I was really surprised to hear about Steve Jobs, he was too young, what a shame! Life can be brutally short!
Some words of wisdom:
“Remembering that I’ll be dead soon is the most important tool I’ve ever encountered to help me make the big choices in life.
Everything — all external expectations, all pride, all fear of embarrassment or failure – these things just fall away in the face of death, leaving only what is truly important. Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose.” There is no reason not to follow your heart. “
– Steve Jobs
Well said!
The Splendid transformation is moving at light speed! It reminds me of the joke about the snail in the guys driveway. The guy picks it up and throws the snail into the field across the street. A year later the snail knocks on his door and says “ What the hell did you do that for ? ”
It may take me some time but I will have a beautiful sailboat soon. As you can see the aft cabin house is nearly done. I need 
to do the non-skid which goes really fast. I can do the whole boat in a few days.
I’m thinking another 4-6 weeks to finish the decks & cabin house. Then I will think of the hull.
Restoring an old classic 40’ ketch by yourself with very little money may move at a snails pace, but what a fun job. The reward immeasurable. My home for life that will transport me throughout the world…, priceless!
After painting I have 3 large tasks left. I will build hard bimini & dodger. I will build a proper rowing 
& sailing dinghy, and my last big expense is the addition of a drifter and mizzen stay sail. The hard bimini & sailing dinghy wont necessarily get done here in Panama but I will need the drifter & mizzen stay sail before voyaging.
You can see here how a mizzen stay sail works, its the colorful sail.
When I leave Panama, Splendid will leave as a sailboat. My diesel consumption will be at an absolute minimum and Splendid will be capable of sailing in all wind conditions. With my drifter on Namaste I would sail in 5-7 knots, I will do the same with Splendid. I’m quite proud of only burning 60 gallons of fuel between Panama and Australia, half way around the world :)
The beauty of a drifter as opposed to a spinnaker or asym is it will go to weather. It doesn’t have the same horse power (mass), but in my opinion a much more versatile light-air sail. It is relatively easy for a single hander to manage, and I’m not so into going fast so I don’t need the mass of a larger sail.
With the mizzen stay I’ll basically have two drifters, how cool?
I’ve been spending more time with my monkey buddies on Linton. If I do build the bimini & sailing dinghy here it will be in an abandoned building on the island. My friends Mel & Fab just built there optimist sailing dinghy in a room there. They managed to close it off so the monkeys couldn’t get to their tools & epoxy. They do get into everything and like to steal stuff.
I’m planning on shooting time-lapse video for my next film, I’m excited. Time-lapse isn’t so easy to do but will be appropriate for my opening. I’m also going to capture 
a squall rolling through my anchorage so I can show people how different boats & keel designs react to wind, current, and the lack of wind. That coupled with underwater video of anchoring and how they set should be a helpful tool in deciding where to drop your hook. I always try and anchor next to similar designed hull/keels so we all react the same to weather conditions and don’t hit each other.
Anyway , time for me to wrap it up. It’s almost 9am, the sun is shining, and I have work to do.
Sail far and live slowly.
see the monkey with the lump on the back of his head? say hi from gary and then run. G
Gray, please tell us the rest of the story!
Alex, I am really excited to see the next video/movie when it comes out! You have a lot of really cool ideas. I know it will be awhile yet but I’m still very excited and looking forward to it.
Monkey with a lump on his head??? Now that sounds interesting…. Funky monkey.. I am with Chuck, please tell the rest of THAT story! Did you put a lump on his coconut??
I’ll let Gary tell the whole story but I was there when It happened. I watched from Namaste at anchor a few hundred feet away. The black monkey attacked Gary’s wife and bit her on the leg. She jumped in the dinghy and it started to pull on the painter and reel her back to the dock, Gary clobbered it. It fell in the water and after a few minutes, after we all thought it was dead, it climbed on to the dock. It sat there all day rubbing its head and it is still a little cross-eyed to this day. It wouldn’t let Gary back on the island.
They don’t like strangers and you kind of have to have a relationship with them. They killed and ate a cruising woman’s chiwawa (spelling) a few years back. She went to the beach to walk it and a monkey scooped it up and brought it in the trees, killed, and according to her ate it. They can be aggressive, they are wild animals, not pets. One of the females took me by the hand and walked around the beach with me showing me her island. They are very smart! The female monkeys get a bit crazy when menstruating human women come around, they get protective & territorial.
that is pretty close…..my wife and i went on the island to get coconuts for coconut rice, when the female came up and made a pass at me…….holding my hand and walking along. then when i turned my back she attacked and bit mavis drawing blood on the back of her knee. i chased her off and checked the bite. then the two males appeared, comming out of the jungle and directly at us. unable to find my machette, i had brought a meat cleaver, so i got mavis in the dingy and exchanged the blade for the windless bar……..it is a stainless bar about 2′ long and 3-4 lbs. when they arrived, the larger male(trace, cuz he has only three digits on one foot) bared his fangs and threatened me, while pulling in the dingy painer. by now i was thinking how embarassing this is to be run off by a 35 lb monkey…..what are my harley riding buddies going to think? well i took a breath and steped up giving him a second warning which he ignored, and dismissed me with a look, so i wacked him. at first he just stood there, but then toppled into the water in slo-motion. i used the oar to push him to shore, but he woke up and slowly (1 min) crawled up on the dock…….we left after watching the other male comfort him……..he was missing for the next 4 days, and i was sure i had killed him….but then he returned and threatened me with bamboo and palm froms. he climbed a palm tree and struck himself in the head 20some times to let me know why he was mad or what he had planned for me. a week later a woman took her dog on the island after being warned……true to form the monkeys tag teamed the dog making the lady hysterical……crap ….i had to go ashore, so i went strait to the tree holding trace and started hitting it with an oar and making statements about his mother….turns out he was bluffing…….but he remembered me and the sound of my dingy. for the next year he would threaten me when ever i was in linton……the monkeys were originally pets that were abandon on the island and have no fear of people, and view us a a food source cuz people give them snaks…..a bad combination…..
Man that is crazy! It sounds like a trip to the zoo gone horribly wrong. It also kind of reminds me of my relationship with one of my neighbors. Anyway if a monkey took and killed my dog I think it would cost a monkey or two his life!! If the monkey bite my wife or child then it would really be on!!! Thanks for sharing your story and reminding us all the way things are outside the “walls” of our city lives.
Now thats a good story! I have seen dogs act funny around women like that but not anything else, I will remember that.. That monkey got a lump on his coconut for the same reason some people do. Wars have been fought over women, I guess we really do have alot in common, Thanks.. ( still laughing )
Just a quick note to my Florida readers. If you dream of getting out on the water and don’t have a boat check out my buddy Paul’s website. Click on the Fantaseasailing logo on the left side of the screen. You can also watch a nifty video of his boat “Panacea”. He has really affordable charters and I know he shows his folks a good time. So if your looking for something to this in the upcoming weekends, go sailing with Paul on Panacea.
Cheers
Good Morning Alex:
Splendid is looking good. I’ve got non-skid in my future. I re-did my decks with 2 part epoxy last year and they’re a bit slick, so it’s time to ruff ’em up a bit.
I also have a halyard on my mizen mast and never knew how to rig the sail for it. Your photo helps, so now I’m in search of other photos that will fill in the blanks. I had an artist on my boat that drew a picture for me and he put the sail in the picture. Looked like fun and my rigging is half way there… Oh goody another project.
As the the XP disc… I’m almost home. I’ll check the box of discs and see what I have for you. I may have it, but…
So keep on keeping on. Steve Jobs has given so much to us and his wisdom will last forever. My best to you and we’ll be in touch. It will be good to get some sand between my toes. I’m so ready.
Capt. Paul
s/v Panacea
By the way… Thanks for the plug. The sailing season is looking good up here and I’m looking forward to playing a lot between Fort Myers and the Keys. It’s a nice 24 hour run, with benefits…
Later Bro…
Capt. Paul
s/v Panacea
The Mizzen Stay is a great sail. Too few people use one. Most of my time is in yawls and we called our Mizzen Stay the “Reaching Rocket”. We only flew the mizzen when we needed the balance. That second mast existed primarily to fly the staysail.
I’m really excited to have the mizzen stay and drifter. In the Pacific when there was absolutely no wind I’d take everything down and just relax, truthfully it was my favorite time at sea (not sailing) and just drifting in the current at .2 – a knot in kind of the right direction. I really never relax when the engine is on, my brain is always searching for imperfections in the sound of the engine and waiting for the worst to happen. My favorite sailing is light air 7-10 knots with a drifter. I’ve never flown a mizzen stay or “reaching rocket” but I’m looking forward to it!!!!
Anyway, I’m in Panama city and about to go to a wedding. I had to buy a fresh pair of chinos and a white shirt to go with my tie & jacket. I’ll be wearing my black converse lo-tops for a touch of style :)
Sail far with a mizzen stay :)