Oct 5th brings me into my 66th year with yet another adventure and new chapters to my book of life.
As most of you are aware I took leave of my senses when I purchased my Honda VT 1100.
No regrets I love this bike, in the first 6 weeks put 1800 miles on her. Met a beautiful woman who was born to ride we toured the Okanoga often having roadside snacks of wine and cheese purchased from our winery tours tasting some of the finest wine the Okanogan has to offer.
The Honda blew a rear tire at 80 mph an experience I do not wish to repeat. Replaced the faulty Dunlop with a Metzler.
The Honda tops out at 110 mph and is very stable at this speed. This speed run was done on the Cogahalla connector which is at a very high elevation the engine may have been oxygen starved and may have achieved better performance at sea level.
Time to park the bike for the winter, also finding myself in need of a home thought about buying and RV trailer.
Then got to thinking a Honda cycle is not capable of pulling a trailer so why not fulfill another dream.
At one point in my life I owned a 26 ft cabin cruiser with the ford 302 inboard that could suck up fuel at the rate of 8 gallons per hour.
The boat also had a planing hull, these hulls ride on top of the water you have to have enough speed to bring the vessel onto plane.
I love the ocean but at 8 gallons an hour with a horrible ride I have this time opted for the slower more comfortable displacement hull with the economy of wind power.
Yes I have purchased a Newport N30 sailboat.
The boat has a 23hp Volvo diesel that is happy with half a gallon of fuel an hour. Depending on tide will push the boat at 6 knots. The Volvo rarely gets used in this part of the Pacific we usually have lots of wind but there are sure to be channels and harbors where she'll come in handy.
The boat has helm steering equipped with a gps auto pilot, vhs marine radio and depth sounder.
From ship to shore adventures a 9 ft inflatable with a 5 hp merc.
Next year I'm going to cruise the BC coast from Vancouver to Alaska taking in the Queen Chalette Islands.
Once I'm comfortable with my sailing skills head down to the South Pacific taking my time as I have no schedule nor a job to worry about.
Gus truly retired.
Corby my cycle companion is a land lubber so I'll have to wait and see what the future holds for me in the way of a sailing companion.
Bookmarks