[Plantagenet]

In early July I bought an old used Hobie Catamaran 16 for my lake cabin. The sail and jib look new, but the boat itself is probably 20-30 years old. On the other hand, the summer only lasts about 2 months up here in central Alaska, so I don't think its been used too hard. I drag it up on the beach when I'm not using it, and I push it back in when I want to sail



I sailed a bit in Hobie catamarans way way back in the day down in the lower 48, until I had one flip over and then go turtle on me. It was hell trying to get it flipped back upright. This Hobie Cat has a white dirigible like bulb at the top of the mast that is supposed to prevent it from going completely upside down, but I really don't intend to push it that hard. Water in Alaska Lakes is really really cold.

[Newfie]

Cool beans Plant. Never sailed on a Hobie. Well, never sailed at all till 55.

[Plantagenet]

Cool beans Plant. Never sailed on a Hobie. Well, never sailed at all till 55.

You're the one doing the really cool sailing and cruising and living aboard.

You are living the dream, Newfie.

[Newfie]

40 years of continuous employment. It’s gotta pay off sometime. Let’s see if I live long enough to come out ahead.

[Ibon]

40 years of continuous employment. It’s gotta pay off sometime. Let’s see if I live long enough to come out ahead.

You already have come out ahead. Don't you know, every day is a bonus at our age!.

And yes, doing your dream does entail paying some dues. I was harnessed for a couple decades. I could have horded another million. I stopped, put all my pearls in one basket, and then spread a lot of them around here in Panama. It feels great and I have no regrets watching what has germinated and grown since then.

[Newfie]

Just got back from a long trip putting the boat to bed for the winter.

Afternoon sun and a warming fire.

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[Ibon]

Just got back from a long trip putting the boat to bed for the winter.

Afternoon sun and a warming fire.

E142196F-B5C3-4502-8454-2754B147ECAB.jpeg

That's a great looking wood burning stove..... nice to balance your sailing with a land base like that.

[SeaGypsy]

I quit my job yesterday, walked out at lunchtime, called the office & told them to get someone else. Drove to my current harbour- Port Franklin, Victoria Australia, about 100 miles south east of Melbourne. For the first time in about 10+ years I've nowhere i have to be.

During the last year I've not been on here much, grounding some ideas, which has taken a mammoth dose of work. Since hitting the big smoke at the start of 2015, I qualified at the top university for disabilty support work (my previous career), went through three jobs & three stages of truck driver license to "MC"- multiple combination/ road train. Bought a livable little yacht, bought a diesel C220 Mercedes, paid off all my debts. Stacked a few K in the bank. Got well ahead on child support. Oh & somewhere in there, last summer i requalified as a surf lifesaver, team leader, this summer will qualify as rescue boat captain.

Next challenge- what to say to the wife & kids about my pending SE Asia/ Pacific voyage??

[Newfie]

Man in a mission. Good for ya, keeps the head clear.

[SeaGypsy]

Newfie, you often mention age related issues- my dad died from auto immune disease at 56, his dad from a heart attack at 56, my oldest cousin is 2 years younger than me & he's got fatal cancer, I'm the oldest of about 30 in my generation & I'm 51. On my mother's side most of them make it into their 80's as did my paternal grandfather. Thus i feel some bucket list pressure, early or late, depending how you look at it.

[Plantagenet]

Just got back from a long trip putting the boat to bed for the winter.

Afternoon sun and a warming fire.

Just did the same thing here with my lake cabin. We got a work group together and pulled the docks out of the water and stacked them about 20 feet back from the beach. Then we moved the Hobie cat up there too.

Everything has got to come out of the water because the lake freezes solid with 4-6 feet of ice. The real trouble comes in the spring when the ice starts to melt around the edges. The remaining ice moves with the wind and often plows up ridges as its shoved into the shore. Then the wind blows the other way. Then it comes back and bulldozes up the shore again, and crushes anything left in the water or along the shore.

My backs OK but my arms are sore today from lifting and carrying the docks. The boat easily slid right up on and across the beach. Thank god for ibuprofen.

[Newfie]

Got the t-shit!

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[onlooker]

As our minds work feverishly every day remember this:
There once was a king who offered a prize to the artist who would paint the best picture of peace. Many artists tried. The king looked at all the pictures.

But there were only two he really liked, and he had to choose between them. One picture was of a calm lake. The lake was a perfect mirror for peaceful towering mountains all around it. Overhead was a blue sky with fluffy white clouds. All who saw this picture thought that it was a perfect picture of peace.

The other picture had mountains, too. But these were rugged and bare. Above was an angry sky, from which rain fell and in which lightning played. Down the side of the mountain tumbled a foaming waterfall. This did not look peaceful at all.

But when the king looked closely, he saw behind the waterfall a tiny bush growing in a crack in the rock. In the bush a mother bird had built her nest. There, in the midst of the rush of angry water, sat the mother bird on her nest – in perfect peace.

The king chose the second picture.

Peace isn’t something that just randomly happens to us. And it doesn’t always look like we think it should.

Lasting inner peace is something we choose.

[Ibon]

Thanks Onlooker for that story. Peace is not external as in the perfect picture. It is internal as in how you cultivate it like the mother bird sitting on the nest in the middle of all that raging waterfall.

How this relates to modern life is that we are overly focused on the external, constantly regulating thermostats for the perfect temperature, demanding our coffee to be just this way or that, freaking out over some noise that prevents us from sleeping, intolerance over another's point of view. With the power to regulate the external comes a society that becomes intolerant over every little imperfection that then becomes a mental crisis. Because we have lost that ability to cultivate inner peace and tolerance.

That story is a good reminder of this.

[Newfie]

Cultivating that inner peace and happiness is a skill!requiring much practice, in my case at least. Still working on it.

[asg70]

That little nest is a sanctuary, a place of safety and calm in a dangerous world. It is what we all love and need.

If you're for peace, stop trolling this forum looking for conflict.

[Newfie]

That little nest is a sanctuary, a place of safety and calm in a dangerous world. It is what we all love and need.

If you're for peace, stop trolling this forum looking for conflict.

ASG, that is EXACTLY what YOU did in this post.

But, I agree, let us not look for ways to attack one another unprovoked. It is all so easy to slip up.

Thank you for the reminder.

[onlooker]

That little nest is a sanctuary, a place of safety and calm in a dangerous world. It is what we all love and need.

If you're for peace, stop trolling this forum looking for conflict.

Glad some of you liked that little parable /fable. Yes, being at Peace is highly undervalued and difficult to attain in our modern world for reasons Ibon specified very well and because hedonism pursuits seem to enthrall many a person

[vox_mundi]

Beer flows as Germany's Oktoberfest opens in Munich

[Newfie]

Finally made it back to the big boat in Grenada. Haven’t actually seen the boat yet, that’s for tomorrow. I always go through apprehension when making these changes, but it feels great to be back in the tropics.