There Are More Ways Than One to Traverse the Ocean

Although the flight from DC to Sydney was a bit circuitous, I must admit that it was drier and much much faster than a sail would have been. There are other differences as well between Business class travel as a passenger and mate-class travel as crew:
1. When sleeping in the bow, one can anticipate being airborne on occasion at sea, but one can only hope that one remains airborne in flight.
2. When flying Business class, one can anticipate being served hot nuts. When sailing one can anticipate someone on board driving you nuts.
3. When flying Business class, one never has to worry about being awakened by the captain to stand watch. When sailing, someone always wakes you to take the helm.

Much more to come. Feel free to write your own comparisons. But no matter the downsides, I'm playing the Boat Ho card here and am hot on the trail of a delivery of a race boat from Queensland to Sydney.

For now, I'm in Sydney and loving it, sail or no sail.

Interest Rates Climb as the Federal Reserve Board Grants Leave

It's true. Americans and Aussies alike have taken quite an interest in my plans for a voyage OVER the ocean to Oz. I have managed to track down quite a number of friends down under, thanks to Google, and now must prepare to give a full accounting of my life since I left Aussie in 1989-90 (the first time I left, that is).

Kudos to the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve, who has granted me leave for the month. Taking a month off as a contractor and having a job to come back to is no small feat. At least, not for an American. The rest of the civilized world (and I include Australia here) has the good sense to provide adequate vacation time to the proletariat.
Here's the itinerary so far (Be fore-warned, it is a bit circuitous. But it's still faster than sailing!):
Depart Washington DC Sun, 22 April at 11:00.
Arrive St. Louis 12:05
Depart St. Louis 12:45
Arrive LA 14:50
Depart LA 21:05
Arrive Melbourne (via Auckland) Tue, 24 April at 08:20
Depart Melbourne 10:00
Arrive Sydney 11:20
Collapse in a heap at 12:00 (Thanks to Marcie and Coca Cola, I'll be able to collapse in a heap in grand style at the Quay Grand Suites at Circular Quay in Sydney.)
The return trip to the US is a bit more straight forward. Currently I am due to depart Sydney for LA on Fri, 25 May at 09:45, then on to DC, due to arrive at Dulles at 16:25.

Just writing the itinerary is exhausting! Can't wait to see what happens throughout the rest of the trip. So far, my plans are still in flux. I plan to stay in Sydney for about a week and then take the bus down to Bermagui by way of Heathcote. That will put me in range of Canberra should I connect with CMDR and Mrs. Georgelin, who provided me, quite literally, shelter from the storm (a cyclone, actually) after I jumped ship in Micronesia.

I will attempt to post to the blog while in Australia in an effort to keep everyone up to date on my whereabouts, and to track interest rates as the voyage progresses.

Post script: I received a call from Steve last night. Seems he found the charger for the handheld GPS I loaned him. I think he's offering it up in return for the mast cover I took off Victory to clean. Actually, I left the clean mast cover with Tad some time ago. So now all bets are off on whether I'll get the charger before I leave for Australia. Tad said something to the effect that Steve got the union involved in his case to get the year off, and ended up, possibly, with a month or two later this year or next. Tad seems to think there's an ocean voyage to Europe in the making. I'm not holding my breath. And I am not renting my house any time soon!

Muffling the Deafening Disappointment

I have decided to try to quiet the deafening disappointment by spending some time in Australia. I'll be flying to Sydney on miles my sister Marcie surrendered so generously. After spending some time with her there, I'll visit friends in Sydney, Heathcoate, Burmagui, and almost anywhere I can find them.
After that it's a bit of a mystery. I have my heart set on some sailing in the Whitsunday's, but don't want to get my hopes up too high! There is a slight chance that my old friends in Bermagui can convince the young man who bought their Bluebird that he should loan it to me for a while. He keeps it up in the Whitsundays somewhere, so you never know...
Meanwhile, there's been no Steve sightings, and I haven't spoken to him since I finally told him that I would not sail with him even if he does quit his job. It is coming up on the spring sailing season in Annapolis. I'm hoping to get on the Bay before I hit Sydney Harbour. I wonder if they tie their bowlines upside down there?

Whether Lesson: Tropical Depressions

It is no longer a question of "whether" I am going to sea with Steve or not. I told him today that I would not go with him, though he still seems to think that he can get that year off from work.

I have passed through the denial and anger phases and am now being kicked around by a tropical depression. Tropical depressions are precursors of hurricanes or cyclones (depending on your position north or south of the equator).

So, today's whether or not lesson is this: If you find yourself in a depression (tropical or otherwise) go to sea where it's safe (i.e. no land or reefs to run into) .

Rescuers Lament

Voyeurs and voyagers alike have been calling and writing to console me and offer such things as dinners out, weekends on the Bay, and promises of circumnavigations down stream. I'm thinking a circumcision may be in order, but I understand that that is rather illegal. Have to think about my Capt. License after all.
Capt. Dennis Daniels called to lift my spirits, or just to check that the one I had hadn't died altogether. I was all set to go to Buffalo to take his celestial navigation course, but Capt. D . suggested I wait till I actually had plans to go somewhere, in deference to the "use it or lose it" rule.
Meanwhile, I have a huge metaphor growing in the middle of my back. It's an itch that I just can't scratch. I need saving. Or, perhaps salving. I am not sure which.

Anyone have any frequent flyer points?

That Sinking Feeling

It is pretty clear now that the ocean voyage is a no-go. This is a huge disappointment for everyone involved.
What's next? Personally I am looking into other options. I've come up with three so far:
1. Cruise the Caribbean for a month or so (bareboat charter)
2. Sign on to a voyage already, or soon-to-be in progress
3. Visit friends south of Sydney and then cruise the Great Barrier Reef (bareboat charter)
Then there's always the alternative: stay put and get a job.
Is anyone having any difficulty deciding between any one of the listed options and the alternative?
Thought not.
Stay tuned...

Ocean Voyage Suffers a Knock-Down While Boat is Still at the Dock

On Thursday, March 1, 2007 Steve's boss denied him the year off that he had anticipated for the circumnavigation. That's about as big a knock-down as they come, and as a result my own timbers are shivering.
Steve now must make the choice between abandoning the voyage or abandoning his job. While normally a no-brainer for those of us without dependents, Steve's situation calls for a bit more thought. If he does quit the job, he thinks he can be at sea for 18 months. So now I am re-routing for an 18-month jaunt beginning in May, or one beginning in October/November. Two years would be ideal.
Meanwhile we've had help from John Yanich, uber-racer, with radar and telecommunications, and from Ed Tanzer, uber-cruiser, with the SSB. Looks like Tad's Icom 710 works just fine, though John recommends using a sat phone hookup instead (or as well). Ed will come back another time to program some Caribbean channels. The Pactor modem is en route from the eBay seller, so we'll be able to hook that up as well. Trouble is, we still don't have Tad's laptop. This is like trying to get a wx fax or email by hooking up your car radio to your old dial-up modem. It may look cool, but without the computer and software, you're not going to get much more than what comes out of your AM frequencies. Imagine a whole 18 months listening to radio evangelists.