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

Any good book, a collection of stories, a novel, even a history book, has love affairs and passion, heartache and debauchery, intrigue and fear, and awesome scenery. Sex drugs and rock and roll are always a hit. Well it looks like the first chapter could include all! Might have to tone it down a bit lest the reader get the wrong impression early on.

It was a glorious time in Newport Rhode Island when the runaway dream was hatched....

Here is a promised snippet:

Todd and I gazed at the lightness of her gait and the confidence in the way she held herself as she crossed the deserted pub to pour our morning Tequila shots. Her smile had let go her playful manner and when she looked in my eyes I knew that she was as beautiful on the inside as she was stunning to watch. Mireille sat looking at us both and said,”Down boys.” She knew us both well as she had..........

I am also working on the secret story for the followers of the project and there have been a couple of drafts already crumpled and tossed out. I cant get the angle right and it needs to be presented correctly to justify the secrecy. There are those who have more ordinary lives but for me debacles such as this seem to be my normality. I have always wondered if it is how odd my life is, that makes me odd, or how odd I am, that creates such an odd life. Chicken or the egg?

I have also posted the Accounts! Check your email. There are four or five more transfers waiting to be collected today boosting the balance. I have deck paint on order for Cassiopeia and some electrical supplies coming over with an Australian crew. She is still not completely back together from her cyclone storage but is getting close.

Oh yeah for some interesting adventure look into my good friends project www.pacificvoyagers.org

Duncan is skippering on board one of the canoes. They are sailing traditional Polynesian canoes across the Pacific and after a long passage are just arriving in French Polynesia.

I have sent this as an email and posted it on the blog and on Face book and am still trying to get the word out to the corners of the world I have missed where stalwart Cassiopeia crew reside. Remember to pass it on!!

Thanks H

Wow It is really REAL!!!!!!!!

OOPS been to long since I posted here. Busy guy getting getting all together organizing bookkeeping and transfers and emails and Cassi parts and actually getting words on paper for the book. That's is the fun part I must say!

We know have 56 pledgers Yaaahooooo yppppyyy doodahhh

That's over three months of the project covered and transfers are coming in so it is all started!

A dream underway.

One week of writing and fixing and crew are coming and the project really is REAL! There was even payday! To the market for heaps of fresh organic vegetables! Things look good with a couple of stories/ chapters well underway plus lots of getting Cassiopeia back together accomplished. I am introducing the project to a wider audience with an email to the Antigua yacht club and the yachting website where I won the writing competition. The pledges are still trickling in (up to 56 !) and a number of transfers have already been made in a variety of manners.

Thanks to those who have already sent wires as the project is thus officially funded and Cassi already has some necessary new items. I am confident the final fund raising goal will be reached over the next weeks. Please share with your friends and also any boat lovers as a large percentage of the contributions have been made by people who have never been aboard but just like the idea of dreams and boats!

There is still a secret story soon to be released as it could well be part of the larger marketing campaign. A little adversity added to just spice things up. Those around here who know the tale all just shake their heads and say, “Well that's another chapter in the book!” Indeed it shall be.

As promised I wil post the accounts and a snippet of the writing on Monday. I started with the start, sort of, the love story that leads into the dream story that leads to the boat story. When I start thinking it through there are sure a lot of stories. It might take two books!

There is already crew coming with parts from Aus to help with the electrical and more friends slated for August. Yeah fun fun fun.....