Man, i cant tell you how sweet it is to get on my bike and drive to the store whenever I feel like it!
I came back from Portobello yesterday in torrential rain. I had my West Marine fowlies (useless) with me and had to pull over to put them on. It’s amazing how “non-dry” they keep me, they really were a waste of money!
The rain was thick with loud claps of thunder. It was a large & powerful squall that lasted over half an hour, I really enjoyed the ride. I was a bit euphoric once the sun came out and I took off my wet fowlies and dried off on a nice sunny ride through the country :) After that I went off road and covered myself and the bike in mud. My friends laughed at me when I showed up back home :)
Today the sun is peeking out and I don’t feel any wind. This may be the first chance I get to shoot some primer & paint since I bought my HVLP gun.
I put a mosquito net above my bed and I’m really pleased with it, I seem to sleep much better. I’ve tried in the past to make it work with the circular nets which are available everywhere and just couldn’t make it work. I went with a rectangular mombasa net which works like a champ on the boat.
It looks as if I have a charter the first week of September which is cool. I’m stocking up with food, paint, and hardware supplies and will be off to the San Blas after my birthday (July 14).
Life has been pretty chill. I’ve been spending a lot of time alone dealing with Splendid and it’s really good. I feel uber-focused and productive. I’m looking forward to being in my own anchorage in the San Blas where I can sand & paint in peace. Hay, if you have to work on the boat it should be in paradise right?
Peace, Love, sailboats & motorcycles
– alex
i miss the san blas islands……congreho and lobster, hamoca, and hosenphefer
Gary old friend come for a
visit when I’m out there and teach
me more about fishing with a line :)
An interesting development on my weather fax this morning, a Monsoon trof ( en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monsoon_trough) has showed up on the weater map:
weather.noaa.gov/pub/fax/PWEE11.gif
I wounder how much rain this will bring???
cant wait to see the San Blas islands , what wud a charter on your boat cost to the San Blas ?
Allan,
I like to see $225 a day (Captain & boat) for a single charter or $150.00 PP/PD. If I need to leave Linton (here) or another place to get to the charter (San Blas) I ask for a fuel fee (from here 20 hours motoring about $100.00) I don’t charge for my time to get to and from the charter location. I also want a little for food and booze as I don’t know what people like to drink and eat.
If I’m out at the San Blas I’ll do a minimum of 2 day charters, if I have to leave from here I’m looking for a week minimum as I have to sail/motor for two days back & forth and spend another few days provisioning and fueling. Fuel here has to be hauled in a 2 hour taxi ride via jurry jugs.
In all my time sailing I’ve done 15 or so charters and they all went well. The San Blas is truly a spectacular place and well off the beaten path. I also tell my potential charters these aren’t “luxury” charters. You can easily find sailboats & captains to haul you around at $700.00 + and wait on you. I like to do the cooking and most of the cleaning on Splendid but I just ask that my charters look out for themselves for the most part. The pantry is always open in between meals and a PBJ or fruit is always at arms length if your hungry.
Once I get Splendid a bit more pulled together I’m going to camp out at Porveneer where tourists fly in and are looking for a boat every day.
Cheers
Hi there Alex.
How’s life been? Seems like it has been good.
it’s been pretty decent over here too. i have done something partially stupid, and partially ingenious. I went out and bought a 1965 Cheoy Lee Bermuda (30). i came back from the Victoria job, and had a good chunk of change… i figured i would have been able to get the Alberg to a limping around stage with all those monies, or just buy a boat that was a bit more ready to go. she has her share of projects, mind you, but not a total refit, as the Alberg did. She’s pretty, she’s solid, and i’ll find out how she sails in the next couple of days. likely better than my islander ever did.. but Alas has been good to me. i’ll find her a decent home.
i need to do a few smallish projects, then i will be ready to sail around avoiding hurricanes before long.
it’s like a new lease on life, being mobile again.
if you’re still down there after ‘cane season, i will surely see you there.
now i just have to decide which ocean i want to cross… i’m kind of leaning toward atlantic.. whatever.. why not both?
anyway. glad you got yourself a gun. i’ve put mine in a locker and swore not to touch it for a few months. it’s time to relax!
Good for you Darrin, old boats are good for the soul!
Here is some more info on the Bermuda 30:
http://www.cheoyleeassociation.com/bermudas.htm
I’ll be down here till its time to move on :) If you get here while I’m here I’ll show you how to make a few bucks with your boat. 1965 was a good year, my first :), also the year Robin Lee Graham (the Dove) took off.
Send me some pictures if you can, small ones though my bandwidth is horrible when and if I have any :)
The Monsoon rain has commith!
Hey Alex, just sitting up late night drinking a 12 of heineken with my wife and decided to check in. Been awhile. Still working on land, wishing we were cruising. You got a great life brother. How is your spanish ? Have you helped any nice spanish ladies with their groceries recently? Peace :)
It has been a while.
My Spanish is good, getting better all the time. I speak well enough to keep myself in trouble, or out of it depending on how you look at it? I’m keeping my relations with the nice Spanish ladies superficial, last thing I’m looking for is a “relationship”.
I took a long motorcycle ride (mostly in the rain) to Colon yesterday and I really do love that bike. In the end my shopping trips are cheaper with the bike. Fuel is about a buck more then the bus each way but I save on all the taxi’s. I’m not stressed out trying to make a bus so my shopping / hunting for parts experience is a lot better, and I get to stop on the coast when I want for a bight or break. Not to mention the fact I really enjoy the ride, even in the rain. I need to do something about my rear brakes, I still cant lock up the rear tire if I want. I had the pads changed a week ago and I’m still not happy with them. I spoke to the guy at the bike shop and for $140.00 he can install a rear disk brake for me, I’m going to go for it next time I’m in Panama.
Peace, Love, and S&M (sailboats & motorcycles)
alex….bleed the brake till the air is gone ….or is it cable and drum?………………G
Gary, cable and drum.
I would try coasting down a long hill with the brakes on, so as to “burnish” your new brake pads. if that didn’t help, i would replace the brake cable, as those two options would be the cheapest. your drum could be fucked, in which case, 140 bucks for a disc brake system would be decent and cheap. i could be missing a step/option, as it has been a long time since my motocross days. disc brakes in motorcycles is pretty much the same thing as my downhill bike had.. hydraulic… stop on a dime in any weather… go over the handlebars if you’re not careful-braking power. a hydraulic system would require bleeding every once in a while, but otherwise pretty simple.
still in miami, doing the many minor projects that need to be done. tomorrow i’m going to bring my drifter ashore and make friends with the spinnaker sock in which it lives. love that thing already. i kinda pulled the only visible clew out of the sock a bit, and it actually kinda looks like an asym’ angle… who knows though. i would prefer the drifter, but an asym would be cool too.
a couple more wiring projects and i’ll set sail for stu-town, and my arsenal of stashed cruising gear to really get down to business.. i figure i can start sailing this thing around hurricane paths in a month, if i’m really lazy about it. hope nothing comes up early in the season to rain on my parade..
about the “burnishing” i mentioned earlier. in downhill MTB racing, when you get new pads, around the Montreal area, you generally do the #9 trail at Bromont riding the brakes slightly to give those pads a new home on their rotors… it also makes for a HOLY SH1T??! experience. i wouldn’t suggest trying to burnish in rainy weather, as the water would provide a slight anti-friction element and in this case, you want that friction…
bah.. good luck with it.
i want a motor cycle, but will never buy one, as shipping one of those things around on a small boat is ridiculous.. i’ll stick with my mountain-fixie for now!
talk to ya soon.
Hi Alex thanku for your reply , costs of ur charter in the san blas islands sound very reasonable however i cud not get over their this year so perhaps some time early next year as i am planning a trip to the US in 2012 .
Hi Alex thanku for your reply , costs of ur charter in the san blas islands sound very reasonable however i cud not get over their this year so perhaps some time early next year as i am planning a trip to the US in 2012 .