Meet the Boat!

First I want to give you an update on some the awesome stuff I have been doing over the past.  First, let me just say the guys have great taste in food, and by that I mean, I have been eating deliciously unhealthily. They insure me that once we are at sea I will lose weight, but my current concern is adult on-set diabetes. So one night we went out for Chinese food and I got this fortune...

So this seems like a good sign...

So there were a couple of things I wanted to film, but either I forgot to or it just didn't turn out well, or I am just an idiot- any one of those three things.  So one thing we did was take down the mainsail and switched it out with a new mainsail.  The mainsail is the sail that is attached to the mast which is the big pole sticking out of the middle of the boat.  And although it sounds pretty simple, it's actually a pretty involved project.  I did start out filming this project but it took us about 6 hours to do the whole thing, and there was a lot of time in there with me just standing there, and you guys don't need to see that, it's embarrassing.  Also at one point the battery died and all the interesting stuff wasn't even filmed unbeknownst to me.  

Another exciting thing we did was clean the boat!  I know what you're thinking, it's not as glamorous as it sounds.  Life here isn't all just jumping into 60 degree water and scrubbing muck of the bottom of boat, sometimes we have to work on our tans!  Seriously though, it was actually pretty fun for the experience of it.  Basically we just got into wetsuits and jumped into the water right next to the boat and Joe and I snorkeled around cleaning off the sides of the boat.  Mike then got an air compressor and regulator and swam below the boat to clean it off.  There were times when it was kind of gross, but it was one of those experiences that's cool because I am learning a new skill.

In the evenings we will occasionally go for walks around Coronado, which is a beautiful place.  Here's a picture of the San Diego skyline at night from Coronado...

Beautiful eh?

So yesterday we ordered some equipment for the trip, and I ordered some foul weather gear, and it arrived so here's a picture of me, as a sailor, now I just need to learn to sail...

And lastly the moment you've all been waiting for, this is a video tour of the boat I am sailing on, hopefully this will give you and idea of my living situation for the next 18 months.  

Tomorrow we are hauling out, or taking the boat out of the water, to get it power washed, and then we will repaint the bottom with a special type of paint.  That's our plans for the next few days, so it should be a pretty busy weekend.

Thanks for the prayers, and keep it real.

Star of India (tall ship)

Day 5- So today we got out a small zodiac motor boat, and went in search of the Star of India, a HUGE tall ship.  When we found it, we were pleasantly surprised to find that 2 other tall ships were out!  I think my favorite part of the day was hearing to seasoned sailors critique the sailing techniques of the tall ships, and also admire the majesty and usage of different sails. I am learning tons about sailing already, but I am also realizing there is TONS to learn. Also it was my first time out on the water with the Captain and First Mate, so that was really exciting for me too.  At one point our little boat go rammed by a much larger boat, it was pretty crazy! The whole thing was one of those once in a lifetime experiences.

Sorry about the video, it was my first time using the head strap for my gopro camera, and it turns out all my video was facing a little too high.  Enjoy!

Thanks for the prayers, keep it real!

First day as a crew member...

Ok, so it's 5pm on my first day as a crew member, and I think it's best to start with a story... After arriving late the night before my jet lag has been pretty rough, and so I got about 3 hours of sleep last and was up around 4am, so at 7am, we got together to head off to breakfast.  So there's Mike, the captain, and Joe the retired naval officer as the other 2 on the boat (I'll probably do a "meet the crew" post down the road).  So this is literally the very first real conversation I have had with these guys:

Me: So have you guys been to Korea before?
Joe: Ya a couple of times...[he proceeds to tell me a few stories]...and then back in the 60s I was on a DMZ tour on the South side and the officer that was showing us around found a soldier that was suppose to be guarding the line sound asleep.  The officer then pulled out his gun and shot the guard in the head on the spot.
Me: Oh wow!?!? For real?!? I am pretty sure Korea has changed their policies since then.
Mike: Well, we are old school.  Joe told you this story so you know what happens if you ever fall asleep while you're on watch.

So, yeah, this trip is going to be pretty awesome.  Even though I am pretty sure he was joking, I am NOT going to sleep at watch.  From there we went to breakfast at a Mexican restaurant, and then we ran some errands, and stopped by the boat.

So, thanks to Kevin Midkiff for the suggestion, my Christine action figure will be named Teeny, as in Teeny Steeny (Steeny being a pet name I have for Christine). So Teeny had a chance to visit the boat too...

Teeny sees the Whistle Wing V for the first time! 

 Teeny decides to take a nap in my bunk

Eventually I'll do a video tour of the whole boat, but right now you can see a little better my set up.  Where the green blanket is, on the right side of the metal pole is my sleeping area.  Where Teeny is hanging out is my storage space.

Teeny is getting into our food storage! Typical.

Well, now it's time to head off to dinner with Joe. Coronado is a beautiful area, and the weather is amazing here.  

Thanks for the prayers, keep it real!

For my girl...

I feel like the above song was written for Christine and I...listen to the lyrics, the guy even talks about leaving his girl to sail around the world, awesome.

So anyways this post is dedicated to those wondering about Christine and I being apart for the trip.  In the future I will probably try to get her to write a post talking about her experiences and how she's holding up, and even how she feels about her travels. For now I'll address a few things: some people are concerned about us being apart for 18 months, so I think one thing that may help is for people to understand that we will actually only be apart for about 2 months at a time.  We currently have plans to see each other about 4 times a year.  We are fortunate that Christine works a teaching schedule, so this Christmas she will meet up with us in Mexico, and then for spring break she will meet us somewhere near Tahiti.  I think it also helps for people to realize that this is not uncommon practice, military couples do this kind of thing all the time for longer periods of time, and still have amazing relationships.  We are both excited for what we will learn from this experience, but also nervous about being apart.  I am not excited about being apart this much, and I totally wish that we were doing this together, but sometimes you have to take what you can get.

To help ease the pain Christine had an action figure of herself made to keep me company on my trip, which is totally awesome, so this is the start of a series.  I plan on taking pictures of her everywhere I go, so that she can experience the trip too.  As it has been pointed out, it's probably only a matter of time before I go all "Castaway" on it and call the doll Wilson, and have complete conversations with it, etc.

Christine and my Dad out for lunch

So the above is the first in the series, it's a picture of Christine and my dad as we had a farewell lunch together.  See ya in 18 months Pops!  As I type this I realize Christine is a weird name for the doll, so what are some suggestions for a name for the action figure that looks like Christine?

Thanks for the prayers, and keep it real!

Back in the USA!

So at this point I've been back in the US for a couple of days. I'm sitting at a counter a stereotypical American diner, like something you would see out of a movie, and I'm writing this post on my iPhone. 

It's been an awesome few days visiting with some kindred spirits out here. I don't like using the term kindred spirits as it's cliched and makes me sound like a tool, but it really is the best way to describe it. Thanks to all of those out here that I was able to see before I head off, you really have been a blessing to me. 

I'm flying to San Diego in a couple of days for the real start of my trip, and I got an email this morning from one of the guys and just got me really excited. They are out there preparing and they are getting excited about heading out soon too. It looks like our departure date will probably be sometime during the week of the 24th.

Thanks for reading, I'll have another update soon!

The pre-sail shave....

Well, it's a sad day but it had to come.  This past week was Christine's birthday, so I shaved off my beard for her.  Don't worry though, this will be my last shave for the trip.  Now I will probably shave my neck initially, and whenever I need to use my mask, I'll shave my mustache. I leave Korea in 4 days now, and the journey begins!  I hope to see some of you while I am in the states! 

Packing for 18 months at sea...

So this latest video is kind of long one, and so you can totally skip and just read the below list if you want.  A lot of it is just me practicing my video editing, which apparently I am still awful at.  Also I realize some of my shots are awful too, but I didn’t care enough to go back and do reshoots. 

Anyways, this is my packing list.  What to bring when you’re away for 18 months and have a limited amount of space… somethings aren’t in the video

-       1 Northface base camp duffelbag

-       1 Boreas repack 15- daypack with camelbak and Nalgene bottle

-       1 40 Liter waterproof backpack

-       1 Gopro camera with accessories

-       sea sickness medicines

-       1 solar charger

-       ACR aqualink personal locator

-       Sailing gloves, and foul weather gear

-       1 macbook air 11” with DVD player

-       Keens hiking sandals

-       Teva water/ hiking shoe

-       2 pairs of sandals

-       EMS travel duffel

-       1 beach towel and 1 pack towel

-       1 ball cap/1 bucket hat

-       1 laundry bag

-       2 webbing belts

-       1 leather man multitool, and 1 sailing knife

-       a bandana and a buff

-       3 pairs of glasses and 2 pairs of sunglasses with glasses strap.

-       1 alarm clock

-       6 pairs of socks and 6 pairs of underwear

-       1 headlamp

-       1 bathroom bag with toiletries

-       1 silk sleeping bag liner

-       aqualung sling shot fins and tusa booties and dive gloves

-       Dive mask and snorkel with extra strap.

-       1 sleeping bag

-       2 dress shirts

-       1 windbreaker jacket and 1 pair of rain pants

-       3 fleece jackets and one cotton hoodie

-       1 pair of travel pants, 1 pair of dress pants, 1 pair of jeans

-       3 board shorts, 1 gym shorts, 1 khaki shorts, 1 cargo shorts 1 thai fisherman pants, 2 swimsuits

-       1 solid cotton tshirt, 2 hiking t-shirts, 1 long sleeve hiking shirt, 2 old cotton shirts, 1 tank top, 2 Hawaiian shirts, 1 long sleeve rash guard

-       1 set of EMS long underwear

-       1 travel hammock (maybe) with ropes and carabineers

-       Checkbook, passport, etc

-       Waterproof playing cards

-       Travel pillow

-       Extra headphones, mini harmonica

-       Iphone w/ accessories & Kindle with accessories.

I am sure there are some things I am forgetting to pack, or there are things here I don’t need that are on the list.  Let me know what you think.