A NEW LOOK!!!!

Check the new front page of the blog! A new marketing campaign to reach the funding goal and settle into getting it all done. I am still considering a bolt for the west to find cheaper labor and cheaper living and cheaper parts. If any of you are looking for a true adventure in the near future then get in touch. We got new ropes and sail repairs and a spare life raft and some pumps......I have been working on cat stories and what is is like to learn about being an American, by traveling and confronting everyones attitude about you! There have been five pledgers come visit all with great input and plenty of duty free   He He yeah for me!
Be in touch!
I truly believe things are looking bright for the world as my recent travels proved again to me that a new consciousness is happening right now. Amazing things are happening and it is destined to get wilder and better!
Cheers H

Hiatus,

Hiatus,

The Captain has not disappeared after all!

The Cassiopeia patiently waited with no disaster!

The Book is experiencing explosive energy!

A hiatus from the island and Cassi, proving the value of making time for family and friends, has reinforced my philosophies of why the islanders seem so happy. They have time for such things!

Project

A few more pledges trickled in. I did not draw off of the account for eight weeks except to pay the hardware bill which is nearly paid off. Moms cooking went a long way!!! Hiatus. A follow up with email contacts from the trip will find more support and this week is the revamp of the presentation for sure.

Accounts are attached.

Cassiopeia

She floated fine while I was gone this time! Two friends just lived aboard for a week and we actually bent on a couple of sails and proved she is a viable home again. A new way of thinking has been introduced involving sailing her to Thailand for the big re-fit! Uuummmm Could be the way to go???

Book

Now is its shining moment. All energies have been focused in its direction. An overflowing fountain of depictions and beliefs are running onto the pages. A routine has begun.

If you have the time here is a little more for fun

Harry Potter IMAX size in 3D. Powerful to say the least. My sister and I went with the two big girls and my Dad took the two little girls to Winnie the Pooh. After the Potter credits and we were still plastered to the back of our seats with the overwhelming action images and gut wrenching sounds of incredible battles still reverberating in our stunned minds, Layla forced us all to burst out laughing with the simple line, “Well, I wonder how Winnie the Pooh is doing?”

AH the dynamics of Texas………

This is what I am talking about! There is hope!

If you are working fifty hour weeks and can’t seem to find the kind of time mentioned above for family and friends, then at least invite your neighbours over for dinner! The Turks did while I was at my mom’s house. Muslim Turks in Houston Texas?

This is actually real. A group of Muslim Turkish people have invested in the concept of creating a multi cultural and religious center in Southwest Houston. In the corner of my parent’s neighbourhood they have built a large building straight out of the Ottoman empire and surrounded it with a neighbourhood park including a sand volleyball court, an outdoor gym, basketball court, multiple barbeque areas and a sports field. It is open for use by anyone. Their stated goal is to bring the community together.

They have reserved three acres of land next door on which they  intend to build three churches, one Muslim, one Christian and one Jewish. The stated intent is to create understanding between the religions.

Bravo.

Four of them live in the house across the street from my parents and they walked the  street inviting the neighbours’ over for a dinner at their house. Most of out family attended and it truly was a shining example of what can happen if someone tries. There were black people and a Latin family and a gang from the Czech republic and the Turks, and a German woman, and us Texans. All of them had been living on our street for years and recognized each other but had never all dined together. The Spanish speakers brought a guitar and they all were singing along.

A true blast of hope for a man like me, who sees those normally trapped in the concrete jungle, visit the simple island life where the natives do get together for dinner and song, and wonder why they are so happy. To find there is a movement in the very midst of a hectic and insular first world city that is attempting to bring those ways into daily life was inspiring. All is not lost!

Bravo to the Turks!

New and crazy thoughts about a PLAN

Infinity is a one hundred and twenty foot ketch and I met her and her captain owner in Fiji eight years ago. She was just anchored near Cassiopeia and we had a great catch up and he emptied some of his bilge collection onto Cassiopeia which included line for jib sheets and some batteries with potential and a couple of manual pumps and some hinges for the doors and an anchor and we repaired the awning on his sewing machine and more! It was a boon for Cassi. But more important he planted the seed for a smart plan. Vanuatu is the wrong place for the work to be done on Cassi according to him. He reckons I should just sail her to Thailand where boatyards are cheap, labor is good, materials are available and living is lots, lots less expensive. He did a one year refit on his boat there and knows a team that would be perfect for Cassiopeia. They could actually work unsupervised and I could rent a place he had where I could do the writing and just check in on the shipwrights daily. Wow has that got me thinking. It would be a push to get Cassiopeia ready to go in time for an early November departure but in the big picture it indeed makes a lot of sense.

For Now I am going to install said batteries and focus on the new marketing strategy over the next week. I am hunting for liveaboard crew to help with the projects so if anybody knows anybody who wants to hang in paradise leisurely fixing up a cool boat then send them my way.

I had some input about the long reports, and snippets, saying to not bother so much and get on with it but I can’t help it really! It is true that I don’t want to let out all of the books secrets, nor waste my time on unread orations, but I do want everyone to know a bit about how it is going so somewhere in the middle I guess…

Exhausting, Wonderfull, Frightening, IT WORKED! YEAH !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

THE SHORT STOREY

CASSIOPEIA

The moment is soooooooo close. With some outstanding help, the careening worked! SHE IS NOT LEAKING! She is protected from further worm damage! A massive stress reduction for her captain. Now just paint the decks and WOW water issues solved! That is hopefully to be done before I go to Texas next week. The engine is running nicely and the alternator charging well. The decks are nearly clear and I actually had friends over for dinner! See below about finding twelve year old treasure in the bilge!

PROJECT

The books are way in the red! Antifouling plus epoxy was costly! Thus I present another plea for anyone who can to please send on their pledge. The accounts are attached. I hope to pay the bill and buy deck paint this Tuesday. I have attached the western union and bank details again. Now that Cassi is stable I am going to work hard on the project marketing over the next weeks to reach the final goal. I am hoping to raise the funds for Cassi’s big haul out so it can be scheduled for October or November.

BOOK

I must admit this last week was overwhelmed with Cassiopeia. I did create a presentation to a famous yachtsman and author requesting advice on the project and publishing options. I had a lovely discussion about the book with some local pledger/friends who gave me great input on how far to take the real and raunchy. After hearing an example or two they voted, “All the way!” saying “You can always tame it down later.”

I am really looking forward to the next couple of months because now that Cassiopeia is floating comfortably I can switch from her to the book in a big way. I love the weaving of the tales especially now that I get to be raunchy.

THE CAREENING STORY, IT WAS ALL IT PROMISED TO BE!

Exhausted, physically and emotionally, that was yet another one of a kind experience I shared with my lovely boat. It was quite the weekend! Stressful, hard, exciting, challenging, but it worked! Yeah! A successful careening.

I admit succumbing to the stress just thinking about doing it, and then it was happening and there was no turning back. My friend Ben and his son Josh arrived the night before and first thing in the morning we used his boat with a 150 horse outboard to push her onto the beach. We ran out an anchor attached to a halyard and pulled her mast over to the seaward side and tied her stern to a tree on shore. Torque, the owner of the beach, was there with his jet boat along with some yachty friends who had been to a careening before and some local friends Michael and Dennis.

It all seemed rather controlled in the beginning but it definitely got more exciting as the day went on. The grounding was straightforward but there is no denying that feeling her hit and knowing I did it on purpose was weird. I dropped the anchor in inches of water and then tied her stern to the tree. We then set another anchor out to sea and connected it to a halyard which we used to pull the top of her mast over so she leaned the right way.

We were sanding as she leaned over further and further exposing more bottom. What I did not visualise was how far she was going to heel. Her rail was under water and since the back of her keel did not wind up in the sand  her stern was sinking. I scrambled aboard to hear water rushing in from the stern. It was pouring in from the topsides corner seam of the transom. I screamed to Ben and he climbed up to help frantically re-plump the gasoline powered pump from the bilge to reach where the water was collecting.

We were rushing which was difficult due to the excessive heel. Walking on the walls inside and clambering on the deck that was near impossible to scale, was gymnastic to say the least. Using any little edge for a toehold we finally got the pump propped up at the right angle and the intake pipe to where the water was the deepest. That was not in the bilge as she was so far over it was collecting halfway up her topsides. The pump magically started and began happily staying ahead of the leak.

I then dingied to shore to pick some more helping hands and when I looked back at Cassi from the dock my heart jumped in to my throat and I started hollering “HURRY, I think a window has gone under!” I raced back and luckily it had not yet actually happened, but her window in the transom was only a couple of inches above the waterline. If it went under I did not think the pump could keep up. This created another mad scramble to rig up a drill and get out the no more gaps and a caulk gun to screw plywood over the window.

I have kept two pre-cut pieces of plywood under the aft cabin bunk from the first time I ever took her sailing as those windows seemed so vulnerable. They are not proper portholes and do not seal in any way. Yet in all these years, despite often being close to the sea, they have never taken on water and my emergency plan was never needed. Now it was!

Meanwhile the volunteers standing in the sand were steadily sanding and filling worm holes and chiselling out bad spots and brushing on antifouling paint. The generator was on deck propped at a crazy angle and we were using heat guns to dry the bad spots. Oddly it all seemed under control and we epoxied and bogged and painted starting at the lowest spots and as the tide came in we slowly moved up. Finally using some tape, we marked off the waterline and put on the last layer of paint.

Then there was only to wait and hope she floated off. Which she did nicely!  Ben helped me reset the anchor that had been tied to the mast as a stern anchor and I picked up the bow anchor and drug it to a spot where I could use the anchor windlass to pull her up on the beach the next morning. Carrying a fifty kilo anchor dragging the bow around of a thirty ton boat was making me giggle as it seemed so silly but it worked!

Aside from the near sinking it had gone well although there was one other bit of bad/good luck. The generator had seemed to bog down at one point, so I clambered up on deck once again to check it out. I noticed right away what the problem was and cussed myself as the jib sail which was lying on deck had tumbled down and covered the exhaust of the generator. It was charred and indeed slightly on fire as I pulled it away. Major bummer. I had to use a knife to clear the exhaust as sail cloth had melted into the opening! Bad luck to ruin a sail but good luck that I saw it before was truly burning and had set the deck on fire!

That night she was not leaking much and despite my worries about the next day I slept a hard tired sleep. Waking early it was just me and I eased her stern anchor and slowly winched her up onto the beach. Torque arrived and tied the line for pulling her mast over to a tree ashore. This time I angled her a bit more to the beach so her keel hit evenly hoping to prevent the stern sinking issue and allow more of her bottom to be exposed. That worked, but later I was to regret it.

This time she did not seem to want to lean over. She was standing there upright for ages and then suddenly wooooaahhhhhh she heeled and heeled and heeled some more. I madly rushed around on deck abseiling from lines I had tied on the high side to keep the generator upright and rearrange as everything shifted. On this day I had a skeleton crew of just Torque, Michael, and Dennis. I knew it was going to be a push for us to get done.

Then the generator would not start. Ain’t it always the way? I spent half an hour mucking with the carburettor and got some spits and starts but finally gave up which meant no heat guns for that day. We rationalised it was OK as they had only moderately dried things the day before. Once again filling and bogging and painting and chiselling it all was going well and the tide began coming in.

I went below for a check and was shocked and horrified to find the tide was coming up on the inside! I could here the water pouring in from up forward. It was much, much worse than the day before! My “better” positioning put more pressure on her hull against the sand which opened up a seam that created a meter long gap and it was letting in a lot of water. I screamed and this time Torque helped as we once again tried to plumb the pump to the deepest part, which this time was in the galley. This was even more frantic than the day before as it was really coming in fast. The waterline on the inside was almost matching the waterline on the outside as the tide rose.

Like the generator which had worked perfectly the day before, this time we could not get the pump to prime despite it having worked perfectly the day before. We struggled and struggled, falling and slipping, and finally Torque said, ”I think I better go get this big pump I have for my garden.” He disappeared and I kept fighting to get the one that had worked so nicely to do its job. Things were starting to get serious. The water was collecting way up on the hull and it was getting deep. She was heeled so far the galley drawers and cabinets were under. I looked back aft and could see it was getting deep back there as well.

I had that oddest of feelings that comes when a situation seems close to hopeless. It is a weird sensation that forces you to disallow the picture of how bad it is, because it is not the end yet and so you simply focus on trying and trying and trying.

Then there was Torque handing me the intake hose of his pump and I jammed it into the deepest spot and it began gushing the water back to where it belonged. I squeezed under the port bunk where I could hear the water rushing in and could see the huge gap in her hull. Grabbing some seaming cotton I jumped overboard and by laying in the sand with my nose just above the water I could reach under the hull and began stuffing cotton in the gap. As she came up I put on dive gear and hammered in more cotton. The pump was keeping up and the cotton was slowing the leak and so we went back to work on the exposed side. Whew!

So she floated again but this time she was still leaking pretty bad through the gap so I set my alarm for every two hours and woke up all that night to make sure I did not need the big pump again. Luckily her ordinary electric pump kept up. I scootered into town the next morning for a tank fill and then was able to pound in more cotton and use up the last of the underwater epoxy. Arrrgghhh it only barely slowed it down, so I repeated the same program the next day including dingying to all the other yachts to collect a little more underwater epoxy!

But now it is YEAH FOR US time!

After a few more dives the leak is gone and she is sitting quietly with antifouling protecting her from further worm damage. Although I do not think I will do it to her again, the careening project is now considered a success!

When I squeezed back under the bunk to check the leak after the first try with the cotton I actually was forced to laugh, despite the urgent situation, as there in the beam of my flashlight, jammed in a long unseen corner of the bilge, was a huge jar of mustard, and a bottle of Gin! I instantly realised they must have been there ever since the “great provisioning” done in Panama before we headed out across the Pacific. We had bought so much stuff at Cost-U-Less that it seemed impossible we could get it all aboard. But we did, by stuffing things in any available spot. For twelve years that bottle of gin had alluded detection. Arrgggh a treasure recovered for sure!

I must admit it led to a swaggering evening just before I stopped the leak. I was totally exhausted after the hard weekend and then two sleepless nights and getting a bit frustrated after another long day of diving and she was still leaking. After I ran out of tonic to mix with the gin I began making martinis and wound up having a bit of chat with Cassiopeia. I hollered and told her she better straighten up and give me a break soon. I swore at her to quit leaking and act right. Then I patted her on the mast and told her I still loved her and fell into a much needed deep sleep.

I think she took it on as the next day the leak stopped (with a little of my help) and I was able to focus on cleaning up the mess the careening had created. Once again I rinsed heaps of things that had gotten seawater wet and had to re-stow nearly everything in the boat. Finally a week later she is very close to that over the hump point I mentioned in my last report. Short of a coat of paint on the deck, she is now a stable patient, prepared to hang in there until the “Big Haulout” can be organised. I reckon she could be well enough for some short sailing adventures once I get her sails on.

YEAH YEAH YEAH!!!!! YEAH FOR US!!!!!!!!

I can not tell you how much better it feels to not hear the bilge pump coming on constantly and to know that those horrible little creatures will no longer be munching on her hull!

THANKS THANKS THANKS!!!!!

I can not thank you pledgers enough for making this possible. Without your pledges this could have never happened. Her demise has been thwarted.

I also must thank Torque and Ben and Lane and Kay and Michael and Dennis and Patricia and the random guy in the canoe who held a heat gun for hours.

Another page turned and another step forward taken. I will continue to make this work and reach the goals set forth! Every worthy endeavour in life will be hard, yet it will also be easy because those very trials are the things that keep you switched on. Without something to push against you just fall over.

So for those of you that read all of that here is a little poem……..

Dolphins

by Harold Neel

peripheral, a slice

away and ahead

a slick ripple

sit up

a hump

a fin

at the bow

breath with joy

yours, theirs

more then

leaps

rolls

eyes

excited, a cry

crew to the bow

you, them

laughs squeaks

respect

love

wet

planet

YEAH FOR US !!!    H 

Her gearbox was iffy so we pushed her in

Marking the spot to hit

Oh my ! We are AGROUND!

The View form the Beach

A real live Careening underway

Drying out the seams

Slowly going over

That window got closer! I screwed the plywood on the inside

Her rail going under

Bogging the holes

Carrying a fifty kilo anchor pulling around the bow of a thirty ton boat Sometimes Schoonering is hard work!

It worked now ready for the next day!

EXCITING, SCARY, INTRIGUING, BIG, STRESSFUL, ANCIENT, UNUSUAL, AMAZING EVENT SCHEDULED!

My box of chocolates has been full of surprises!

Each day has brought news or events both wonderful and frustrating.

Wonderful achievements with Ben and Ben combined with setbacks with Cassi’s engine and bottom. A beautiful visit from Layla and astonishing personal news that we will be travelling to Texas! A new concept is considered about the format of my stories and thus the book. More new pledges and transfers have come through and with another push the long awaited “moment” is possible. Send it if ya got it as what is next for Cassi is big! As always thanks to those who have sent their pledges on. It is WORKING! 

THE SHORT VERSION

CASSIOPEIA

EXCITING, SCARY, INTRIGUING, BIG, STRESSFUL, ANCIENT, UNUSUAL, AMAZING EVENT SCHEDULED!

It seems illusive, that moment when it will feel as though the good ship is back in order and the battles are not urgent. It is close I know it. I set this project up knowing full well it would not be an instant recovery. I considered a six month attempt but then realism came into my view and thus I knew a year was required.

Now a big step is to happen this weekend, a Careening.

ME

I am lucky that I am going to get to attend my Dad’s 80^th Birthday with Layla! A trip to Texas is scheduled for August. It has been nine years for both of us. Family, old friends, TexMex restaurants, live music, sailing on the lake where it all started. Book marketing. Yeah for US!

BOOK

As I try to tell all I want to, and say all I want to, and portray all I want to, I am slowly coming up with the way it can all fit together. Adventure, philosophy, insights questions, solutions, ideas. Bumbling about is creating direction on its own, showing me the way. It is so rich and juicy and provocative and I am still not sure of its final form.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

THE LONG VERSION

A CAREENING !!!!!!!

Or those of you who don’t know what that is, I am going to wait until just after this full moon high tide at the crack of dawn and purposely drive Cassiopeia right up onto the beach. Then as the tide goes out I am going to pull on her mast to force her to lay over on her side. Then I am going to furiously work on her bottom as it exposes itself. Hopefully when the tide comes back in I will have patched some spots and rolled on some antifouling paint.

The urgency of all the projects has been due to the amount the bilge pump has been running. The batteries needed to be rewired and some replaced to keep that pump running. The engine needed to run to charge those batteries for that pump but that also meant the alternator had to work to charge those batteries for that pump. Meanwhile the batteries are being lugged back and forth to town on the scooter for hot charging along with running the borrowed generator all night to keep that pump running. 

So the starter finally started the engine and but the alternator blew so I bought a new alternator and rebuilt all the mounts and it was working but then the water pump failed and so I used a big press and pushed new bearings in it and seals and today I am to install it and hopefully that will be all for the engine.

The dive tanks have been going back and forth a lot as well since I have also been diving urgently to use underwater epoxy to stop the leaks to ease the pressure on the the pump and the batteries. It seems each time I fix one a new one appears! The last few dives and handful’s of epoxy have not slowed this one illusive and rather significant leak. Today more bubbles will be blown I hope to find it this time! I have actually been pulling out old seams and driving in new cotton underwater!!!

At night I listen to the pump automatically coming on too much and it, well I have to admit, it stresses me out.

The end is near.

This week is to be big as I must get the engine totally running and get the anchors unstuck after months of being tugged into the mud, gather all of the materials for the careening, and put together a crew for the event.

I have never done this so It is undoubtedly to be full of surprises!

This could be it though. The moment I have been waiting for. Leaks fixed, paint on her bottom, engine running, batteries good, tunes playing, sails on, dining on deck again!

Just a thought,

You know that gate latch that does not quite line up anymore? Sometimes you even have to put down the groceries to fiddle with it and get it open. It’s been that way for months, annoying you daily. Then a mate comes and stays and you come home with the groceries and reach for the latch and with the slightest touch it springs open like magic.  It took him fifteen minutes to tighten the screws and line it up.

Every day sometimes twice, three times, you have been fighting that latch. There never seemed time to fix it. We are funny creatures and we get used to things. We allow daily annoyances because we have grown accustomed to them, at least some of us do that. I do that, I admit it. It is absolutely fabulous when some one eliminates a daily annoyance for you.

Ben and Ben brought a prop for the dingy. I am a motor head and hearing that poor engine whine with the old bent and chipped prop made me wince every time I drove home for months. Now the dingy jumps onto a plane and purrs along. Now every trip is a joy.

Thanks for fixing my latch guys!

THE BOOK

One of the major stories has been struggling as it has so much to say. Thus it has made me think of separating some of it’s parts to allow the flow. There is a lot of looking at how things are here and there, differences, positives, negatives, that I want to include. It can get in the way of the adventures so I am experimenting.

The “philosophy” parts about dreams, values, fear, war, love, learning, comfort zones, etc. are important to me.  Trying to express how a life outside the square shapes a mans thoughts on those subjects comes through in the stories but the full discussion about conclusions is more challenging.

Not to make my trip home to see my dad seem self serving but some time in the states will clarify some of the above mentioned differences. Presenting and talking to live Americans will bring some more modern insights into my perceptions since it has been nine years since I was immersed in that vibe.

I am also quite certain it will be a successful addition to the marketing program for the project and the book. I suspect some fabulous interest and surprises in the funding and publishing arenas will be presented by the many friends I will be seeing.

SNIPPET

I have actually been writing for a number of years and I am to include some of the old work I believe, including some mildly poetic moments. The new stuff is bumbling along, but I am also reworking some of the old ones. This weeks snippet is a newer version of an old piece.

Magic

            She tortured, she teased, she protected.  It seemed I could never know her. I was forced to trust her utterly, with my life, my dream, it seemed my very soul. She was everything.  I had given it all up for her.  She lifted me from the plane of the mundane and placed me on the unsteady and threatening surface of a sea of challenge.  I was awakened as from a dream, to an experience of awareness and endeavour that could only be the early stages of a slow bonding love, not just for her, but for the new adventure of life.

            It was a magic time whose bag of tricks is yet to be emptied.  The events of today and most likely tomorrow are viewed as impossible by the minds eye I left behind.  With her, I am forced to revel in the circumstance of each passing moment, and she opens my heart to the fullness of what we have shared.  Our intimacy is such that others note us as one. Indeed it is a true observation.  She controls me while allowing me the vain pretension that I am the master.  We battle for survival together.

            We have shared many great gifts.  Purpose, pride, passion.  Fear, stamina, courage.  Our experience is a poem of joy and struggle and peace.  Our bond is thick to the touch.  It oozes from her timbers and glows in my eyes.  Those who meet us notice. They leave with a new awareness into the many facets of the bonds so loosely labelled love.  A man and a ship, a love like no other.

…………………………………………………………………………………………

Thanks again to all of you who are making this happen. These next few weeks are to be very exciting as some major hurdles are overcome!

YEAH FOR US !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Focus, determination, results. Quantum leap

Focus, determination, results. Quantum leap. Yes, Yeah For US!!! The engine is running. Crew is here, tunes are playing aboard and the Cassiopeia side of my project is in a triumphant moment!

So this report is late but I was not to allow a machine to stymy me any longer.

Project

Yeah I received a few more transfers to keep the books in the black and indeed a few more pledges as well! Thanks for the transfers and I stil have no easier way than the direct bank transfer or Western union options. If you need me to send the info again please email me. We now have 64 who have committed to helping fund the recovery of Cassiopeia and are shareholders in what is going to be a very different book. I am still working to complete the revamp of the presentation and initiate the new marketing program for the overall project. The past period however has been focused on Cassiopeia with major gains the result.

Cassiopeia

Yeah the engine is running! Tenacity, perseverance, persistence, and the sheer refusal to believe that I could not fix it, along with the fact that I simply had to, all combined to bring back to life the worlds best diesel engine. There are things that your friends say and sometimes you have heard them say it too many times, but since they are your friend you just listen and smile. I say “It is a machine. Man makes machines. I am a man. I can make this machine work.” About the fifth time I had the starter out in pieces and Mitch heard me say that again I recognized his polite smile.

But it goes!!!!!!! Aaarrrgh no machine gonna beat me!

A few more tanks of air and more tubes of underwater epoxy and the leaks are slowing.

Ben and Ben arrived today. Electrician and friend keen to help me fix her. Yeah, this is going to be a quantum leap. They are here for two weeks and I expect we will have her underway before they leave! Today we revived a few power tools and installed the stereo they brought. Tunes wahhhooo makes her feel alive again!

I am thinking her bottom could be a two phased event with a careening soon and then a full on haul out later in the year.

Book

Inspired by winning the only writing competition I have ever entered, when I received a notice of another in my inbox where I could win 1000 pounds. (British booty, sweet) I blasted out a piece of “Flash fiction”. It has to be under 250 words. How to create lots of images with few words. It is a great exercise and hopefully It will be good enough to make the six pound entry fee a worthy risk.

I had some input as I described some of the chapters and stories, and how they lead to other stories,

that I should be thinking about more than one book. Too many stories, imagine!

I have gone back over some of the work I have already done as it is good to let a piece “rest” and then look at it again. It does get better with each pass.

Someone suggested I have a coffe table version with lots of pictures.......uuummmm

OK snippet...........................

Every book has parts when it trundels along. There simply cant be torpedoes in every scene.

So here is a spot when a little fill seemed appropriate. The paragraphs just before had action and inuendo and foresahdowing and lust...............

We stayed flirting and oggeling for a couple more rounds but some more cutomers arrived and we were deprived of her undivided attention. Marianne and Todd and I toasted to our sucessful arrival and remenisced about aspects of the trip like the mosquitos from Arkansas, some of whom were still trapped in the van. We had opened the sliding door to to a swarm of the largest mosquitos I have ever seen and everything is bigger in Texas, or so they say. I have seen really big ones in Houston. But these were monster mosquitos, genetically empowered somehow, and they were coming at us from a scene out of the famous Burt Reynolds movie Deliverance about canoeing down an Arkansas river.

The guy who pumped the gas had on oversized blue jean coveralls showing his hairy shoulders and his hands were the size of bear paws. His eyes did not quite look at the same place and despite being over six feet tall he walked with a hunched over sort of beaten little kid shuffle. And there was a skinny old guy, like in the movie, wearing a straw hat sitting in a rocking chair chewing on the end of a long piece of grass and silently watching us as though he was remembering every detail and had lots of secrets. In a too tight, stained undershirt, the potbellied, grease covered mechanic had stepped out of the garage and was grinning at Marianne, fully displaying that he had no top teeth. She jumped back in the Van slamming the slidng door only to realise there were probably a thousand mosquitos inside.

Todd and I bought some orange juice to mix with the tequilla, paid for the gas and both accpted a fervent hand shake from bear paws before getting in the van to be attacked mercilessly by the bloodsucking hoarde that had invaded our otherwise cozy home on wheels. We hit the highway fast and rolled down all the windows to blow them out and even opened the sliding door. Clever creatures insects. When they felt the wind they all flew under the bunk and behind the curtains and hid from the possibility of being blasted outside. We suffered with them for thousands of miles.

America is a wonderfully diverse place and cetain regions have reputations. Like attracts like I suppose. Hillbillys like hillbillys so Arkansas filled up with them. Things on television and in the movies are often not far from real. Road trips like the one we had just done give you a quick overview of the cultural melting pot that is the USA......................................

Still rough and could well get the editors knife but it was a severly cultural few moments for us!

Thanks again for those of you who managed transfers and two goals have been stated for Ben and Ben”s stay. We are to get her underway and have a party before they leave. Quantum leaps in store.

YEAH FOR US !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Added the Sad Page to the blog

I posted the only photos I have showing what she was like when I returned and listed some of the ruin on a new page called the SAD PAGE!
Not that I am sad. I am great as everything is moving forward and the cops are actually looking!
YEAH FOR US is still alive and well................

What she looks like when she has all her lipstick on!

Trying more photos !T

oopps Layla rememmbers this spill      

More photos of work.......

Some of the other times Cassi has needed a bit of work !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the week that flew by

Ahoy there everybody,

Wooohhoo still!!! Moving forward ups and downs. It is sunny again!

Time is a funny thing. Sometimes a week disappears! Progress yes, frustration yes, busy yes, and yes fun, even some golf and harmonica playing! Booty needed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cassiopeia,

Still can not get starter working! I can now take it out and put it back in an record time with my eyes closed. Today I scooter to South Santo where there is rumored to be a bunch of dead Ford tractors and try to bargain for parts. Having more underwater epoxy flown in. Got new battery and sun is out so powered up a bit. Massive clean up day. Maybe next weekend will be the first party!

Book,

Worked on the chapter about ghost and the bus waiting around the corner. Revel in today as tomorrow is only imagination! It includes a few of the hard times and recoveries. Life in paradise has not been all roses. This is not the first time she has been brought back! Check the snippet for a few lines from the Blow Up story. Wonderfull lessons about faith and determination and help and spirits.

Project,

Two more pledges this week, trying to ramp it up again and reach the goal.

Booty getting low! Working on new transfer method Any transfers appreciated!

Trying week of attempting to build a project website and incorporate a pay pal type transfer along with new presentation for wooden boat magazine forum.

I am excited about what the new project presentation can provide and am confident the goal will be reached. It is good how close Cassi is to “working” again. The crew are arriving on the 25^th and that will be the quantum leap I am sure.

OK this weeks snippet,

This is to be a good chapter with ghost stories and trials. There is one story

that will make you cry.............

I heard a “phoof” and I had time to think, “Oh damn, the pilot light!” Then there was a BOOM from an explosion that shook the hillsides. That split second was the beginning of a time that I know call “Bonus Days”. That means all of the days that I have been alive since. By all rights, I should be dead.

I almost moved into the next dimension for the simple act of trying to kill the roaches on the boat. In an attempt to rid myself of the crawly scourge I nearly eliminated myself ! …...................

The path to real destruction of the little bastards, was to actually spray Baygon point blank into every crack and crevice in the whole boat. Then we would go to the beach for the afternoon.

We would play in the clean sunshine while the enemy choked and died in their new poisonous environment. It worked. Upon our return to the boat there were hundreds of war victims strewn about the cabin sole in twitching death throws. No Geneva contract here, death to all prisoners. In the end, they got me back for this merciless slaughter.......................................

Cassiopeia is a stout wooden boat with two inch by four inch laid decking, and a cabin sole of five quarter planks laid on two by four sole beams. The explosion erupted from the bilge and turned the cabin sole planks into splintered twelve inch chunks that were driven like wooden shrapnel into the hard pine on the inside of the deck and hull. That is, what remained of the deck. Huge holes were blown in the foredeck and the aft deck, cracking deck beams as the fasteners were ripped away. Her heavy wooden hatches with stainless piano hinges were torn from their two by four frames and flew through the air above mast height. The four foot by four foot beast of a main hatch traveled up until it collided with the fore boom, shattering into pieces.

There were canned goods blown into the water through the six foot long hole in the deck above the galley. Every door in the boat had disintegrated, jagged remains hanging on twisted hinges. Despite not having sprayed in the aft section, the gaping hole in the aft deck allowed pillows and bedding to escape into the air. The bunks and cabinetry of the main room were turned into unidentifiable piles of rubble. The laminated two by twelve planks of the setee table had smashed against the deck beams above and broken across the grain into jagged pieces. The cabinet next to the oven was built from a sheet of ¾ inch plywood. That three foot high piece of plywood was broken in a line at the edge of the oven. Ever tried to break a ¾ inch sheet of plywood?

The more I surveyed the damage later, the more I thought about Bonus Days. I really should be dead.................................................

I owned a house which was haunted by my best friend who was killed on his 21^st birthday when I was in university. I had lots of roomates and we became accustomed to him rummaging around. We would hear him downstairs while..........

Lights would go off and on and doors would open and close and windows would mysteriously be open and other silly stuff would.............

I am forced to believe in ghost after..........................

Maybe he was there the day I blew up. There is little other explanation for being unscathed and..............

Eliot was the first to come aboard and he braved the fumes and debris to come below. Eliot still believes I am a ghost. He always has this funny look in his eye when he talks to me. He slowly looked around in stunned silence at the smoldering wreckage. Then he ask, “Where were you?”. When I pointed to the spot he got a little pale and looked at me in that funny way that he has ever since. He turned and walked away and would not talk to me for weeks. He is scared of ghost...................................................

There was a recovery, but things changed...................................................

…...........................................................................................................................................................

Maybe this will be the chapter with spirits and drugs and the desert as well. The other side explored!

Thanks for all the support

This is a wonderfull time and project and despite some moments it is taking me on an exciting journey.

Hug to all H

this weeks post !!!!!

Ahoy there,

This week flew by !

Fabulous movement on all fronts

Apparently the synopsis plus the meat versions was a bit popular so I will stick with the format.

Ummmm just did the synopsis and even it is wordy!!!! Im gonna need cruel editor!!

Cassi project;

This week concluded with the starter installed, new/used alternator installed, fresh water pump freed up and greased, temp gauge and alternator wiring re done. Today I pick up the battery I brought in to hve a deep charge and maybe the ford starts today! The electrical toolbox cleaned a greased and what is still usable all organised (lots of little bits to rinse!)

I am going tomorrow to inspect a possible great deal on a Northern Lights proper yacht generator that a wealthy neighbor no longer needs but is in good nick. Fingers crossed major proper power. Imagine fridges and freezers watermaker and a washing machine on Cassi. Somehow wrong? Nah would be great! Some sheets of marine plywood are being shipped form Port Vila for hatches and watertank. Nivan workers are scheduled to start painting next week. Ramping it up.......

Book:

Working on a chapter that is very interesting involving war. How do I get that in? Well once there were torpedoes fired a Cassi, or so we thought, and there have been guys with machine guns on her deck in Venezuela and Panama, and a surprise assault by a US destroyer in the middle of the night. Ther are also a lot of veterans who sailed away because normal life no longer worked for them and they have told me a story or two.

I am really hoping this is going to be a book with stories about a lot of things that provoke thought.

Another pledge came in which puts us at 58. I am going to amp it up with a revamped presentation and publishing it in new markets this week. The best transfer method is definitely proving to be Western Union.

Snippet:

Christian and I were on watch not long after dark. It rarely completely dark at sea and it is astonishing how well you can see in the dead of night if it has been a while since you looked at a bright light. People dont normally sit in their room at bedtime after they have turned out the lights and stare for twenty minutes trying to see anything they can. That is exactly what you do when you are on night watch in the middle of the ocean......................

Moonless nights such as this have a different light, almost brighter with out the dark shadows created by the moons near sunlike presence. It is as though there is simply a little light everywhere, the whole sky slightly aglow with illumination coming from every angle.....................

We had been on our quiet watch for over an hour and our eyes had reached their pinnical of abilitiy so simultaneously we caught the new light out of the corners of our eyes and turned in perfect sycronicity to look at the sea. Neither of us said anything as we both grappled to understand what the swiftly approching light source could be or mean. It was one of those times when reason is confused by an image that defies reason. The conclusions that your mind comes up with seem ridiculous, impossible, but the only associations you can make to such an image are what is logged in your minds history.

Christian said “What does that look like to you?” I stammered “torpedoes”. “Me too” he nstantly replied. Two pefectly straght trails in the phosporecent sea headed directly at the beam of the boat at the exact speed of every torpedo I have ever seen depicted in the movies. Green wakes of brilliant bioluminescence frothing off of the propellers at the back with a round conical nose pushing the glwoing sparkels aside and along a long round body.

Why would anyone shoot torpedoes at us? I said. We were a thousand miles from the nearest land, who could be out here? Still two hundred meters away they were coming fast and it was imminent they were gong to srike the boat right in the middle. Christian speculated.” American navy exercise we got into? “Come on” I said but there seemed little other explanation and I actually began to believe that we could have been so unlucky as to sailed across the path of some war games. The perfect formation did not waiver and apeared to have been directly aimed at us from a long way away.

Time was up and they were a few short meters away. We both took a step back away from the rail....................................

Copyright Harold Neel 05 28 11

Better safe than sorry...

Thanks to all again ….........

this weeks post !!!!!

last weeks post !!!!

BIG WINS this week!!!

I have realized that most people only have seconds in their busy lives to read emails so when they see a long one they put it somewhere for later and then often forget where that was or forget to go back and take a look when they do have time. So for this weeks update ther are two versions

first......

CASSI

Got the starter working and the alternator in the shop. Lots of the powertools revived and paint on the next ship to arrive. Crew coming next month with skills to help. Slowly patching leaks in Cassi's bottom with tanks on.

Accounts attached.

BOOK

Possible new website to help with transfers. Posting on Sailing networks to promote more pledges. Working hard on the beginning, how I met her, how we ran away, how we got the boat, so many tales/characters leave some out to get on with it!!! How much to describe these characters we met? How much to bare the feelings? Is the truth too much? I am loving the writing and slowly getting better.

ME

Running some, swimming some, drinking some, typing heaps, been rainy but warm Little red scooter is a crack up and runs great, smallest vehicle in Vanuatu for sure. Cooking for me again healthy fruit meat veggy. Laughed a lot at great dinner with friends.

Cops might have a lead on who done it!

YEAH FOR US so good to hear form so many of you keep it coming!!!

second......

you have to scroll cause I had to hide this or you would have stored it cause you saw it was long!

She said, “Harold, ummmm?” and she paused to look around at the deck totally covered with tools soaking in buckets of fresh water and the piles of nuts and bolts and electrical fittings and plumbing parts and rusty pulleys and old water pumps and coils of rigging wire and various sizes and lengths of hose and pieces of stainless rod and bronze pipe all spread out to purposely be rained on and then washed and then wire brushed and dried and greased. Then she looked up at me, and the others stood waiting for her to finish her question, “ummm Harold, do you ever throw anything away?”

We all laughed and I said, “No.”

Mitch looked at me and said “There are some rare times when you have to realize that something is just rooted and you can not fix it!” We had just spent all day refusing to believe that philosophy and thus had, after quite the battle, managed to revive the starter motor and solenoid for the Ford. That was a big win. But then we took apart the next challenge and when it popped open Mitch had just made this funny oouugghhh sound and uttered his words of wisdom.

Old Dan glanced when I pulled it apart on his bench and mumbled, “That's rooted mate.” Dan has long bushy silver eyebrows and squints so hard you can barely see any trace of his eyes. He has been a mechanic here forever and is one of those ancient ex-pats that would simply perish if placed in to the first world for more than a few days. He shuffled to the other end of his work bench that would have made the tourist think I was an anal clean freak. Hunching over he stuck his grubby paw into a pile of old alternator parts and said, “this is kind of like yours.” It was only one of the six pieces needed to make a whole alternator but it was a good start as it had a similar pulley on it. He grabbed another piece but said “nope that's rooted.” and tossed it back into the pile. Slowly he found a random selection of bits that looked like they would fit together.

So I am stoked yet again because by this weekend I expect to have a working starter and alternator which could well mean a working main engine. Adrian of Santo hardware successfully got his suppliers to gt the much needed deck paint on this months ship from NZ even though we were past the deadline for loading. Most of you guys take for granted that you can just drive to a store and buy almost anything. Anything slightly odd here, like not canned tuna or wheatbix, can takes months to acquire.

Three big wins this week, along with confirmation that an electrician crew is going to come over next month with a carpenter friend. Another friend is developing a website for hosting other websites which could be perfect for the project and maybe allow for a type of Paypal arrangement so this transfer thing gets sorted! A bit more of the frustrating type of computer work uploading pictures etc. but I am learning. I also posted some stuff on Sailing Networks so got a bit done on that end of things.

I had a lovely social week with a gang of Ben and Kim's friends having big home cooked dinners and sing alongs.

My favorite time is when I am not greasy and bolting something together or emailing or trying to add a website or organizing things on this machine. I forget it is a machine when I am putting down a story. The machine goes away and it is just my thoughts and memories and dreams and fabulous pictures of places and people blurred beautifully my memory and my notions of what really happened. I play with a sentence and paste a paragraph in the maybe later file and hunt for words and ways to describe. While picturing the events and places and people I am overwhelmed with the richness and beauty of what has been my life. I swell with the challenge of how to weave a belief and a philosophy into the writings that can help others follow their hearts and dreams and create memories of similar potency for them. It is a joy.

Thank you to all of you who are allowing me this privilege!

YEAH FOR US

Hug H

the secret revealed!!!!!!

Yippy wahoo I just did the funnest thing!

Of all the things I have been able to say, when ask that question that is always part of meeting traveling types, “What do you do?” I just got to say the funnest thing of all, “I am writing a book!”. In the past I have been able to say, “I'm a architecture student, carpenter, plumber, painter, roofer, tiler, designer, builder, inventor,(that was fun too!), Furniture factory manager, Captain, tourist, cruiser, I'm on permanent vacation, shipwright, charter operator, commercial diver, resort manager, bar owner, fire performer, and of course Pirate”. But here I am in the very place where James Michner hung out to write Tales of the South Pacific and I get to answer, “I am writing a book!” Yippy Wahoo!

It also always comes around to the fact that I live on a lovely wooden schooner and am refitting her as well and have lived in the tropics for years. They look at me and I can sense they don't want to tell me that they are an accountant.

So yes I am very excited and am continuing to have high hopes for this project. I just got some great news and insights on how to take it more public using the Sailing Networks website from the woman who chose me as the winner of the writing comp. I have also updated my email list a bit.

Thanks to all who have sent transfers. I am sure your faith will be rewarded!

OK So here it is.

The Captain's Secret.

So I have had a secret. I am not good at secrets. I have not found many circumstances which merited keeping a secret. I suppose I have been lucky that way but I do hold dear the clarity of living with the truth. I was advised however that this was one such circumstance and I must admit that I agreed. There was magic in the air and I did not want to taint the passionate event that was going on with sad news.

Thus I have struggled for weeks now wondering how and when to come clean. In reality I knew those I kept the secret from would understand. That I was not doing an injustice. That the time would present itself to reveal the news. A dream was coming true and I reveled in that and accepted the new challenge including its secret.

So here it is.

To all of you who have been involved in my grand project, the secret is revealed.

I was in Auckland and my bold presentation was complete and I was to send the emails and post the facebook and launch the project the next day. It was one week before I was to head back to Vanuatu and I was excited and nervous. My friends were very supportive of the project and we were all together for an evening meal at Chris's house when I received this email.

Hi Harry
 This is the short story….not good…Cassi is taking on water and is thigh high downstairs….engine is under water and so everything is dead. We currently have a pump in her pumping out so she is coming back to the surface but you should probably get back here sooner than later. Someone has been on board and trashed her as well, this may have been part of the problem…maybe not….maybe the bilge pump failed…we don’t know. I got the call from Grant this afternoon that she was sinking. We will endeavor to keep her up till you get back. Things just aren’t going your way.
Ben

Ah yes a dynamic addition indeed. I immediately grabbed the phone but could not get through to anyone in Vanuatu. I wandered around the room like a stunned mullet. She had patiently waited for three months, and now one week before my return disaster struck. Ben had checked on her frequently and she was always fine. Bummer. What happened?

Since I am in story telling mode her is the flowery version.

…........................................................................................................................................................

The ship sat quietly in the small bay. She waited patiently, as her master was away, yet all was not well and she knew it. Strong though she was, her ropes were frayed and her paint stained and faded like a thread bare dress on a poor working woman. Indeed she felt a poor woman, despite having worked hard for the past years, thrilling the landlubbing tourist with a tiny taste of the sea. Now she was steadfastly moored and with her sails stowed she had not moved in months. She could feel the itchy bites of undersea creatures scraping at her bare wooden spots and the warm ocean soaking into her planks. She did not like sitting still.

She new she was a special wooden ship and it was true that her spirit was famous. She had seen many adventures with many stalwart crews gracing her decks. She had sailed thousands of sea miles and had reveled in the glory of the winners circle in numerous regattas. All those who knew her sensed her special ways and believed her alive and aware. She was now aware that she was in trouble. What she did not know was that her Master was returning with a promising plan to save her.

And then one night a boat banged hard into her topsides. There was clambering and hushed voices as the men boarded her. It was a dark night and she was moored away from any but a few eyes on land. They had confidence they were safe and began a thorough search for anything of value. They laughed as they cut away her radios with their bush knives and dumped the contents of her lockers on the cabin sole. They rummaged through every drawer and tossed the records of of her fitouts and passages all about. They cut away her stove and loaded the foam mattresses off her bunks into their boat while grabbing every little item they fancied. They drank what grog they could find and rummaged through her masters pictures for amusement. They had a cruel party.

This was not the energy she was used to. This was not loving laughing crew. These were malicious men intent on hurting her and taking everything they could find. They left her stripped and damaged and now she felt more alone than ever. She knew her time was now quickly running out. Indeed the cutaway radios had left bare wires shorting and so her batteries grew weak quickly. She could feel the water slowly rising in her belly as the electric bilge pump struggled and finally quit. The trickles of her tired seams had been added to by the tongue of one of those nasty creatures attached to her hull. It had managed to bore a small hole through a plank. Without her automatic pump she was slowly sinking.

The days passed slowly and she felt more and more alone and heavy. Her bow was far down and she was getting very close to having the sea get in through the portholes which would indeed have been her end. Luckily she was noticed from across the bay by a local fisherman and he was alarmed at how low in the water she was. He made a phone call to the friends of the master and they came in a hurry with buckets and a big pump. They battled furiously to get the pump working while still bucketing the waist deep sea out of her main cabin. It was not a moment too soon!

…...........................................................................................................................................................

Thats the true story. Yet another chapter!

Cassi was moored alone in a very protected anchorage. She was a mere two hundred meters from the beach bar of a local resort. Yet a boat had pulled alongside in the night and they had stolen everything. She was not locked but locks are easy to break and never seem to stop the bad guys. These guys were bad indeed, they trashed her. The list of what the stole is long, from the GPS and subwoofer and amp, to my cast iron skillet and the aft bunk mattress and settee cushions, generator and anchors. They must have been there a long time and filled their fiberglass “banana” boat high.

The implications of Cassi being waist deep with sea water in the main cabin and her engine under are pretty obvious. A lot of work to revive what can be and a lot of what went under is totally ruined.

So now again I am faced with the delicious dilemmas of life. I am on top of the world and yet at the same time am confronted with a near devastating incident. My project is working and I am living the dream affording to write my stories and repair my beloved ship. Yet an event thrown into this time has split me into a man both ecstatic, and a man invaded and a little angry.

I am totally focusing on the ecstatic man!

So YEAH FOR ME !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The words are pouring out and I can fix absolutely everything that is wrong with Cassi. There are new directions to keep the “project” funded. The original budget will still suffice.

The effects of the near sinking have been a struggle for my return and still are I must admit. All of my power tools went under, table saw, grinders etc so I have been soaking them in buckets of fresh water and slowly taking them apart and putting them back together. I have the engine starter in bits and am hopeful it will be fine. I threw the pictures away but had some electronic copies of a lot of them. I have rinsed the deck cushions and placed them on the bunks. I bought a little cook top and fresh Poulet fish is on the menu for tonight.

And now I have come clean! No more secret! And the truth is this nasty event changes little because Cassi is alive and well and so am I. The dream moves on.!

And the fact is that it is going to be a really good book! The more I play with it, the more the words get put down, the more I realize there are lots of great subjects going to be presented. The pursuit of dreams, where fear fits into life and how the bubble wrapped generation misses out, the seeming happiness of “poor” people, the old ways of the sea/land and its technologies versus the new, how a moment can change or even end your life, do you believe in ghost?, and of course I am carefully working on the sex and drugs part. All of these philosophical subjects packaged in adventure stories with bizarre wrappings.

There are a number of people who Cassi and I owe a major debt of gratitude for her still being above the water. From the fisherman who made the call, to Ben and Grant and lots of Oyster Islands workers who rushed to her rescue, to Collin who provided the pump and others. I must express a heartfelt thank you to Ben (he went to the boat twice a day to run the pump until I arrived) and to his family as I stayed at their place until Cassi was livable again.

This was definitely the snippet of this story as Ben had plenty of side adventures and there are lots of other dynamics involving the effects on other peoples lives and politics and police and yeah lots more stuff to talk about!

I just wanted to let you guys know, “come clean”, so that when I now list the “progress” on the Cassi part of the project you will understand it started at an unexpected point.

As I have said in reality it has not changed a thing. Half the stuff they stole was needing to be replaced anyway. The amp only had one channel working and the dvd player had not worked for over a year. They probably plugged the television into 220 volt and instantly let all the smoke out as it was 110 volt and most likely caught fire. Ha ha to them!

I will recover most of the swamped tools etc. just a bit of time. I will get her old Ford running again, you cant kill that motor, they are the best.

So I have got to go as they are shutting the resort and I need to get this off so I will send more!!!

Spread the word this is going to work and Cassi will soon be having huge fun again and the stories just keep piling up !!!!!!

big Harold hug to all

H