"Todd" :

Chris, Jeff, Skip, Rick,

Thanks for your input! It has been very helpful.

I think I will make plans to charter a catamaran (with a captain) after I
retire and see what my wife thinks of it. She is usually pretty good
about
tolerating my hobbies (my airplane engine blew up in flight last year, made
a dead stick landing, cost 14K to fix it), but I don't want her to be
unhappy. I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed!

I think that is best, at the same time as the charter you could see if some
training could the arranged as well.

As for "blue water" sailing, it is difficulty to know what I will be happy
with, since I don't have any experience. It may end up being island
hopping. Now, I would like to think that I will make it to the Med,
Pacific
Islands, Australia, etc some day. But I will start with small steps. I do
the same with my airplane, taking small steps and gaining experience.

One thing to remember, even if you have a small boat for 'just' island
hopping there are services to move your boat from one boating area to
another. They do cost, but make it easy to cruise the US coast this year and
then cruise the Med next.

By the way, I am a physician assistant. Do you think my skills would be of
value to the sailing community? Not to make money, just to contribute
skills.

I just hope you don't need the skills for yourself Safe voyage.

Thanks,
Todd

Earl Colby Pottinger

--
I make public email sent to me! Hydrogen Peroxide Rockets, OpenBeos,
SerialTransfer 3.0, RAMDISK, BoatBuilding, DIY TabletPC. What happened to
the time? http://webhome.idirect.com/~earlcp

Thanks Earl,

I am moving to the Tampa Bay area in Mar 05. I will look for a course there
and see if I can find a smaller sailboat to take into the bay and costal
islands. I'll just sell it later when I get the bigger boat.

Thanks for the info about the moving service. I may need that someday, but
for now, I think I would want to move it myself. But you never know.

Thanks,
Todd

"Earl Colby Pottinger" wrote in message
...
"Todd" :

Chris, Jeff, Skip, Rick,

Thanks for your input! It has been very helpful.

I think I will make plans to charter a catamaran (with a captain) after
I
retire and see what my wife thinks of it. She is usually pretty good
about
tolerating my hobbies (my airplane engine blew up in flight last year,
made
a dead stick landing, cost 14K to fix it), but I don't want her to be
unhappy. I'll just have to keep my fingers crossed!

I think that is best, at the same time as the charter you could see if
some
training could the arranged as well.

As for "blue water" sailing, it is difficulty to know what I will be
happy
with, since I don't have any experience. It may end up being island
hopping. Now, I would like to think that I will make it to the Med,
Pacific
Islands, Australia, etc some day. But I will start with small steps. I
do
the same with my airplane, taking small steps and gaining experience.

One thing to remember, even if you have a small boat for 'just' island
hopping there are services to move your boat from one boating area to
another. They do cost, but make it easy to cruise the US coast this year
and
then cruise the Med next.

By the way, I am a physician assistant. Do you think my skills would be
of
value to the sailing community? Not to make money, just to contribute
skills.

I just hope you don't need the skills for yourself Safe voyage.

Thanks,
Todd

Earl Colby Pottinger

--
I make public email sent to me! Hydrogen Peroxide Rockets, OpenBeos,
SerialTransfer 3.0, RAMDISK, BoatBuilding, DIY TabletPC. What happened to
the time? http://webhome.idirect.com/~earlcp

By the way, I am a physician assistant. Do you think my skills would be of

value to the sailing community? Not to make money, just to contribute
skills.

The Peace Corps has groups in many of the pacific island countries. The usual
medical officer for each of these is a PA or NP. You might look into this as a
way to have a "base" for opereations while learning the local area and slowly
getting the lady into sailing.
The PA's I met there when I was a PCV (94-96) loved the assignment.
[ It pays well, also]
Good luck

oz, USAF(BSC), ret.

Thanks! I'll have to check that out if I make it there.

Todd, USAF (BSC) - soon to be retired!

"Major oz" wrote in message
...
By the way, I am a physician assistant. Do you think my skills would
be of

value to the sailing community? Not to make money, just to contribute
skills.

The Peace Corps has groups in many of the pacific island countries. The
usual
medical officer for each of these is a PA or NP. You might look into this
as a
way to have a "base" for opereations while learning the local area and
slowly
getting the lady into sailing.
The PA's I met there when I was a PCV (94-96) loved the assignment.
[ It pays well, also]
Good luck

oz, USAF(BSC), ret.