Easy Like Sunday Morning

Moored Naples Florida. Doing?

Working@ Ridgeway Bar & Grill

Moving to California in May. Why? Click Here

I try and stuff in an hour or so of reading a day. Taking advantage of the surroundings, the amenities and the lack noise, I plunked down in a chair right off Christa's starboard quarter for some reading this morning. I took the opportunity to futz around with my Canon Power Shot G11 and took a series of pictures. 

The camera is one of these gizmos that has such capability, one almost needs a course of instruction to maximize even a scratch of its functions.

Later!

Capt Chris

Trucking Christa Across the USA

Nailed to the dock, Naples Florida
Weather is rain, high 70's

As many know, I am in Naples picking up some work over the winter time to try and offset the cost of trucking Christa, my Westsail32 to Sausalito California, in the San Francisco Bay area. The short version of why I'm am heading west via the continent vs water is explained briefly here. It did occur to me moments ago, their may be some curiosity about the process and the expence involved. So I'm plan on documenting everything in the blog.

I am not a novice at the trucking game. Pictured above is Christa being lowered onto the bed of a tractor trailer in San Francisco in July 2005. I had always intended on leaving on trip around the planet from the West Coast post retirement, but the Coast Guard had other plans for me on my last tour. So I was forced to truck Christa from San Francisco to Wakefield Rhode Island. Everything with my first move went very smoothly, but there was a learning curve no doubt. The trucking charge in 2005 was about $5800 and roughly $1000 to haul-out and then re-launch. All of the prep work was done by me. This saved a fortune. It was about a week solid of 10 hours a day removing everything necessary for Christa to become legal for transport. I remember feeling sick to my stomach watching Christa's stern rock down the road aboard that flatbed.

A great resource is a website called uship.com. This is a auction type site. You plug in the parameters  and shipping companies make competitive bids. Last summer I bid out the job, from several different ports just to get a sense of the expense involved and to help me determine how much effort I should make to get to a certain shipping port. Clearly it would best if I crossed the Gulf of Mexico to Houston. This shaves off major trucking mileage. But I simply do not want to cross the Gulf. I am trying to balance out the following. The closer to California I get, obviously I save on shipping cost. But I need to nail a date down to ship and of course sailing and dates don't mesh well. So I'd have to build in a bunch of cushion time wise, which means I'd knock off work earlier than intended. See the conflict? Then where ever I end up trucking from leaves me stranded with-out a car. Then I'd have to pay to transport my butt back to Naples to pick up the Green Hornet. So I could end up saving on transport cost only to have the savings eaten elsewhere. I believe economists call this Opportunity cost. Not to mention crossing the Gulf with all the oil rigs and shipping traffic.

I have likely settled on shipping out of Ft Myers or Tampa Bay here in Florida. I will also consider Pensacola. Pensacola would be a 300 mile dash and could be done easily on one good weather window.

A-1-Haul-A Boat quoted me @ $8400 from Jacksonville to SF Bay.
Able Boat Transport quoted me @ $9200 from Jacksonville to SF Bay
Boat Express Shipping quoted me @ $6,000 to 8,000 from Houston to SF Bay

These are old quotes and unfortunately fuel prices have risen and I will likely pay more. For my own planning purposes I expect to spend $10,000 all in. Maybe I should change my Donate Button from educational expenses to boat trucking!

In the below pic, you can see all the rigging, including the Profurl strapped to the mast. The crane plucked the mast at the spreaders. It took about 35 minutes to do, billed @ 85 dollars every 15 minutes for the crane. So preparation is important. One stuck pin, bent cotter pin that needs to be unbent will cost dearly. This trucking experience was very valuable in terms of me learning my own boat. I had to put my hands on just about every piece of gear on the boat, adding to a already pretty good familiarity with the old girl.

 Trucking a boat is a fairly decent under taking, but also an opportunity to do some projects. In future posts I'll lay out some of those projects.

Capt Chris

The 2009 In Review Movie

Moored Naples Florida. Doing?

Working@ Ridgeway Bar & Grill

Moving to California in May. Why? Click Here

Here is my latest video effort. In pictures, a chronology of my year! If you like let me know! I recognize the opening sequence is a little blurry. My Flip HD took a digger and has cracks across the lens. I'll work on a workaround. I've been working on this for 3 weeks and simply didn't want to delay publishing any longer.



Capt Chris

PS: To watch the video in HD, the best quality, hit the play button bottom left, then toggle the button on the  right and bring it up to 750p. For some reason with Youtube's latest update the HD Video does not come up automatically. Don't know why. But I do know that watching the video in HD and in Full Screen makes a big difference.

The Splice. The New Bike

Moored Naples Florida. Doing?

Working@ Ridgeway Bar & Grill

Moving to California in May. Why? Click Here

My new job keeps me occupied for 30 to 40 hours a week and thus some of my activities will suffer. Boat projects have been one of them. A few months ago I bought new chainplates from Bud Taplin at World Cruisers as I have had some concern mine are just to old. My intent is to replace them here in Naples. I simply thought I would have dove into that project by now. No joy. So I have now decided to take on smaller projects; ones that I can either finish in an hour or work on for an hour a day. The chainplate project is a fairly large undertaking. Set up and clean up will take longer than my allotment of an hour a day. So, I'm working on carving out some time for the chainplate project, but may delay and do the project during the upcoming trucking of Christa. I have decided to start the replacement of the running rigging which is about 8 to 10 years old. Pictured above is the new main halyard splice. I'll climb the mast today and reave it through the masthead block.

Onto my new Road Bike.

 One of the things I really missed when sailing was hopping on a bike and roaming. There are folding bikes that are really cool, but Christa just is not big enough to stow and then the transport ashore would also be an issue. Now that I'm on land I purchased a Road Bike. I've always owed cheap bikes, probably because I've had several ripped off. One right before my very eye's in California, while browsing in  a BlockBuster Video Store. But above you can see my new ride, "The White Rino," is an entry level Road Bike. Having a decent bike makes a huge difference in riding enjoyment. I've already put a smooth 40 miles on the bike, according to my snazzy Strada computer on the handle bar. Including a brutal 15 miles into a 20 mph headwind. Other than just liking the way the world looks from a bike, my main purpose is exercise. I love to run and while I don't have any problems, the pounding on the body over a period of years will create pain down the road. Between the yoga, running and the bike, I should be able stay healthy. It's my day off. Gotta jam.

Capt Chris

PS: I guess I should plug Bikesdirect.com. This is where I purchased The White Rino for $359 with free shipping. I had a very positive experience with them. I ordered the bike at 2:30pm and was delivered in less than 24 hours via UPS. Very easy to put together.

PSS: If anyone is interested in learning how to splice Double Braided Nylon line click here. Splicing is not that hard, just follow the directions. There are some tricks an experienced Bosn could could show you, but it is worth a try.

Christa Bashes to Windward/Some History

Moored Naples FloriidaThis is an article that I penned for Latitude38 and was published a few months ago. It provides some history for newer readers of the blog. Plus I'm testing out the very cool Scibe technology. Latitude 38


What is Scribd? Click here. The iPaper document reader is very cool.

Received my Florida plate yesterday for the Green Hornet. I've held plates in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Washington State, California, Hawaii and now Florida.

Capt Chris


PS: Still working on a new article for Latitude38. A reflection on why I cut short my trip. And I'm putting on the finishing touches of my 2009 Year in Review Video.

Sitting On the Dock of the Bay.....Or Canal

Moored Naples Florida. Doing?
Working@ Ridgeway Bar & Grill
Moving to California in May. Why? Click Here

 Watching the tide roll away. No, not really. More like watching the Mexican lawn crews assault yards with leaf blowers and hedge trimmers.  On my first morning here in Naples, I was so excited to plop myself in the dock chair, coffee in hand and enjoy the magnificent surroundings. But the noise was deafening. Not all mornings constitute lawn care hell, but most of the time some one is running a machine.

 But I have discovered in the afternoon the suburban quiet I envisioned. Today, I basked in the 80 degree temperature in the afternoon after a strenuous yoga class, strumming my newly acquired Taylor six string.  No smell of shrimp beginning boil though, but I may be beginning to bald like brother Jimmy.

It was a real pleasure. In fact Naples is a real pleasure. I am very content. I really should have been doing boat projects, which I have been slacking on. I have a new main halyard that needs to be spliced and a jug of diesel that needs to be filtered and poured into the fuel tanks. I am horribly behind on other projects and my correspondence.

 But I could just not resist an hour or so of strumming in the sun. In fact I was so happy post-strumming that I went to Bikesdirect.com and ordered a new Road Bike. Next thing you know I'll be taking pictures of my veiney legs, Lance style. Share the road would ya?


Capt Chris

PS: Please don't forget to check out my pictures in My Picasa photo album and to keep up with the latest word, you can sign up using my RSS feed. I use Google Reader and love that I can aggregate in one spot all the websites I check out on a regular basis. A real time saver. Blam!

Been A Busy Weekend

Moored Naples Florida
Sunny, 70's, Beautiful Weather

Janina and I had a fantastic time, despite the fact I had to work the nights she stayed. We were undeterred. Janina hooked up with my Friends Mike&Amy while I was working and headed out to Harry's on 3rd. Any open air bar and restaurant with a DJ and proceeded to get down for a boogie. I got off work around 10pm and very uncharacteristic of me, I shifted canvas and met up with the party crowd. Then I got down for a boogie with the good people of Naples. I hadn't danced in a long time, something I love to do. Of course going to bed after 1 am, set me back the next day.

But we decided to head on down to Marco Island, only about 15 miles to the south of Naples. It seemed to be a pretty cool place and different in the sense that it has high rises lining the beach, where Naples has $50 million dollar mansions strung out along the shore line. We didn't spend much time exploring because I kind of petered out. We headed back to Naples so I could nap before work. Mission accomplished.

Yesterday, we lite out mid morning for some vittles at a breakfast joint not far from Christa and stumbled upon the Saturday morning street market. They close off 3rd, and the organic growing crowd comes in with their wares and set up tents and booths. Should be a perfect place for me to get fresh grub for less than the Supermarket.

We followed up a successful morning with a bike ride in the afternoon through the Port Royal section of Naples. Huge mansions line this exclusive neighborhood. It's a great place to take a bike ride with great visuals, easy access to the beach and big ole bike lanes. It was a great visit! So with that I need to roll to work!

Capt Chris

Janina's Aboard for a Visit

Moored to the Dock, Naples Florida

Well Janina made the journey south to Naples from her base of operations in Clermont Florida. It still is early and were trying to shape a plan. As you know, I'm a new car owner, and thus have not had the chance to strike out and explore locally. Today is a fine day to she what is what and who is who. As a working man now, time is a bit limited but no excuse to go out and have some fun. Weather is much improved, today should be sunny in the upper 70's. Beautiful! More later.

Capt Chris

Taking a Bite Out of the Anchor

Current location is central Florida, at my parents hacienda

I don't know the exact definition or origin of the term "swallow the anchor" but, here is my working definition. Maybe an example would be better. In any marina you'll find a starry eye'd new boat owner prepping and dreaming of fair away exotic locations and the dream of oceanic horizons. Over a period of time, the full definition of BOAT (break out another thousand) starts to sink in and the strain of digging up deep roots starts to weigh. Suddenly storm clouds start to appear on that oceanic horizon. Many times, a wife will start out being supportive, but then realize the irrationality that grips men with boats. Suddenly all weekends are consumed by boat related activities, weekday evenings are spent perusing World Cruising Routes and cataloging years worth of Cruising World. At some point support turns to concern, concern turns to strife and pretty soon a For Sale sign is hung from the bow pulpit. Then someone like me will stride on by and say "Well looks like Jim swallowed the anchor." Get it?

Swallowing the anchor can take many forms. When someone comes home from sea, sells the boat or eases into the life of a land lubber, your getting close to digesting a Danforth. Now take my new (to me) car. This is a sure sign of dust and dirt versus sea salt starting to cling to me. I have not swallowed the anchor yet, but I took a bite out of it. This is fine and on the agenda. At some point all sailors swallow the anchor, but the encouraging thing for me is, I am young enough to yak that anchor back up and head to sea again.

So, I have a special shout out to my dad who did all the leg work for me. Just kind of unfolded this way. I am now the proud owner of a green 2001 Honda Accord with 64,500 miles. Beautiful. I've named it the "Green Manalishi (with the two-pronged-crown)" which is a cultural reference. I have a penchant for naming things, such as my Honda generator is "Big Red" and my old Nissan truck was named the "Silver Bullet." As an aside, I learned yesterday that the "Silver Bullet" has now been re-named the "Puddle Jumper." I have no beef.

I rented a car yesterday and made the four hour drive to my parents house to pick up my car and visit for a day or two. Back to work for me on Wednesday evening followed by a visit from the lovely Janina on Thursday. And according the weather folks the temperatures in Naples will be back in the high 70's by weeks end. Should be a great week indeed.

In the HD video department I am working on a 2009 Video compilation. But this time, I am learning how to create the video soundtrack in Apple Garageband software. The learning curve is a bit steep and it will take time to learn the program. This is another fine example of how starting a sail blog has lead me to develop interests and enthusiasm in unrelated topics. That's how I roll.

Capt Chris

PS: Please don't forget to check out my pictures in My Picasa photo album and to keep up with the latest word you can sign up using my RSS feed. I use Google Reader and love that I can aggregate in one spot all the websites I check out on a regular basis. A real time saver.

Unedited Video I shot while in Luperon Dominican Republic

Moored Naples Florida
Weather is really cold, below freezing this morning



Enjoy the video. I continue to compile pictures and video from this passed falls sail north. Don't forget to surf on over to My Youtube Channel where I now have 70 videos.

Occasionally I change the picture atop the blog. This latest picture was my last sunset observed sailing north. I landed in Naples the very next morning. It was a bit cold, but the colors were different than what you normally see further south. I like the picture, hope you do to.

Please don't forget to check out my picture in Picasa and to keep up with the latest word you can sign up with the RSS feed. I use Google Reader and love that I can aggregate in one spot all the websites I check out on a regular basis. A real time saver.

Capt Chris