Hello to .asa (and yes that includes Neal and Bobspit .. . . .actually
missed you twice or once)

Back on for a month or so. I think the last time I was able to post I had
been to Washington State, Hawaii, Guam, Diego Garcia, Bahrein, Dubai,
Qattar, Japan (including Okinawa), Korea, Australia, Taiwan, Mexico and back
to Washington and Oregon.

Since then Singapore, Diego Garcia again, Kuwait, Crete, Savannah in
Georgia, Newport News in Virginia and near New Orleans in Louisiana.
Add that to Norfolk, Virginia and Sandy Hook, New Jersey and out to the
Azores (no landing though) and Puerto Rico from the year before. Along the
way steered the Straits of Malacca, the Suez, past Gibralter, up a twisty
snake river to Savannah and of course the Big Easy plus sat out a couple
hurricanes by sidestepping them. The old passport is getting full.

Was able to visit friends in Australia, Mexico and several spots in the US.
The one I missed, my fault as I was within mere inches, was Oz Sailor. My
apologies once again.

Mixed in with the job duties (now an AB Limited with "B" Book in two unions)
I've been able to sail on several boats in various places. From a Hunter 26
in the Indian Ocean to a Halberg-Rassy on the Chesapeake Bay.

For sideline work I've done stints on tugs, tugs pushing barges and tug and
tows. At present I'm senior AB on the ship as well as union delegate (can
you believe it!) and spent three days as acting Bo's'n. Next extra thing
coming up is some weekend work on an offshore crew boat supporting the oil
rigs near the delta. After I sign off this ship I'm trying for a tankerman
assistant school to get a rating on those ships. That along with freighters
and Ro-Ro's and tugs where I've been working.

I like the job much better now. Crew of 29 rather than 120, better food,
better conditions all around. From these ships I step up to the commercial
tankers and/or container ships. Four months on four months off and still
make the same as I am now. Lots of time to sail during the good seasons and
pile up bucks during the off seasons and I can do that from anywhere in the
world. But come 61 1/2 and I'm out of here for good. Six months of
unemployment and/or vacation pay and we'll see if social security really
exists.

An advantage of this job is the chart collection. They replace there quite
often and I managed to get most of them rather than see them go in the
dumpster. I do have some extra's if anyone needs something speak up.

Well, what else happened? Unexpectedly dodged a huge bullet earlier this
year and the immediate increase in income put me in the new boat a couple of
months earlier than expected. The outcome of that still has me chuckling.
There but for the grace of Neptune could have gone I! Yes Virginia there
truly is a Santa Claus.
New boat, money in the bank, down another 40 pounds.

The refit/upgrade to full 'singlehand/single watchstander' cruising status
starts in January. Once done I'll be working four months on and two to four
months off and sailing the rest of the time ...at least for a couple of
years. This job pays far and away too much to walk away from quite so soon.
I don't know about the rest of the economy but out here its Tony the Tiger
GREEAAAAATTTTT!!!!

I'm envisioning sailing the new boat somewhere in sections and then flying
to the job site and then back to sailing another segment. At least for a
couple of years. License wise I've finished all required job time for the
200 ton level and done the preliminary test preparation. I am considering
taking the STCW requirements for open ocean delivery work. Have to see how
that goes. Boat refit/upgrade comes first but if the odd bad weather/no
freighter time slot pops up .. .why not. As I've found out 100 ton Near
Shore are pretty much a dime a dozen but 200 ton Ocean ratings are much
rarer in small boats.

Where to next? Who knows. Does it matter? Somewhere. On the frieghters and
tankers we go where assigned. In between and alon with I have a couple of
delivery jobs scheduled for my next 'tween ship break. One from Grenada back
up to Florida.

On my own boat I'm a bit torn between the Atlantic/Med/Caribbean and the
Pacific. If the latter I think due South to Juan Fernandez and then out
visiting the islands I missed before. Trouble is I love the Pacific so much
I many never get any further. So a strong contender is truck the boat to
Lake Superior and sail to the ICW and down to the Caribbean for a bit of a
look see . . .then across to get some Europe/Med time in before returning to
the Pacific. I found out it's much cheaper and much more efficient to truck
the boat from Vancouver, BC to Lake Superior than to than to truck across
the US (less permit fees for one thing) and immensely less expensive than
going down through the ditch again. Plus you get to see a good bit of the
two countries and that's far more interesting than banana land. Course with
a number of transits (having lived there) I can understand the mystique but
like Tahiti the reality is disappointing.

I imagine I'll wake up one day, flip a coin, stick a finger up in the air
(MMF of course) and go where ever feels good at the time. Amazing what you
can do when you leave the coast and the yacht club bars and head out onto
the big blue. Either way when I leave Washington State again I have a
reserved slip down in California and another in Mobile, Alabama area.

The old boat, by the way, was donated to a nautical school in Washington.
They are teaching marine electrics, engine work, fiberglass, rigging,
plumbing, and all the rest and once done will sell her off. I was able to
strip off over ten thousand worth of parts and equipment for the new boat
(same thing but longer) and get a huge tax deduction for donating the rest.
Much easier than the hassle of selling and it helped replace a lot of the
losses I incurred earlier this year.

Not sure how long we'll be tied up but with this new cell phone/cable/laptop
system I can finally get on when near a cell tower.

What's up with everyone else? I see new names and old ones but the group
sounds exactly the same as before.

Cheers and fair winds

"Schoonertrash"

PS Reference Jimmy Buffets line about real sailors not wearing underwear.
That's true, but chafing gear is mandatory. No I won't explain it.