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.

Upcoming Regatta

Well I have a race (regatta) to crew in this weekend. Its the Lukemia cup and Ill be aboard a Pearson Ensign in the one-design group. Im really looking foward to this as I had a blast last time. The only crappy part is the winds and forecast looking like only 5-10 for the weekend. It will be long and hot, thats for sure.

So this past weekend I finally decided to make a small trip on my boat and overnight somewhere. I waited as late as I could before heading out to Redfish Island as the heat was horrendous! Around 5:30pm Saturday, I pushed off and headed out. My motor is running a little hot due to a semi clogged intake tube so I run it as little as possible and with the winds straight out of the south that day, a sail through the lake and out the main channel was entirely possible. I set the sails and had her hauling next to a large tri-maran that takes charter guests out all the time. I was passing them under sail while they were motoring through the lake and had several guests aboard snapping photos of me until I did a 360 to allow the big boat more room in front of me to maneuver in the channel.

As soon as I broke free of the boardwalk, I went flying close hauled to the wind towards the island. I worked on balancing the sails like I have been learning and setting my tiller tamer which is a very simple autopilot. Its a line that is clamped down on the tiller and with everything in perfect trim the boat will semi steer itself and boy did it ever this day! I sailed a good 45 minutes before I ever had to touch the tiller, walking around the boat, going below for some snacks and drinks, you name it. I passed the big tri again out on the water and I sheeted in to give them a show and really get her heeling. I passed them at 30 degrees over to port and just flying and I was able to point her very high. I made it all the way into the island without tacking one time, which is usually next to impossible on a SE wind but I was able to scoot in ever so cleverly that day. I decided with all my single handed sail handling I would try to set the anchor under sail with no help from the engine. This would proove to be more challenging that I imagined.

I came into the anchorage and found a nice spot I like and quickly hove to. I tied the tiller off and ran to the bow to drop the anchor and realized I was still moving at a solid knot or so. I started to panic about running over my anchor with the keel so I ran back trying to come about through the wind and tack off to drag my anchor a little until it set. I could not get her to tack, she only wanted to gybe. I couldnt for the life of me get the tiller "unstuck" and I was drifting rapidly towards a motor boat and I started getting very nervous. I decided to abandon my goal and drop the engine, which I messsed that up too, basically rendering me under sail until I had a minute to fix the engine. Anyways, long story short, I tacked and missed the boats and the rocks and finally got the anchor set with the help of the motor. I had a wonderful night at anchor and slept great in the wind rushing through my foward hatch and into the v-berth.

That next morning I was preparing everything to go and setting up the big 150 genoa my friend let me borrow in anticipation for sunday's light winds. I started to bring down my LED latern Id hauled to the top of the mast with my main halyard (I dont have a working masthead light for anchoring) and then I realized my next mistake. I should have tied another line because the lantern was so small and light that it did not weigh enough to come down on its own. Shit. Now what? I got the boat hook out. Not long enough. Wait..... what if I climb the mast with the boat hook, I wont have to go the top! So I hung the hook on the spreaders and shimmied up the mast. Standing lightly as possible on the spreader brackets, a full 14-16ft above the deck of my boat, I hooked the lantern with the boat hook and got it down and got my ass off that mast as fast as possible.

I had a pretty uneventful sail home. I drifted for a while with no wind and sail another 1 -3 hours only making a 1 - 1.5kts or so. The sun was tearing me up as I have no bimini for shade. Finally around 1 - 2pm the winds started kicking and I was running the boat pretty well balanced and wing and winged it with no pole and was making around 4-5kts. I raced a boat around the lake a little and finally decided I'd had enough for the weekend and I was getting burned pretty bad.

Well... that was my weekend. Sorry there is no better ending lol, but its time for me to leave the office and get my ass home.

Im still alive

dont worrrrrry peeps. Ive just been a little busy. Boat coming along great and even better news, Im about 4 months from being totally 100% debt free! Yeaaaayuh!

Back from the weekend

Well this weekend was nuts. I only wish I had pictures!

It started out with me arriving to Hattisburg Mississippi 1 hour ahead of my bro who drove to the coast to pick up his friend from the airport. I wanted to mess with him, so before I even got the house, I swung by a gas station and grabbed a 4 pack of sparks. I drank with his roommate Ryan and when he showed up I was already a little toasty. We all had a few beers and headed out the bar where I sucked horribly in some pool. We met a bunch of my brothers friends from school and we all decided to head out to some club called Zodiac.

At Zodiac I was already a little messed up and then I figured out that they had like $2.00 gin & tonics. Bad news for me. I started buying drinks left and right and got into some hispanic discussions with a friend of Cory's who is also big into their culture. The last thing I remember is holding 3 drinks somehow and attempting to drink them all.

I woke up in the morning and felt pretty damn good, the result of a post bar super drunk chips and salsa binge that my brother and I engaged in. We all got dressed and headed up to the University for graduation ceremony. Don and I just checked out all the hot girls the whole time and half listened to the guest speaker who seriously rambled on for about 10 minutes about some Babe Ruth story and not even giving up in life. Im dead serious. We all decided that we would stay only as long as to watch Cory walk and nail a pic and we would be outa there. Ryan and I made an agreement to yell pretty loud when my bro hit the stage and that was pretty damn embarressing. Back at the house it was pack pack pack time as we all were headed down to New Orleans for some night-time festivities.

As soon as we hit New Orleans I was amazed at the destruction I saw before me, even 3 years after that infamous storm. Whole apartment complexes just abandoned, abandoned stores, buildings...... homes. In downtown there were several high rises with windows completely blown out, standing there as silent but obvious reminders of this city's recent hardships. Spray painted on a wall, there was graffitti that read "Wealth in the face of such poverty is a crime against all humanity". We rounded a corner and turned onto Canal and there I saw an entire tent community living under the I10 bridge, maybe some 50 tents. I saw another sign that read "New Orleans bars never closed while we have no homes". This all put me into a very somber mood as I immediatly felt horrible for coming to this city to party and to forget my problems while these people still have not recieved help or care for what they went through. There are a million things one could assume in both directions, but I saw what I saw and NO American city should ever look like that. We have abandoned them. Left them to fend for themselves. That did not have the look of any American city and Im ashamed of that.

Anyways.... after talking with Don a little while about it and seeing that he was equally as moved, we both decided to just try and put it behind us. After dinner, a mojito and a gin&tonic, I felt much better. We all headed over to Tropical Isle for the famous hand grenades and I had a heck of a time finding a damn ATM that would read my debit card. I finally found one after I walked 16 blocks round trip.... and it was hot! We started on the drinks and eventually made our way to another bar called BeerFest. My bro Cory had been telling me about this place becuase they have a squiddy. A huge beer bong that can support 7 people at once! 2 beers per person were filled and we all went for it, chugging our hearts out. Yours truly took the first game and narrowly lost the 2nd. All that beer so quickly and so soon after a big dinner had my stomach in fits and not to mention I had a major shit moving inside haha. I headed down the street to hotel and snuck into the bathrooms and did my biz and made myself throw up 3 times to get all that beer out of me. I felt great!

I took off down the street to find my bro and everyone who had headed to Club Utopia. I was blocked by a bunch of police, an ambulance, and a huge crowd. I later found out someone had been shot right there in front of everyone on Bourbon street. Utopia was a blast and I was trying to catch up to everyones level of drunkness, after all, I had just thrown up all my beer and liqour. I started going for gold and blew all the rest of my cash and was buying everyone shots and it got expensive fast. I ended up dancing a little but it was mostly Don and Cory who were stealing the show haha. I left with 2 of our friends and headed with them back to the hotel where I once again, somehow hurt my face while drinking. I was jumping on the twin beds back and forth and I decided to dive and missed the bed and fell down into that hole thats always between hotel beds and the wall, smashing my face into said wall. A little phased I got up and decided to calm down and eventually went to sleep. This is where I had smash #2. I rolled off the bed in my drunken sleep and caught my face yet again on the end table that is usually between twin beds in hotel rooms. I never even woke up.

Back in Hattisburg we all just sat around playing video games all day saturday and having fun. Later that night the hangover started kicking my ass so I started in on the beer in an effort to curb its attack on my head and stomach. At dinner I started slamming em down and had a jagerbomb to help with the peppiness. We headed out to a bar after that where I had another 4 beers, 2 shots of patron, and 1 of jack daniels. Back at home I finished the night off right with a nice good glass of Captain Morgan. A toast that my fellow sailing/surfing friend Chris said one day while sailing and drinking Sailor Jerry Rum... "To all the sailors at sea, and all the sailors that wanna be!".

I had a long drive back home but it was fun. I love being on the road and even a road I have driven countless times since I was in elementary school is still a blast. You just have to rememebr the places you stopped for gas and food last time and try not to hit the same ones again. I made it home pretty quick considering I got gas 2 times and stopped 2 more to pee. 7 hours total. My bro is a now a grad with his masters and Im super excited for him and proud of him as well. Now if I can just convince that bastard to move to Houston and live with me for a while, hehehe... Lord only knows what will happen.

My Brother's Graduation

Well, Im headed to Mississippi tomorrow to watch my older brother graduate with his masters from USM!!!!! How awsome is that????

We have a fun filled weekend planned that includes friday night hotels in New Orleans a couple of blocks from Bourbon street. Yeaaa... Ill be more careful this time as I was almost arrested last time I was there. Yeeeaaaaaa hahahaa.

So we have been having some good times sailing lately as the weather has been perfect. I have a bunch of picutres I need to put up on here and I just started editing some videos I shot the day of a day we were out there. I will get them up on Youtube soon for everyone to see. Ok well... I need a shower. Im off to a special place :)

The Battle at Sea

Well, this weekend went by pretty uneventfully as Damien and I were working on Sabina's car. We battled an overheating issue and everytime we conquered one part, something else would rear its ugly head. We were so excited at one point we totally forgot she overheated the hell out of it the previous night. Needless to say, we got stuck in traffic trying to test something, and drove it literally 20 minutes with no water in the engine! I LOVE Hondas!

Well Sunday came around and Sabina, Damien and I decided to go sailing. The forecast was looking good at 10-15kts of wind from the NW. This would be my first experience with a NW wind in the bay and hopefully will be one of my last.

The sail started off nice with a good beam reach that had us doing somewhere around 4.5 - 5kts. As we neared Red Bluff Point we decided to jybe and head downwind toward redfish island. As we were on a broad reach to a training run, we were making good time. GPS was registering around 5.5-6kts. While sailing downwind, it is sometimes hard to realize changing conditions. It feels like you are sailing slower and it feels like the wind is much less than it is. I started to notice the increasing size of the waves and we began surfing down the fronts of them doing a steady 7kts. At one point on a wave my GPS registered 9kts, which is really fast for my little boat. We headed off the wind a little as I was getting a little worried about my rudder snapping off and thats when we started to realize the wind had kicked up considerably. We bashed through it for a while until I decided that we really needed to reef the main and thank God I did when I did. The winds started blasting us, gusting to over 25kts. The waves were building considerably but we were still making good headway and everyone was having fun, especially Sabina. She was laughing and giggling her ass off at every pounding wave we slammed over sending water flying everywhere. I noticed that many of the sailboats had dropped their sails to jibs only or reefed mains and we were one of the only boats flying a single reefed main with a full 110% jib. It was uncomfortable but we were having fun so why back down now.

We decided it was time to fight our way back to Kemah and thats when I realized just how hard this was going to be. I could not point near high enough to get us toward the kemah channel and now the winds were gusting to 30kts at times. We tacked and tacked and just couldnt do it so I set our course straight out to Baytown and Red Bluff. We were slowly being drug out into the ship channel and further away from Kemah and making slow but steady headway against the horrible NW current and huge waves. The seas in the bay were easily around 3-4ft and very tightly packed making the going rough. We were still having fun but I was getting nervous about the rig as I could hear and see it shaking under the stress of the gusting winds. Finally we got our tack back to kemah were I could point high enough to get us in. It was a long beam reach through the seas, a few times literally dumping all the sheets and heading into the wind to rough out for a few seconds what seemed like damn near 35kts gusts, just roaring wind that would send us heeling over 30 degrees almost dead into the wind with all the sheets extreamly eased. I really could have used a 2nd reef point and a smaller 100% jib but I have neither and I was determined to maintain a somewhat balanced sail plan. Jib alone would have been much better but our pointing ability would have been greatly lowered.

We finally made it back in and headed back to my marina across the lake which also had a 2ft rolling chop, spraying us still all the way home. Im very impressed with the way the boat handled the waves and wind and I have much more confidence in her now as a result of that day. It also showed me still how much more work needs to be done to my boat so that she is rigged properly and correctly to make everything as easy as possible in those rough conditions. Being on deck was not a nice place to be during all of that trying to fix a damn reef if the sail, only to find out that it would not reef totally flat due to the boom height.

Anyways, now Im at work, sunburned and sore, but remembering yesterday and being proud. We were the only 2nd boat out with as much sail and eating sandwiches the whole way in haha. I saw way too many sailboats drop all sails and turn to motors, whats the fun in that?

Surfffffff

I finally got to surf last weekend! Yes!!!!!!!! The water was hanging around 70F and decent air temp so I was able to trunk with a rash guard for a couple of hours. Wow Im outa shape!!! That was a helluva workout for me and I realize now what this 9-5 is doing to my poor body and soul. I had some good rides after a few blown waves and totally kooking out and eating shit a few times. It took me a little bit to get back in the groove but I had a blast. The waves were waistish with some pretty good sets rolling in, a lot of closeouts though. Im glad I took the fish, it was a perfect day for it.

The boat is still busted! Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! The mast is still down and Im just hoping I will be able to get it back up this weekend. Last weekend I was crewing in a regatta (sailboat race) and that was super fun. We didnt do well but we were a thrown together last second team so we did our best. Im crewing on a 50ft tri-maran this saturday for a friend of a friend's charter. He owns the boat and charters it out on the bay all the time and he needs some help this weekend so I volunteered. The boat is HUGE! Well, I better get back to work. I have some pics coming up sooooooon.

not gonna happen

Well, I was supposed to haul the boat out this weekend and repaint her bottom and clean up the hull, but I found out the yard will be closed on Sunday and that's the day I need to be back in the water and headed back home to my marina. Crap! So now, I will hold out until next weekend when I have more time and the yard will be open longer. I will try and get some good pics of the boat on the hard and the bottom work. Im also getting some vinyl stickers with the name of the boat for both sides. She is to be named "2 Far 2 Drive" and I will go through with the whole shebang of the tradition of naming the boats. After all, I want Posideon and Neptune to look well upon me and always give me gently following seas. Ok, well, I dont want following seas all the time but in general, protecting me would be nice.

Work has been a little crazy. With all the updates and everything going on, the IT dept has been nuts. We have been rolling out new things everyday to try and make the new finance software run much better. We have been employing and utilizing technologies that 3 weeks ago, we had only heard of, now we are running Windows Server 2008 virtualized with Terminal Server rocking out, handling several clients at full speed. We have 2 other virtual servers running Server 2003 and they are acting as terminal servers as well. We have been messing with the terminal server stuff to increase line speed and app response to our remote locations. Needless to say, its been a blast.

I missed some damn good surf today and that kind of sucks. I decided not to go at the last minute when I already had the green light to burn some of my comp time and now Im kind of regretting it. My buddie Charlie which some of you may remember from 3 long years ago (one of the guys I went to Costa Rica with and the guy who introduced me to surfing) went and said it was not as good as the pictures showed. He said the afternoon which was around the time I would have been back to work, was waaaay better with a high tide filling in and the current calming a little. Either way, it was nothing short of glass out there today. Well, this is Texas and its spring time, one of the best and most consistent times to surf here.

Well thats about it. Look out for the pictures of the boat on the hard coming soon. I gotta get her ready for her Freeport trip!

The Battle with the Boat

Well, Im about to start placing orders for parts today so I can start getting everything repaired. I have to replace the sheeves at the top of the mast after I broke one and Im doing them all out of a strong desire to not have my halyards (ropes that raise and lower the sails) get caught in the top of the mast again. Its going to to be fun I can say that much. The haul out is scheduled for the last week of march but it might get bumped, we will see.

Work has been a blast. Im still fighting my way through BDD and its just driving me nuts at the moment. Its hard to dedicate a lot of time to it when your manning the help desk as well. I keep getting stop 7B errors which I believe are directly related to HAL incompatibility issues. Hehe, tech talk, sorry.

So for a response to the comment left to my last post, I will delve a little into the "alternative forms of living" question that was asked.

I have been fighting and analyzing the idea of what we do with our lives for the past few years. The whole shebang, Buy a house, buy a car, get married, have kids, pray they do something great, and move on. I believe that there are alternatives to this and avoiding this path is not necesarily a bad thing. After all, it is my life right? I look at many things that are happening in our world. Pollution, Blind consumerism, capitalism, neopolitical movements, globalization and I realize that the innocence of the world is gone or fading very rapidly. We now have access to almost any part of the world, instantly at our fingertips. Almost everyday, weird and obscure languages, perhaps once part of a beautiful and flourishing culture, are dying in favor of the international business language of english. Afterall, to rise from what is considered "poverty", you must beable to speak english to do foriegn business. To hang on to ones roots and cultures is almost a death wish for some peoples.

I try and live on the minimums. At times, I could do a lot better, I think everyone could, but trust me, I dont have a lot. I dont have an iPod, no gaming systems, no new car, no fancy cell phone, none of that mess. My dreams and desires have me living on the minimums, living life and seeing the joys that life and actions, not objects can bring me. Some people relate this to being very religious but thats not my case. I have an understanding that material objects end up in a dump and thats all they do. I have my material comforts, dont get me wrong, but Im very picky when I buy one, I make sure I can maxamize its usage. I traveled through Mexico and Guatemala for 2.5 months, 73 days with a friend, my car, our surfboards, and a tent. We slept in the dirt, in the car, in the tent, often covered in sweat for almost the entire duration. In 73 days of traveling, we slept in a room of some sort for only 10 days. We lived on street tacos, PP&J, cans of tuna, and ramen noodles. We ate good when we wanted to, but we enjoyed our basic foods almost as much so we decided to stick with the basics. We lived among the people and got to know them very well. I found this to be an amazing experience and it has completely changed my ideas about "travel" and "vacations". In Guatemala, we would watch tour buses full of rich Americans come through town as they "window watched", rolling slowly down the streets. They dare not leave the safety and comfort of their airconditioned bus, these Gautemalan's would surely murder them for their money. Its true, I was a victom of an attempted robbery; half of it my fault. I should not have slept there, lying prone under a palapa next to a fire. I should have slept with my machete as I always did, but I chose not to. Perhaps God was teaching me a lesson in faith and just how fragile our bodies are, and how quickly life can be taken from us. That robbery, the stabbing, the punk that got away before Joe could take an arm from him with the machete didnt change a thing about my view on people from other countries, especially Mexico.

My ideas of living now are changing a little. More and more news has come out that supports my idea of living to the max. I believe we as humans have had our time here, but we have betrayed our planet enough and the repercussions arent too far off. Im not talking about Global Warming or any of that political hype crap. I believe we might see a complete ecosystem collapse within our lifetimes if we continue at our rate. Im looking more and more into living "off the grid" and just trying to enjoy whats left of our beautiful world. Sailing is showing me how possible this is. Im working on my next trip, the drawing boards are up, the plans are rolling. Where I will sleep, eat, and visit; Im not sure. However, I do know that it will be an epic trip, either by sail or by van. Im planning at least Mexico, all of Central America, and possibly shipping the car/sailing into south America and exploring through there, especially Colombia, Peru, and Bolivia. My strive to see the world, to surf, to live my life not confined to an office is still strong. My spirit has not been crushed while I am doing my time in the 9-5, or 8-6 in this case. It is providing a means to put some long terms plans together for the ultimate escape. My head is still above the water.

Ill post some more pictures of sailing soon.

The Crazyness is About to Begin!

Well, we are nearing our launch date to completely redo our Finance dept and move them to an entirely new software set. The training starts next week on monday and we just have a crazy mess of upgrades facing us. We have to roll them,and update our Utility Billing depts system as well and roll them to a new SQL server and away from a flatfile database. FUN!

Im also going back and forth about whether or not Im going to switch out my standing rigging on my boat. Basically, it could use it, but 700 is a lot of money to throw at it when it isnt really broken. The problem is that I cant really wait until its broken, because if something on the standing rigging fails under sail, there is a very good chance the mast will come down and not the way it was intended. Bleh! I have been going back and forth about this and well, I dont know. The date for the haul out is getting closer and closer and my list of projects is getting bigger and bigger and well, its going to suck basically. Ahhhhhhhhhh!!!! Not exactly the fun part of owning a boat but it has to be done!!!

Im looking forward to a long weekend and sailing my ass off. Its going to be a blast. We are forecasted to have 70F weather all weekend with nice 9-14mph south winds. Perfect sailing weather!!!!!!!!!! Now... If I can figure out a way to make all those damn powerboats stay at home and stop chopping everything up and in general, being stupid.

Weekends come and go

I had a good sail saturday, I just stayed in the lake cruising around and having a good time by myself. It was a nice day out and sunday I was hoping would be even better. I hung out till like 3am with Heather and Megan and I woke up kinda late, only to find hardly any wind. I decided to make a run anyways and headed for the bay. There were about a million boats out, ok not really, but it seemed like it. The motorboaters were out in full force, waking everything in their path and just stirring things up. I sailed around the bay a little before I finally had enough of no wind and came back in and fought my way through the channel to my slip. Yea... it sucked lol.

Here is an interesting email I got the other day from a friend from San Diego, I met him in La Ticla Mexico.

"what up man, long time. how have you been.....have a good winter...i moved to kauai in december and have been getting nuggs all winter. but thinkin ahead for summer, and conguamas, and barrels, and shrimp burgers.....catch my drift....or somewhere...maybe indo.....what are your plans . what you been up to.....holla back, partner.....yeeehaw barrel fest what what!!!"

This just gets my blood pumping like no other. Damn........... I cant wait to get back to that place!

I need to get wet, its been a while.

Im doing some scouting for a sail down to another port city around 40 miles south of where we sail. Its a place I often go to surf and I think a sail down there via the Gulf would really kick ass. We shall see how it goes.....now back to work David!

Sailing Pics

Im at the helm. That day in the bay was just beautiful!

Here we are again. My bud Chris is going down below for some beers.

I got some shots from me sailing my boat last sunday. It was beautiful out there on the bay and I ran into 2 people that post on the same sailing forum I do and thats where I got the shots from.

Im going sailing again this weekend and Im super excited, I cant wait to hit the water. I have a small list of chores I need to do when I get down there tomarrow but its nothing too daunting. Well, I better get back to work, its going to be a crazy day. Thanks again Gary for the pictures!

Ahhhh Madness

Hahaha, Well yea. Im still alive and kicking in this mad mad mad IT world of the government. Working with 50 million different vendors, crappy software for such a specialized environment, and just random crap all over the place. Im hanging in there and coming up quick in this thing.

The sailing has just been going offffffffff!!!! I have been sailing every weekend and my personal life and organization has been suffering as a result of that. I have been learning literally TONS of information on this sailing thing and just getting out there and experierimenting with everything. Ive also gotten out there in the bay by myself in my first singlehand last week and had a blast. It was challenging to work the sails and plan everything in advance to make sure it would work but it forced me to really review my process and see errors I have been making. Anyways, I gotta run. Still at work and working on a bunch of issues. Anyone know why adobe acrobat pro 8 is totally eating it trying to convert a 200mb+ file that is 20 24X36 pages at 3000dpi down to 20 pages of 11X17 @ 300dpi? Dayum, its driving me nuts!

Just Thinkin

I have been doing a lot of that lately. Just reading and thinking about everything. BUT, dont leave the page yet, this will not be another "I can't decide what to do with my life" post.

I have been reading Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac and its an awsome book, I really recomend it to anyone who hasn't read it and is interested in another way of living.

The IT world has been going pretty decent, just learning and learning and staying caught up in a world that moves at the speed of light it seems at times. I have been trying to get focused on getting my ceritifications and trying to move up maybe here at the city but that will tell in due time. We have been working on several big projects and trying to increase our productivity and overall response time. Its really exciting and the technologies we are working with are super fun. Its challenging to say the least.

Well, it looks like Im headed to lunch. I brought my lunch today as an effort to start saving money for the big trip, but, I can always start on monday right? Right!

Small Craft Advisory

That was the call for Galveston Bay saturday as we had strong NE winds all day friday and then ESE winds at 15-20kts on saturday, effectively whipping the bay into a frenzy. It was clear and cold as hell as we met up at the boat, me, Damien, and my buddy Chris (the guy I raced last weekend). Chris starts putting on foul weather gear, being the experienced sailor that he is and is looking at me like Im totally retarded. I have on jeans, 2 shirts, and a good hoodie. He tells us its going to be cold and wet but we head out anyways.

As we are motoring through the channel and under highway 146 I noticed the lack of boats but I thought it was just the cold keeping them from coming out. As we approached the mouth of the bay, that's when I realized why there were hardly any boats out. There were 2-3ft waves and just chop everywhere. We started beating through it and I was up getting the mainsail ready to be reefed when I noticed the prop on the outboard was coming out of the water because we were bashing through so bad. The foredeck was getting soaked with each wave and I was catching chilly 50F water in the face. Chris informs us that we are heading back to the lake. He doesn't know my boat that well and doesn't really trust the rig that well yet. We headed back into the lake and let her run under full sail. We initially sailed on some light points or maybe the wind was just slacking a little because when we tacked back across the lake we started healing hard. I had a good puff hit me and I dropped my beer for the mainsheet to let it out a little to ease the heel and being her back under control. We sailed across the lake a few more times and on the last one at a close reach we were hauling ass. I didnt have my GPS so I dont have a speed but it was a solid 6kts for sure.

The rest of my weekend was pretty uneventful. I rode a dirtbike for my first time this weekend and immediately caught on to that and had a blast. It was a 200cc but had been modified a little and that damn thing was pretty fast.

I hung out with Sabinka last night and we watched a good movie and enjoyed some wine. It was the perfect end to my weekend and I had a good time. We talked about life and goals and missions a little and shared ideas with each other. Yup, now Im in the office, dealing with 25 something emails about tech crap. yay.

The race was ON!

A Beneteau 34 we passed

My boat. Yea, my jib needed to be hauled higher.

Healing pretty good here.

Chris on his Morgan25

Closeup of the Morgan25 I raced

I had a great day sailing on saturday! My Dad and my step Dad both came down to sail with me and I prepared them for the race that was going to take place against my friend Chris in his Morgan 25. We got the boat clean and loaded up with some lunch stuff and headed out.

We met up in the bay just outside the channel markers and we started raising the sails. Chris faked me out with reefing at first and I followed only to look up and see him under full sail. Damn! I unreefed and got the main and jib up as fast as I could and had my Dad at the helm start us on our first tack off to starboard. We quickly caught up to him and passed him and we turned back out to the bay as we were getting into some shallow water and I draw 4ft. All day Chris would get me on port tacks and I would hang right with him or gain on him on the starboard side. We did finally pass him and slamdunk him when I was at the helm and controlling a lot of the mainsheet. I passed within 15ft of him and completely stole his wind. What a great day! Later that night I got some praise for our performace that day. Not tooo shabby for some newbies.

Sunday brought colder weather with a northern wind and I decided to go out. Well the wind was dying off more and more throughout the day and by time we got a ways out the bay, it went totally calm with maybe 1-2kts of gust. Blam, we were becalmed. We decided to just hang out and drift and have some drinks. We had a good time and even motored over to some big 40ft Hunter and got them to give us some chips. It wasnt really my idea but it was funny nonetheless. We eventually had to motor all the way back in and as we were coming in, it started picking up again so we motorsailed all the way back to the slip.

Im really starting to get the hang of this I think. Its so incredibly fun out there. Im working on the boat and getting more and more things replaced and getting her looking good and sailing right. Ill be working on the rigging again soon. I still need to do my brightworks but, thats not at the top of the list. Enjoy the pictures.

Im Saaaaiiiling Awaaaaayyyyy

Yeeeaaaaaa!!! Well, the weather is looking like it is going to cooperate this weekend for some time to go sailing. I plan on sailing the whole weekend again if I can and spending the night on the boat saturday night.

Work has been a little easier as it has calmed down some. Thats good because it was stressing us all out pretty badly. I thought it was just me but our network admin and my friend called me the other night and asked if I was the only one who thought it was just going totally nuts at work. Its friday now, and Im hoping that it will be just nice and quiet today with the occasional issue and leaving me time to get some more important things done. I reeeeaaallly need to clean out our server room/tech bench.

So yea, sailing. Im stoked. There isnt much surf to speak of so thats what Im doing all weekend. Speaking of surf, we have been having a pretty wierd winter this year. Usually this is the time to get decent and frequent surf here in Texas but lately, nothing much has been happening. We've had a few good days dont get me wrong but its been nothing to write home about thats for sure. The water isnt too cold and is hovering around 59F at the moment.

I have been thinking of a vacation with my older brother Cory for the summer. I dont have a lot of time like I used to with the old job so I guess Ill just go somewhere for a week and a half and enjoy it as much as I can. Now that Im making decent money, I have been thinking of dropping some cash on a flight and heading off somewhere, Australia maybe? I just dont want to think about it too much because it depresses me that I dont have the time that I used to.

Ill try and shoot some pics this weekend while we are out on the boat. Have a great weekend!

Another Day at the Office

Its 8am.

As I sit down I notice the red "you have a message" light flashing on my phone.

3 emails are already in the box, waiting patiently to be read and tended to.

As I turn to fend off some emails, someone walks up with a laptop and tells me they are having logon issues with it, a problem that really doesn't make much sense. My focus changes now from the emails to the laptop in my face and I learn that this is a very unique problem, unique in a way that to fix it requires having a knowledge of a part of this network I have not yet learned. Another knowledge forms now in my brain, that knowledge is that the only person who does know this, is home sick. I wont call him and bother him because that is rude and my own struggle to have independant knowledge is stronger than my desire to call him.

IE7 is putting up a fight of epic proportions as it keeps crashing on close.

ICE Tcp printer configuration is out of whack.

We have a large amount of wierd traffic on our network causing congestion.

.....it is barely noon. Ohh how I want to be somewhere in Mexico right now with my only worry being that noon time wind shifts will soon turn the wind onshore and blow it out for lunch. Then Ill be forced to paddle in and eat and lay in my hammock as I wait for it to turn offshort again in the afternoon. I keep asking myself if signing up for this is really what I wanted.

Epic

So... this non posting business has gone on long enough. Its time to restart this blog!

Well, the latest and greatest news is I finally got the damn outboard back from the shop last weekend. Its very hard to be patient about something you buy and cannot use immediately, in fact, its been one heck of a lesson. Well, I got the motor back and God smiled upon me and blessed me with 2 full days of sailing in good winds in nice weather. Ohh, not to mention warm tempuratures as well.

The first day my step dad drove down. We prepped the boat and I went over a few things with him and we got her out of the slip and out into the lake. Ok, he has never sailed in his life and well, I have only been out maybe 2 times on other peoples' boats, never on my own. We decided to stay in the lake area and everything went well. We cruised around the lake for around 2 -3 hours under full main alone, I was a bit nervous about raising the jib too as this was my first time out. I practised tacking all over the lake and we made about 8 passes back and forth before we headed back in and called it a day. It was an amazing feeling to be out there and I was really having a blast. I went over to my friend Chris's house that night and had some drinks with him and his friends. He has a morgan 25 and has taken me out on his boat. He has been sailing for some 20 0dd years so he agreed to come out with me on mine the following morning to show me how its really supposed to be done and fully check all my rigging and make sure Im not missing something. I spent the night on the boat the night as I have been doing for the past weekends and slept great.

Rami showed up at around 11:30 am and I just returned from West Marine with my new mainsheet. I had totally shredded the previous one as it was the only line on my boat that I did not replace when I redid all the running rigging. We got everything ready to go and got some beer. Chris shows up and helps me with a stupid bowline knot I couldnt get to set for the life of me on the mainsheet. We start heading out and we decided to head out into the bay so we motor all the way across the lake and through the Kemah Channel. We had some asshole on a huge speed boat come from behind us s we were leaving the channel in front of the boardwalk and just blast through the middle of several sailboats and 1 other motor boat. The wake he left sent my 25' rocking violently and it really pissed me off. Is it illegal to shoot at someone with a flair gun???? We went out under a reefed main alone and cruised along nicely for a while. We could have ran a full main but we decided a nice easy sail was more ideal for the moment. We cruised along and headed way out into the bay and the wind slowly started dying down. About 5-8 miles out we unreefed and ran a full main and tacked back around and raised the jib. Even under full sail, we were barely making 2 knots but in no real hurry to get back, we just drank some beer and enjoyed the nice slow cruise with the waves now coming up from behind. About 45 minutes later, the wind started picking back up and we started gaining some speed. We adjusted our tack a little to be on a beam reach. Wow! We sheeted the main in a little and the next thing I know we are hauling ass! What a rush! Chris tells me we are making probably around 5-6 knots and we were heeling around 30 degrees maybe a little more. I loved the heeling especially and the smoothness as we effortlessly sliced through the waves. I let Rami take over on the helm and I went forward to the bow to just look around and take it all in. The weather was perfect, 75F, sunny skies, and now its 4:45 or so and the sky is an awsome color. Im looking at the sails, huge and filled with wind, carrying the boat along at this speed and giving us the ride of our lives. I could not have asked for a better sunday.

As for everything else, not much has been going on. I have been working a lot and just enjoying my time working in this environment and learning a lot. We have a great IT team here and Im glad to be a part of it. The surfing for me has been lacking. I can no longer do dawn patrols and gettin the surf to line up on the weekends perfectly just isnt happening. Ohh not to mention, the water is a toasty 56F and all I have is a 3/2. Bleh...

Today starts the day of my diet and goal to get into better shape and save more money. I know, I know, new years was last week, BUT, I never start my goals right on the 1st. I know how I think and I know most people fail. I give myself that extra week to still be bad and just get it out. Starting on the 1st is a daunting task, especially if you are super hung over the next day. The only thing Im thinking about is a nice juicy hamburger somehwere. So, I think Im ready. We have a mini gym in the garage now, so thats pretty cool. I really cant wait for this weekend. I hope the weather holds out and I can go sailing again!!!!

Working for the City

Well, I started last monday and so far, it is safe to say that I love it! I know it is only the first week but it has been awsome so far. Its crazy to say this, but I actually enjoy and look forward to coming to work. I never know what the day's challenges will be and I like that. We have a much bigger environment here than I did at the last job and I have tons of fun toys to play with. Its like being in mission control.

Everything else has been going ok. Im STILL waiting on the engine to get back to me from the repair shop and it is taking forever. They had to order another part so that delayed us another week. Im hoping and praying that it will be finished this week or sometime early next week. I would really like to get my boat out there before the dead of winter really sets in on us. I spent the night on her again saturday and I loved it. I worked on unclogging the anchor locker drain on sunday and finally drained the 3 some odd gallons of water that had been sitting around in there, darn leaves. I have been building a list of projects I need to start tackling and its a little daunting but exciting at the same time. Mostly just little repair jobs here and there. Its coming along, slowly but surely.

Well, there hasnt been too much surf to speak of around here lately. The water is getting chillier but as we keep getting some warm days, it warms right back up around 68 and then takes a crazy dive on the next cold front. It has been a little wierd this winter here in Texas as so far, it has been very mild, but we will see. Everyone can be quick to blame global warming and what have you, but Texas weather is always a little wierd. Its mild now but come January, we will all be saying "global warming whattttt?????". I need to hurry and get my but out there into some surf before it gets tooo cold as I only have a 3/2. I cant wait to try it out though, my older brother's friend just gave it too me for nothing! Its a pretty new o'neil so we will have to see how it does. Ok well, I have some issues I need to research so Im outa here!

Im home again

Well, I just got back from Mexico. I had a great time there and logged around 70+ more hours on Mexican busses. I blasted south to Punta Mita again where I was to hang out and see some friends and deliver some shoes that I had promised to buy for a friend there. I stayed the night in Debo's place, which, btw, if you ever visit Punta de Mita, I highly recomend you stop into Debo's and grab yourself one of her famous burgers or some awsome breakfast.

I had a good time there in Mita and I got to surf 2 days. I didnt drag my bored along for this quick little trip so I just rented an 8'0". Yes yes I know, but I had a damn blast on that log and it was the perfect size for the waves those 2 days. We had around stomach high and super long and clean lines. I got some great rides and just had a blast. I met a great couple from Canada and they were cool as hell.

My last day in Mita, I met a guy who had been sailing all around from the Bahamas. He took me out to show me his 40' ketch rig and I really enjoyed that. I havent had the chance to check out anything bigger than 36' and especially a ketch. A ketch is a boat that has 2 masts, the aft (back) one being shorter. There was a lot of rigging on that thing, but overall it didnt look too terribly complicated. He was a cool guy and a good surfer and we traded information back and forth, from surf spots to boating/sailing tips. He really inspired me.

Well, like I said, Im back and ready or action. Tomarrow I begin a new chapter in my life as a career man....for now. That should be some dull reading for a while, so Ill have to come up with some witty stuff or just start surfing and sailing as much as I can. I think we would all rather read about that stuff much much more than what I did during my 8-5.

Almost Done

Well, as it stands, I have about 4 more days of work owed to Jackson Hewitt, and then I'm out! I have around 5 days off before I start my new job, so I havent decided just yet where I will go. Im trying to watch the swell models and make my best guess as to where I can head off for a couple of days and score some good surf. South/Central Texas should be getting good for a couple of days around monday or tuesday, but north to central east coast Florida is going to be going off possibly better and longer. Damn decisions. I wouldnt mind driving to Florida for some good quality surf, but my surf buddy just bailed. He has a lot of doctor appointments for his back this upcoming week, so Ill be flying solo. Thats cool. I just dont know the Florida breaks like I know Texas, so I might just stick around here. I also Have the possibility of heading into Mexico for a couple of days to try and score.

So what has been happening in the blogosphere?? Is everyone throwing in the towel like Wiff? I hope not, cause I secretly know Wiff will be back. Haha, yeaaa... I have been thinking of working on an article about the stabbing for Drift Magazine but I havent fully decided yet. For thos of you that remember, I was lined up to do some writing for them about my trip but then backed off about exposing some spots that I traveled to and saw. Thats that elite-ist asshole in me.

The boat is still coming along. It has all new rigging now and the motor is in the shop so its a matter of days Im guessing. I need to hurry and get some insurance on that thing, so I can go sailing with no worries. I might go and do that today, but I think the office is closed. Damn. I have decided to relax a little about my poor boat. I talked with some great people at the recent ALS walk after party for our beloved Wes Ellsworth and they told me that as my first boat, my primary concern is learning how to handle her and learning all the aspects of sailing. They told me not to go crazy on new electronics and all that gear and just learn how she sails. If I decide to start heading way offshore then yes, I need to learn charting and spend some cash on some good electronics, but until then, I have the entire Galveston bay and Clear Lake to explore.

Ok, well, Im headed off to work. I know, I know, its the day before T-day, but o well. I gotta finish up so I can go surfing next week!

Back Back and Ready for ACTION

Well Im back from the cruise. We had a great time and I would take one again, however like I sa before, its not really my style.

We consumed just wayyyyyy toooo much alcohol. My final tab for 7 days was 600 dollars and well, Im hurting. Im pretty sure I wont be able to drink like that again for a long time, I just constantly pushed it. The reasoning behind it was my celebration of my death of my current self. Things are changing very very much on the personal front, and well, I got hired today at my new job. Ill be the 9-5 guy for a while so I can get my experience and certifications to move on and recover easier from long long surf trips. The money is very very decent for my level of experience (37K start) and they are willing to pay for my certs with Microsoft and well lets just say, those are not cheap. Its time for a temporary change. Waking up early. Working out. No more partying (at least weekday partying). Im watching all my friends grad from college, get married, move away for good jobs and it seems Im one of the last sticking to my guns. This is my gateway and only way to step it up to the next level and Im ready to sacrifice a little while to make it happen.

Anyways, Ill try and start posting regularly again. I have been slacking and Im trying to stop that. I have been working hard on the boat and all my parts for the engine just made it in today so hopefully that will be fixed in the next week or 2. All my rigging and everything is about to be ordered in a day or so, so brand new rigging is going to rock! She should be nice and ready to take out hopefully by the middle of next month. Ill keep everyone posted on my new career as a sailing surfing traveling maniac!

Leaving on Sunday

Im leaving on sunday for my cruise. Yessss! We are headed out for 7 days to Grand Caymen, Jamaica, and Cozumel. Cruises arnt really my style of travel, but it will be fun. I think the plan is just to drink as much as possible. The fun news is, a huge front is coming down from the NE, and its looking like some bigggggg seas we will be crossing. This should be fun!

http://polar.ncep.noaa.gov/waves/latest_run/wna_ecg.anim.gif

yeaaa......

My Bday!

Not much has been going on, just working and trying to get that new job. My birthday was monday, and Im now.....23. Umm, yea.

Ill write more later, been super busy!

Not much to say

Well, I dont have a whole lot to say here, just wanted to poke back in. I guess I gotta start keeping up with this thing again because that was my goal, to try and post as much as possible. Not too much has been going on. The boat is getting there, slowly. Im watching the weather like a hawk and just waiting for any sign of swell on our horizons. Its not coming.....

I might be making a job change. Yes.. Im thinking about tossing in the cards on my current job. The travel and all the time off are not worth it anymore with all of the crap I have to deal with and the wear-n-tear I do "non-reimbursed by the way" Im doing to my vehicle. So, Im exploring another option at the moment, and if it works out then I will post about it. It will pretty much signal the end of my traveling for now..... but.... it will provide the funding for that "UP AND VANISH" move that my current job cannot provide the cheese for. It will provide more working cash for the boat, and it will get me in on the cutting edge of IT work, which, is a true passion of mine. It will give me the means to get certified in all of the things I want so when I vanish, I can come back to something instead of nothing. Dont worry my few readers, Im not abondoning my dreams by any means. Im exploring another route to them. If anything, Im still on my path of living day to day, one day at a time, and trying to explore every option that comes my way. Im not a chronic job hopper, I prefer some stability. Yet, this opportunity is my newest sense of adventure for the moment. Im still living my dream, just in different contexts.

Another weekend on the boat

This is her, a 1983 Catalina 25. Yes, I know the sail is up, Im airing it out!

So, I spent another weekend down in Seabrook, Tx working on my boat. I didn't get much done this weekend but I did finish cleaning the starbord quarterberth. All thats left now is the head/sink and the Vberth in the bow. I really need to get to work on the wood on the outside but at the moment, Im trying to just get her ready to sail.

We had a bit of an issue with the outboard this weekend so hopefully we will be throwing it in the shop and letting those guys take a stab at it. At this point, Im just ready to hit the water.

Guatemala 2007

This is a small video I made of my Guatemala footage I had. Enjoy

The trip pictures are up!

This is a picture of Lago Atitlan in Guatemala from up on the highway leading down into Panajachel.

Well, they are up folks. You can see them at

www.flickr.com/photos/astraltx

They go from pages 1 through 7 and I will post some here on my blog as well. I keep hearing from people that I should write a book about this last surf trip and my new upcoming project, the Catalina. I have been thinking hard about it, and it sounds like a damn good idea. I love to write and writing a book would mean a lot to me. To know that people would actually be reading about my adventures thrills me and excites me. It pushes me to go out and do more! The next series of trips are going to be pushing things to the limit again. For next year Im considering the following...

1) Drive my RAV4 all the way to Panama and back.

2) Take buses/hitchhike/bum rides all the way to Panama and back for the ultimate backpacking experience.

3) Possible slight detour from surfing and head to Syria with my best friend Rami for a month or more. Once there, we will hit the buses and goto Lebanon and Jordan and possibly in Saudi Arabia.

Who knows. The possibilities are endless! Im really banking on number 1 and 2 though, I would love to see all of Central America.

Ahhhhhhhhhhh.... the wonderlust.

The surf here has been nothing to even mention or talk about. Its been flat as hell after hurricane Dean, which sucked anyways. My older brother's friend gave me a brandnew quicksilver 3/2 and I cant wait to get out in the lineup this winter in a new, good suit. Hopefully, I wont freeze my ass off this year.

And the Fun Begins!

Well, I'm already learning the fun stuff of being a boat owner. Today I had a guy I know come over and check out my rigging as I know absolutely nothing about it. He said it was satisfactory but I need to replace all of the rope and work on some of the rope guides. Then we pulled the outboard off to start the process of getting all of the algae and barnacles off of it to clear the water intake and prop. Yay, fun stuff.

The boat needs some serious cosmetic touch up inside the cabin. Mostly, a major cleaning and then refinishing all of the wood on the outside and touchup the inside. The wood inside is still in great shape, just needs to be cleaned. I have to work on a small leak coming from somewhere on the starboard side windows/hatch. It still remains a mystery. Today we plugged in the shore power and checked out the boats electrical system and it seems intact and working. We got all lights and fans running and what seemed to be a small charge moving on the deep cycle but Im not sure.

I cannot begin to explain the level of excitement from all of this. Its amazing looking at her in the water and just going, damn, thats mine, and I'm going to sail her like no other. I cant wait to get it fully ready to liveaboard. Im hoping to make that transition by the end of september if the money holds out. Ohh, Ill try and get some pictures soon. She's a 1983 Catalina 25. Shes 25' in length, beam of 8ft, draws 4ft, and has a fixed keel. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!
Also, I have all the pictures from Mexico and Guatemala ready to be posted, so Ill start getting them into Flickr sometime this week and Ill post the link. AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!! Im excited!!!!!

Approved

I checked out the boat saturday. She is awsome! Im going to have to reaaaaally spend some time cleaning her and working on it, but I already cant wait. Im extreamly excited about this and I think it will give me some direction in all these last months I have with no work. Im already compiling a huge list of projects I need to do, all mostly just labor not much cash.

So today I went to my bank and BLAM, they approved me for the $4,000 I asked for no problem. The guy lowered the price to help me out a little to $3,000 so that gives me an extra 1K to have in case of emergency needs for the boat. I will hang on to it for a while and eventually just roll it back into the loan payment if I dont need it after a few months of work. Im super excited and ready to begin working on her. Now I just need to get the title signed, get it registered and all that mess. Ahhhhhhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Im pumped!

Back From Surfing

Well, I just got back from a decent session down in SurfSide Texas, aka HillBilly City. I don't know what it is about hurricane swell but it brings out everyone who owns a damn board. I swear yesterday in the water some guy next to me was talking to his buddy about his board and he called the fin a "SKEG"! I almost threw up all over the place. Damn hillbillys on surfboards.

Anyways hahaa, I had some good rides. I wish I would have had my fish on me, but she is still under the knife in my garage to repair the nice rail damage I did with my shin in Mexico. So my rides were quick and to the point but it was still a little fun although frustrating at times for sure.

Not much has been going on, just working on some projects still with a friend. Last weekend I went to Mississippi to visit my older brother and some of my family and we had a blast. Free beers in Casinos are the greatest. A ton of drama has been going down between me and my ex in Mexico and basically well,,,, it just sucks to be separated from the person you love. So, that all has to come to an end because basically our circumstances just dont allow for it right now. Such a sad realization.

Well, I decided right now to spill the beans on project "New Apt/Exploration". This weekend Im headed back down to the coast to check out a 25' Catalina. Thats a sailboat for those who dont know. Shes pretty nice but small. It just happens to have the perfect price tag for living on it and learning the arts of sailing. It sleeps 3-4 people, has a bathroom(no shower), and a full kitchen with a table and benches. The guy is asking $3500 for it, and I think Im a go. I have been checking all the marinas in the area and getting everything lined up to live aboard and try that out for a while. Yes it will be hot. Yes it will be hard. Yes it might not work out too well. But, Im determined to make this happen. This is the first step to one day criss crossing the world looking for surf. I'd rather spend under 5k and find out if I like it or not than 20K. See what I mean? So thats been my primary concern for the past couple of days, and I will let you all know how it goes when I get back this weekend.

An Excerpt from My Journal

This is an excerpt from my journal from when I was in Mex. Its about the freedom of the road, and I wrote this at 2am when I couldn't sleep one night. Its a little... "off" but I thought it was pretty interesting when I read it the next day.

"The hunt for these damned elusive forms of energy. It almost seems insane at times, even to me. The joy though, especially of traveling, of living in the now, it's indescribable. Every day I just wake up, check the map, and we decide where to go. The freedom is just awesome. I have now seen the power of a vehicle and really how insignificant borders are. They are imaginary lines full of imaginary bureaucratic bullshit, designed to scare you and keep you out. But once you cross those lines, a whole new world opens up.

I could have driven around the world if I had wanted to, and had the time and money. You just hit the road, clear the border, and there is that much weight gone. You blast some Tome Petty, just roll with it, and take the next border as you get there. I guess border crossings are kind of like daily issues, but without the great reward for clearing it. Live in the "now", roll with the punches, its almost all illusionary. Drop the windows, put your foot down, crank the stereo. We just hit Guatemala. What's next? Honduras, Belize, El Salvador? Fuck... wherever I want. You can choose. Who knows what you will find there.

Roads are incredible things. They can open an entire world of fates, possibilities, and events, just by leading you somewhere. I truly believe that roads can be powerful tools and even healing objects when used correctly. Some people say that maps steer us in the the direction we need to go without getting lost, or as least as possible. Fuck that. They can do that when you use these poorly understood objects for such a mundane task. I look at a map and I see possibilities. I see hope. I see the unknown. Maps can help you escape reality. They can force you to live in the "now". Don't plan. Roll with it. Go left, right, straight, hell its your choice. If it doesn't work out then turn around and go back. Kinda sounds like life doesn't it??"


The night I wrote all of that, I had a lot on my mind. I was feeling good. I was feeling ready to conquer the world with my car and newfound freedom. My curiosity is so intense, its hard to quell it. I wish I would have driven into El Salvador and scored some good right hand point breaks. There is always next year, plus... who knows whats on the horizon hehehehehe.

Back in the Mix

Yeapp..... I'm pretty much fully back in the mix. I'm working again (not much, but working is working) and just trying to sort some stuff out for next year. Where to go?????? So many choices, I think I'll let my savings account decide next year. Im getting ready to sign up for some fall classes again but I have no idea what Im going to take.

My buddy Chris and I have been working non stop on a program that we really hope to sell to the small business market. We also hope that we can sell tech support services through this software and try and make a little more cash on the side with that. I really hope this works out. I would love to give out the details, but NO WAY! Its just toooo awsome!

Well, Im here at work right now, and there is about to be a supposed 6 hour meeting about pretty much nothing. This should be about as exciting as brain surgery so Im really looking forward to this hahaa.

Ill try and post more this month, I have some stories I want to relate from Mexico.

Im back

Well, first I just want to say Im sorry for everyone who still reads this piece of shit. Yea I know I hardly updated while I was in Mex but I was on a mission to keep an accurate diary this year and rewriting what I had just written seemed a little redundant to me. Also, trying to find or make the effort to walk to an internet cafe EVERYDAY or whatever to blog was just stupid. So, I want to say Im sorry.

Yea, so I got back on the first. I have been slowly trying to readjust to being here and its been hard as hell I can say that. Im trying to not drive like Im in Mexico. Im trying to fight the urge to pull over and grab a beer for the road to fight that traffic hahaha. Im trying to get used to hearing english everywhere I go, and change my thinking back to english. Im trying to get used to not surfing, exploring, or waking up to something new everyday.

Why is it such a crime to always want these things? Living dynamically as I have been for the past 2.5 months has been a life changing experience and one that I will never forget. I have been humbled in many ways and countless times on this trip. I wake daily now and no longer see my map. I no longer see options for my day. Now I see things I have to do. I see that routine filling in. I see no waves on my horizon.

I chased waves all over Mexico this summer. I scored great and I got skunked too on astronomical levels. That's the balance of this great activity that we surfers seek. One must pay the toll to keep riding. My tolls included many skunks. Getting stabbed. Living in a tent for 2.5 months. Crapping in things that could barely be called toilets. Somehow avoiding both Malaria and Dengue (I still dont know how). Getting sick countless times including food poisoning on the drive back home. Now Im back here, wondering what to do next.

On my last day in Mexico in Punta de Mita I did something I had set out to do but almost didnt. I drove out that afternoon and explored the Cabo Corrientes. What I found out there was simply amazing, and I drove merely 1/3 of it. I found little settlements of farmers and ranchers. I found towns where who knows when the last gringo came through. I found a beach that breaks good on NW swells that has a jetty and an all rock bottom. Has it ever been surfed? I doubt it. I found countless backcountry dirt roads for exploring for the patient. I found a little ranch where I bought some Raicilla, Mexican/Jalisco moonshine in an old dirty water bottle. I was glad I drove out there. It was long (6 hours) and hard but well worth it. There are still parts of Mexico on the coast that are untouched and this is one of them. Its absolutely beautiful, and for all those future land developers reading this, good luck, its all ejido and backcountry. You wont be able to get the infrastructure there for years, hell the road isnt even in barely passable condition in parts. So, just leave it be.

Im trying to decide what course to take lately. Im going to take some more classes this fall, thats a neverending mission. Just a few at a time, Ill finish eventually right? I need to start chunking back cash NOW to try and get a jump on the trip coming up next summer. Its looking like I may have 4 months off so thats going to be a little expensive on my end. Who knows where I will go. I have been thinking of many things. Drive to Panama? Australia? Bali/Indo? Im not sure what it will be but it will be good, thats for sure. Ill try to get back on this blogging thing. Sorry, my heart just isnt here right now.

I miss you Leslie

The phantom swell

Well our swell here in Mita has been taking the phantom route. First she decided to show her head almost 3 days late and it got good but not too lined up. Hrmm.... Joe and I got a boat to The Cove yesterday morning and it was big but not working that well. It was a solid 6 - 8ft with some bigger set waves coming through, but like I said, not that good. The first 5 minutes we were out there I had another brush with disaster. Im paddling toward this major set wave to try and get under it before it unloads on my head and I see this guy trying to take off on it. My first thought was "wow, this dude has some balls, thats a major drop and she is already looking like a closeout". I see him struggling and Im waiting to see which direction he will go so I can paddle out of the way when the wave starts pitching. He makes eye contact with me just as he eats it coming down the lip. I try and duck dive as hard as I can and just before I go underwater I see his board coming straight at me. I decide to not go too deep and I kick the tail of my board to angle her nose up and block my face. Good move..... kinda. It worked but the wave was so big it picked up me right as his board hit me in the head. I get flipped backwards and my own board is ripped from my hands by the force of the wave and I feel a leash wrapping around me. I became seriously entangled in his leash with both of our boards being wrapped up too. So here I am in the rinse cycle, now being dragged and hit with random boards and I cant make the surface. I really, seriously thought that I was going to drown but I did my best to stay calm and not fight the entanglement. I came out of the mess and immediatly saw another wave bearing down on us and got the fuck out of that disaster. He was apologizing profusely but I said it was all cool, I was just scared more than anything.

So that little incident set the stage for the rest of my session and I could not for the life of me make myself calm down and relax and just enjoy the waves. I took only one ride and it wasnt even worth writing home about. I got caught inside on a major clean up set and the second wave of that set decided that duckdiving a serious overhead wave as it slammed on me was not going to work. Yes... backwards through the rinse cycle again and that one had me coming up gasping. That was it for me. I paddled back out and sat there. I waited for the boat to come and just couldnt get my shit together. I had a lot on my mind as well and that didnt help either. So for the next 45 minutes, I sat there, like a fucking kook, dodging waves, and trying to rationalize some things in my head. I hate that crap. Sometimes surfing can get me to clear my head of all my problems and then other times it does nothing but make me think even harder about them.

Well Mita has been being nice to us again this year. Not surf wise but just meeting some cool people and all that mess. I think we have been invited to more free dinners and boat trips than I can recall. Im not ready to go home. My time is coming. We need to hit the road this monday or tuesday and Im not looking forward to it at all. I love Mexico. I love being on the road. I love surfing. Dammit...... what does it take??

Manzanillo

Well... after 2 weeks or something, we had to let poor Ticla go. Yes, we relenquished the hold on her waves and we decided to share. Of course I´m kidding.....

Ticla was amazing and we had a blast there. Too many beers, waves, tacos, and hamburgers to remember everything in order but I can say... I had a blast.

I want to give MAD PROPS to TACO JIM, hailing from LA... for eating 43 TICLA TACOS in 32 minutes!!!!!!! You will forever be remembered our linebacker friend!

Well, we have just 2 more weeks of this great trip and I´m sad to see it coming to and end. Its now or never, time to step it up. These last 2 weeks will not go down in any other way than spectacular. Yes.......... that´s the plan. PV and all those wonderful other waves in between.... here we come

in La Ticla

Well, I havent written in a long long while. Hell Im not even sure when was the last time I wrote. We are in La Ticla now and the waves have just been solid head to a couple of feet over head for the past 5 days or so. This left here is just fun and reeeeeeling without too much of a price for when you eat it. Only thing sketchy is the entrance and exit from the water, many many rocks and my feet are paying the price already.

Well, we had a blast up in Coleta de Campos and we stayed maybe a bit too long but that place was just addicting. The local family that owned the rest. we were staying in pretty much adopted us and when it was time to leave, phone numbers and promises of return were exchanged. We headed out past Maurata and Huihui (i think thats how it is spelled) because not much seemed to be happening and we got some stearn travel warnings for (wah wah). Evidently its pretty heavy there right now with the narcos and such so we just blazed on through.

Now in Ticla, we have us a solid Texas stronghold. There are a bunch of guys from Texas and we have been holding down the fort at our campsite hahahaa. Numerous nights of crazy partying, going dancing in the town dances and just general madness have been taking place. We have been hearing that the nickname for this place is Texla hahahahaha! We are camping with a guy who has been down here surfing in Mex at Ticla and Nexpa since the late 70s and even saw Petacalco breaking a few times before they built the dam. We are going to hang out a few more days here and then we will figure out what we are doing. Im trying to arrange a meetup with a cool guy from Cali out at my secret left point someone showed me last summer. We will see how that works out. Well..... until next time

CORY, HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, you ready for the cruise when we get back?????????? I hope so, and you better start practising your drinking, your going to need it.

Skunked in Zihuat

Well we found the Ranch a day or 2 ago.... been 20+ people since we found it. The a frames just to the right of it have been providing but today they got us. Super bad current and peaks everywhere that I could not for the life of me get lined up in. So paddling in, I had a talk with God and asked him why he has been skunking us so much. I prayed for a better session somewhere else. Then I stepped on a sting ray in the rocks. Thats a pain like no other hahahaha, and thank God the guys at El Burro Burracho (where we arw camping) knew to grab some plants off the beach and boil them. Pain and the fever gone in 45 minutes or so!

Yea we have checked everything in the area. Playa Linda sucks lol.

Troncones beach break produced a little right for me the other day and then yesterday it decided that it had enuogh of me sneaking into rights so it pounded the liiving hell out of me!

Saladita has been 20+ people and small since we arrived. Yea I have decided this place has tons of potential but is juust too DANG close to an airport for its own good. Take the American guys we ran across in Ixtapa 3 days agao (just after I posted my last post). We asked them about the ranch and all they would say is (you were close, try harder). Ok.... fuckk you dude, its not a secret spot by any means, and your sugar bottom flew in here and got a rental jeep and crap. I drove my sugar bottom off to get here, got stabbed in the arm in Tapachula, and got robbed again in Zipolite. I have earned my right to be at the Ranch! I wasnt asking about the best secret in mexico, i was asking about the ranch. What assssholes!!!

Anyways, yea... even to us its just funny. We just laugh and keep driving at this point. I REFUSE to believe that Mexico is a closeout from Puerto E to Guatemala. We just have some type of stars aligned against us or something. Maybe this is Gods grand design at a lesson from hell, Im not sure. Im sure of one thing, Im going to find some surf, some good surf, and Im going to surf my brains out. Its time for this trip to really commence. I knew I should have continued on to El Salvador when I was only 40km from the border!!!! but seriously, thanks for the tips guys. tomarrow we head for nexpa on a dying swell. Its more of a stopping point or something for us. Until next time, I can promise you that despite the lack of waves we are having a blast, and believe me., we are doing our fare share of keeping the Mexican breweries in biz

In Guerrero now....

Well, Barra de la Cruz was a complete slap in the face.

They now charge 20 pesos per person for beach access, even if you walk!!!!

They can have that sh!thole..... <_< <_< <_<

We blazed on and checked Huatulco and found the Bocana mentioned, just a large closeout in rocks at the time of my arrival....

Checked every dirt road north to Boca Vieja and other non mentioned bays and after 2 hours of dirt roads I said lets blast out to Puerto!!!

We made it to Zipolite (a little town before puerto) and surfed there a little... In the morning we were once again victoms of a theif and Joe lost his cell phone and camera. Yea we canceled the service <_< <_<

Puerto had too much attitude for me. I know you think I chickened out but it was only head high and on shore when I got there and TONS of surfers. We headed further north and scored a great wave for 3 days. wow that place was fun but tons of current. I guess you cant have it all right???

We left there and headed into Guerrero and found a great left point break. Free camping and super cheap food, perrrrrrect and this mornings session was pretty good despite the GIANT seaturtle that surfaced 3 feet in front of me for my semi heart attack of the week. :lol: :o :lol:

We are going to explore Guerrero some more, tons of potential here just south of the big A.

wiffleboy....... man..... I found the spot for you dude, wooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!! Ill send ya the details when I get back

Back in Tapachula

Well, after seriously considering entering El Salvador since we spent the night only 40km from it in Monterrico, we have headed back to Mexico. The drive was pretty long but the border crossing was fine. We are going to call it a night again here in Tapachula but in a hotel hahahha. No more free camping here in this city.

I just want to say thanks to everyone for leaving a comment. My arm is healing pretty good and we took the stiches out the other day. My nose is healing pretty fast also.

The surf in Guatemala was running but I dont think big enough. Im not going to write off that beach or Guatemala completely just yet. The waves in Monterrico do break right onto the beach, but I feel there was not sufficient swell to make it break a little further out. There is surf in Guatemala, its just a little elusive. The hotel was super nice and we only paid 100 quetzales (about 13 usd) to stay for 1 night, 2 people, and secured parking.

Well, tomarrow I think we are blasting to the Oaxacan coast line so Ill try and update as soon as I can.