BV 7 (VIDEO): Christmas Kiting at Pensacola Cay

I mean, with the name “Pensacola,” we had to at least stop and see.  And then we decided December 25th it shall be!  Merry Christmas in blog time followers!  I hope you all are enjoying our Bahamas Voyage vicariously.  Fun video and blog post for you below from our   “holiday on the hook” at Pensacola Cay!

It is always so fun to go back through our photos and footage and share these stories with you.  Pensacola Cay.  We were destined for it, right?  And boy what a beautiful little stop it was.  Each island in the Abacos offered something unique and memorable.  Pensacola afforded us the first stretch of clear beach and enough wind for kiting.  So, it was the first time we kited on the Atlantic ocean.  That is not something I’m likely to forget for a long, long time.  This was our first kite spot!

For us, kiting is not just a hobby, it is a sort of freedom.  As with the sailboat, you are moving, propelling forward actually, by the sheer virtue of the wind.  You steer by skillfully working the kite and board together just as the boat does with the wind, keel, and rudder.  It’s a powerful, sometimes frightening, but more often freeing, exciting feeling to know you are harnessing the wind.  There’s no rumbling motor.  No stinking fumes going into the air.  Nothing but nature is moving you along.

 

Time for a jump-off!  Annie …

Man, did you see that mega-hop?!  I cleared like a foot and a half!  Okay, now Phillip …

I think we have a clear winner!  Man, Phillip can really fly.  I’m still working on jumping.  It’s just not something that is coming naturally to me.  So far I can either launch and land a mega-hop (yeehaw!) or launch a huge leap and yard sale it at the end.  I hate to say that kiting, just tacking back and forth and maneuvering the board without jumping, is so fun to me that I often don’t practice jumping as much as I should because it might mean I’ll lose my board, crash my kite, potentially end my session.  “Over a silly jump?” my mind screams.  “Nuh-uh, not this kiter!”   But, I love that I can push myself to that goal anytime I want to and it’s always there: a fun, challenging reward if I attain it.  This—the challenge, thrill, peacefulness, and simplicity, i.e., harnessing the wind to maneuver—along with, of course, the high-flying jumps and flips, is what draws us to kiting.  And to look out the opening of that beautiful little cove at Pensacola Cay to see the Atlantic ocean!  An enormous body of water that we crossed in a boat not much bigger than ours only one year ago, was a really cool feeling.  Like everything is connected together—time, places, and people—by water.  This was us on that same body of water, not so long ago!

  

The water in the Bahamas, however, while warmer than Pensacola’s mid- to low-sixties winter waters, was still a little chilly.  Likely seventy degrees if I had to guess, along with air temps in the high sixties and low seventies.  Definitely nice and cool for a day on the boat, but a little chilly to get wet and windy in just a bikini alone.  Oh, you’re right, Phillip doesn’t always wear the bikini – ha!  But we had brought all of our wet gear for this reason, so we donned what I call our “platypus suits” and didn’t let it stop us!

 

High fashion.

It was so “cold” there, Frosty came to join us!

I was kind of surprised by the landscape as well.  Many of the cays in the Abacos are formed solely on limestone, so in some areas the only walkable shore is a jutty, jagged patch of very unforgiving limestone.  Didn’t stop us from traversing it, but you definitely wanted to tread carefully!

 

We also often stumbled upon what we began to call “conch graveyards.”  I, a very naive and silly Bahamian cruiser to begin with, thought all those conchs must have decided it was “their time,” so they huddled together and crawled to shore, a heaving pile of shell and slimy innards drying under the sun.  I mean, how else would they all end up piled together in a collective, crumbling heap?

Yes, I know now (after the patient and kindly Phillip told me) they’re there because that is likely where a local fisherman harvested and cracked them.  Ahhh … that makes more sense.  A concher left them there.  Yes, “conchers” are real in Annie Land.  So is the blonde hair!  Phillip is rather nice to put up with me.  But, my very silly questions about all the intriguing things I always seem to find when we’re exploring definitely keep him entertained.  As do these beautiful views.  Just walking around the islands, making footprints in the sand, and picking up shells is one of our favorite pastimes.

 

I had thought about keeping this guy, but after holding him five minutes (which left a hand that stunk for five hours!), I decided he was never coming near our boat.  Do you see that little brown dribble coming out of the bottom?

Yeah, he seemed empty when I picked him up.  I mean there definitely was not a live squirmy conch in there when I peeked inside.  But every time I sloshed water in and swished it out, more of this brown goo would come out and I’m sure it was his poor decaying body, but my God that stuff was potent.  Sorry little man, but you’re staying with the other stinkies!  We do not bring stench aboard Plaintiff’s Rest!

With “dollars” everywhere, we felt mighty rich!  : )

It was also great to see our boat anchored out in the Sea of Abaco.  After all the planning and prepping and work it took to get her there, it was like you could feel how happy she was to finally be floating in these beautiful green waters!

And, just our luck, a few billowing, beautiful clouds rolled in and brought us a refreshing rain storm.  That’s right, for Christmas, we gave Plaintiff’s Rest a much-needed, well-deserved, indulgent freshwater rinse.  I listened closely and could hear her singing during the storm.  Do you know what she sang?

“Siiiiinging in the rain.  I’m just siiiiinging in the rain!  What a gloooorious feeling, I’m haaaaaapy again!”  (That’s what she always sings when it rains ; ).

It was a well-timed, rather-welcomed rinse for the boat and all of our kite gear stacked up on the deck.  And, the storm left behind a crystal clear sky for the sunset.  It’s happy hour on our boat.  Cheers!

  

And you know you’re living right when you watch the sun both set and rise every day:

I know, I know.  Sunrises.  Sunsets.  Cocktails and bikinis.  Yes, it really is just like that many days.  When we’re not changing the oil on the boat, or cleaning the dinghy, or on a gas and provision run.  It is paradise.  Dozens of times over with each little cay you stop at in the Abacos.  But, as I mentioned, each cay seemed to offer something unique that made it stand out in our memories and distinguish each cay from the other.  Do you know what our favorite thing about Pensacola Cay was?

That’s right!  The SIGNING TREE!!  It was something Phillip had read about before we even got to the Abacos, some big tree on the back side of Pensacola Cay where boaters leave old buoys, or life rings, or pieces of driftwood (all kinds of creative nautical trinkets) often with their vessel name, the crew and the date written or painted on it.

It reminded me a lot of the sea wall at Azores which is covered with colorful paintings left behind by cruisers who have been there.

Some of the items hanging from the Signing Tree were very creative.  One had a message in a bottle.  Another, a carved silhouette of their boat.  One, a toilet seat!  I’m not kidding.  And, from s/v Plaintiff’s Rest?  Your very own signed copy of Salt of a Sailor, another one of my “traveling books.”

Phillip and I like to occasionally leave a book behind in a port or place where we hope one cruiser will read it then pass it along to another and another and another, so that the book gets to meet a lot of different people and see many different parts of the world.  ”Go little book, go!” we often cry as we leave her behind.

“All you have to do is be a little brave and really resourceful.  Happy cruising!” I wrote inside.

Then we triple-bagged her and hung her from the Signing Tree.  I hope someone, somewhere, someday tells me they found the traveling Salt of a Sailor that we left at Pensacola Cay.  What if the little books is still there when we go back?  That would be fine too, but I’ll have to open it to see if folks are taking it to read, then putting it back!  I put a little log in the front where people can leave a note with their vessel name and crew.  So, it’s kind of like a “signing book” too.

We’re making some fantastic memories along the way.  Hope you all enjoyed Pensacola Cay!

Next time, we’ll take you underwater on our very first colorful snorkel in the Bahamas!  Stay tuned!  glug, glug, glug … : )

 

Video Annie Writes, Too?: Book Giveaway #1

“Why yes, yes I do!  I did long before the Tube of You.  And here’s a Writer Annie gift for you!”

Okay, maybe the exchange wasn’t quite as sing-songy and rhythmic, but that’s about how it went down last weekend at our favorite anchorage, Ft. McRee, when I had a Video Annie follower come knocking on the hull, and he had no clue I wrote, too.

It’s funny.  The power of YouTube.  It still never ceases to surprise me.  It seems this is the new learning hub of the 21st century.  Reading is a long lost art.  It is rare that someone “looks up” the answer to a question or learns how to do something in a textbook anymore.  They Google it or, far more often, find and watch a YouTube video on how to do it.  Video is the streaming source of knowledge and entertainment these days.  And, while that is a wonderful thing, I still love books.  I love words.  I love to string them together, rearrange and massage them and bring a reader into my world.  And, I especially love to read.  Since I decided to stop making my own YouTube videos earlier this year, I have literally been able to read eight times as many books than I did in 2016 when I was filming, editing and publishing a 20+ minute YouTube video every week.  Eight!  That was not because I wasn’t motivated to read.  I just didn’t have the time.  If you’re curious, I always (try to) keep a running tab of the books I’ve read each year, in order of preference, and you can see the books I devoured (and highly recommend) here.  Let me know if any of you have read and totally gorged yourselves on these books too.  And the Sea Will Tell and Brain on Fire gave my a whole new appreciation for the art of story-telling, the intrigue of missing pieces and the power of perspective.

I believe books are a wonderful thing and still more powerful and absorbing than videos.  You may not agree.  That’s totally fine.  It’s just my preference.  I prefer a bit of a blank stage for my imagination to fill rather than a visually-complete video that leaves no room for my mind to fill in the gaps.  Populating the stage myself with characters as I see them, quirks as I anticipate them and mental sights, sounds and smells inspired by the words I read is a complete thrill and—better yet—creating that stage for others by writing the words myself is the ultimate satisfaction.  I’ve said it many times, and it still rings true.  I believe in words.  I hope you do too.

I thought this little “Video Annie Writes, Too” would be a fun story to share with you all to kick off our four-week Holiday Book Giveaway.  That’s right, a free signed book every week until Phillip and I leave for the Bahamas in December.  Phillip and I are very thankful for our boat, our health, our ability to pursue this amazing lifestyle and the many followers who have inspired me to keep writing and sharing and we want to give back.  So, enjoy the little ditty below.  (You’ll love it.  Brandon becomes a lawyer – ha!).  Then try to answer the fun trivia at the end to win a free signed Salt of a Sailor book, mailed right to you, courtesy of HaveWind.

So, the Blue Angels show at Ft. McRee.  It’s an event Phillip and I try to catch every year because it is such a spectacular anchorage, with most of our boating friends out there along with us for the weekend PLUS a free air show.  I mean, what’s there to even think about!  In 2014, we rafted up at Ft. McRee five-deep for the show!

In, 2015, we rafted up again with Brandon and that’s when he came aboard and diagnosed our rotten stringers.  Episode #31: The Blues Bring Bad News.

While that was a sad day on the boat, Brandon was right there with us from the start telling us “It’s not really that bad,” and “We’ll get you fixed up.”  And, I’ll never forget Phillip staring at those rotten stringers, shaking his head and still saying, “This ain’t stopping us from going to Cuba.”  And, by God, it didn’t!  Not long after that weekend, 2015, is when we hauled out and spent an entire eye- (and wallet-)opening three months at the yard completing a pretty major refit on our boat with Brandon at www.PerdidoSailor.com.  While many days in the yard were hard, grueling, frustrating and just down-right depressing, we kept chipping away at it with Brandon looking over our shoulders and mentoring, it was probably the most beneficial, productive three months of our careers as boat-owners because we learned so much about our boat, how to diagnose and repair her, how best to maintain her and—to be honest—how well-suited Phillip and I were to work together on any problem she could conceivably present us (as there were, and will continue to be, many).

Now, almost two years later, an Atlantic-crossing and a fantastically-invigorating trip to Cuba (just as Phillip had predicted) under our belts, we decided the Blue Angels show this year would probably be our last big Hoorah in Pensacola before we shove off for the Bahamas this December.  So, Phillip and I planned weeks in advance to sail over and drop the hook to enjoy the air show from the view of the Fort.  And, it was a glorious weekend on the boat.  November temps in the high sixties.  Bright, sunny, cloudless skies.  An amazing performance by the Blues, right over our rigging.  And, another fun weekend out with our fellow cruising friends in one of our favorite anchorages.

But, that’s what we often expect at Ft. McRee.  What we didn’t expect (as Video Annie hasn’t been spotted in a while) was a knock on the hull from some excited HaveWind YouTube followers: Bruce and Chris on s/v Sea Hawk.  Chris could be short for Christine, Chrissy, Christorama.  I didn’t care; I like the name Chris for a girl.  These two were fun!

And they were just a few boat-lengths down from us!

The view from Sea Hawk:

Turns out Bruce and Chris were anchored not too far behind our boat, which had Brandon’s Gulf Star rafted-up on our starboard side, and they had recognized the name on the back of our boat “Plaintiff’s Rest” from some of our YouTube videos.  This past year, Bruce and Chris moved out of their house up in Michigan and onto their 1968 Morgan (beautiful classic boat) and started sailing around Lake Superior to get their sea legs feet wet (or freezing!).  They had eventually made their way down the coast to Pensacola with their sights set on the Gulf, the west coast of Florida, the Caribbean and beyond.

Bruce dinghied up behind Brandon’s stern and started chatting away with Brandon who was out on the deck, grilling sausage.  About 80% of the time when Brandon and the family are out on the boat, there is sausage of some form grilling—breakfast, lunch, happy hour snack, or dinner (and we love them for it!).  I heard the words “Video Annie” and figured I had to pop up to see what was going on (and more importantly, what Brandon might say in response).  Bruce—God love him—was talking ninety miles-a-minute with no one able to get a word in edgewise.  He was talking about my YouTube videos, our time in the shipyard, our sail to Cuba and how he and Chris had been following my video blog for a while, how it had inspired them to finally start cruising, yachta, yachta, yachta …

I peeked out our companionway and could see Brandon smiling and chuckling to himself.  Then Bruce said, “And you’re a lawyer too, right, like Annie?  You guys both practice, or used to.  Chris and I thought that was so funny, two lawyers become sailors.”  And, Bruce continues rattling on.  I’m now laughing behind Brandon’s back and seeing him try to cut in to correct Bruce, but after Bruce just kept on a-truckin’, Brandon finally said.  “Yeah, the practice is hard.  I have to go to a lot of depo parties.”  I then let an uncontrollable cackle out.  Brandon loves to call legal depositions “depo parties.”  I finally stepped up into our cockpit so I could finally be seen by Bruce and he bellows: “VIDEO ANNIE!”

Turns out she lives on.  That feisty old gal.  Bruce, a little confused, glanced down at the name on Brandon’s stern, 5 O’Clock, then at the name on our stern, Plaintiff’s Rest, and said “Oh okay, this is your boat,” as he pawed his dinghy over to our Niagara, still chatting away about us (Brandon and I as he pointed) being lawyers and all.  Then Phillip finally emerged from our companionway, and Bruce said, “Oh … ” the first moment of silence since he’d arrived.  “Oh yeah, the bald one.  You’re the lawyer!” Bruce shouted, and Brandon lost it.  “Yeah, the bald ones are better,” he laughed.

Brandon, you funny!

Love that guy.

After a few minutes of unraveling Bruce’s confusion and him now understanding this was the same Brandon with Perdido Sailor, from all of our shipyard videos, Bruce then felt like he was truly in a celebrity circle.  We had a very fun chat with Bruce and his wife, Chris, about their finding their boat, following our HaveWind blog, enjoying our videos and, even, their first big sea experience on Lake Superior.  Chris was telling me that their first day out, they experienced 6-8 foot seas all day, and I told her that sounded a lot like my first offshore voyage on our boat.  “Oh yeah?” she asked.  And, then I asked if she had read Salt of a Sailor.  Bruce perked up and said “Video Annie writes, too?”

’Course she does!

“Yes, I love to write!” I piped back at Bruce.  “Do you like to read?” I challenged him, to which he and Chris both immediately spouted, “Yes!”

“Wait right there, then,” and I promptly went below to fetch Bruce and Chris one of my books from our cabin.  I began writing an inscription in Salt of a Sailor for them and told them they would enjoy the story of my first voyage which I told them, as I winked over to Chris, “also involved some 6-8 foot stuff.”

“Oh, our second day across the lake, we were in 12-14 footers!” Chris responded.

12-14 footers?  In a cold-ass lake!  I thought to myself.  Holy Moley!  I can’t wait until Chris writes that story because I would love to read it!  You can follow along on Bruce and Chris’s Sea Hawk’s Journeys here.

The reason I share this fun little exchange is because while I will never have the same reach with simply my blog, Instagram and Facebook page, that I had with YouTube—because video marketing is simply the way of the future—I still always want people to know that my platform at HaveWindWillTravel started with words.  It started with one of my favorite passions: writing.  And, I want to share my love for books and stories as much as my love for photos and videos.  Writing that, just now, I had to go back and look.  Wow, here is my very first blog post, dated March 29, 2013, titled “My First Sail,” which later became my first article in a sailing magazine, Cruising Outpost.  Man, how time flies!

Everyone knows the saying: “A picture is worth a thousand words.”  And, most millennials would probably say: “Then a video is worth a thousand pictures.”  While that may be true, I believe it’s all in the eye of the imagination-holder.  My own humble view is that it is, in fact, words—with their silent draw, their open canvas, their endless possibility for interpretation—that are worth a thousand videos.  With that in mind, I blew on my signature to dry the Sharpie scrawl, closed the cover to Salt of a Sailor and handed it to Chris, saying: “I hope Writer Annie inspires you, too.”

After that fun little share, I believe it’s high time Phillip and I kicked off this four-week Holiday Book Giveaway.  What say you?  If some of you don’t know, I have published three fun, entertaining sailing books that I love to share with followers.  You can download and read free previews of each book or order copies here.  Just as Bruce and Chris now hold and (I hope) cherish their signed copy of Salt of a Sailor, one of you can too.  First follower, either here or on Facebook, to answer this question correctly in a comment wins!  If you know the answer but already have a hard copy (or do not need another hard copy to give away as a gift), please let another follower chime in, thanks!

Book Giveaway #1:

For our first book giveaway trivia, we’re going to dig all the way back to the origin of Annie’s sailing days, back to 2013 and our first passage on our 1985 Niagara 35.  Who doesn’t love the infamous Mitch, right?  The answer is no one.  Just no one.  So, “while you’re down there” digging around in your HaveWind mental archives, what was the food item the infamous Mitch was craving right after we broke down in Carrabelle and were waiting on the mechanic to come and have a look at our engine?

And … GO!

Happy Holidays folks.  Phillip and I are so grateful to have you all following along and we hope you continue to enjoy ours and pursue your own journey!  It’s a big world out there.  Mostly accessible by boat!  : )

The Traveling Book

Funny, that title makes me think of the Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.  Not a terrible chick flick.  At least that blonde gal—who I believe is now the dashing Blake Lively—was not at all terrible to look at in the movie.

You’re welcome.

No, here, we’re dealing not with pants but with a book.  A kind of special book.  One that has very specific travel powers and that has opened itself only to those salty mariners who dare to find literary magic in the most hit-or-miss of places: the Pandora’s Box that is the free marina book swap.  Many of you have seen them, perused them and—more often than not—taken them up on their very kind offer of “take a book, leave a book.”  The free marina book swap is a fantastic concept, particularly for cruisers who love to read and are generally aiming to travel on the cheap.  Everywhere you stop, there it is: a free, no-membership-required little library with a wide variety of books and no return dates.  I have previously written about my love for book swaps as well as the apparent voodoo that goes along with them, the ever-illusive “book swap mojo” and the deference it demands.

Annie here, returning (with much reluctance) a very powerful read, The Paris Wife, to the book swap in Key West during our trip down to the Keys in 2014 to pay homage and ensure my continued good book swap mojo.

I am also intrigued by the typical books you always see in the marina book swaps.  I like to imagine the types of cruisers who leave and read these genres.  I’ll bet the Clive Cusslers are the sort of Captain Ron type cruisers that bump their way into any anchorage and usually ask forgiveness rather than permission when it comes to docking their dinghy, borrowing power, water and the like.  Then, there’s the Danielle Steels and the Nora Roberts, the “Fabio books” (I like to call them), like our Western Man here.  Shazam!

I’ll bet the readers of these rather unabashed love stories are just that: romantics.  They likely see their husband/captain in a bit of a lofty, heroic manner and while many aspects of cruising may frighten them a little, they find the chivalry of their mate taking the wheel against dangerously beautiful blue water so moving, they find the courage to go.  So, kudos to you Romance Ladies.  Cruise and read on!  Now, who’s reading the John Grishams, Deen Koontz, Tom Clancy’s and the like?  Probably problem solvers.  Those types of boat-project gurus that love to talk for hours about whether you should Loctite that transmission shaft key back in place or drill a hole in it and use seizing wire.  (For those of you thriller/suspense fans who are familiar with our “tranny key” problem, feel free to weigh in in a comment below.  ; )

But, what type of cruiser leaves or takes a book like this?

Me, of course!  Being it’s duly-appointed author and just so darn proud of that little salty gem.  But also being the type of person—to a freaking “T”—the very book itself describes: “A durable but not-so-dainty sailor.”  I like to envision the other boaters and mariners out there who have read, enjoyed and especially shared Salt of a Sailor with others feel they are somewhat the same, or had somewhat the same experience when they were just getting into sailing.  Graduating from the ignorant-but-eager “What rope should I pull?” to the more seasoned “They’re not called ropes.  They’re lines.  Or sheets or halyards or topping lifts.  Anything but ropes.”

These are my people.  Having enjoyed the experience so much myself—of becoming, first, a sailor, then a cruiser, then a bonafide “I finally get it, boats … always something” boat owner—I love sharing my experience through each phase of the transformation.  My revelations, my fears and, particularly, my lessons learned.  But, what I did not quite know, until I stumbled back across the Traveling Book, was how much others were enjoying my stories as well.  Now, it’s time to share the story of the Traveling Book with you.

Travel back with me to last week.  Phillip and I cruising up Florida’s Forgotten Coast, really soaking in all the little sleepy marina towns along the Big Bend, for the first time in years feeling once again live true live-aboard cruisers.  Ahhh …

     

On our way north from Key West, we stopped again in one of our favorites Florida ports—because of its few fantastic restaurants, quiet coastal walking trails, great kitesurfing cove and rightfully-titled “friendliest marina in Florida”—Port St. Joe.  We love that place.  And, it was really fun to learn, turns out, they quite like us too.

We had just docked at Port St. Joe Marina after having spent the day motoring up “the ditch” from Apalachicola along Apalachicola River and Lake Wimico.

And, I should say up-and-coming Captain Annie docked us right and proper in Port St. Joe, because I did.  I nailed it!  And we had just finished washing the boat down—the chore we always tackle the minute we get docked up after a passage—when Lisa, who runs the marina office, walked out to our boat, knocked on the hull and asked: “Is this the famous author?”

I stammered a little, blushed, a little slow on the uptake.  “I don’t know about famous … ” I started in making my way up the companionway stairs but was wondering: “How did she know?”  Or at least how did she remember so quickly put two and two together having not yet seen my face.

“Plaintiff’s Rest,” Lisa blurted out, and Phillip and I shared a kind of “Yeah, so … “ look not knowing where Lisa was going with all of this.  “The name of your boat.  I’ll never forget it as I’ve never met another Plaintiff’s Rest, so I knew, when you hailed us out in the bay, it had to be you.  You’re Annie, right?”

I nodded and then recalled that fateful day years ago when Lisa and I first met.  You see, when Phillip and I were in Port St. Joe last on our boat (it was during our way down to the Keys in 2014), Lisa had found me pouring over all the treasures in the marina book swap and we struck up a conversation.

I’m such a sucker for books!

I told her I was a very amateur writer and wannabe author working, at the time, on my first non-fiction sailing book that did not yet have a name.  An avid reader herself, particularly of pieces written by cruisers as she meets so many running the busy marina there at Port St. Joe, Lisa immediately said she wanted a signed copy of my book once it was published.  It was the first time anyone asked me for that.  I was so flattered and motivated by our conversation that I feverishly wrote several chapters after Phillip and I left Port St. Joe on our way down to Key West.  I completed the first rough draft of Salt of a Sailor during that voyage, self-published in February, 2015 and—remembering Lisa’s request for a signed copy and her very-encouraging excitement about reading my book—sent a first edition signed copy to Lisa at the Port St. Joe Marina office.

I also decided to make that my first “traveling book,” writing a little note in the inside cover explaining why I, as the author, had donated the book to the free marina book swap in hopes that it would travel from marina to marina, being shared among cruisers, each of them writing inside their name, home port, date they finished the book, and what they thought of it for the next reader, and that I might somehow stumble across it again one day and get to see all of the “durable but not-so-dainty” mariners it had touched.  What a cool prospect!  I didn’t know if it would work, if cruisers would really follow my lighthearted instructions and keep the Traveling Book alive, or, much less, if the book even made it to Lisa in Port St. Joe.  But, I soon learned, it had accomplished much more.

“We all loved your book!” Lisa said.

I smiled.

No, take that back.  I beamed.  Lisa told me she was so excited when she got my book in the mail (now over two years ago) that she saved it for herself first, read it, loved it and then shared it with many of her permanent tenants at the marina, who then shared it with others.  Apparently my little book went all around the marina in Port St. Joe for a year or more, with all the cruisers talking about it and sharing their favorite parts, before it traveled off.  Where to?  Lisa did not know, but it didn’t matter as the whole point was that the book traveled—from book swap to book swap—not to which marinas it traveled to.  That little worn copy may be somewhere in the South Pacific right now for all I know.  I like to imagine it is.  Sitting salty, sun-dyed and dog-eared next to a leathery old cruiser and his scruffy dog, waiting to be read (perhaps finished!) during sunset.

And what an awesome moment to share with Lisa again.  “Well, you played a big part in it,” I told her, because she had, that fateful day when we chatted by the Port St. Joe Marina book swap.  So many of my followers motivate and encourage me to continue to share our ups and downs as Phillip and I are, ourselves, still working toward becoming full-time cruisers.  My writing is where it all started.

My goal when I left the practice was to build up some sort of online company where I could earn remote income through my writing.  While I have failed many times in that effort and had to learn from my mistakes and misplaced efforts and strike out in new directions, I also learned so much each time about marketing and how I can best use my writing skills (and new skills I have learned along the way) to help my clients reach and engage more people and grow their businesses, as I grow mine in turn.  Although my career as a renowned author—where Phillip and I were supposed to simply sip Mai Tais and watch my royalty checks roll in—never took off quite how I imagined, I don’t mind at all.   I simply love to write and when book or story ideas come to me, I love to run with them.  It’s the ultimate creative high!  And the ultimate reward.

Lisa, too, was about to get a very-surprising reward for her contribution as well.

“That book was so much fun,” she said, talking about Salt of a Sailor.  “I wish you had written another.”  I smiled again as Phillip and I shared a glance full of fun secrets.  I told Lisa I had written a sequel to Salt, that actually covered parts of the trip Phillip and I were taking at the time I met her, on our way down to the Keys in 2014 and that I would bring her another signed copy to the marina office later that day.  And, much to my surprise, Lisa asked:

“Does it have all of those old stories about your grandma and growing up in Alabama?”

You’re darn right it does!  And just like that.  BOOM.  Traveling Book #2 was born.

Go little book, go!

If any of you haven’t read Keys to the Kingdom yet—the story of my escape from corporate-consumeristic America—go to the Books tab at HWWT.com to download a free preview and check it out.  Next time we stop in Port St. Joe, Lisa will be thrilled to hear as well about my third book and I’ll leave her a signed copy of None Such Like It to round out the trilogy.  Books are such fun!

Also, as a fun aside.  While my docking at Port St. Joe went well, unfortunately the DE-docking did not when this amateur helmswoman took the wheel, didn’t handle the prop wash too well, backed up like my buddy Chuck would say, “a drunk elephant,” got us all whopper-jolled in between the two dock aisles (I call them) and had a slight boat bump on the way out.  Well, technically it was a very minor anchor-to-outboard *kiss* at the last minute, so Phillip says it’s technically not a boat-to-boat collision.

But, docking.  Still scary.  Still not great at it.  But still working on it.  My nerves were better this time, though.  Throughout the very tedious 10-point turn Phillip walked me through, I didn’t lose the ability to function, and I only left the helm for a second (just a split-second!) to fend off another boat’s bow.  Apparently as helmsperson that’s the one thing you’re not supposed to do.  Whoops.  Still learning.

Boat #6: 1985 Nonsuch (Like It!) 30

In honor of my book release THIS WEEK, this is it — the s/v Tanglefoot from None Such Like It.  The book is out now on Amazon and on discount this week only.  Go get it for an even more intimate, first-hand feel for this comfortable, trusted coastal cruiser.  Thank Mr. While You’re Down There for the literary entertainment and the tour!  And, tell this little salty sailor “Au Revoir” at the end of the video as she embarks on her Atlantic crossing headed for France!  Bon Voyage Video Annie!

None Such Like It is OUT!

There she is, my new book, live on Amazon … GO GET HER!

Click to Buy None Such Like It on Amazon

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Get it in Paperback       or       Get it on the Kindle

A HUGE thanks to my many pre-release readers for taking the time to review my little rock (which has since been polished to a gem!), provide substantive feedback, help me pinpoint and correct some errors and help shape this story into the enlightening, funny, entertaining piece it is today.  I couldn’t have done it without you all.  Plus, it was fun to welcome you all into my world (busy, ain’t it?) and share this writing process with you.  I hope to write TWO books while I’m crossing the Atlantic!

Now, for the fun TRIVIA.  A free signed hard copy (proof above — I’ve got ’em in hand) goes to the first HaveWind follower to answer correctly in a comment on the blog below:

What was the dish we made during this hapless crew’s first passage together on our Niagara back in 2013 that gave our good buddy Mitch such tummy troubles?

 

I hope you enjoy this story.  I definitely saw myself in Mitch many, many times.  We’ve all been there!  Boats (particularly old but new-to-you ones) can give you plenty of grief!

Enjoy the salty sequel!  I now have three!  How cool is that?

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OFFICIAL TRAILER: None Such Like It + 10 eCopy Giveaways!

First he was in shock, then he was angry.  Other times he denied it ever happened.  But it was one hell of an entertaining journey helping deliver this Nonsuch and watch as the old gal gave our buddy Mitch (Mr. “While You’re Down There” from Salt of a Sailor) plenty of grief.  This is the trailer for my new book that will be coming out this May!  There will be none such like it, I promise!  So, two exciting opportunities to get an early sneak peek before the BIG public launch later this month:

FIRST:  Patrons get free pre-release eCopies!  If you have been thinking about Becoming a Patron but have not yet, what the heck are you waiting for?!IMG_0733Also, there are some really cool Atlantic-crossing updates up on Patreon now listing our official crew for the passage (we are now up to FOUR), as well as a virtual tour of the boat, our planned long-shift/short shift watch schedule and, coming this week, results from our Captain’s testing of the satellite tracker while strapped in the cockpit of a jet.  WHOA.

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Oh, but back to the Nonsuch book (sorry, the Patreon stuff is kind of super exciting … ; )

SECOND:  I will also be giving away a pre-release eCopy to the first TEN FOLKS who comment on this blog post saying “Heck yeah, send me a free early copy!”

In exchange for the free eCopy, all I ask is you read the book over the next couple of weeks and post an honest review on Amazon when she goes live later this month (likely May 25th, although that may have to wiggle around some of our Atlantic-crossing preparations).  It helps with Amazon’s crazy analytics if the review comes from a “Verified Purchase,” so I will discount the book the first week (only $2.99) so you all can buy a quick $3 copy then post your review.  The purchase part is not required, merely requested, to help with Amazon marketing.  The book is yours for free regardless.  Sound like a good deal?  Alrighty then ….

Who all wants a pre-release eCopy?  First TEN folks to comment below win.  Ready?  GO!  

My Next Book!

Hey kids!  I’ve got so many exciting things going on and so much to share with you, I’m kind of stretching at the seams.  Life is so full for this little sailor right now.  While I do have big news I will be sharing soon, I have some almost-as-big news that I will be sharing NOW:

I’ve got my next book in the works!

It’s going to be a fun, quick read covering our colorful passage with the infamous Mr. “While You’re Down There” from Salt of a Sailor when we helped him bring his 30′ Nonsuch back home across the Gulf in June of last year.  As a little treat for you all and continued thanks for your support through the blog, AmazonYouTube and Patreon, I thought I would share with you a sneak peek of the working title, Prologue and photos I’m considering for the cover.  I give you …

NONE SUCH LIKE HIM:

Mr. “While You’re Down There” Buys a Boat

Anyone else I could understand, but this was Mitch, Mr. “While You’re Down There.”  There are just some people you know─and they can be very close friends, hearts of gold, good, salt of the earth people─but you just know, they should not own a boat.  It’s just not a good fit.  

Mitch can’t sit still for five minutes.  He cannot not ask questions any time you do anything.  “What’s that?”  “Where does it go?”  “Why are you turning it?”  He’s got the best of intentions but he’s also got some sort of halo filter around his head that makes him perceive only his surroundings, only his emergencies.  “Patience is a … “ you can start to say, but he’ll cut you off before you finish with a “Hang on,” a “Hold this,” or “Move.”

I know all of this because Mitch was the third member of our rookie crew during the shakedown of all shakedowns, when Phillip and I sailed our recently-purchased 1985 Niagara 35 back from Punta Gorda, Florida across the Gulf of Mexico to Pensacola in 2013.  I say “rookie” because there were so many things the three of us had not done, or had not done together, which would have better prepared us for the passage.  I, for one, had never sailed.  Aside from a one-hour romp on another boat Phillip and I had looked at before settling on the Niagara, this would be the second sail of my entire life.  That meant I had no sailing experience, no offshore experience, no experience to speak of at all.  Everything was new to me.  Sometimes I still have to wonder why Phillip let me come along.  Maybe to clean and cook?   

While Mitch had some sailing experience, he had never been on an offshore passage and he and Phillip had never sailed together, nor had he sailed a boat like ours.  While Phillip was the most experienced of the three of us in handling a boat like ours, he had never captained a boat on an offshore passage and had never been on a passage this long before.  And, as Phillip repeatedly stressed: “Every boat is different.”  Meaning, no matter how much experience you may have, each time you step aboard a boat you’ve never sailed before, there is a learning curve.  So, the three of us─Phillip, Mitch and I─were sailing a boat we had never sailed before, with a crew that had never sailed together before on a passage none of us had undertaken before.  Nothing could go wrong, right?  Wrong.

Plenty did and, while I’m not sure I would want it to all play out the same way again, it did make for one hell of a story.  And, at the beating heart of it was him: Mr. “While You’re Down There.”  He was easily the most colorful character on that trip, the loudest too.  And while Phillip and I both will be forever grateful for his help in bringing our boat back home in mostly one piece, to be honest, the thought of Mitch with his own boat kind of frightened us.  It’s just such a huge commitment.  It’s a huge money pit.  Plus, it’s huge!  The image of Mitch barreling up to our boat in some thirty-plus foot tank shouting and trying to raft up gave me nightmares.  “Hang on!”  “Hold this!”  “Move!” Then I woke to the sound of crunching fiberglass.  

But it did not matter how many times we tried to tell him we just didn’t think it would be the right move for him.  “Try a charter for the weekend,” we told him.  “Don’t jump right into this,” we warned.  It did not work.  Mitch set his sights on a boat down in Ft. Myers, put in an offer sight unseen, hit the road and just went ahead and bought a boat while he was down there.  Only Mitch.  

But Phillip and I knew we had a debt to pay.  Mitch had stepped up when no one else had or could to help us bring our beautiful Niagara back from south Florida, so he knew we would step up and do the same for him when it came time to bring his own boat home across the Gulf.  While I was a little worried, I was mostly intrigued, entertained by the idea of making this passage again, this time with Mitch as the Captain.  I knew one thing for sure.  It would probably make for one hell of a story.  

 

How about it?  You ready to turn the page?  I’m excited to hear what you think!

Cover Photos:  Here are the cover photos I am considering as well.  I have numbered them for easy voting, so please let me know in a comment below which one you like the best!  Writing books … such fun!  Happy to have you all along for the ride.

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5.    IMG_3117

 

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7.   IMG_3076

 

Eenie Meenie Miney Moe.  Which do you like best?  Let me know!

Boat Shopping Should Be Fun

“It should!  It should be a fun experience,” she said.  “Not a frustrating one.”  

Pam Wall told me this, just recently when I was speaking to her over the phone to get her contribution for the Gift of Cruising announcement video.  We’re getting so close I knew I had to get my ducks in order!  And, Pam said this sort of off-the-cuff, but it stuck with me:

“Boat shopping should be fun.”

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Many of you out there may be boat shopping now or will be soon and maybe you’ve found the whole experience stressful, overwhelming, aggravating.  I’m here to say: “Don’t!”  The shopping is a fundamental part of the whole cruising experience.  You are finding your boat, your vessel, your ticket to world travel.  She will carry you, protect you, enlighten you.   Once you begin to sail her, learn her finicky ways, crack open her chest, her ribs and start working on all the tiny little wires and hoses inside, you will see she has a soul.  She will become the most integral part of your cruising plan.  If it takes time to find her, then it takes time.  Don’t rush it.  Savor every bit of the journey.  

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Looking back on mine and Phillip’s initial boat-shopping days, I realize it’s a good thing I was so blissfully ignorant about the whole cruising experience then.  It freed me from over-analyzing the boats we stepped aboard and worrying too much about whether I would want a drop-down table or a permanent one, whether a separate shower stall was “a must” or whether we simply had to have a generator.  Because it was all so new to me and because I really didn’t know what life on a boat was going to be like, I just went with the flow and soaked it all in.  Phillip was saddled with the task of worrying about everything, but he really didn’t.  He had a few key features he knew he wanted.  Aside from that, all that was required was an affordable, well-maintained seaworthy yet fun-to-sail boat that “felt right” when he stepped aboard.  Those were his very words.  So, that was my only indicator: which boat “felt right” to me.  It eliminated all stress from the equation.  

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This one certainly “felt right” to me.  The interior of our Niagara 35 before she was gutted at the yard.

With that factor gone, our boat-shopping experience turned into an adventure.  In fact, it was so much fun, the story that came out of the first boat we looked at─you may recall the tale of my very first sail, HookMouth and “I’m buried to port!”─still stands as my first post on this blog: February 16, 2013 ─ My First Sail.  It was also my first article published in Cruising Outpost and even made its way into my first Amazon best-selling book, Salt of a Sailor.  If a story that good can come out of it, surely it’s an experience worth savoring.  

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Pam Wall inspired me to write this post as I worried many of you who are boat-shopping now may be cursing the whole endeavor.  Maybe you’re finding it frustrating, irritating, stressful and my goal is to turn that around.  “Boat-shopping should be fun,” she said.  Try to treat each new boat you look at as worthy of being “The One,” assuming it─as it must─”feels right” when you step aboard.  If it doesn’t, give it the opportunity to at least become a great story to tell some day:

“Remember that boat we looked at in Tarpon Springs?”  

“Oh Lord …  and the owner.  What was his name?”

“Oh yeah.  Sammy the self-proclaimed snake-handling expert.”

You never know what can come out of it.  Savor it all.  Your boat is out there waiting for you.  I can assure you.  And, you want to find her, not a “she’ll-do” filler because you grew weary of looking.  Be patient.  

You can’t hurry love.

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WHOA.  Only $10 more to go.  This is happening kids!  Who wants the last opportunity to say you were part of it when it all started?

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#26: Where Have You Been?

Before we tell you where we’re going, I thought it might help to know where we’ve been.  In fact, I wrote it all down for you in my first sailing book — SALT OF A SAILOR (FREE TODAY on Kindle): http://www.amazon.com/Salt-Sailor-origins-durable-not-so-dainty-ebook/dp/B00T7YGKJU/ref=asap_bc?ie=UTF8.  Happy Thanksgiving followers!

Thanks to my Patrons who help me share the journey.  Get inspired.  Get on board.

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