That Hurricane is just tooooooo close!

Dolly Dolly Dolly. I wish you a speedy death.

It would have done us wave starved Texans much much better had she taken a middle of the Gulf route. Instead the Florida pan handle caught the goodness we usually are blessed with, as if they dont get enough swell!

Its getting big around here but the conditions are less than ideal with us being on the "dirty" side of the storm. The winds are all over the place and our surf is in total 'victory at sea' condition right now. Everyone is hoping on Thurs or Fri, IF there is enough swell left over. Im just writing it off and hopefully we will have some decent winds this weekend for some good sailing.

Rami and I went sailing on sunday and we had a damn blast despite the late start. He hasn't been out there in a long time but he quickly remembered. This time though, I was going to give him the full crash course and get him handling the boat comfortably. We had a great sail with light winds at first but they steadily increased later on and it was my first time to sail into and across the ship channel. We were just enjoying the vibe, drinking and I was laying down below trying to imagine and pretend we were sailing across the ocean somewhere. Total bliss! I got Rami to start single handing and forcing him to tack and work the sails at the same time. We sailed all the way through the channel coming in and were coming along nicely but a little slow. A beautiful classic cruiser passed us motor-sailing through the channel and a motor boat was stuck behind us and our little sailing traffic jam. I was worried he would pull the typical "power boater" attitude and I apologized to him as he passed and he just laughed and said "no worries man, isnt that what its all about??". You rock dude! So the wind picked up and I forced Rami to sail straight at the Sundance Grill2 to scare the people a little and get the most of our tack. We pulled a BEAUTIFUL tack maybe 15ft before running into the dock and we caught some thumbs up and shouts from the crowd eating outside.

Coming across the lake I asked Rami what time he had to be home. He informed me that he didnt have any schedule to adhere to so we quickly turned around and headed for the Turtle Club, a floating bar. We tied off and headed in to get the sunday special called Bushwackers. All they told me was "a couple of types of rum, some Kahlua, some licqour crap, and yea...... they'll put ya down. After 2 each, we decided it was time to get outa there before being on a boat would have just been too difficult and we motored on back to the marina. What an awsome night!!!!!

Everything else has been going ok. Ive been getting a little bored as always so Im thinking of a new direction for this site in conjunction with my youtube account. I have a good camera and I would like to start filming some sailing and stuff so stay tuned.

Subway Lines

Well, not those trains but the restaraunts.

Why does it seem that every single time I go there I get stuck behind some douche bag who is ordering for the entire office? Why dont they ever have enough sense or kindness to let me, single sandwich guy, pass and pay????? So I just want to say thanks to the lady who drug her 3 very young children into the store and let them choose their sandwiches while explaining all of the available options and wasting 20 minutes of my lunch period. Asshole.

Not much else going on, just hungover and tired. I had a late night last night and some more drama and I swear to God Im so ready for this week to end. Its has been NONSTOP shit all week and it has to end. Its too much to explain but lets just say I have never been so well reminded of why I have been single for almost 2 years now.

Hope everyone has a great weekend. Im going to try for a sail despite the shitty wind forecasts. Lol, love the optimism today in this post

And All Those Other Things

My sailing/surfing buddy Chris sent those to me today. Those are Toyota camper trucks and I have to say, Im hooked! Those things look awsome! I remember seeing the big Toyota motorhomes all the time but these are much much cooler. I could totally live in one of those things for YEARS just surfing my brains out somewhere in Central America..... or that nice little left point Joe and I discovered in Mexico last year. Ahhhhhh the posibilities.... but gas is going to suck. They do ok, 18-24 but still..... if I drive for 3 years and make it south to Argentina or something thats around 80K miles judging from others similair trips (http://www.blogger.com/www.lodzi.com ). Thats a lot of money in gas!!!!!!

Well, once again, it has been a while since my last post. I just can't seem to stay caught up with this thing anymore. Well, basically its because I still feel awfully repetative on here. I dont want to bore what readers I have left with my BS. Lol, moving on.....

The races were pretty decent despite the apparent totall lack of anything resembling wind. In fact, on the 2nd day of racing, they called the races off after only 1 race. Thank God though cause "sailing" (more like slightly controlled drifting) at .5kts really sucks when its 90F outside. We came in last place on Saturday and last again on Sunday. We were in 1st for a while on Sunday then fell slightly but had a firm grip on 3rd when we followed another boat around a marker and made some wierd navigational error resulting in us being in last place. Shit.....I hate losing.

Not much else has been going on, just still tossing up the endless question for my next trip. Drive, sail, or hitch. I dont know the way yet, but I might even be open to some other alternatives as well. I have been keeping my eye on some boats in the area and a great deal just came up on an 85 Westerly Konsort 29'. A British boat that is quite strong but the deal has come at a bad time and I dont have the 10K on hand yet. Plus when running some numbers through the sail calculator she was returning some capsize ratio numbers that I didnt quite like. Its debatable but coming in at 2.12 was just too much for me, hell my Catalina 25 does 1.96!!!

In other news, Im about 2-3 months away from being totally debt free!!!!!!!!! Isnt that awsome?? I thought so! This is the first major milestone in my ultimate dream of living free and getting on the road (or ocean) for an extended trip while still in my 20's. I have been paying at record levels and have dug myself out 7K in less than 1 year! I could have done even better but I might have driven myself insane if I would have stayed home every single night and eaten jelly sammiches or lunch. No thanks. We will save those hardships for when Im on my trip.

I keep thinking about a route or a desired desitnation for the trip and I guess all that just depends. I would like to try and take up work wherever I decide to stay for a while. 2 months here, 3 there, 1 over there; doesn't matter to me. I have been getting pretty good at repairing surfboards and I actually like doing it. I did it for beer and lunch when I was on my last trip and camping at La Ticla, Mexico. I did some basic ding repairs, rail gashes, and busted noses. Fiberglass/epoxy is magic!!!!!!!! I guess I could do this for basic crap but it will only work out near "surfy" towns and stuff. I would like to drive to South America, shipping the car through the Darien of course. I really want to explore Colombia and Venezuela. I hear great stories of these places and of course great surf. How could I resist? Africa? Mmmmmmmm the Philipines and Indonesia are callllllling my name with remoooooteeee islands and endless empty surf breaks. I hate surfing totally alone but I guess I could get used to it. I tend not to charge as hard when Im surfing by myself though and the risk of death from an injury is a little great when surfing by yourself. Death is a strong word but I guess it could easily happen. Get knocked out, boom, you drown etc.

Anyways my loyal fans, I shall be giving you doses of adventure soon. I have some pictures of sailing coming up.