Making men better. The Challenge.

[RealityBitesParticipant 2198]

Riargs wrote:

ary gets elected I can provision the boat and head out to the vast Pacific and just stay away from the USA as a voluntary exile for the next 4-8 years.

I will know by November if I have to bolt – but in the meantime it is prudent to upgrade the boat as described.

Any other MGTOWers want to crew? In exchange for a cot and three hots?

I can drop you wherever you like in the South Pacific – as long as

I am planning my retirement around sailing the world. I’ve researched and determined that a Westsail 32 would most likely be optimal for solo sailing. I have real cost data posted by a couple who lived on a Westsail 32 for a year. It works out to about 20K per year on average which is cheaper than what it would cost me to live on land.

[RiargsParticipant 320]

The “Wet Snail” 32 (affectionately known as) is a good single hander – but is seriously slow and the newest of them is decades old now and getting VERY dated.

But heck, it will get you out there cruising, especially if you have a lot of experience. Wet Snails were seriously overbuilt with very thick glas and full keels here in SoCal back in the 70’s, so they were built to be rugged and reliable (read: slow and hard to handle the sails).

I’ve had a Catalina 27, then a Catalina 30 (the “biggest” small boat ever made), then an Erickson 38 and now an Island Packet 485, which is what I made the big offshore Hawaii trip with.

The IP 485 is a center c~~~pit kevlar re-inforced full keel rocketship, with in-mast furling and Hoyts on the jibs, and thoroughly modern systems and features (read: modern comforts and amenities).

And the modern “sugar scoop” stern makes boarding infinitely easier then any other boat I’ve ever owned…

When you get really offshore and into the Trades and those 20 foot swells come up she’s big enough to not feel like you’re “rollar-coastering” up and down on those huge swells 24 hours a day – she just settles in and rockets along.

She’s a little big for soloing, but I wouldn’t go any serious distance without at least one person aboard anyway. Two people can handle her fine, but the watch schedule would be hideous – like 4 hours on-and-off for two people, in which case you’re only going to get 4 hours sleep at one time for the duration of the trip. That kind of sleep deprivation can be dangerous. God Help You if you both happen to fall sleep at the same time, that is the instant that Neptune will bite you and put you into a world of hurt with some calamity or another…

But you can always park her (except in the big seas of the Trades) – heaved to – and sleep during the day and then stay up all night on watch if you go solo.

I stopped counting how many times I was on watch on the way to Hawaii from SoCal (2,800 nautical miles, the furthest you can sail on Planet Earth without any land in your way) when a huge lit up island would appear on the horizon – which would always turn out to be a freighter on autopilot with the crew asleep chugging towards SoCal from China. I would get on the radio and the SSB and always call them to let them know I was on their course, but not once did they respond. I had to “emergency” maneuver around them almost everytime. They’re asleep at the wheel, or belowdecks playing videos games or watching movies. They’re seriously dangerous, and if they hit you they would never even know it – they’d just plow over you in the middle of the night and then you’d have another “mystery lost at sea” storing going around the Marina when you never made you scheduled landfall.

But you could still do it solo in a Wet Snail 32, if you have enough experience and got your watch schedule down to a science…

"In my many years I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two are a law firm and three or more is a Government..." - John Adams

[OrlandoParticipant 833]

Riargs, you have my envy.

I have a well paying job. It’s skate, but it demands I can’t leave. So, I’m stuck land locked. I wish I could do what you have done with sailing. If I could go, my primary interest would be fishing, then navigation using a sextant to see how accurate I could get.

There is nothing like the fluorescent glow in the wake of a ship.

[FearlessMGHOWParticipant 1928]

Right now I’m working to pay off my all of my loans. They’re a f~~~ing pain in the ass…

Then, I’m going to buy a house right in the city. I’d love to live in a rural area off the grid, but my career requires me to be in the city which sucks because I hate most cities as it is.

As of right now, even before I pay off my loans, I’m saving up for a $8000-$9000 dollar car.

I’m also constantly studying and practicing programming most of the time which is why I’m on this site a lot. I just leave this web page up when I’m on my computer either way.

Today, I also got officially got certified in first aid which is awesome as well.

Men age like fine wine. Women age like milk. "One hundred women are not worth a single testicle." -Confucius

[Jan SobieskiParticipant 28791]

I love all the responses. Now just f~~~ing do it!

Love is just alimony waiting to happen. Visit mgtow.com.

[ChuddoxParticipant 585]

Jan Sobieski wrote:

I will quit smoking.

I will eat better, and exercise more.

I do not smoke (or drink) for some 10 years. I love(d) it dearly, so I will feel your pain with you.

“Civilized men are more discourteous than savages because they know they can be impolite without having their skulls split, as a general thing.” - Robert E. Howard

[RiargsParticipant 320]

Orlando, you have MY envy…

You’re fixed wing – I’m rotary wing and I never took the time to learn fixed. Now that I am firmly retired from Active Duty I have been thinking more and more about getting a Fixed Wing PPL, but between rotary wing duties, the survival cabin, the boat and the racecars I’m coming up short on time lately.

I have been fortunate in my Duty Stations – they’ve mostly been here in SoCal, where I was born and raised. Here in Orange County there is one of the finest Sailing & Seamanship colleges in the USA, and every time I would get a months leave I would head over there and take classes.

So in the end – besides Naval style cruising and flying on and off rather large carriers, tin cans and littorals – I lucked out and got a lot of small boat time right here in my “backyard” at the Sailing College. That gave me the confidence to attempt some long range cruising.

There’s nothing like it. If you don’t get seasick, I would heartily recommend every man take off and cruise somewhere someday on a small boat.

On a side note, I was talking about watch schedules on my Hawaii run in the prior post. I had 4 Navy buddies with me on that trip, so we had a total of 5 guys standing night watches. Each watch was 2 hours each – a breeze to stay awake through, even in the dark of night on the “b~~~~” 0200-0400 hours watch. With this rotation schedule every five days a fellow would get the 2000 to 2200 hours watch and the 0800-1000 watch the next morning, so you could see the sunset and the sunrise on that watch.

It was glorious.

Ask me sometime about the chemtrail activity I saw on that trip…it will surprise you (I think)…

"In my many years I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two are a law firm and three or more is a Government..." - John Adams

[RiargsParticipant 320]

Orlando, I forgot to mention two more things about the Hawaii trip…

#1: We fished all the way across and back. We caught huge Mahi-Mahi, Tuna and even an 8′ Swordfish one time. When that swordfish hit our stationary trolling line it was so big that the BOAT slowed down one knot in speed. Reeling that sucker in felt like you were trying to pull a garage door through the water in your wake. One Mahi-Mahi was 6 feet long and fed all 5 of us 3 squares a day for almost a week, and we still had leftover swordfish and tuna in the deep freeze when we made landfall in Oahu. (Hint: for deep sea fishing spray the lures with common WD-40 from the auto parts store, one of it’s main ingredients is fish oil, and it makes the fish hit your lures like POW! INSTANT! The WD-40 smell gets them crazy to bite!)

#2: We practiced Celestial Navigation all the way across and back – I was lucky enough to take a very good class in it at The Sailing College and I had plastic, brass and steel sextants on board to teach the guys how to pull sun sights and figure locations. They all got pretty good at it by the time we were heading back, and we had an informal competition for the most accurate noon sights.

Of course, I had 4 GPS’s with me as well, and the built in GPS on the Raymarine Nav System, for a total of 5 backups in case our sights weren’t so hot.

I’ll stop rambling now…

"In my many years I have come to the conclusion that one useless man is a shame, two are a law firm and three or more is a Government..." - John Adams

[Mr. ManParticipant 2916]

I need to become a more competent product and architectural photographer for my business. My technical photography skills are less than novice right now, though I’m quite good at composing photos. I’m sure I’ll pick it up pretty fast once I can focus on it. Still, it’s a little daunting.

[Zuberi TauParticipant 10606]

1. I’ll need to get my armed security certification.
2. Save my money,
3. Learn programming.
4. Learn machete defense.
5. Come up with contingency plans.

[OrlandoParticipant 833]

Prior USMC, and hornet driver here. Appreciate the info, Riargs.

[MattNYCParticipant 2329]

Jan Sobieski wrote:

I will quit smoking.

That f~~~ing rocks man! I was in a similar position not too long ago – throwing away my cigarettes was easily one of the best decisions i’ve ever made.

Give me a holler if you want to talk about it. Or there’s a good support community at http://www.reddit.com/r/stopsmoking

[RealityBitesParticipant 2198]

Yeah…they’re slow in light air, but they can get up to hull speed once the wind kicks up. I like them because of the full length keel (makes tracking better) and that they are very rugged. (If I run into something I probably won’t get the hull stove in). It seemed like a fine rugged little boat. I figure it will take me a while to do a full refit (new tanks, engine, rigging, rewiring, etc)

I know a guy who has been sailing on his W32 for years. He’s currently in Fiji.

Riargs wrote:

The “Wet Snail” 32 (affectionately known as) is a good single hander – but is seriously slow and the newest of them is decades old now and getting VERY dated.

But heck, it will get you out there cruising, especially if you have a lot of experience. Wet Snails were seriously overbuilt with very thick glas and full keels here in SoCal back in the 70’s, so they were built to be rugged and reliable (read: slow and hard to handle the sails).

I’ve had a Catalina 27, then a Catalina 30 (the “biggest” small boat ever made), then an Erickson 38 and now an Island Packet 485, which is what I made the big offshore Hawaii trip with.

The IP 485 is a center c~~~pit kevlar re-inforced full keel rocketship, with in-mast furling and Hoyts on the jibs, and thoroughly modern systems and features (read: modern comforts and amenities).

And the modern “sugar scoop” stern makes boarding infinitely easier then any other boat I’ve ever owned…

When you get really offshore and into the Trades and those 20 foot swells come up she’s big enough to not feel like you’re “rollar-coastering” up and down on those huge swells 24 hours a day – she just settles in and rockets along.

She’s a little big for soloing, but I wouldn’t go any serious distance without at least one person aboard anyway. Two people can handle her fine, but the watch schedule would be hideous – like 4 hours on-and-off for two people, in which case you’re only going to get 4 hours sleep at one time for the duration of the trip. That kind of sleep deprivation can be dangerous. God Help You if you both happen to fall sleep at the same time, that is the instant that Neptune will bite you and put you into a world of hurt with some calamity or another…

But you can always park her (except in the big seas of the Trades) – heaved to – and sleep during the day and then stay up all night on watch if you go solo.

I stopped counting how many times I was on watch on the way to Hawaii from SoCal (2,800 nautical miles, the furthest you can sail on Planet Earth without any land in your way) when a huge lit up island would appear on the horizon – which would always turn out to be a freighter on autopilot with the crew asleep chugging towards SoCal from China. I would get on the radio and the SSB and always call them to let them know I was on their course, but not once did they respond. I had to “emergency” maneuver around them almost everytime. They’re asleep at the wheel, or belowdecks playing videos games or watching movies. They’re seriously dangerous, and if they hit you they would never even know it – they’d just plow over you in the middle of the night and then you’d have another “mystery lost at sea” storing going around the Marina when you never made you scheduled landfall.

But you could still do it solo in a Wet Snail 32, if you have enough experience and got your watch schedule down to a science…

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