Dana’s 40th Birthday Party

My bride displaying all her birthday presents. Sunglasses, slippers, and a SNUGGIE!

First IPhone Post

This is the first post I’ve written from my IPhone.

Cabin Site

Lots of people have been asking us to post pictures of the cabin site. Sadly, we are only recently beginning to take many. Although we often scoff at  all the photo sharers on the intertubes, it seems a good way to view this kind of thing.  There are too many pictures to post here on the blog.

Try this link: http://picasaweb.google.com/davidbethancourt/CabinSite

Most of these were taken either just before or just after the bulldozer came and really leveled the site off well. We’ve been mainly clearing trees and sawing logs for the last month. We’ll be laying the foundation for the garage next week with any luck.

Bye Bye Baby

We sold More Cowbell a few days ago. Below is the final picture we took of the boat.

MoreCowbellFinalPicture

We just could not justify keeping the boat on the coast while we were living and working in Michigan. We’ll use the proceeds from the sale on building the log cabin. Or maybe a tractor. Haven’t decided yet.

The new owner seems very knowledgeble and has big plans for the boat. Bigger than our plans ever were. We wish him well.

Why Men Who Are Nearly 40 Should Not Take Up Mountain Biking

Take a look at what happened when I decided to take up mountain biking. Looks like the movie star career has hit yet another snag.

FacialScar

Apparently my bike handling skills are not what they once were. It’s like my mind remembers how to do it, but my body just won’t take action!

Oh. And this is the after picture. If you look closely, you can see the ten stitches that the ER tech used to patch up my face. The before picture was just too gruesome to publish. Don’t worry. I’m fine. Feel sorry for Dana. She has to be seen with me in public.

A Mathematician’s Lament

Ran into this the other day on the intertubes: A Mathematician’s Lament.

I’ll summarize the article if you don’t want to do the reading (the article is quite long.) Math is art. Math education is broken; mostly because we teach procedures and definitions in math class, not problem solving. To fix math education, we need good teachers who will let their students solve problems. Reciting multiplication tables is not problem solving. Remembering the definition of a whole number is not problem solving. Finding the least common multiple of two fractions is not problem solving. Those are definitions and procedures. Following instructions should be de-emphasized in favor of exploratory logic. Only then will math students enjoy math. Some kids will be really good at math. Other kids will struggle. That’s ok.

Math as art is an interesting discussion. Chess, in it’s abstract form is a big math problem. And good chess is definitely art. I can remember replaying some of Bobby Fisher’s chess games, and being in absolute awe of the logic of what he was accomplishing. That guy was like a force of nature. Too bad he went crazy.

And geometry always felt like the real math to me anyway.

And the rate equations in calculus.

Everything is a rate equation.

And Now For Something Completely Different

We spent April and most of May living on the boat in Charleston, South Carolina. We got a good deal at St John’s Yacht Harbor. Great city. Love the history. The people are cool. And they speak with a killer accent. We made a brief trip to Texas to touch base with some friends and family. Then saw friends in Atlanta and Baltimore. We were also able to meet up with several cruising friends while in Charleston.

While in Baltimore, we had a conversation with our old college roommate, Andrew. We were talking about building a log cabin in Michigan on land that has been in Dana’s family for generations. We purchased logs several years ago, but had done little else. Dana’s father gave us the “If you’re gonna do it, now would be a good time.” speech at least once. But we were a little scared to press the go button on the cabin. It will be tough to afford, even though we plan to do much of the work ourselves. Andrew asked us a tough question; “What are you waiting for?” We could not answer. Now was a good time. We’re jobless. Homeless. Hopeless. What better time than to move to Michigan and start building that cabin we’ve been dreaming about?

One week later we were in Houghton, MI, looking for jobs and rental houses. We’ve got a site picked out and we’ve begun clearing the land. We learned how to use a chainsaw. We drove a skidder. If you’re not from the deep woods, you might not know what a skidder is. Check out this picture.

The boat is up for sale. You can find the details here if you like. We will probably cruise again. Just not in the next few years. We want to get Sam through school before cruising again.

Charleston, SC – 03-April

We made it back to the States. The trip back was a little squirrelly. We had thunderstorms, unpredictable wind, and a new speed over ground record. Sam is the current record holder at 11.7 knots. That Gulf Stream can be a wonderful thing when you’re headed north.

We arrived at the dock in South Carolina after two nights at sea. We made 350 miles in about 50 hours. Not bad for a 40 foot cruising pig. We’d heard that the customs authorities in Florida were pr!cks. So we opted for landfall a little further up the coast, in Charleston, SC. Checking back into the country was friendly and straight forward. The Charleston customs agent assigned to our boat seemed unaware of the cruising permit that Florida customs agents require but which we had neglected to purchase.

The only remarkable bit of the crossing occurred one night in a heavy thunderstorm. Perhaps this dramatization of a Brief Conversation That Might Have Occurred Between Me And My Beautiful Bride Regarding the Non-Deterministic Nature Of Thunderstorms will sufficiently illustrate the nature of our plight.

Me: Ok. Your watch. I’m heading below. Wake me if you need anything.
My Beautiful Bride: Honey?
Me: Yes Dear?
My Beautiful Bride: That thunderstorm up ahead looks dangerous.
Me: Yep.
My Beautiful Bride:
Me:
My Beautiful Bride: Should we alter course?
Me: Ok. Lets head down about 10 degrees. That’ll give us a chance to punch through that thin looking part over there.
My Beautiful Bride:
Me:
My Beautiful Bride: Ummm. It’s moving pretty fast.
Me: Yep.
My Beautiful Bride: We won’t be able to avoid it. If it comes at us we’re gonna get a lot of lightning.
Me: Yep.
My Beautiful Bride:
Me:
My Beautiful Bride: I don’t like it.
Me: Ok. we could come up about 30 degrees. It’s taking us substantially off course, but maybe we could climb over the top of the storm (assuming it is moving west to east.)
My Beautiful Bride: It doesn’t seem like that would work.
Me:
My Beautiful Bride:
Me: Do you want to turn around?
My Beautiful Bride: Not really.
Me:
My Beautiful Bride:
Me: What do you want me to do?
My Beautiful Bride:
Me:
My Beautiful Bride: You could sit here with me in the cockpit and cuddle me.
Me: Done.
My Beautiful Bride:
Me:
My Beautiful Bride:
Me: Since we’re out here alone, in the dark, any chance I could get a little nookie?
My Beautiful Bride: Ok. That’s enough. You can go to sleep now.
Me: That’s what I thought.
My Beautiful Bride: G’night.
Me: G’night.

West End, Grand Bahama Island – 27 Mar to 31 Mar

We spent 4 nights at the Old Bahama Bay Yacht Club waiting for weather to jump to the US. Since our cruising permit was expiring on the 31st, we were gratefully relieved when Chris Parker forecast SE-S wind at 15 to 20, starting on the 31st. Our hope was to head north with the Stream, so the forecast seemed like a blessing. The story of that crossing (and the disappearing weather window) will be in the next blog entry.

Old Bahama Bay Yacht Club is a high dollar, touristy resort set on the the west corner of Grand Bahama Island. It’s an hour drive to Lucaya and the shopping and casinos. The resort has almost everything you need. We relaxed in comfortable opulence as we awaited our weather window.

On the 28th, we made a day trip to Lucaya to shop, gamble, and get groceries. We were successful on all fronts. We are way too good at math to think that gambling is anything but a losing proposition, long term. But we’ve enjoyed some excellent short term swings at the blackjack table recently. We finished the day with an extra $200 in our pockets that paid for groceries and a nice dinner back at the club.

On the 29th, we started doing taxes. Eeeeinnnh, what a miserable experience. Our taxes this year are obscenely complicated. We’re claiming significant damage to our home from Hurricane Ike, and we need to decide how to report some very minor rental income from our house in Houston. Although Ike raided our cruising kitty, ole George W signed some laws that will make it possible to recoup a portion of that loss via our tax return. So we will see some money back this year.

We spent the evenings with fellow cruisers also waiting on weather. Dennis and Katya went spear fishing one afternoon and scored half a dozen fish. We appropriated the club’s barbeque, gathered some drift wood, and grilled fresh fish. The club staff did not quite know what to make of us. All the other clubbers were dining in the club restaurant that evening. We did have a few party crashers. The party crashers would invariably comment that they wished that they had barbequed fresh fish, and then complain that we seemed to be having more fun than anyone else.

Will civilization agree with us? Although we’re looking forward to being back in the US, life in consumerville may be overwhelming. Do we really need an IPhone? We’ve been off the grid long enough that we kinda like it.

West End, Grand Bahama Island – Mar 26 to Mar 31

We left Spanish Wells early on the morning of the 26th, bound for Charleston, SC. Or at least we thought we were going to Charleston. I’ll reproduce some select bits of the ship’s log, below, to let you know how it went. I eliminated the lat/long reports and some of the boring reporting that we do (like engine hours and voltage and stuff.)

08:45 (David) underway at Egg Island. Big seas as soon as we hit the Sound. Crew restless. Situation normal.
09:15 (David) encountered NE swell, 5-6 feet. running dead downwind WNW in 10-15 knots breeze under full main. speed is 6 knots over ground.
10:02 (Sam) taught Dad how to use ship’s log place keeper correctly
14:30 (David) speed is 6.7 knots ddw towards Freeport. wind ESE @ 15, eta to Freeport is 03:00 tomorrow morning. as we rounded the southern tip of the Abacos, the NE swell disappeared. we’ve now got little 4 foot rollers coming in from directly behind us. I’ve noticed a strange vibration. No one else can hear it.
16:00 (Dana) one oil tanker has passed us so far. zero fish caught so far on blue and white lure. just passed a flock of birds… 2 large birds circled up high and appeared to be frigates. very cool. Sam and I on watch reading. beautiful day.
16:24 (Dana) Mahi on. Dave reeled in a 3 foot bull around 16:15. Now it is time to filet. My job.
17:15 (David) Dana done fileting. Mahi for dinner. Wind has filled in to about 20 knots. Boat speed 7+
20:05 (Dana) my shift started 1900. Sam stayed up with me so far. I’m reading Old Boys. every chapter, I look around. No ships so far. stars are coming out. David is attempting to sleep. new moon tonight. sea temp 78 deg F. 41.8 miles to go to Xanadu waypoint. windspeed 13-15 knots. boat is doing 6.5. Sleigh ride!
21:30 (Dana) ship passed a mile or two off starboard side in opposite direction. turned north and turned on all its lights. gambling ship? interesting. cloudless night. stars are very bright. wind 12-15 from the SE. 7.1 knots on GPS. waves only about 4-5 feet.
23:30 (David) wind slowly picking up to 20 knots. mainly running under auto pilot. lots of ships about. all passing over 1 mile away. making good time (7 knots) at waypoint slightly south of Freeport. should arrive at West End before daybreak. good chance of crossing the stream tomorrow if the weather is good.
01:00 (Dana) the crap shift. feeling good and think I can handle it. I wonder if Sam will wake up. 9.4 miles out from Freeport. winds 15+
04:00 (David) took a hard look at weather and decided to go into West End (Bahama Bay Marina) rather than try for the States. we are concerned about a reported northeast swell in the Gulf Stream and XM Weather predictions of 10+ foot waves. Chris Parker claims we will likely see a good weather window on the 30th or 31st.
05:00 (David) almost got run over by a tug boat. he passed 200 yards behind us after altering course away from us. alert skipper saw me. i did not see him until it was almost too late. easy to get lackadaisical out here.
08:20 (David) arrived Bahama Bay Yacht Club – tied up and trying to sleep
17:00 (David) happy hour and barbeque with our new friends, Daisy and Dazzle.

And this was one of our nicer trip. 130 miles in 21 hours. Not our best, but acceptable.

We stayed at West End until the 31st, when a supposed weather window was available to jump to the States. But that is another story. And a good story. While at West End, we started doing our 2008 taxes, visited the casino in Lucaya, did some fine dining, and hung out on the beach with our new cruising buddies. It was a gentle way to end our Bahamas experience. A little touristy for our tastes, but we made the best of it.