My kit arrived in Minneapolis yesterday after a circuitous route through middle America, much like that cross country trip I took in 1990 in my Pontiac Sunbird, with the flip top headlights and 2.0 dual overhead cam. Paul was my best friend then and we had a couple dozen cassette tapes filled with Black Sabbath, Black Flag, The Clash, and more gentle fare like Led Zeppelin and Pink Floyd. I'm really glad there was no such thing as social media back then.
The original shipping schedule had the package arriving on March 19; it arrived in Minneapolis on March 21, so naturally no one could be home to insist that the delivery people drop it off in the garage and not the street. For those who aren't familiar with shipping companies, they will do exactly what the paper says they should do. If the paper says, "Drop box in middle of street and run over 3 times," they would do it. They won't go an inch out of their way. I know this because when I moved some stuff from Florida to Brooklyn, the movers wanted an extra $200 to carry the stuff up 3 steps and into my front yard, rather than leaving it on the sidewalk in Park Slope.
So, that's why someone has to be home to try to encourage them to bring it up the driveway and into the garage, or at least, someone should be home to open the package and drag each lovely sheet of Okoume plywood into shelter. It doesn't help that it's 15 degrees in Minnesota as I type this. I'm not in any rush to have it delivered if someone can't be there to accept it. And by someone, I mean me.. not my wife.
That begs the question as to where I am. I'm in Florida after working in Orlando (sometimes, work is good) the beginning of the week. I then hiked down to Stuart to my father in law's place. He lives in a nice area on the Atlantic Coast and about a mile from a U.S. Sailing outfit. Since I may be spending more time here in Florida, I figured I'd join with the local sailing club but before that I needed to prove that I wouldn't run over any manatees or kids from the camp. I tacked, jibed, hoisted, and docked under supervision. I'm fairly certain no manatees were hurt. Good news! I passed my sailing test and that lets me take any boat out at any time with or without passengers and without anyone from the club. Feeling pretty good about that. That's where I was this morning, sailing a Flying Scot.
A couple things about this boat: it's fun to sail, sensitive to the touch, and completely not my style. It's also about $17,200 new for a full package including sail, rigging/running, and paint. Or, about double PocketShip. More things I didn't like: There's no cabin, I got pretty wet, and there's no way I'd want to take this out for any more than a couple hours. I may be a bit too harsh on this very popular boat. This is a pretty typical, stripped down racer. It's not meant to meander the islands (though it can). The skipper I was with this morning said people put up biminis and anchor out on nice evenings. I guess that'll work but the footwell was blasted dirty and bilge water was mucking up all the lines. It smelled of seaweed. That's not camping; it's swimming. It just wasn't comfortable.
We were out on the St. Lucie River, a sheltered area between the barrier islands and the Florida mainland on the Atlantic Coast, with winds gusting up to 20 knots. They held steady between 10 and 15 most of the day. We only had the mainsail going since the wind was so strong; a jib would've been wasted. It was exhausting, but fun at the same time. This boat can really heel and it's not a coincidence that the dude in the picture is on the edge leaning back. I really can't wait to bring PocketShip down here and give it a go.
But for now, I need to see if they can bring it up into the garage, then wait for a real spring. Now that's depressing. At least I have some Flying Scots down here to keep me company.
The original shipping schedule had the package arriving on March 19; it arrived in Minneapolis on March 21, so naturally no one could be home to insist that the delivery people drop it off in the garage and not the street. For those who aren't familiar with shipping companies, they will do exactly what the paper says they should do. If the paper says, "Drop box in middle of street and run over 3 times," they would do it. They won't go an inch out of their way. I know this because when I moved some stuff from Florida to Brooklyn, the movers wanted an extra $200 to carry the stuff up 3 steps and into my front yard, rather than leaving it on the sidewalk in Park Slope.
So, that's why someone has to be home to try to encourage them to bring it up the driveway and into the garage, or at least, someone should be home to open the package and drag each lovely sheet of Okoume plywood into shelter. It doesn't help that it's 15 degrees in Minnesota as I type this. I'm not in any rush to have it delivered if someone can't be there to accept it. And by someone, I mean me.. not my wife.
That begs the question as to where I am. I'm in Florida after working in Orlando (sometimes, work is good) the beginning of the week. I then hiked down to Stuart to my father in law's place. He lives in a nice area on the Atlantic Coast and about a mile from a U.S. Sailing outfit. Since I may be spending more time here in Florida, I figured I'd join with the local sailing club but before that I needed to prove that I wouldn't run over any manatees or kids from the camp. I tacked, jibed, hoisted, and docked under supervision. I'm fairly certain no manatees were hurt. Good news! I passed my sailing test and that lets me take any boat out at any time with or without passengers and without anyone from the club. Feeling pretty good about that. That's where I was this morning, sailing a Flying Scot.
A couple things about this boat: it's fun to sail, sensitive to the touch, and completely not my style. It's also about $17,200 new for a full package including sail, rigging/running, and paint. Or, about double PocketShip. More things I didn't like: There's no cabin, I got pretty wet, and there's no way I'd want to take this out for any more than a couple hours. I may be a bit too harsh on this very popular boat. This is a pretty typical, stripped down racer. It's not meant to meander the islands (though it can). The skipper I was with this morning said people put up biminis and anchor out on nice evenings. I guess that'll work but the footwell was blasted dirty and bilge water was mucking up all the lines. It smelled of seaweed. That's not camping; it's swimming. It just wasn't comfortable.
We were out on the St. Lucie River, a sheltered area between the barrier islands and the Florida mainland on the Atlantic Coast, with winds gusting up to 20 knots. They held steady between 10 and 15 most of the day. We only had the mainsail going since the wind was so strong; a jib would've been wasted. It was exhausting, but fun at the same time. This boat can really heel and it's not a coincidence that the dude in the picture is on the edge leaning back. I really can't wait to bring PocketShip down here and give it a go.
But for now, I need to see if they can bring it up into the garage, then wait for a real spring. Now that's depressing. At least I have some Flying Scots down here to keep me company.
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