After many years of sailing dinghies I was ready for new adventures cruising south to find warmer weather and new places to ride and jog! What a learning story unfolded and thank God for my younger brother who was a constant mentor and coach to me.
Originally I was going to write a typical travel type blog but that has been done many times before. This is stories that do show my travels but more about the oops and what the hell! My brother Chris has always been the steady logical one who in most cases can talk anyone off the ledge. I had been locked down and bored during Covid and would have lost my mind completely except for my little buddy Charlie. (A Cocker- spaniel I adopted from a shelter the Christmas before Covid)
My purchase process of the boat was most annoying too. The owner left town after accepting the offer without signing the deed and the weather was soon turning making my trip south more uncomfortable. Since all I could do is wait I decided to start sanding the bottom in preparation of bottom paint. I received many compliments on the “pristine” bottom along the way each time I had the boat hauled for repair a few times more than I care to admit.
Charlie tested the tether several times as I worked on adding new instruments and autopilot to the boat. He though he could jump 15′ to the ground to assert his dominance over a neighbor’s dog but a yipping dangling dog is pretty silly and I scolded him as I reached over and dragged him back on board.