Making cruising money.

As mentioned in a previous post we spend our summer months at home to get away from humidity, bugs and hurricanes south of the border and head north to see family and friends and hopefully add a few shiny coins to the cruising kitty.  We have two Duece and Half Military 6x6 tankers that we do summer contract work for wildland fires here in southern Oregon.  As this summer approached the fear of large fires in our forests this summer was in high gear.  At one point I heard that the fire danger was supposed to be 300% greater than anytime in the last 5 years.

Fires were rampant throughout Oregon and Washington this summer but here in southern Oregon we did not have one substantial fire.  They were all very small and after speaking with the managers of each of the four districts that we are contracted with, not a single private contractor was hired in any of those districts.  The rest of the state pretty much turned black this summer but southern Oregon is still green.  Although we could have used the money working fires, it is a great blessing that our area dodged a major bullet this summer.

After sitting for most of the summer, Marne and I decided that we needed to earn some money somehow so we re-purposed the trucks and set about delivering water to rural property owners who needed water due to failing wells over the last several years of drought.  We did not make a ton of money but learned the ropes and we will definitely use the new found knowledge that we gained in the water delivery business as we enter into next summer here at home waiting for fires.  

That's a wrap on the summer.  We are packed and ready to roll out Monday heading south through southern California and on to Mexico.

SV Liahona

Bret and Marne

The packing game.

We have been here stateside for a little over 4 months now and it is getting close to the time to pack up, bug out and head south.  According to Google Maps it is 1505 miles from home base here in southern Oregon to the Liahona based in San Carlos, Sonora Mexico.  The drive can be done in 2 long days but recently I have made it a 3 day trip.  This time around we plan to make it 4 days with stops in Huntington Beach, San Diego, Tucson then south across the border to SC.

Today found Marne and me packing up White Lightning, our trusty 1991 Honda Civic.  Over the last 4 months we have accumulated quite a pile of stuff to bring down with us to the boat including a new windlass, two new deck hatches, new running rigging, LED Christmas lights, fishing gear, and a LOT more. Not to mention all of the provisions that we know we can't find in Mexico, not the least of which are several bags of premium coffee beans.  The last items to be added to the load will be two brand new surfboards that I bought out of San Diego and we will pick them up on the way through and put them up on the roof rack.

We spent about 3 hours packing and repacking until we finally got every last item shoe horned into the not so spacious car.  It is definitely loaded to gills and the suspension is slammed which will make it very slow going up the mountain passes out of the valley and then again going up the Grapevine on the approach into Los Angeles.  The last time I went south the car was similarly loaded down and if I hit a bumpy section on the freeway doing 60 or 70 mph the muffler would drag and a slew of sparks would spew out from under the car.  In Mexico they have long, rounded speed bumps just before you enter each little town.  Those I had to cross diagonally in order to not get high centered.   Doing so usually solicited negative responses from whatever vehicle was behind me as they were trying to figure out why I crossed over the bumps at a 45 degree angle and in the process used up both lanes.  All part of the fun and adventure!

Departure day is set for Wednesday, Sept. 30th.  It has been a long summer and we are both out of our minds excited to blow this pop stand and head to Mexico.

Pretty slammed but ready to roll south of the border.

 That is about as much as this trunk can handle!

The back seat still has our two bags of clothes and personals to be loaded as well as the new ice maker...It will be full too!

My father's dream...fueling my dreams today.

Just before launch in 1979

When I was in high school in the late 1970s my family took a trip to Hawaii during the Christmas holidays.  While there my parents went for an afternoon "lunch cruise" on a 40' foot sailboat. Neither of my parents had ever been on a sailboat before and after returning my dad couldn't talk about anything else. Wheels were in motion in his brain that could not be halted and by the time they got back home to southern Oregon he announced to the family and his close friends that he was going to build a boat and sail around the world.  To which the common responses were "Crazy talk"! "That Mike Mitchell, he's a dreamer"! Everyone including my mom pretty much just ignored his crazy talk, because that's all it was to them, figuring it would pass soon enough. However, his mind was made up.

Not long after coming home my dad subscribed to every sailing, boating, and ocean magazine he could find.  If there was a picture of water on the cover, he subscribed to it.  The articles in those magazines were his education.  If he was going to have a sailing vessel built to carry his family around the world he needed to know what kind of boat and why. Within a few short months he had several binders that contained clipped out articles from the magazines on everything from keel types, sail plans, marine engines, generators, electrical gadgets, safety equipment and more.  If memory serves me right he had 5-7 of those binders, all filling up fast, all categorized, labeled and easily accessible to be used in his decision on what boat to buy.

After several months he had gathered enough information to know what kind of boat he wanted to have built.  His base premise for a boat to take his family around the world in was sea worthiness.  A heavy weather, go anywhere boat and the manufacturer that best fit his dream boat was Westsail out of Costa Mesa California.  He liked everything about the Westsail except for the available floor plans for the 42' yawl rig that he wanted.  He made a trip to the factory in Costa Mesa and met with the owner and asked him if Westsail would be willing to custom build the interior to his specifications. The answer was a quick and easy "NO".  "I am sorry Mike but we don't do custom builds and we never will".  Before leaving the Westsail corporate offices he managed to get a blueprint of the hull and then flew back to southern Oregon.

After several months of designing what he considered to be a far superior interior for the 42' hull, he flew back down to Costa Mesa to meet with the powers that be.  Before they even sat down they reminded him that they did not do any custom interiors nor would they consider it.  After a little pleading they did, however, agree to humor him by looking at his drawings. After considerable time mulling over his custom plans not only did they agree to build his boat but later offered his interior design plans as on option on all 42' Westsail hulls.

At the factory in Costa Mesa

Mom and dad christening the Liahona before the virgin launch

Fast forward a year and a half and many, many trips down to SoCal to see the progress of his dream, the Liahona was completed and ready to be launched.  She was launched in the Newport harbor in March of 1979, my junior year of high school.  During the building process plans were made to make the maiden  voyage of the Liahona down the Mexican coastline and up into the Sea of Cortez during the summer of 1979.  Keep in mind that as of that time nobody aboard the Liahona even knew how to sail.  After the boat was launched my dad hired an "old salt" named Al Adams to take us out for the afternoon and teach us how to sail.  All told, maybe 6 hours or so of sailing lessons that afternoon, a few days later we tossed off the dock lines and pointed the bow south of the US border toward Cabo San Lucas. Trials and errors were our teachers and with a fair amount of luck added in we enjoyed a great 3 months in the Sea of Cortez.

 Mark Skillman (on left) and me showing off our bounty. Escondido Bay. BCS

Mom looking on at the Liahona from a friend's boat. Mark and me on the bow sprit. Isla San Francisco. BCS.

The Liahona returned to our home port in Newport Beach at the end of that summer and we made preparations for a year long trip going south via Central America, through the Panama Canal and up the mainland side of the Caribbean. The journey was to begin as soon as I graduated from high school in 1980. Without going into the wondrous details of that life changing trip, we arrived in Galveston Texas about 14 months after setting off.

As to my father's dream to sail around the world, that never materialized.  In 1983 at the end of a long day riding horseback tending to projects on our ranch east of Ashland Oregon, his horse spooked, bucked and my dad hit the ground head first and spent the next several weeks in a coma.  That one event changed much for my family and one of those things was his dream to sail around the world. Although he never actually circumnavigated he pushed forward with his dream in the face of laughter, gossip and disbelief.  It was HIS dream and NOTHING dissuaded him.  The partial fulfillment of his dream was realized by pure determination to follow his heart and ignore the naysayers. It changed our lives, and in particular, my life, forever.

35 years later I sit onboard my own Liahona and follow a path that was forged by him. I love you dad.  Thank you for being the forerunner of my life aboard and the Johnny Appleseed of my cruising dream.  I am ever grateful!

Preparations for another season in the warm waters of Mexico.

As the 2015-2016 cruising season approaches Marne and I are in high gear getting all of the preparations ready to head south.  During hurricane season our boat is on dry dock in San Carlos Mexico, about a 25 hour drive from home base here in southern Oregon.  Although it is a fair distance, it is still manageable and allows us to bring down needed gear and provisions for the upcoming season.   While we are on the boat we keep a list of needed items that are best to be purchased stateside and after several months aboard the list tends to get quite lengthy. This last trip to Oregon found us with a list about 3 pages long...about the norm.  While at home we scour the internet sourcing the various parts and pieces that we are looking for as well as build or make others while here on land. This last week found Marne and me over at my mom's house making pillow cases for the new bedding that we will be putting in the pullman berth.

And here is a view of the gear that is accumulating waiting for the trip southbound, with much more to come.

Something else that is always on our mind is how we can make a few more pennies for the cruising kitty.  The current plan is to do contract work for Oregon Dept. of Forestry delivering water for wildland fire fighting.  We have two water trucks (tenders) that are on contract in 4 counties here in southern Oregon.  This particular summer has been interesting.  Although half of Oregon and Washington are on fire, to date we haven't received any calls for our services in any of the counties that we have contracts with.  We still have about 4-5 weeks left before we leave so we will have to see what happens on that front.  

We thought the new company name and logo is quite apropros!

However, when all the financial considerations were being evaluated to realize my dream of being a liveaboard cruiser, fire fighting was definitely not part of the plan so if there are no fires for us to work all will still be well and I'm sure that the deer, elk and other animals that live in the forest will be happy that their particular neighborhood isn't shades of grey and black.  So everything is bueno bueno and we move forward with excitement awaiting another season of adventure and surprise. Until next time.

SV Liahona

Bret and Marne

Land lubbing fun. Washougal 2015

When the boat goes on the hard in late spring we have about 3-4 months at home in southern Oregon to visit, get chit done and have a little fun while we are there.  One of the annual trips is our pilgrimage to Washougal Washington for the AMA Motocross National that has been going on there since 1980.  I myself have never missed a year since my first visit in 1994, racing on amateur days with a couple of buddies and every year we dads brought along the kids, even when they were in diapers.  My kids, like me, have been going ever since and this year was no exception.
The trip started on Tuesday driving the 4 hours up to the Portland area and riding Mountain View MX then on to the other side of the Colombia River Gorge to Washougal where we would set up camp the next morning and spend the rest of the week with our "moto family".  Thursday and Friday the amateur riders get the chance to race on the same track as the pros with the professional riders competing on Saturday.  Both of my boys raced and I stepped up as well riding in the 50+ class on Thursday and the 40+ class on Friday.  As usual, it was a great time and we are already looking forward to next year!