Still not down here.

The Owens is still not here. It's about 3 hours north of Yorktown (where I live now) to where she is. She weighs 5800 lbs, and isn't on a trailer. Getting her moved is proving to be quite a project. Looks like it's going to cost about $950, although I've got feelers out to try and get it done for less. Luckily, I have a sale I was starting to think I would never close bringing me in about 2 grand. That should be enough to get the boat down here, and take care of dry dock, supplies, and leave a little left over for beer to coax friends into coming over to sand and paint. As soon as I get her up on blocks I'm going to take some before pictures to post here, and you can check back every once in awhile to see how it is progressing. This is a classic 1963 28ft motor yacht, single inboard, Honduras mahogany frame, and plywood hull. She's got great bones, but she's been out of the water for about 3 years, and the cover didn't cover one corner of the stern, so there's rot in that one spot, but it can be stopped and rebuilt fairly easily. I'm going to spend all my free time for the next couple of months giving her some badly needed TLC.

My Owens

I just bought a 1963 Owens Baroness Flagship. I fell in love with her on first sight. She needs a lot of TLC, but she's a great boat. I'm going to put her into shape, and then I may sell her. I mean there is something absolutely beautiful about an old wooden boat, but my interests are already shifting. Once I get her to live aboard condition I will enjoy the low cost of not having to keep an apartment for awhile, and try to start saving for what I now feel is the project of my future. I want to build a solar/sail hybrid cutting edge submerged hull design. I see pictures in my dreams. Submerged hulls are so much more hydrodynamically efficient that either solar or small sail would drive them, and both would give 2 earth friendly options for motive power and also provide for onboard electric power. I have not yet researched stabilty for a tall mast on this kind of hull, but what I saw in my dream had low extended sails like a bird's wings slanted downward in front from horizontal and steered/course optimized by pulling down on the tips. Most tall masted conventional sailboats have a deep keel for stability. How stable would a HARTH design be under conventional sail, or under my dreamed design? This is just one of a thousand questions, and my dream is not yet on a timetable. When I put it on a timetable maybe God will provide the funds. I've pulled out of stocks, invested in e-bay trading, done fairly well, invested in a boat as living quarters to cut expenses. Conceived, but not yet executed the next phase of my business plan, all part time of course, while trudging along the college educated everyday job rat track towards a "middle class" future which I may or may not have the temperment to ever achieve.

I'm reaching a point in my life where I am starting to envision what I really want. Money is great for making your dreams come true, but putting it in the bank doesn't excite me anymore. Maybe one day soon I will meet a woman who sees my dreams, and understands my hard thought out goals. The main idea is to invest in those things which will make me happy and be better than what "the Joneses" have from my point of view without tying me inextricably to a desk in an office doing tedious work to pay the money I already spent to companies that raise the rates and tell me "It's in the contract." Although 7.9% was in a huge font at the top while 29.99% default rate was not even on the front page and not legible without a magnifying glass, and even if they are there the things that make them able to raise the rate are too mystical for my mind. I think it is almost certainly tied to the fact that the banks charge you more when you can least afford to pay, and only give you more credit when they know you don't need it. The brilliant logic of the banking industry is that the guy who never missed a single payment will start missing payments when his debt to income ratio crosses point X on the chart, and that the guy who misses payments, but has the money deserves a lower rate and an increased line.

Anyway, sorry, this isn't about the rat race this is about escaping into something far more satisfying. Somplace where spending money makes you feel good and hard work is rewarded palpably. Where even if you overspent a little the feeling of the sun and the wind on your face cleanses your soul and erases all those silly worries. It's about going to a place where the beauty of the world as God made it is there for enjoying. It's about letting go and knowing you'll stay afloat. It's about sitting on the aft deck and dreaming of that someone special who would sail off into the sunset with you without asking what will we do for money? You already know you'll ebay drop ship, and make enough for the celluar broadband global internet, satellite cable, and unlimited cellphone. Stuff like food is incidental, gas, you don't need it. There are places you can sail where food is there for the picking. Places where you can fill the freezers and cabinets for 6 months on 50 bucks. There's no rent to pay, there's no utility bill, heck, you don't even need gas, just the sun and the wind, and a new horizon to see.

It's still just a dream, but this page is dedicated to getting me there, and if you can see the dream, come along for the ride. First things first, put the Owens in pristine condition. Sell her and clear about 10 grand. Use the ten grand for materials and build the dream boat by hand from scratch. Launch the dream and exit the rat race stage left. Don't know if birdwing sails are pratical, or just a dream metaphor for freedom, but I'll find out.