Change in Course

Over the past few weeks, we've been experimenting with Facebook and we've decided that we would continue to chronicle our journey on that system rather than this blog.

The decision has been a toughie as there are many people following our journey here. However, we believe the Facebook platform will provide us all a better mechanism to stay connected.

We've created a Sailboat Family Facebook Fan Page, and we would love for you to join us there.

Our evolution towards the Sailboat Family Life continues; as we go we learn of ways to morph and change to enhance the experience. Our Internet presence is no exception to change, with the first foray as a humble web page, next a monthly chronicle was added, this was followed by entry into the blogosphere, and now to Facebook land we go. Who knows what will be after that!

While remaining laser focused on a goal, one should not be blind to opportunities that enhance the experience. The destination may not change, but currents do. Ride the currents when they suit you.

Signs of Drowning isn't like in the Movies

In studying this life style, a critical area of study is water safety. Within water safety, when you boil it down, there are a few key bad situations: drowning and hypothermia. It is the former that is the subject of this post as my researching into it revealed some interesting tidbits, the key among them is that drowning does not in any way look like what is seen in the movies.

In 2011, in the USA, it is predicted that 375 children will die drowning while being 25 yards or less away from an adult and that 37 of these kids will drown and the adult will see it actually happen but unaware of the signs of drowning!

This scary stuff, along with the signs of drowning and a ton more real deal sea safety information, is available from a rescue helicopter swimmer's personal website MarioVittone.com. Mario's candid raw style is fantastic.

From the Drowning Doesn't Look Like Drowning article on Mario's site, the key reason that drowning doesn't look like drowning is that the primary philological capability that trumps all others is respiration and when drowning, the entire body shuts down except for this one critical operation. Therefore, things like yelling, trashing, etc. just simply isn't possible. So what does it look like? Mario shares Francesco A. Pia, Ph.D, description from a Coast Guard magazine. It includes the following 5 key signs (as quoted for Mario's site which quotes the magazine article):

• Except in rare circumstances, drowning people are physiologically unable to call out for help. The respiratory system was designed for breathing. Speech is the secondary or overlaid function. Breathing must be fulfilled, before speech occurs.
• Drowning people’s mouths alternately sink below and reappear above the surface of the water. The mouths of drowning people are not above the surface of the water long enough for them to exhale, inhale, and call out for help. When the drowning people’s mouths are above the surface, they exhale and inhale quickly as their mouths start to sink below the surface of the water.
• Drowning people cannot wave for help. Nature instinctively forces them to extend their arms laterally and press down on the water’s surface. Pressing down on the surface of the water, permits drowning people to leverage their bodies so they can lift their mouths out of the water to breathe.
• Throughout the Instinctive Drowning Response, drowning people cannot voluntarily control their arm movements. Physiologically, drowning people who are struggling on the surface of the water cannot stop drowning and perform voluntary movements such as waving for help, moving toward a rescuer, or reaching out for a piece of rescue equipment.
• From beginning to end of the Instinctive Drowning Response people’s bodies remain upright in the water, with no evidence of a supporting kick. Unless rescued by a trained lifeguard, these drowning people can only struggle on the surface of the water from 20 to 60 seconds before submersion occurs.

Powerful stuff. Please forward and share.

The Plastiki Expedition - Voyages of a Bottled Catamaran

So, um, where does one begin ...

In about 3 weeks, a catamaran made of 12,500 used plastic bottles will arrive in Sydney Australia after traveling 11,000 some odd miles! It departed from San Francisco California USA 72 days ago.

The odyssey is called The Plastiki Expedition. The people involved are raising awareness about being eco-friendly, especially towards the ocean. They have a blog and a number of interesting facts on their site.

You can track their "real time" position on their Track The Voyage page.

Here are some quickie tidbits regarding the boat and the expedition:

• length is 60 feet
• beam is 23 feet
• usage of a urine-to-water recovery system (does that make it pee bottle?)
• voyage to take about 3 months
• there are 6 crew members
• used organic glue made from cashews and sugar cane to hold it together

Go Plastiki!

(Yes, the name Plastiki is a reference to Kon-Tiki voyage back in the late 40s by the amazing Norwegian adventurer Thor Heyerdahl.)

Arctic Solo Sail

A couple of weeks ago, I became aware of a blog about a guy, Captain Tommy D. Cook, whom is setting out to brave the Northwest passage alone! His website, Arctic Solo Sail, details much of his preparation and journey. How does a 64 year old man prepare for the rigors of such an adventure?

After reading his blog post "A Minor Set Back", I decided to reach out to Captain Tommy. His blend of wisdom, philosophy, and attitude about life resonated. Add to all this his vast experience in boating, 44 years, and I just had to introduce myself.

When I checked on the Sailboat family email box later in the day, I was surprised to have a reply from Captain Tommy! Captain Tommy's email was very kind, and he shared the following with me:

"I sailed on a research vessel to the Antarctic in 1991 and on the mess deck was a poster with this saying: THE COURSE OF YOUR LIFE IS NOT DETERMINED BY THE WAY YOU WISH THINGS WERE BUT BY HOW YOU DEAL WITH THE WAY THINGS ARE I adopted that as my life motto. It has held me in good stead a long way."

Right on Captain Tommy! Right ON!

I was in for one more surprise ... Captain Tommy bought us a round of ice cream! Thank you Captain Tommy!

You can bet our discussion during the ice cream indulgence will be around Captain Tommy and his adventure.

The world is full of amazing people. With each connection our family makes, the beautiful part of all of humankind becomes even more obvious to us. We are all connected.

Fair Winds Captain Tommy!

Boat Building and Connections Across The Internet Ocean

Last week I received a very nice email from a Living with a Purpose type guy named Tony Bigras. Some folks may recognize his name as he has a good internet presence, documenting his journey constructing boats and selling them.

Tony has constructed a handful of boats, and literally invested tens of thousands of hours thinking about them and creating them. Truly a remarkable guy, marching to his own drum. For a hint at what this guy is all about, his website is: www.IdeaIntegrator.com. The story of why Tony reached out to me is neat and shows the power of the Internet as a way to connect.

On my favorite boating forum, LivingAboard, I was publicly sharing my opinions about the merits of building your own boat versus buying. One of the example cases under discussion happened to be one of Tony's efforts, his 50 foot catamaran named Osram VII. Tony had seen the Internet traffic to his website from the LivingAboard forum, so he came and checked out the forum thread. Therein he saw my posts about my stance on build versus buy and he then came over to www.SailboatFamily.com!

Tony reviewed enough of our site to offer me some advice about the boat we have. From his perspective, it isn't the right type of boat for anything more than coastal cruising and that it isn't right for the around the world voyage we plan to make. He also noted things like load capacity, stuff we've blogged about before.

Tony's email was gracious and genuine. I'm grateful he took the time to send us an email, make the contact, and offer his take on things. What a cool guy.

We still plan on our slow meander along the coasts and make a few of the long, multi-day jumps as required. As I shared with Tony, if we suspect a boat integrity problem we will course correct.

Thank you, Tony, for reaching out.

Lessons from Cheap Vandwellers

Studying other niches of life can provide excellent information for the life you're in, or intending to be in. Previously I shared the concept of Microcrusing. There is another group of folks whom live in very confined spaces that we can learn from, those living cheaply in vans, small campers, cars, and such. To this end, I offer you the best website I've ever found on this topic: Cheaprvliving.com.

I had become a fan of this site when Val and I first started talking about dumping the hamster race and seeing the world. The folks on the Cheaprvliving.com site really know how to live in small spaces cheaply! They cover all the neat stuff like living without refrigeration, how to shower when you don't have one, and using solar ovens.

Enjoy!

White Vinegar!

On a sailboat, weight matters. If you overweight a sailboat, it not only impacts performance, but could put you, your family, and the boat in peril. This fact is ever-present in our minds as we compile our list of provision. The more versatile a product is, the higher it goes on our list.

White Vinegar is one such products. It has been said that vinegar has 1001 uses, I believe that it has more. It can be used to preserve food, a remedy for jelly fish and bee stings, deodorizer, stain remover, cleaner, beauty aid, in the laundry, a cat detourant, and the list goes on and on. It is believed that Hannibal used vinegar to clear large rocks that blocked his army's route. Now that's what I'm talking about!

On our adventure, we will be carrying vinegar. Do you know of any other such products that we should have on our list?

Real Time Boat Locations From Around The World via AIS

Ever wanted to see where passenger vessels, tankers, cargo vessels, yachts, and tug boats are in real time all over the world? If so, you can see where they are, where they are headed, their name, speed, draft, flag, and even more at www.marinetraffic.com/ais.

The tracking of the boats is done via AIS, or Automatic Identification System. AIS is an electronic transponder that transmits boat information via VHF. This digital information is freely available to anyone with the correct receiver/decoder. You can also transmit AIS information from your boat and join the network.

The photo is a screen shot of zooming into Cape Canaveral on the east coast of Florida. I clicked on a random tug boat which happened to be moored at the moment.

It is fun to zoom in on points all around the world, such as Dubai, Australia, and China.

Microcruising

There is a very interesting niche in boating called Microcruising. In my own words, Microcruising is going to the absolute minimalist edge of boat size, and/or money, and/or features.

There is a whole community of people that make long voyages on boats that run in the 15 foot or less range. These microcruisers have a ton of practical knowledge that can be applied on bigger boats. As with many areas of life, simply taking another perspective (such as imagining you were living on a 15 foot or smaller boat and crossing oceans) and applying it to your situation highlights new possibilities.

One site I particularly enjoy is www.Microcruising.com. It is the site of Dave and Mindy Bolduc, whom have made the 65 miles of open ocean crossing between the Bahamas and Florida 7 times on a boat less than half the size of ours! Their boat, Little Cruiser, is 15 feet in length and has a beam of 4.5 feet. Checking out the pictures on their website, you get a feel for their world. Plus the pictures of the beaches feels oh so good.

Some of the quotes from their website that resonate with me include:

• We consider the anchors our most important safety equipment and our only insurance. Therefore we carry three, which might seem like a lot for such a small boat. They consist of a 4-pound Fortress, a 9-pound Danforth, and a monster 25-pound take-apart Luke storm anchor.

• One of the most important [considerations] is to be as self sufficient as possible and keep things simple. We carry almost everything we need to make repairs ourselves. Our boat is relatively simple, and we have no refrigeration or ice chest.

• We've found most produce keeps quite a long time in baskets. The rest of our food is in cans or dry form. Whenever we want a treat, like fresh meat or ice cream, we buy it locally and eat it right away.

• Be cautious and use common sense. The ocean can be a very beautiful place, but it also can be quite treacherous when conditions are wrong. Always be conscious of the weather.

• If it looks as if bad weather is on the way, stay in port until it's over. There's a big difference between venturing out in ten-foot breaking seas and sailing along comfortably in 4 foot swells a day or so later. It's better to postpone one's trip than become a statistic.

If you visit their site, also be sure to check out the section called "Famous Small Boats." It is full remarkable small vessels that have made incredible journeys.

Swimming in the Same Waters

ZeroToCruising.com has a blog we enjoy reading very much; it is the journal of Mike and Rebecca Sweeney and thier journey to take the big plunge ... the very same plunge we are!

Mike and Rebecca started with as much experience as we did (ZERO), they selected a 32 foot catamaran (a beautiful PDQ by the way), and they even have the exact same toy sailboat we do! While uncoordinated (I promise), even our blog postings often cross (same topic/same day!). There are many other similarities, and I encourage you to find them.

Their site is fun, refreshing, full of energy, and well worth your time.

Happy New Year Mike and Rebecca! Cheers to the new year ... the year that we both end up on the ocean full time.

(oh, their sail date? August 1st, 2010. Damn! Right in the middle of hurricane season for us, otherwise I would see it as a sign for us to go then too.)