. So I went below and dug around till I found them, happy that I had read on CF of their importance. It took me a while to put the harness on as I could not find the scissors in order to open the package. Then it took a while to find my reading glasses so I could read the directions. But this could bethe difference between life and death so I hung in there!

So I got back to the cockpit and wouldn’t you know it, the damn crappy production boat didn’t have any jacklines! This was hard to believe that neither the builder or that damn broker dude who took my money had not bothered to install the lines and I thought to myself “When I get back from my 2 month sail around the world shakedown trip I’m going to find that guy and give him a piece of my mind!”.

In the mean time I found there were these nice stainless steel cables running along both sides of boat, so I clipped in and felt secure. The 8 foot length of tether line was perfect and allowed me to reach any point in the cockpit without any trouble.

I was about to head forward to take care of that furling thingy and get the sails straighten out, when it occurred to me that maybe I should start the engine just in case. So I turned the key on and pushed the start button and the engine fired up. But then it coughed a few times and died! Since I have done my reading I just knew this was a bad fuel problem as the engine only had 100 hours of run time since I got it and it had a 20 gallon fuel tank! But since I had taken precautions I had installed this super technical box to keep my fuel clean. While I can not actually see what is the box, the literature says that it has these special magnets in it and that this would keep my fuel clean and guarantee that my engine would always run. I bet that shipyard monkey dude installed it backwards!

So I head forward secure in the knowledge that I was wearing my harness and was attached to the boat. It would have been a lot easier if they wouldn’t put so many rods along the deck that those cables go though. I mean it just seems crazy to have to keep unhooking my tether every 5 feet and then have to hook it back on. And once in the middle of the boat I got all tangled up in this other cable that stenches up to that big pole the sails are attached to. But not to worry I made it and didn’t even drop my cigarette or get it wet (thanks go out to that Boatboy23 dude on CF for the tips on this)!

I was about to pull on the line that wraps around the furler thingy to get the sails trimmed, when I noticed the anchor. Now I have the best anchor ever on my boat. It’s a 20# Digdeep attached with 10’ of ¼” chain and 62’ of 6mm single braid. I know this is the best setup because a smaller Digdeep digs into the bottom at least 5’ every time because it is a modern anchor, and of course since I am concerned about saving weight (you know so I can store the extra 5 cases of beer) I had carefully read every CF thread. But the thing is that that the chain seemed to be twisted a little and I thought maybe that copper twisty swivel link “whatucallit” was stuck. So I kicked it!

Well this resulted in a broken toe and blood all over the deck (that’s the living rooms’ roof to you land people)! And in 2 months when I get back I’m going back to that Western Marine store that sold me these flip-flop boat shoes and get my money back. I mean these things don’t have any toe protection at all and it was already bad enough that they kept falling off my feet when I was going forward to start with.

So I’m jumping up and down using all the old salty words I had learned when I hear this weird sound. I don’t know how to really describe it, but it sounded like someone squeezing a clicker, or maybe a can of 3-in-1 Oil. I was starting to think that this was what all the talk about oil canning was when a 2 foot monster wave came out of nowhere (must have been 1 of those rouge waves I had read of) and shook the boat so hard that it knocked me right off my feet and over the side.

So now I’ll being drug alongside the boat by my tether, getting all wet, and my cigarette is out. I yelled out for help, but then remembered that I was alone. Now it never occurred to me that being alone (solo we old salts call it) was that big a deal as I had read this story of the first guy who went all around the world way back. Seems he had lots of experience as proven by his successful survival of a couple of boat crashes and sinkings. And get this, his boat was made out of wood and he used some magic kaliescope thing to find his position (this is how I knew this was an old fairy tale type of book), I mean be real!

Anyway back to being dug along in the water. I had taken precautions against this very scenario before I had been towed out of the marina to get underway (that means to get going on my trip). Having read of how often this happens I had tied a ¼” floating line at the back corners of the boat. I had read that this would make it easy to grab hold of if needed in order to pull myself to that ladder in the back. So I decided to undo my tether and float back to catch the line. Which brings me to a complaint; you would think they would make the tether so you could release it from either end! Good thing my mom taught me to take care of my teeth and I still had 4 and was able to chew though that tether (note to self look into marketing flavored straps).

So I was washed aft toward the floating line. But of course I missed catching it and had to swim after the boat. About that time the boat just seemed to have stopped in the water and almost seemed to be going backwards. A quick peek to the front of the boat and I saw that the sail in the front of the boat was on the wrong side. I’m going to try to remember that putting the front sail on the opposite side of the boat than the line holding it makes the boat kind of stop; this might be of use when writing my sailing adventurers when I get back and I bet there are lots of uses for being able to do this.

This allowed me to catch that line (I’m a genius) and pull myself back to the boat. I tried to get the ladder to flip over and to get the steps to slide out, but couldn’t. So I figured to just pull myself up. Now I’m an All American man of 350 lbs and this wasn’t any problem at all. In fact it was so easy that I decided to do a few pull-ups to get some exercise.

I was on about my 20th pull-up when the whale stuck and I lost my hold on the boat!

I don’t really know all the details the next few days as I floated with the current. But I awoke to this Sailor Chickee girl, or hag or something like that, standing over me. I thought she was giving me mouth to mouth and I was feeling like the day was looking up. After all I had been rescued and now was getting some action! But it turned out she wasn’t giving me mouth to mouth, it was some ragged looking bisexual cat (not that there is anything wrong with a cats’ sexuality, I mean if you don’t like it don’t pet the pus, strike that I mean, kitty).

Over the next couple of days I got to eat all the Mexican rats I could catch. All I had to do was sand and varnish wood on her boat (note to self - this seems like a lot of useless effort as it seemed to go bad about the same time I finished and I had to start on the other end again).

Well we got back to a place to stop and anchor. The locals didn’t like boats being there and I had to swim in at 2am and cut across this rich aholes house, which caused all these flood lights to come on and loud music to start playing. Bet his neighbors like him a lot. Chickeehag also said that in a few hours the Gestapo would be showing up to put bombs or something in the boat tanks.

I walked down to the local Costal Guard Station and told them my story. They asked me if my boats’ name was Super Sailor In Your Face and I said yes. They told me they had found the boat floating along just find and that a tow boat was on the way to get it and that it should be back in a couple of days. Good thing a got that basic Boat Worldwide membership to cover the towing costs, am I a master planner or what?

So In a few days I will have my baby back and think I’ll restart my trip. I’m hoping next time to get out of the outer harbor area!

[Lajos]

Hehe...

[Ex-Calif]

Every post ever posted on CF in one go...

Well done.

Any tips for doing it all on $10 a day?

[MarkJ]

Great story!

I need a beer!

[Kettlewell]

Are you sure you weren't overcome while trying to burn the ends of some hemp rope?

[Panope]

Every once in a while I say to my self "what the hell am I do'in here reading this forum". Then Don comes along and brings clarity to the whole thing.

Thanks again Don.

Steve

P.S. Did Rebel Heart get your song about big boats (butts) recorded?

[shorebird]

So I'm intrigued by this method of putting the sails on opposite sides of the boat to get it to stop. Have you done any further testing to see if it would work? I get seasick a lot, so this would be a real benefit to me for when I'm leaning over the rail, heaving.
We could call it heave one, and heave 2.

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

Any tips for doing it all on $10 a day?

Maybe the story "hero" will address this in his next adventure posting. As it was his first story was pretty long for most short minded internet readers.

[David_Old_Jersey]

And I bet you were damned glad to be on a Hunter - otherwise the voyage could have gone badly .

[boatman61]

ROFL.... nice one Don...

[atoll]

insanity is generally considered to be a disability....except when it comes to sailing,where it's effects could be considered theraputic.............

keep taking the tablets don

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by atoll

insanity is generally considered to be a disability....except when it comes to sailing,where it's effects could be considered theraputic.............

keep taking the tablets don

I'm not sure if you are telling me to treat my insanity or not.

besides "one pill makes you big and one pill makes you small"

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Don Lucas

So In a few days I will have my baby back and think I’ll restart my trip. I’m hoping next time to get out of the outer harbor area!

Part 2
So the boat made it back. The tow guys must think I’m an idiot and am going to let them blackmail me like this. They think they have me because they towed my boat, but I didn’t ask them and owe then nothing (well maybe thanks. Now they are talking something about a lien and have chained my boat to the dock.

But the joke is on them as that is MY boat and I can take it anytime I want to. Besides once I finish with the list of stuff they screwed up they be lucky if I don’t sue them! Hell just with the beer and the special bottle of rum I had on the boat that they drank they will be lucky that I don’t send them a bill and make them pay me!

While I get really to go down and cut that chain and head out I was thinking about my budget for the cruise. I started thinking about it and I don’t see what the fuss is by those rich a-hole types trying to say I shouldn’t go because I don’t have enough money. The way I see it:
- free rent
- free travel and free to stop anywhere and sightsee, I’ll just take that little rbber boat I have and cut though people’s yards (those people don’t have any right to stop me)
- can just use showers at any marina, free don’t even have to pay for the water, can even fill my water tanks there
- I may have to get a 20 watt solar panel or one of the fan looking things to run my air conditioning, hey this is not camping you know!
- I figure around $50/mo for food. I mean with all the fish I will be catching I probably will even make money by selling my extras to others
- I got a lot of skills and figure I can work anywhere. Heck those foreigners will be happy to pay me twice what they normally earn to take advantage of my skills when they hear I’m from the US. I mean they should be honored to pay me!
- I hear the rich boaters are real stupid and are always throwing good stuff because it is more than a year old. I will just start a recycle business in the harbor, charge them to dispose of their “junk”, take the good stuff, and then toss the rest behind the tress along the shore.
- Even if I’m wrong, once I’m there that country will take care of me with free health care and welfare if I run out of money.
- Boat maintenance isn’t a problem for the next 20+ years because my boat is only 10 years old now.

So I figure the $2000 I have saved up should last around 2 years if I live like a king! But I may decide to live simple, which means it will last at least 5 years!

I was a little concerned how I was going to buy beer and “sundowners” (that is cocktails to landlubbers). But I’m an American male stud guy and I’m sure those women that hang around the marinas with the pearls and stuff are looking for some cougar opportunities. Not to talk about the vacationing ones just looking to liquor me up to party if I take them out for an afternoon cruise.

Yes oh yes this is going to be great!

[Ex-Calif]

No need for solar.

Get a line splitter and a power cable. Those free marinas have lots of plug ins available. Most are used by the permanent residents but no one minds if you use a power splitter. Energy is renewable and free anyway...

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by Ex-Calif

No need for solar.

Get a line splitter and a power cable. Those free marinas have lots of plug ins available. Most are used by the permanent residents but no one minds if you use a power splitter. Energy is renewable and free anyway...

You must know the story

How about writing the next part