Solo Ventures

This has been for sale for a few months.$15k fully refitted, new rigging, good diesel. A good basic cruising boat, add a windvane, coffee and books and voila. 

On my local river playing shantyboat, engineless drifting. My old foxie enjoying it as much as me. 

That's my boy. On his     Learners, he has to ride 6 hours away to attend a course and test to gain his Provisional licence.  This is him about to set off and I couldn't be less concerned for his safety. Hr has a very cool head, has replaced the rear tyre and a cracked mirror, is wearing 2 bike jackets, the outer with shoulder, elbow and back protectors. Definitely, he has more good sense than I did at his age.  Hopefully he will take special care and car drivers will be considerate towards Joe.  Good luck Joe. Proud of you mate. 

Mind meandering over what retirement boat I could live aboard and sail around. This morning I did  little graph comparing length, lwl, beam, draft, weight and sail area for the leading older cruising yachts in my price range. The designs I looked at were:  Clansman 30 Compass 29 Compass 28 Swanson 28 Swanson 32 Walker 28 Folkboat 26 Westsail 32* Just for comparison with the "heavy blue water" from USA.  Right up the Westsail was way heavier (8845kg), about 2-3 times, than Aussie boats.  W28                  @5500kg, Swanson 32    @5039kg, Compass 29   @3550kg. Swanson 28    @3500kg  Clansman 30.  @4090kg With a narrow beam I suspect the Clansman would pendulum.  Secretly impressed with W28 (still) and Swanson 32 is interesting.  Compass 29 is a credentialed coastal cruiser design, a bit more go bit seaworthy.   For $20k, a nasic, roomy cabin, good diesel but rig of unknown age. Add $10k with windvane.   Too spacious but improved by bimini a

  Vanessa Kerry, special envoy of WHO focussing on the health effefts of Climate Change and critical care physician says:  " It's important to realize that the fires we’re seeing in Maui, as devastating as they are, are just one of a multitude of fires and risks that we’re seeing now at the intersection of accelerating extreme weather events, extreme heat and climate [change]. And unfortunately, air pollution is already  killing one person every five seconds , which amounts to about seven million people a year. That’s more than [the number of people that]  died in the entire COVID pandemic  over the course of three years."

To summarise Beto Pandiani's feats would take a while and most are unknown. He is the "out there" guy that sails small catamarans at speed over vast distances.  This is his latest craft. Notice hiking seats, deck tent and fast sailing capabilities. It was not always so flash, but Beto's way is to move towards perfection, fit for purpose.  On his page he shares a "prayer" which he recites daily. Unfortunately, the translation from Portuguese is clunky, so I rewrote it in words that work for me. I urge you to do the same. ALWAYS LEARN * l will not assume the truth and will listen to others without judgement. * l will remain aloft in the presence of ignorance. * l will remain consistant with my beliefs.  * l will have compassion for others and heed the lessons from their suffering . * Remember we were created to give not beg. TREASURE TIME * Always travel light. * Treasure every second as a miracle of life and those past events that brought you to t

This feels like a basic boat that's been left sit on the harbour for too many years and is finally being let go.Sad boat. Half refurbished, below the waterline, with good sails and outboard. Decks are scrappy with rust streaks. I would be very concerned about spongy areas in the deck. Deal breaker. Not sure why the price is so high. She would only have average head height say 5'6". Looks like money was spent on rigging and sails over a decade ago and with outboard the fitout is b asic and s little rough (orange peel hull paint). Probably more for occasional weekend sails.   OK, this is a cracking good boat. Recently refurbished rig, upholstery, paint and a pretty good looking diesel too. The deal breaker is the extremely low headroom.  STELLA FOLKBOATS This enthusiast's Stella was probably a good buy and recently sold. Solid cruising fit out with lots of regular expensive maintenance has been carried out.Proba

Great thrill to be reading "First Circumnavigation". Just as an aside why an author would name a book that and be a spoiler for the success of this and future circumnavigations, is beyond me.  Anyway, the joy on the reading for me now is about the stresses and strains of sailing a refitted boat to sea and being a green sailor heading out on a bliewater passage for the first time.  The Tiki I'm  refitting has few signs of rot and both those have been obvious, both in hatch covers and both will be completely replaced. But the sick feeling that rot evokes stays with you and especially in the dark hours you awful-ise its potential to wreck you at sea. You're never far away from that fear until you've weather a gale successfully I suppose.  The green sailor stuff is a little more nuanced. I know I've been sailing most of my life, on various craft in all shapes and sizes. But I don't feel ten feel tall and bulletproof. Quite the opposite. I can look