It was November of 2002 and Ali and I were sitting at Lou Malnatti's, our favorite pizza place in Chicago. It's also a bar, and as we sat there later and later into the night we started to talk about our future. We had moved to Chicago three years earlier so I could be where the action was in the commodities business and we had done pretty well for ourselves since then. Now we were 28 and feeling the tug of the suburbs. Most of our friends had already started the process of having kids and buying a home an hour away from the city and we were half-heartedly contemplating falling in line. But that night, over a few pitchers of cheap beer and delicious pizza, we started to think that it might be more fun to just take off, blow some money, and some time. We could always come back to work and there was still plenty of time to have the kids we wanted.
That night we came to a decision. We were going to buy a powerboat and cruise around the Caribbean for a year. I had just come across a website that had done exactly that and it sounded like fun. Within days we had a whole bunch of books on the subject around the house and were scouring the internet for more research. Then I read Sailing Promise about a couple exactly our age who had bought a small catamaran and sailed it around the world. It sounded great, why not do that? Okay, maybe the fact that neither of us had ever stepped foot on a sailboat in our lives should have been a consideration, but we'd always been successful at doing whatever we set our minds to do, so why should this be any different?
I finished the book and set the question to Ali. Her response was, 'If you feel like we can do it, then sure, why not. Besides I was starting to think that it seemed like a lot of work to sell all of our stuff for just a one year trip.' And from that moment the scope of the trip changed from buzzing through a chain of islands in the Caribbean to a four year odyssey around the world in a sailboat.
In April of 2003 we dropped the news on our families. Neither of our families had spent any time on the water and certainly not sailing, so the news came as a total surprise to everybody. They knew by now that we were up to something but this was a shock. However, everybody handled it well and was very supportive, or at least not outwardly hostile. Typically, my dad asked, 'Don't you like your job?' while Ali's dad asked, 'What's something like this cost?' And of course the moms were concerned about our safety. I think at one point there was even talk of CPR classes and how to build a splint.
A month later, with summer just starting up, we took Sailing 101 out on Lake Michigan. Four of us students piled into a tiny 24 foot monohull for 8 hours of sailing instruction. The view was great, sailing in the shadows of the Chicago skyline is amazing, but the classes themselves were terrible. I don't know what it is but neither one of us takes instruction very well. We like to do our own thing, make our own mistakes, and figure things out for ourselves. We quit the classes then and decided to worry about the sailing end of things when we got our own boat.
Fourth of July weekend found us in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. We had taken a four day weekend to fly down and have a look at boats. We had a couple in mind already and I was actually pretty sure I knew exactly what boat we were going to buy, a Fountaine Pajot Tobago, a 35 foot catamaran. And that was the first boat we looked at, ever. We climbed on and were shocked by how small it was. The pictures on the internet had made it seem a lot bigger, but in actuality the inside of this boat was tiny.
We looked at a half dozen other boats in the morning, some older Prouts that needed too much work, some bigger boats that we liked but were twice as expensive as what we had come down to spend. And then we saw her, a 35 foot Wildcat catamaran. She had only been launched 8 months earlier and when we climbed aboard we knew right away that it was the boat for us. It had twice the interior space of the Tobago, it was clean, and it didn't need months of work to get her ready to go sailing. Not exactly the things most sailors go looking for in a boat, but those were our specifications, good or bad.
We signed the papers that day, went back to the hotel and called the airline, rebooked ourselves on the next days flight and were back in Chicago for the fireworks on the Fourth of July.
Here are a few of the boats specifications.
Well, here goes the first trip log. Hopefully, it will be followed by about 1000 more. Today we are in Minnesota staying with Ali's parents. Back on Aug. 25th we closed on the sale of our condo in Chicago, packed the moving van with our remaining possessions and drove up here. We have been here about a week visiting friends and family. We have been running errands at a rate of about 10 trips per day. It is amazing how many things there are to wrap up. We are planning on leaving on Wednesday the 10th for Florida. We are driving down from MN in one of Ali's parents' cars. They were nice enough to offer it to us for the length of our stay in FL. Then they are flying down to visit and drive it back. Next time we write we will be in Fort Lauderdale getting ready for an early November departure.
Finally arrived in Fort Lauderdale yesterday. 1650 miles of driving in two days! As soon as we pulled up at 2Hulls (the brokerage we bought the boat from) we could see they were washing the boat and putting the finishing touches on the work we had them do. It looked great. We spent the afternoon moving the boat over to the Las Olas Marina. It's a really nice marina with all the facilities that anyone living on a boat could want. Ali got one of the bedrooms ready, and after a couple of beers we crashed. Around midnight we woke up because of a strange sound on the boat. I thought it sounded like bacon frying in a frying pan. I looked over the whole boat and finally gave up trying to figure out what it was. Today I was talking to our neighbor who is on a 40 foot catamaran, he laughed when I told him about the noise and explained that it was just barnacles attaching themselves to the bottom of the boat. Weird.
Well we spent the last few days doing nothing but cleaning out every inch of the boat. Figuring out what is onboard and what we need. We have made a bunch of expensive trips to West Marine and Target already. Today's list for me includes taking apart the propane system and replacing it. The propane tanks that were on the boat were fine by South African laws but no propane dealer would ever fill those types of tanks in the U.S. They don't meet U.S. safety standards. So hopefully by tonight we will have a working grill and stove. Ali is about done cleaning out all the rooms, and is now ready to organize everything.
We finally got the grill working yesterday with the help of Kent from 2Hulls. The jet was all plugged up and not letting the gas through. Somehow that ended up being a two day job. We are quickly learning that everything takes 10 times longer to do on a boat. Kent was over to install a thru hull for the watermaker. This is where the sea water will enter the boat before being converted through the watermaker into fresh water. That was a very scary job, since you are essentially drilling a hole in your boat directly into the ocean. Water starts gushing into the bilge until you can get the fitting on and tightened. Hopefully before the boat sinks. In our case we got it on but found out the fitting wasn't long enough, so we have a slow leak that the bilge pumps out every hour or so. Kent is going to install a different one on Monday.
Oh going back to the grill story, we cooked brats last night. It was the first thing we have cooked ourselves in at least two months! So that is what we have been up to the last couple of days. Taking it pretty easy. Tonight we are heading down to Miami's Pro Player Stadium to go to the Dolphins game.
We went to the Dolphins and Bills game on Sunday night in Miami. We both agreed that it was the rowdiest game we had ever been to. And that includes the Vikings vs. Packers. There was a lot of fights in the crowd between fans. We were happy to be neutral observers at the game.
Tried to take a sail yesterday, but found once we got out of the shelter of the marina the wind was blowing 20 knots out in the ocean. That was a little much for our first sail on the boat so we turned around. Only one minor scuff as we were backing out of our slip. First one of many we are sure.
Spent 2 days tearing apart the dinghy's outboard engine. Even though it is nearly brand spanking new it would not start. I got new gas, changed the plugs, cleaned the fuel filter, and stripped and cleaned the carb. That was all new to me, but I finally got it working and next time I will have that thing done in 15 minutes. I also got to go swimming in the marina after Ali dropped the car keys in the water. The marina water is pretty nasty and when you dive down you can't see the bottom until it is like a foot away, so I was afraid I might stick my face right in the mud. Somehow managed to find them on the second attempt and quickly hosed myself off with fresh water.
Projects we are working on right now include cleaning and lubricating the sail track for the main (since we can barely hoist it right now), refinishing the cockpit table, installing an SSB radio and setting up the e-mail system (actually Kent will be doing that), and installing and learning the navigation software and electronic charts. We also went out to dinner with Kent and Belinda, Belinda was our boat broker and Kent is her husband and also works at 2Hulls and installs everything for us, they took us to a nice Italian place where I had sea bass and lobster ravioli. It's a hard life.
We got a big project checked off the list today. Ali hoisted me up the mast so I could clean and lube the sail track. We start on the next big project on Monday, installing the SSB.
We are starting to come to terms with the fact that neither of us can cook anything, and so we are having a heck of a time trying to figure out what kind of food to store to last us a few months. After eating Taco Bell five nights a week for four years in Chicago, and pizza the other two, we are realizing we are going to starve out there. Oh well, I'm sure you can last quite a while on beer alone.
(Ali) This is projects week on Bum. Kent from 2Hulls is busy installing our SSB and linking up the computer to the GPS and autopilot, we had someone out to look at installing a battcar system (this will help us hoist the main sail), Pat did some electrical work (I am very impressed), and just daily running around before we lose the use of my parents truck next week. We have also been refinishing the cockpit table. What a job...sand, varnish, dry, sand, varnish, dry...it's a long process but the table looks really good.
Next thing on the list, where to go from here? We are being asked to leave the marina on the 27th because the Fort Lauderdale Boat Show moves in. However we can not leave the U.S. because the Coast Guard has not given us our paperwork yet (they have a new computer system and are currently working on July paperwork, ours is August). So we will most likely head to Miami or the Keys to wait for the paperwork and then go to the Bahamas.
Well today is Saturday. We worked Monday through Friday this week on the SSB. That was a lot more work than we originally thought it would be. It made a huge mess of the boat too. So this weekend we need to clean the boat again, go shopping at Sam's Club (probably twice) for our big provisioning trip, and finish up any other running around that needs to be done since Ali's parents will be here on Monday. In 9 more days we are getting kicked out of the marina. The big Fort Lauderdale Boat Show is coming to town, and apparently they get more money from a 200' super yacht than a 35' catamaran. We have decided to move to a place right up the river where we can anchor for a few more days while we wrap up projects on the boat.
Here is a picture of our new and improved nav station.
Ali decided that she wanted the outside of the boat buffed and polished before we head out. To give you an idea how big a job that is, Kent laughed when we asked him about it and said 'we charge $600 for that.' So that should be a lot of fun, Kent did lend us the buffer to use for free though. Also, we did decide to have the battcar system installed. We have a fully battened main which is pretty heavy so this should help a lot.
While reading the paper today we saw the date and remembered that this is the anniversary of when we started dating. 13 years ago! Not sure if that is a bad sign or not. We bought a little bamboo plant today, which I think is supposed to bring luck, so we figure the two cancel each other out. We made a couple trips to Sam's Club over the weekend and we're feeling pretty well stocked up. There is a picture below of the main items that we purchased. Battcar system install starts tomorrow, hopefully that goes well. Ali's parents get in tomorrow night. We can use a short break from boat work.
(Ali) My mom and dad arrived last night from Minnesota. It was so good to see them. We checked them into their hotel and headed down to the waterfront for dinner and drinks. We had a very nice time. Today we showed them the boat for the first time. I think my mom was pleasantly surprised. She said 'It's so clean' over and over again. My dad is a natural. He wanted to learn how everything worked and was quick to volunteer as crew anytime we need it. I think we will see him at the Panama Canal. Then we headed out to sea, after an initial little bump into the dock everything went great. There wasn't much wind but we didn't mind too much. Pat and my dad swam off the back of the boat, and we were able to hoist the jib for awhile. We sailed at about 2 knots into a 1.5 knot current so we didn't go very far, which was fine since we needed to pick up the Harley's that we rented to drive down to the keys by five.
Susy and Al on their maiden voyage.
We just returned from our Harley trip down to the Keys. The travel guide said that it was a 2 hour drive to Marathon, which of course took us 8. But after multiple refreshment stops, we finally arrived at the ever so luxurious Holiday Inn Marathon. We woke up early today and headed down to Key West which was just 50 miles further. After we got south of Marathon we finally got to see the Keys that we all had in our mind. Long bridges over perfect blue water linking the little islands together. It was pretty funny seeing some of the crazy boats that people live on. They don't even look like they should float. Anything to avoid paying rent I guess.
We did see a couple of boats anchored next to their own deserted island. We can't wait to be one of them. We got down to Key West and found out that Fantasy Fest is this weekend, apparently a party that shouldn't be missed. It sounds a lot like Mardi Gras to us and like Sturgis to Ali's mom and dad. We had a great breakfast at Blue Heaven and then walked around Duval Street for awhile. One thing about the Keys is that you can't take a different way home. One road down and one road back. So we made pretty good time back, stopping along the way at some new watering holes. All in all a pretty nice trip, even if it was too quick.
Seven Mile Bridge and breakfast in Key West.
(Ali) After a week of not working on the boat we are finally back at it today. The boat was pretty dirty from the battcar system installation last week, which is done and working nicely. So while Pat is cleaning up outside, I'm picking up inside for Kent's return tomorrow to finish up the SSB. We are also working on getting everything done before we leave the marina tomorrow - washing clothes, towels and sheets, filling the water tanks, enjoying the TV and internet - because next stop is the anchorage where we will be roughing it.
Well today is Thursday. We moved the boat out of the marina on Monday and motored to our new spot, at anchor on the Middle River in Fort Lauderdale. It is only about a half mile north of the marina, and it is sort of an "unofficial" anchorage. So we have been happy that the police haven't shown up asking us to move along yet. I sort of feel like a Chicago bum hanging out in Grant Park. But it's been fun, the best part is it doesn't cost a penny. The hardest part is getting used to trying to conserve your fresh water and your electricity.
Speaking of which, we installed a Xantrex Link 10 Battery Monitor. It is the coolest little invention you can have onboard a boat. It tells us exactly how many amps of power we are using and how much our solar panels are generating. Yesterday Kent came by and also installed a new set of throttles for us. I say it is because the old ones didn't work very good, but I think it is more because the new ones are all chrome and look sweet. We also worked on installing the SSB antennae.
On Tuesday, we started the buffing of the boat. It works great and really shines it up nice. However, about a third of the way through we dropped the power cord in the water which promptly blew out our AC Power. After about two hours of tearing the boat apart looking for the breaker or some sort of reset switch we gave up. This was at noon, so it kind of shot our day. We still had lights and refrigeration, the plugs we blew are the ones like you have in your house that you plug regular appliances into, so really we just didn't have TV, and couldn't finish the project.
So Wednesday Kent comes over and looks around for about five minutes before switching a breaker labeled "Earth Leakage". Apparently in South Africa that means "Ground". So problem solved. Ali and I are trying to convince Kent to come with us. At least for a year or so. Let's see what else has been going on. We had a pretty wicked thunderstorm the other night. The wind was really blowing and gave us our first taste of the fear of having your anchor drag in the middle of the night. Needless to say Ali didn't sleep to good that night. I on the other hand slept pretty well, it must of been knowing that Ali was up watching things. I don't think she is going to do that for me all the time though.
Well we are still here. Had a really rough night on the anchor last night with a lot of wind. Not much sleep. Today we moved to a slip next to an old folks home. Had an adventure doing that as well. I'll tell you more about that next time. The old folks home let us have the use of their pool which we promptly took them up on. There was nobody near the pool area but within five minutes the old guys were swarming around us. Dirty old men. We are using an internet connection at a coffee house right now, and the lady isn't supposed to be letting us use it. So we are trying to be quick. Oh, the reason we went to this slip is because there is some sort of tropical storm forming over Bermuda right now and it is supposed to hit South Florida on Sunday. I don't think it is supposed to be a huge storm, but it is supposed to bring some pretty high winds. So we figured we would rather have a bunch of lines holding us steady.
