Bruce,
I thought I had sent this but it appears that the news server I
subscribe to had crashed. I have just come back home (in Sydney) from
home (Penang - the centre of the universe).

I didn't want you t think I was rude.

Hi Bruce,

Yes, it is I.
I did leave Trinidad but suffered a terrible longing for Larry's and
Wilbur's postings to this newsgroup. I missed Larry because he
educates me, stimulates my mind at times with new information and
mostly because he makes me smile. I missed Wilbur because he makes me,
who is an insane as everyone else, feel normal and well balanced.

I did leave Trinidad in mid May a couple of days after my friend Jack
(who was heading for Nova Scotia direct with one stop at the US
Vigins) and headed to Grenada and the ABC Islands. By the way, Bonaire
would have to be one of the world's best easily accessible dive spots.
No anchoring (excepting with a brick or stone anchor) is permitted and
spearguns have to be handed over to Customs upon entry. To stay, one
must moor for US$10 per diem (that's how we pedantic educated people
refer to a day) on public moorings along the foreshore. At a lot of
the good dive sites there are dinghy moorings whefre you can dive
from. Most of the places do not require scuba to see a lot though we
did dive at the steep dropoff behind the boat. It is quite eery with
one's bow in about 5 metres and one's stern in 200 metres. You can
wade out a few metres from the sandy beach in the middle of town and
snorkle about small reefs with an incredible variety of fish, spongs
and coral. You are asked not to feed the fish but they are still very
unafraid of humans.

After we landed at Curacao, the next of the three still belonging to
the Dutch, we realsied that, though I could still make it, I would
have to go hard to get through to either Australia or Malaysia before
the next cyclone season with little lee way for bad weather (I, unlike
your good friend Wilbur, am not a real sailor and thus prefer to try
to avoid beating for long periods into the weather) and Sod's Law. I
would also miss out on spending any decent amount of time in places
along the way.

The "We" I refer to is my Owner and our son who at 15 is a living
embodiment of the maxim know to those who have had dealings with
pubescent youths - "Hire a teenager whilst they still know
everything". They intended to meet me at Costa Rica, but as I was
behind schedule in my maintenance, continued on to Trinidad after two
weeks of waiting. Women are strange. Half a bloody world away and they
still want to control.

The Owner had taken 12 weeks off work and had to get back, and the son
to school. Thus, it was decided upon that Herodotus would lay up until
later in the year at a secure marina in Spanish Waters in Curacao. The
cost is only US$(bloody economic imperialism again)252.00 per month.

By the way, with reference to the earlier discussion on yacht
formalities, I had an interesting experience whilst clearing out. I
went to Immigration with my passport, not realising that I had only a
three month visa. The rather aggressive female Immigration officer
demanded loudly as to whyI had overstayed my visa by 2 weeks. I
apologised and tried to explain that it was an oversight and that I
never looked at dates on entry stamps. This made her even more furious
and more aggressive. I remarked that I obviously needed some legal
advice and left the office to go to the nearby Customs office where i
knew one of the officers who I had dealt with on importing yacht gear.
As I started to explain my problem, the Immigration woman stormed in
and from the door demanded (shouted). "This man has overstayed his
visa - seize his passport!!" and stormed out. It is my understanding
that nobody can take your passport - it is the property of the issuing
government.

I then said to the Customs officer "See, she is irrational - what
should I do?" He began to stamp my papers and quietly said "Go with
God brother" (he is a fellow Moslem and that is what people say upon
departing company). I, being rather thick as is my normal custom,
replied "Yes, but what do I do now?" He looked at me as he handed back
the papers with the port clearance and said "Brother, GO with God".

I got the hint, fueled up the boat picked up the refilled scuba tanks,
said good-bye to friends (no lovers unfortunately) and left - minus an
exit stamp in our passports which I was supposed to have prior to
getting port clearance.

First time something like this has happened.

It's an interesting world isn't it?

By the way, I am thinking of asking your friend Wilbur to accompany me
across the Pacific after Christmas with a two fold benefit. I could
learn about sailing and have amusing compay (I prefer not to sail
alone) and also give the newsgroup a break for a while from his
pathetic "life is tough, it's tougher if you're stupid" (John Wayne)
anti-anything-I-cannot afford-or-don't-have-the-guts-to-do attitude.
As he displays the obvious symptons of short man's disease, at 5' 10"
I am bigger than he and thus could thump him occasionally to keep him
in line.

I am unsure if he would be comfortable on my 41 footer after the
luxury of his Swan 68 though.

What do you think?

cheers
Peter

Peter!

I thought you were back in the water and far out on the briny by this
time, although you never did mention where you were actually going --
whichever way the wind blows?

Along those lines a mate departed Phuket non-stop for Perth. some time
went by and I didn;t hear from him (O.K., he is offshore sailing).
finally I get an e-mail. From Kuching. I write back, "Frank, I hate to
tell you but Kuching is in the wrong direction..." He comes back,
"Listen, we had winds on the nose from the time we left Phuket. When I
finally got to the Sunda Straits I was so sick of it I turned
downwind... anyway, Kuching is quite a nice place to visit".

Let us know how things are going.




Bruce in Bangkok
(brucepaigeatgmaildotcom)

On Wed, 15 Aug 2007 15:32:34 +1000, Herodotus
wrote:

Bruce,
I thought I had sent this but it appears that the news server I
subscribe to had crashed. I have just come back home (in Sydney) from
home (Penang - the centre of the universe).

Snipped a bunch.

I then said to the Customs officer "See, she is irrational - what
should I do?" He began to stamp my papers and quietly said "Go with
God brother" (he is a fellow Moslem and that is what people say upon
departing company). I, being rather thick as is my normal custom,
replied "Yes, but what do I do now?" He looked at me as he handed back
the papers with the port clearance and said "Brother, GO with God".


No I believe that your passport can be seized with the purpose of
making sure that you stay around until the trial, although perhaps
"seized" is the improper term; perhaps something like "retained" would
be the proper term.

There was a 'german guy arrested at the Satuan Immigrations -
apparently on a German warrant. In any event they took his passport
away right on the spot. But perhaps they then turned it over to the
German embassy.


I got the hint, fueled up the boat picked up the refilled scuba tanks,
said good-bye to friends (no lovers unfortunately) and left - minus an
exit stamp in our passports which I was supposed to have prior to
getting port clearance.

First time something like this has happened.

It's an interesting world isn't it?

By the way, I am thinking of asking your friend Wilbur to accompany me
across the Pacific after Christmas with a two fold benefit. I could
learn about sailing and have amusing compay (I prefer not to sail
alone) and also give the newsgroup a break for a while from his
pathetic "life is tough, it's tougher if you're stupid" (John Wayne)
anti-anything-I-cannot afford-or-don't-have-the-guts-to-do attitude.
As he displays the obvious symptons of short man's disease, at 5' 10"
I am bigger than he and thus could thump him occasionally to keep him
in line.

I am unsure if he would be comfortable on my 41 footer after the
luxury of his Swan 68 though.

What do you think?

cheers
Peter

That is quite a haul are you stopping along the way or essentially
doing a delivery? If the latter it is a damned long trip. Are you
heading for N.Z. or Australia?

Forty-one feet might seem like a lot when you are trying to maneuver
in a crowded marina with the tide running 3 - 4 knots and the wind
blowing but it would get awful small with our friend aboard. To be
frank there are a very limited number of people I would sail with
longer then an overnight run to Langkawi or a Sunday sail and as I
said, it is a long trip..........

There was a guy, Frank the American, here for a year or so. He has a
45 ft. boat and does these deals where you get four or five people and
pay him to help sail his boat from, say, Honolulu to Auckland. No
autopilot, hanked on sails, real old fashioned sailing. I guess he
makes a dollar because he is still at it. Anyway, on the stern "roll
bar" where the solar panels, wind generator and all that junk is
mounted there is a comfortable looking seat mounted about as high as
you can get on this structure. One day I asked him what it was for as
it is obviously too far aft to con the boat from and he said it was
for people who were feeling grumpy. If you were a bit out of sorts
they sent you up on that seat for your watch -- about like spending
half the day half way up the mast. He said it really helped to keep
people friendly...

Sounds like you are one of those Paid Captains, talking abut "Owners"
and all. I assume the wide legged white shorts and knee socks and
epaulets. How did you get this position?

You are going to get a bad reputation leaving the boat just because
the typhoon season is approaching. Absolutely no question about
lubberness. You are supposed to forge ahead, hell, a month or two of
upwind sailing will make a sailor out of you.

Write when you get time. Or e-mail if you can decipher my address.

Bruce in Bangkok
(brucepaigeATgmailDOTcom)

On Wed, 15 Aug 2007 16:35:29 +0700, wrote:

Sounds like you are one of those Paid Captains, talking abut "Owners"
and all. I assume the wide legged white shorts and knee socks and
epaulets. How did you get this position?


Bruce. You surprise me. I assume that you have been married for a few
years and should know better. Here in Sydney when I say "I'll just ask
my owner", most long married men and women smile and readily
understand what I am refering to. Even though I have been in IT and
telecommunications for 30 odd years, my major at university was in
Zoology, specifically fisheries and I can't but help see people in
terms of animal behaviour. It's just an acknowledgement that in most
societies I have been in, the wife is usually the "head" of the home
in practical terms - even if it is only the power behind the throne.

No, I am not a paid captain. It is my boat that I built myself from
bare timber (sheathed in GRP) - hence wooden mast, poured sockets for
the rigging and other bronze fittings cast from my own patterns, etc.,
and launched in '93 in New Zealand. The 'owner' refered to is "the"
wife.

Yes it is a long way and there are few people I would sail such a
distance with. Unfortunately these all have job commitments, get sea
sick or are in poor health. A lot of the solo sailors I have met have
tried taking on crew in the past and finally decided it was easier to
sail alone.

As to final landfall, not sure but have been invited to stop and stay
at Haiphong, Vietnam as a guest of Customs. I may however end in
Sydney and later sail through Indonesia again to Malaysia. Still
deciding.

cheers
Peter

On Wed, 15 Aug 2007 21:52:09 +1000, Herodotus
wrote:

On Wed, 15 Aug 2007 16:35:29 +0700, wrote:



Sounds like you are one of those Paid Captains, talking abut "Owners"
and all. I assume the wide legged white shorts and knee socks and
epaulets. How did you get this position?


Bruce. You surprise me. I assume that you have been married for a few
years and should know better. Here in Sydney when I say "I'll just ask
my owner", most long married men and women smile and readily
understand what I am referring to. Even though I have been in IT and
telecommunications for 30 odd years, my major at university was in
Zoology, specifically fisheries and I can't but help see people in
terms of animal behavior. It's just an acknowledgement that in most
societies I have been in, the wife is usually the "head" of the home
in practical terms - even if it is only the power behind the throne.


Ah! Different society. When I was brought up a fellow might say, "I'll
ask my wife", but the more manly answer was "let me think about it and
get back to you", which of course meant that he'd ask his wife if they
could go to the clam bake?

I usually just say we....

No, I am not a paid captain. It is my boat that I built myself from
bare timber (sheathed in GRP) - hence wooden mast, poured sockets for
the rigging and other bronze fittings cast from my own patterns, etc.,
and launched in '93 in New Zealand. The 'owner' referred to is "the"
wife.

Yes it is a long way and there are few people I would sail such a
distance with. Unfortunately these all have job commitments, get sea
sick or are in poor health. A lot of the solo sailors I have met have
tried taking on crew in the past and finally decided it was easier to
sail alone.

One way to get your wife to come along is co call from where ever the
boat is and say something like, "Honey, I've been looking for a crew
all over and the only one I can find is this 30 year old Dutch
girl......" A mate of mine did that and I swear his Missus must have
ridden her broom to have gotten to Phuket as fast as she did.

As to final landfall, not sure but have been invited to stop and stay
at Haiphong, Vietnam as a guest of Customs. I may however end in
Sydney and later sail through Indonesia again to Malaysia. Still
deciding.

cheers
Peter

You are in the Caribbean and headed for Vietnam? That is kind of the
long way round isn't it? Or are you going east?


Bruce in Bangkok
(brucepaigeATgmailDOTcom)

On Wed, 15 Aug 2007 20:16:21 +0700, wrote:

One way to get your wife to come along is co call from where ever the
boat is and say something like, "Honey, I've been looking for a crew
all over and the only one I can find is this 30 year old Dutch
girl......" A mate of mine did that and I swear his Missus must have
ridden her broom to have gotten to Phuket as fast as she did.

It's not a case of her not wanting to come. She does as I have been
fortunate enough to have a wife who loves the sea. It's just that our
son needs to attend High School and therefore she has to remain in
Sydney for a while.

Have you ever read D.H. Lawrence? In "The Sea and Sardinia" (I think
that is the title), one of his books about his travels through Italy
with his wife Frieda von Richthofen, he constantly refers to her as
"she", never by name. As an aside (my mind wanders off very easily),
whilst at Taormina in Sicily he wrote one of my favorite poems "The
Snake". It is very beautiful.

As to final landfall, not sure but have been invited to stop and stay
at Haiphong, Vietnam as a guest of Customs. I may however end in
Sydney and later sail through Indonesia again to Malaysia. Still
deciding.

cheers
Peter

You are in the Caribbean and headed for Vietnam? That is kind of the
long way round isn't it? Or are you going east?

Yes, a faster trip would possibly be down the South Atlantic to Cape
Town and either across to Australia or up to South East Asia but I'd
like to do the Pacific. I have friends who sailed through the Beagle
Channel with a quick trip to Cape Horn Island. It is so very tempting
to do this and then head up to say, Easter Island and French Polynesia
from Chile, but it would be nicer with a companion. They said that
Argentina and Chile are great places to sail through. As there are few
foreign boats and no "water Winnebagos" the yacht clubs are inviting
and generally charge no fees which seems a positive sign of their
hospitality. But, as I said, I prefer to have a companion to share the
experiences with. I can handle the being alone bit as there are
lonelier situations within a crowded city or amongst a group of
people. It is also nice to be able to get longer sleep periods when
one does not have to worry about other vessels. Things are still
fluid at the moment.

cheers
Peter


Bruce in Bangkok
(brucepaigeATgmailDOTcom)

On Wed, 15 Aug 2007 20:16:21 +0700, wrote:

One way to get your wife to come along is co call from where ever the
boat is and say something like, "Honey, I've been looking for a crew
all over and the only one I can find is this 30 year old Dutch
girl......" A mate of mine did that and I swear his Missus must have
ridden her broom to have gotten to Phuket as fast as she did.

It's not a case of her not wanting to come. She does as I have been
fortunate enough to have a wife who loves the sea. It's just that our
son needs to attend High School and therefore she has to remain in
Sydney for a while.

Have you ever read D.H. Lawrence? In "The Sea and Sardinia" (I think
that is the title), one of his books about his travels through Italy
with his wife Frieda von Richthofen, he constantly refers to her as
"she", never by name. As an aside (my mind wanders off very easily),
whilst at Taormina in Sicily he wrote one of my favorite poems "The
Snake". It is very beautiful.

As to final landfall, not sure but have been invited to stop and stay
at Haiphong, Vietnam as a guest of Customs. I may however end in
Sydney and later sail through Indonesia again to Malaysia. Still
deciding.

cheers
Peter

You are in the Caribbean and headed for Vietnam? That is kind of the
long way round isn't it? Or are you going east?

Yes, a faster trip would possibly be down the South Atlantic to Cape
Town and either across to Australia or up to South East Asia but I'd
like to do the Pacific. I have friends who sailed through the Beagle
Channel with a quick trip to Cape Horn Island. It is so very tempting
to do this and then head up to say, Easter Island and French Polynesia
from Chile, but it would be nicer with a companion. They said that
Argentina and Chile are great places to sail through. As there are few
foreign boats and no "water Winnebagos" the yacht clubs are inviting
and generally charge no fees which seems a positive sign of their
hospitality. But, as I said, I prefer to have a companion to share the
experiences with. I can handle the being alone bit as there are
lonelier situations within a crowded city or amongst a group of
people. It is also nice to be able to get longer sleep periods when
one does not have to worry about other vessels. Things are still
fluid at the moment.

cheers
Peter


Bruce in Bangkok
(brucepaigeATgmailDOTcom)

On Thu, 16 Aug 2007 07:38:10 +1000, Herodotus
wrote:

On Wed, 15 Aug 2007 20:16:21 +0700, wrote:

One way to get your wife to come along is co call from where ever the
boat is and say something like, "Honey, I've been looking for a crew
all over and the only one I can find is this 30 year old Dutch
girl......" A mate of mine did that and I swear his Missus must have
ridden her broom to have gotten to Phuket as fast as she did.

It's not a case of her not wanting to come. She does as I have been
fortunate enough to have a wife who loves the sea. It's just that our
son needs to attend High School and therefore she has to remain in
Sydney for a while.

Have you ever read D.H. Lawrence? In "The Sea and Sardinia" (I think
that is the title), one of his books about his travels through Italy
with his wife Frieda von Richthofen, he constantly refers to her as
"she", never by name. As an aside (my mind wanders off very easily),
whilst at Taormina in Sicily he wrote one of my favorite poems "The
Snake". It is very beautiful.


Nope, the only Lawrence I read was the guy running about in Arabia
during the first World War and I don;' think that he had a wife.


As to final landfall, not sure but have been invited to stop and stay
at Haiphong, Vietnam as a guest of Customs. I may however end in
Sydney and later sail through Indonesia again to Malaysia. Still
deciding.

cheers
Peter

You are in the Caribbean and headed for Vietnam? That is kind of the
long way round isn't it? Or are you going east?

Yes, a faster trip would possibly be down the South Atlantic to Cape
Town and either across to Australia or up to South East Asia but I'd
like to do the Pacific. I have friends who sailed through the Beagle
Channel with a quick trip to Cape Horn Island. It is so very tempting
to do this and then head up to say, Easter Island and French Polynesia
from Chile, but it would be nicer with a companion. They said that
Argentina and Chile are great places to sail through. As there are few
foreign boats and no "water Winnebagos" the yacht clubs are inviting
and generally charge no fees which seems a positive sign of their
hospitality. But, as I said, I prefer to have a companion to share the
experiences with. I can handle the being alone bit as there are
lonelier situations within a crowded city or amongst a group of
people. It is also nice to be able to get longer sleep periods when
one does not have to worry about other vessels. Things are still
fluid at the moment.

cheers
Peter


Bruce in Bangkok
(brucepaigeATgmailDOTcom)

Being of British heritage - New Zealand was conquered by the British
you know -- you should follow custom and put the boy in a good
boarding school, a proper education you know.

On a less frivolous aside I have some friends (from N.Z. also) that
actually did place their son in a boarding school after having decided
that the curriculum and teaching quality were vastly superior to that
in public school.

However, as a good Moslem you are allowed four wives. Of course, If I
remember correctly, you must treat each wife equally so if you built
another boat......


Bruce in Bangkok
(brucepaigeATgmailDOTcom)

On Thu, 16 Aug 2007 10:04:01 +0700, wrote:



However, as a good Moslem you are allowed four wives. Of course, If I
remember correctly, you must treat each wife equally so if you built
another boat......


Bruce in Bangkok
(brucepaigeATgmailDOTcom)

Bruce, Bruce, don't even suggest it. Another Englishman, Oscar Wilde
said that "The definition of bigamy is one wife too many; monogamy is
the same thing."

Sorry that you have missed out on reading any D H Lawrence. Surely you
must have heard of "Lady Chatterly's Lover', "Sons and Lovers" and
"Women in Love"? I know that I meet few Americans who have read any of
Hemmingway or Mark Twain apart from "Tom Sawyer", but I imagined that
you were of an earlier generation. A great American, Carnegie, gave a
lot of money to build libraries in places such as little N.Z. I used
to believe as a kid that therefore (kid logic) Americans were a very
well read people. This was reinforced when I was about 10 and somebody
bought me the 52 volume set of Encyclopedia Britannica - 'Great Books
of the Western World" - produced, not in the UK, but by the University
of Chicago. everything from Homer to Freud including Plato, Euripides,
Descartes, Shakespeare, Euclid and so on including my own Uncle
Herodotus after whom I named my boat. At 10 I believed that Americans
must be reading these. Pretty dumb huh!

cheers
Peter

Herodotus wrote:

On Thu, 16 Aug 2007 10:04:01 +0700, wrote:



However, as a good Moslem you are allowed four wives. Of course, If I
remember correctly, you must treat each wife equally so if you built
another boat......


Bruce in Bangkok
(brucepaigeATgmailDOTcom)


Bruce, Bruce, don't even suggest it. Another Englishman, Oscar Wilde
said that "The definition of bigamy is one wife too many; monogamy is
the same thing."

Sorry that you have missed out on reading any D H Lawrence. Surely you
must have heard of "Lady Chatterly's Lover', "Sons and Lovers" and
"Women in Love"? I know that I meet few Americans who have read any of
Hemmingway or Mark Twain apart from "Tom Sawyer", but I imagined that
you were of an earlier generation. A great American, Carnegie, gave a
lot of money to build libraries in places such as little N.Z. I used
to believe as a kid that therefore (kid logic) Americans were a very
well read people. This was reinforced when I was about 10 and somebody
bought me the 52 volume set of Encyclopedia Britannica - 'Great Books
of the Western World" - produced, not in the UK, but by the University
of Chicago. everything from Homer to Freud including Plato, Euripides,
Descartes, Shakespeare, Euclid and so on including my own Uncle
Herodotus after whom I named my boat. At 10 I believed that Americans
must be reading these. Pretty dumb huh!

cheers
Peter

Well, maybe the great unwashed masses?
But I personally tend to read libraries by the stack.
And use the interlibrary loan system constantly!

You can find a good book on Amazon for 85 cents.
But it costs $4 for shipping.

Mr., Carnegie's legacy is still free - except for late fees.

On Thu, 16 Aug 2007 01:04:24 -0500, cavelamb himself
wrote:



Well, maybe the great unwashed masses?
But I personally tend to read libraries by the stack.
And use the interlibrary loan system constantly!

You can find a good book on Amazon for 85 cents.
But it costs $4 for shipping.

Mr., Carnegie's legacy is still free - except for late fees.

Thanks for this. I didn't mean to imply that Americans were illiterate
or unread. Someone must be buying books from Amazon.

Do you know the background to the Carnegie libraries?
Do they still exist in the US? In New Zealand, unless I am mistaken,
they have all been taken over by the local councils (county and town
local government as opposed to central government).

The building are still there and are almost all identical in
construction - red brick with concrete or plastered lintels and
pediments.

Peter