okay this is why i like my engine room on seeker you walk up there's the engine and this boat
is underneath the companion way what's this that's the cooling pump engine cooling pump and there's
a raw water pump here it brings in the seawater okay so there's a heat exchanger okay we're still
locked into the dominican republic they uh they don't let us leave the armada the navy has shut
down all exit in fact sometimes if you're in their territorial waters and they shut it down they
tell you to come into port to stay and they shut down the beaches no wind surfing none of that
stuff either it's kind of like the nanny state and i can understand you know if the coast guard or
navy doesn't want to go out and save somebody's ass who's out there in the storm and sinking then
don't you know that's the way the world used to work we didn't used to have all these services
and so i'm okay with going back to you know if you don't want to do it don't do it i think
people should be given the option of making the choice themselves and someone will make
the wrong choice they'll end up on the newspaper yeah that's okay so battery cables coming to the
switch take the cables off the switch there's four bolts that come down into the motor unit
snap ring on the bottom and then the whole motor unit comes loose
and then four more bolts and we should be able to pull the whole thing up through the deck
charlie's tightening up the squeaky belt and i will say getting to the front of this hinge
it's a lot easier than getting to the front of mine there's a steel wall there okay here it comes
there you go [ __ ] there's a screw that's cut in half yep that is cool look at there
there's half a screw that is a work of art i tell you what you can't get any
better than that so you're worried about that crack right beneath that yeah yeah
bedding compound underneath stuff put it back on should stop the leaks yeah that's 4200
right in there made up of a cardboard template it's like a piece of like that so we'll get it
fabricated downstream somewhere and that will brace the slot out of this thing oh yeah baby
oh where are your holes now oh [ __ ] i cut it on upside down
rugs are all rinsed and dried they take me three times but i'm gonna get this door fitting
yeah it's time to go those waves were breaking 10 feet up over that thing when we got here now
they're just barely showing the tops forecast is calling for six foot and decreasing and
not much more than 20 miles per hour winds so it should be nice unfortunately
it's turned back into the trade wind so it's all coming from the east so
it's gonna be really close hold into motor sailing beautiful sunrise and time for one more hot shower
did one last bribe to the navy and we are out of here putting my clothes in the dryer and they're
doing fine i'm on no seasickness meds so if i get feeling queasy i'm going to test that wristband
now it's too fast
maybe maybe not
still seeing waves that are like 20 feet tall occasionally so it makes it an interesting day and
if you want more on sailing and stormy conditions and specifically weather in the tropics here
a book i just finished is at the mercy of the sea by john kreshner it's all about
situation not working out well for a few people
but there's always a good lesson in that and that's a lesson that you ought to know before you
come out here one of the things that you mentioned too is when they say the height of a wave they're
talking about the average of the top 30 percent of the waves so that makes sense that's why
even on today where we're supposed to have six foot cease you occasionally see one that's 18
maybe even bigger we've been burying the bowel but they're just few and far between so maybe
somebody will come up with a standard deviation for wave height here on it and it is a messy sea
and we also saw this smack too when you come across a shallow area or near one the waves
start reflecting in weird ways there they stand up a little taller and it's all in that book so great
story great way to educate yourself about sailing and have a good time and another gorgeous sunset
and you've heard of the marianas trench but have you heard of the puerto rican trench
the puerto rican trenches under us right now it's 26 700 feet to the bottom right here
okay this is what a squall looks like to me it looked like a little shower over there
wind winded wind went up to 35 miles an hour and the wind is coming in sideways so the second
shower this morning that's it back down to 16. moved off it didn't take but less than 15 minutes
but the weather forecast is not good so we're heading up to rico harbor we're still waiting for
our clear ups what we want is that blue sky above us and then there's no possibility of a down draft
and the wind picking up like that again so we're playing caution see we just got a little scrap
of head sail out there i mean that's just like three and a half feet maybe and we got two reefs
in the main zone not a lot of sail out just enough to make one or two knots the downside
to it is we can point the boat where we want to go but we're actually moving that way because
there's so much side slip in the boat that's what a keel and a sailboat does it stops you
from sliding sideways but you got to have speed and water coming over that keel to make it work
looks pretty [ __ ] rough
it's a friendly little lighthouse and we need it because we gotta go through right there
you have club ponce yacht club poncey club sailing vessel osprey
and anchored off because we don't want to go into that part with the wind blowing like this
listen to that it's 2 a.m there's not a breath of wind out there so much for that gale oh well
oh
yeah your first meal yeah that's right how many days has it been four
yeah four days since i've been able to hold down food well i mean or drinking and it's a
beautiful morning here in puerto rico but when was it windy last night before or after 2 a.m
before so apparently i missed the windstorm i laid down at 9 o'clock and i was out i mean
i remember talking to customs on the video phone that was a customs guy right yep yeah that's easy
to do they got a nap for it fantastic world within it you don't gotta go to their office anymore
so back at the dominican republic we had meals and drinks and you know i was feeling great
had a pizza that last night and that was the last food i could touch man i got back on the
boat and you know do my thing i'd throw up and i go back to work but after four days without food
and without water it starts to get weird you know so i can still handle some sales but boy
you could feel the energy going away so and yes it's strange too because i have flown with my dad
you know chasing deer with a bonanza the bonanza does 120 miles an hour the deer don't you're not
asking what are we doing it's like oh we're seeing where they hide down it's like well they're not
going to hide down here ever again okay because you're terrifying the poor critters but anyway
um and then i've been on you know i went sailing for a week you know that was like 14 years ago
nothing roller coasters nothing even even flying with my brother you know we'd pull go out and
pull you know that that thing where you do the stunt where you stall the airplane let it fall
and say you're you're floating inside the cabin along with oil cans and dust and everything else
that's in the cabin but anyway that's uh i didn't think this would be that bad but boy it is bad
now does that change plans with seeker and the answer of that is yeah of course it does i can't
spend three months at a time out on the oceans in bad weather so it radically changes what i
want to do with it but it's just what i want to do with it it doesn't radically change my
life for my ideas or anything else i you know the beautiful thing about the whole project is that we
have brought people in that were connected with that i would trust implicitly to operate seeker
um that charlie is definitely one of i mean i'm learning from him he's the guy that would teach me
how to do this on the water on seeker anyway and we will but we're going to keep it you know short
and i'm going to do whatever i can to get past this you know it's like there's so many people
like wow you can't you're seasick you can't go to the ocean no you just got to figure out a way
around it you know i made it through college for [ __ ] sake you know if you saw my grades in junior
high and know my reading level that is that is an impressive achievement right there i don't have to
have a phd i just made it through college so i think i can get through just about anything in
one way or the other you know everything requires some modification sometimes cheating is involved
so you get done what you got to get done the way you have to do it because the world is made for
cookie cutters you know everything's got to be the same and that's just not how we are we're
not all the same we're all different but we can all find our niche and our way to fit into it you
know people will say well that's strange or that's weird or that's stupid it's like yeah [ __ ] them
you know do what works for you that's what i'm going to do and what works for me is i can operate
seeker i can fly out to her i can put great people on border that can operate across open water
where i can't stand it for for more than three or four days i mean i don't mind throwing up just but
you know after a while you gotta drink water um and there may be a fix for that too i mean i've
already had all kinds of suggestions strange ones too keep them coming they're interesting to hear
and here's the other thing too is i love the sailing stories i'm getting so
post those into the comments i read every one of them now if you're you're an armchair admiral that
wants to tell charlie what he's doing wrong go yourself we don't give a forget about you okay
you have no credibility out here because you're not out here you had credibility at
one time that's fine great tell one of those stories because those stories are inspiring
and that's what we're really about is inspiring others so you've got a good sea story out there
and a storm or something like that let us know what it was okay i gotta get to laundry this is
the washing machine this is part of the laundry and see it's just got this little gadget that
and well i don't know i guess i'm supposed to have that on there too okay anyway i gotta get
to it thanks guys kind of like making cheese i mean it really is i suppose we've worn this long
i must go down to the seas again to the lonely sea in the sky and all i ask is a tall ship
and a star to steer by
you