My friend Alex is Flying to Rio (Brazil) on Tuesday. After that I’m going to wrap up a few things and decompress in the San Blas for a while. I want to pull the plug on everything for a few months. The root canal and visit from Alex cleaned me out financially and when I’m broke the best treatment is always to go to sea. I’m going to get a gallon of spar varnish ($25.00), some sanding disks for the grinder, and a few tubes of 5200. That will keep me busy for 6 weeks or so. I’ll work on Splendid during the mornings (cool), in the afternoons I will spear fish (hot), and in the evenings I will work on videos, blogs, and my book. I want a totally secluded anchorage and will only come out of hiding for a charter. Speaking of charters, raffle tickets are still available in the store. Also if your interested the next few months is a good time for me.
Alex and I were thinking to maybe rekindle an old relationship but we are so wrong for each other its comical, we’ve had a good laugh about it. I’m good alone and I get the most done that way. I am a solo sailor, and that’s not such a bad thing to be. I’m putting a 3 week expiration date on all potential relationships (superficial), I think I go bad after a few weeks anyway :)
I’m trying a new bread recipe, and man does it smell good in Splendid right now. I’m going to teach you guys how to make bread and yoghurt in an upcoming video, probably not the one I’ll be posting next week, but the following one. Real men not only hunt, but bake too! Ha…, I just took it out of the oven, buttered a piece, and my bread has reached a new plateau! FANTASTIC :)
Well I’m in a fair amount of pain coupled with splitting head aches. I go back on Tuesday for the final appointment on my root canal. My ears often feel like they have ice picks in them. I’ve been speaking to a doctor friend of mine and I’m going to start a two week run of Amoxicillin to make sure the infection is out of my jaw bone. No beer for two weeks :( That should give me just enough time to finish up some projects here and head out to the islands. I’m worried about the infection in my jaw spreading to other places. My friend Rogers brother had the same problem recently. He lost all of his teeth and nearly died when the infection was reaching his spine. Before I go I want to make sure I’m out of the woods on this. Perhaps I’ve had a brine infection for years and that’s what I’m doing out here ? :)
Anyway, root canal finished next week, new video to be posted next week, and I’m hoping to put the final touches on the Kubota project, if I don’t, it may end up in the drink. I’m rethinking my life and want to over-simplify. I lost the $500 water maker to my root canal. I did fine for years on Namaste without a water maker, and my tanks on Splendid are three times the size, I shouldn’t have any problems, especially alone. I’m growing really tired of screwing around with ship and not sailing!!!!
Peace, Love, and Life!!!!
– Alex
Published in Alex Dorsey
BTW, this is not a call for donations. My cupboards are full and I can easily spend 6 months out island shooting fish :-), just want people not to be afraid of not having much money as they travel. If I really needed money for something I’ll let you know. I don’t need so much. I could have had my tooth pulled for $20.00, and at the end of the day my root canal is vanity. I’m just not ready to be that salty of a sailor yet:) If you really get sick here the hospital is free, or nearly free, and the care good.
I’m reading Annie Hill’s book “Voyaging on a small income” again and it is bringing some fresh light and energy to my table. I haven’t been listening to my own words or “practicing what I preach”. I don’t want to over complicate Splendid with Systems which need maintenance and repairing. KISS (Keep it simple sailor)! Just because she is a big boat doesn’t mean she needs to have all the big boat stuff. What I really need is a drifter (sail), and to put man hours into Splendid. Quality workers here are $15-20 bucks a day. After a charter I’m going to higher a few guys to help fair (sand) and get my Ship together. I have a few wood projects that I can’t handle and I can get a really good carpenter that is working on a wooden boat here for $30 a day, and the guy really does amazing things in one day. I also want a big diesel heater and I’m leaning to go for Portugal next and cross the Atlantic. I’m getting itchy to move and need to make up my mind if I’m going to run some miles under the hull by April.
Peace, its a beautiful day today!!!
I am currently reading Voyaging on a small income too, after you recommended it. Great inspiration there, Ive been meaning to thank you for the recommendation.
Currently snowing heavily here in Seattle, and I am a little envious of a few months in a warm anchorage!
Cheers,
Mark
Voyaging on a Small Income(Paperback)
by Annie Hill
(1)
1 used & new from CDN$ 362.64
I just went on Amazon to purchase this book. When i saw the price i thought whats going on? If i could afford this much for a book then i wouldn’t need the book. Could this be a mistake?
Must be a great book for that price.
Curtis
Alex, Could you not make your own drifter, or storm sail. I was looking on the net and there all sorts of companies that offer materials and templates for doing this. There are also used marine outlets that offer sails Etc. This might be a way to get things on the go quicker.
Hey Alex,
I’m ordering a sailrite machine and plan to make my own drifter, sail cover and some of the other PROJECTS that cost a fortune by the Pros…. I also wanted all the cool additions, like watermaker, refrigeration, and SSB modem, but after pricing this stuff I almost had a heartattack! The Break Out Another Thousand (BOAT) sure is true!!!! I think the KISS method is the only way to go!!! Go NOW, Go CHEAP, Fix or Add items later when you think you can’t live without them.
PS I can’t wait to get JUNESSA back in the water this SPRING!!!
Cheers Mate!
Something very wrong with the price of Annie’s book, you should get it around $25.
I hear making light air sails isn’t so easy and you really need a large indoor space. I’m told he fabric just “gets away from you” and it would be impossible for me to make on a boat or outdoors. I really love the sailrite story and having a machine around is fantastic. Sailrite will send you sail kits and you can do all the stitch work, it isn’t that hard and if you plan on doing any real voyaging you will want a machine. I also need to put some reef points on my mizzen and a new UV cover on my jib. I also need to make a dinghy cover so the sun doesn’t fry the dink :(
My $0.02, take what money you can, buy your supplies and stores, snuggle in someplace cheap and comfortable, and knock out as many to-dos as you can in a month.
Just disconnect, and hammer it out while it’s still affordable.
Another good book on the same lines as Voyaging on a Small Income is, Simply Sailing: A different Approach to a life of Adventure By Connie McBride. Both have inspired me to simplify my boat and my needs.
Your $0.02 cents sounds good to me. I have a lot of work to do that doesn’t require a lot of financial investment, just time. I keep those kind of projects on the back burner for just such an occasion. If the doctor tells me to stay out of the water for my ear infection I may just stay put here for a few extra weeks. In the San Blas if I’m short a screw, chip brush, or sand paper I’m kind of screwed :(
I also need to get some diesel for the trip.
We’ll see, I need to run to put Alex in a cab.
Cheers
Don’t forget the monthly videos for us snowbound sailers…. We need the “freedom flicks” and I’m sure your sailing kitty can use some restocking after your visitation. :)
Don’t worry, I have a video almost done, it’s just hard to stare at the computer with a splitting headache. I’m hoping after they close the tooth up tomorrow I’ll be in better shape :)