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Author Topic: Sailing to Alaska  (Read 1799 times)

Offline Night goat

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Sailing to Alaska
« on: May 08, 2019, 05:59:02 PM »
Being a boat mechanic for a living I am in a unique position where I have facilities and services that make an otherwise monumental project for an after work and weekend afternoon venture. Having commercial fished a number of years in Alaska ive unavoidably learned the way North and have an understanding of those waterways.

Growing up ive always had boats in one form or another drspute being the only member of the familly with any interest in the sea. In high school I even quit the football team the moment i found out there was an after school sailing program, and eventually found myself working part to.e in a yacht yard sweeping floors and cleaning engine parts. I was notorious for finding cheap or free boats on craigslist and as soon as i had my jeep, i was towing derilicts home turning my moms driveway into a backyard boatyard, and made some pretty awesome flips turning free or no more than 700$ boats into flips as high as 5000$.

After my stint at the first boatyard i eventually got into boat building, and when the economy crashed in 2008 i was able to eek by til about 2009 having my own place, a decent boat, my jeep, and dog i shortly found myself without a job living back at moms house, getting into trouble, and after a brief encounter with the law decided it would be best to do anything that would feed into the adventure of boat life, so i started commercial fishing.

Fast forward 10 years, i now have a comfortable job at a boatyard as a full service marine diesel mechanic. Having spent years on Alaska fishing whatever fishery I was curious about, it resulted in half a dozen North Pacific and inside passage crossings a piece, extensively exploring Southeast and Prince William Sound, and surviving winters on the Bering Sea crabbing for Opilio, and even an attempt at living the highlife in Hawaii in the off season and fishing in Alaska when the cash ran out.

Having the job I have now has kept me in one place for the longest time ive stayed put, and the wanderlust is a sailors curse.

About a year and a half ago, i was broke, bored, and restless so i tried my hand at some cragislist fishing. The style of boat I normally prefer is a small but capable sailboat 19 to 22 foot in length that I can keep on a trailer in my yard and tow with my Jeep. That keeps the adventure close at hand, and for 10$ in gasoline i could disapear for a week or two. Keep in mind those smaller boats only needed a 2.5 or 4hp outboard and would sip fuel. I could make a 2 gallon gas can last a week, and sailing kept sitting on a boat for hours interesting. I made a craigslist add seeking a small cheap sailboat a boat pro like myself could fix in in a few months and to provide a cheap getaway.

Lets rewind a few years to when i was crabbing up in Alaska....

I came home one season with a 27,000$ check and promptly did what any 24 year old would with that kind of money.... I went straight to Cabelas and filled up 3 shopping carts worth of gear including an Alaknak 12x12 and vestibule with EVERY SINGLE doodad and option and boonied up to my buddy's house where we promptly set that thing up in his parents yard. Given how they lived 2 miles down a dirt road out in the woods, just outside of town, we raided his moms living room, grabbed all the furniture, went to the store and got as much beer as we could carry and called up everybody we knew. I also came home with 100lbs of king crab in boxes from the cannery, so we RAGED for 4 days solid

His parents didnt say a word to boot.

I also wanted a boat, but didnt want to pay moorage so i bought a 1000$ sailboat on a trailer and loaded my Alaknak named Tentzilla (cuz its big, green, and breathes fire) into my boat and it spawned and idea.... I now had a portable cabin that i could set up on any beach i wanted.

Bear with me here folks because i am actually writing this sitting at the bar waiting for my dinner to be ready, but will continue this as i go...

Anyway, the result of my craigslist fishing landed me the usual rotted out boats with more work required than sale value until one came across my radar... And i bought it.

Its a 1979 Catalina 27 (foot) Tall rig. Which any sailor will recognize as the VW camper van of boats. Built cheaply and lightly, the model line started in the early 1970s and ended in the late 1990s having produced over 6700 boats making it the most popular and common 27 foot boat in the world. True to its VW counterpart,

I honnestly appreciate patients as this is, and always will be an article in progress.

I doubt writing a grand story was ever something I ever intended, as this saga will dead end after a while, but will always be a work on progress, but in the days of Youtube and Instagram and whatever bogus government sponsored mega corporation owned media/CIA-FBI listening outpost has issued to the post 1990s to infinity and beyond generation, I lay within the exception and respect the age old tradion of story and to an extent the works of the late Hunter S. Thompson, that self immersion is the key to a good story.
« Last Edit: May 08, 2019, 07:18:05 PM by Night goat »

Offline Fl0und3rz

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Re: Sailing to Alaska
« Reply #1 on: May 08, 2019, 06:15:33 PM »
Tag.

Offline Ghost Hunter

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Re: Sailing to Alaska
« Reply #2 on: May 08, 2019, 06:32:26 PM »
Following along.  Enjoy your dinner.   :tup:
Economy failure = Too many people spending money they don't have on things they don't need to impress people they don't like.

Offline pd

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Re: Sailing to Alaska
« Reply #3 on: May 08, 2019, 08:32:41 PM »
Is your other name CRyder?

BoatRyder?

Keep at it. Good story thus far.
Si vis pacem, para bellum

Offline 3boys

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Re: Sailing to Alaska
« Reply #4 on: May 08, 2019, 08:46:43 PM »
Sounds like a movie in the making. Get a webcam and satellite service. I will follow along!

 


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