Mike Jastrzebski's Blog, page 42

A Cruiser’s Conundrum

by John Urban

(On the water, living the dream)

Earlier this week Mike Jastrzebski wrote from the Bahamas, describing that as much as living on the hook in the islands is paradise, it’s harder as your body grows older. His advice: if you are thinking about getting away on a boat, do it now, don’t wait.

I’ve given extended thought to Mike’s observation and I’ve considered the underlying conundrum. Yes, early in one’s adult life may be the optimal time to escape for a life on the water. Unfortunately, scraping up the money to buy a boat is generally a challenge at that point. And the middle years? Well, those are often defined by the kids and family responsibilities. That leaves the later years, which gets to Mike’s perspective about sailing around with an aching back and worn-out knees.

(In my younger years I had a boat that looked just like this one.)

The switch from sail to power can ease this transition because there’s a lot less crawling around and hauling on a motor vessel. And the purchase of a new boat can reduce the labor involved in living off-shore. The trouble is, the economics of a power boat makes an extended life at sea fueled by petroleum out of reach for most of us, even more so if it involves a newly purchased craft.

Fortunately, considered thought of this dilemma created a Eureka moment for me, one born of innovation and opportunity – an idea so good that someone will likely write me with news that it already exists. In short, I am talking about a social media dating-type service that uses the magic of technology to expertly match agile 20-somethings who can climb the rigging, haul the anchor, and launch the inflatable with those of us on the other side of life who own a boat and want to live the dream.

Granted, bringing a tan 20-something aboard for an extended stay might cause some issues. And the younger crewmembers might be surprised to learn how much snoring and other such later-life noises echo in small confines. But let’s not dwell on the negative – let’s get to work on making this happen.

First, we need a questionnaire that will be used to determine crew assignments. Once that’s in place we’ll just turn on the marketing, tweak the algorithm, and get this service rolling.

Here’s the crew questionnaire I have for starters:

1. My favorite after dinner shipboard drink is:

a. Water

b. Wine

c. Beer

d. Captain Morgan shooters

e. Milk of Magnesia

2. I usually practice daily boat maintenance in the form of:

a. Oiling the teak

b. Polishing the stainless

c. Compounding the scratches from yesterday’s docking practice

d. Snorkeling along the keel with a tube of life caulk

e. Re-stacking the cooler

3. I learned my greatest lessons of the sea:

a. Crossing the Atlantic with a compass and sextant

b. From the skipper of daddy’s yacht

c. Using an X-box simulator

d. Watching re-runs of McHale’s Navy

4. Red Right Returning is:

a. Confusing as hell

b. A very reasonably priced Pinot Noir

c. Not worth a damn if you are navigating the Intracoastal

When these and other questions are answered they will be run through a high performance computer that will run the proprietary matchmaking software. Then, voila – perfect crew and skipper assignments will pop out and bliss and sunshine will follow. Just remember, you read about it here first.

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Should I be thanking the Boston Red Sox?

“To Beat the Devil,” the newest Mick Murphy Key West Mystery, is on Kindle and has been for about 18 days. As of this writing, it has sold 152 copies and ranks about 9,600 in Kindle sales. I guess that’s good because follow blogger Mike J, as well as some other writer friends have contacted me and asked what I did to get so many sales and a good ranking.

I tell them “nothing.” But that might not be true. I started thinking after the third email came in asking that questions. I’ve adds coming, but not until June 15 in Kindle Nation and in July for Digital Book Today.

The only thing I can think that I’ve done is for April 1st, (yeah, I know April Fool’s Day but this was no trick) I put most of my Kindle books for free with the caveat that anyone who took a free book that day had to think good thoughts for the Boston Red Sox and negative thoughts for the damn New York Yankees.

April 1st was the opening Yankee games at Yankee Stadium and, as usual, they played Boston. I had a lot of takers, in the high 2,000s and my ploy must have worked because Boston won the game and series.

I got to thinking that those that took the free books might’ve liked them and when “To Beat the Devil” came out, they wanted it. I put the book for sale at $4.99, the highest price I’ve asked for a book and it is selling. Now to see if the adds help push sales or maybe only Red Sox fans are buying!

Any thoughts?

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Is it Time?

By Mike Jastrzebski

As we sit here in Marsh Harbor in the Bahamas Mary and I have been wondering if it’s time to give up the cruising lifestyle. On September 2nd of this year we will have been living aboard Rough Draft for ten years.

We moved aboard in Minnesota on a beautiful fall day and except for a few short road trips and a stint of living in a house for a couple of months in Alabama while we repaired the damage that Katrina did to the boat, we’ve been living and traveling in this little space we call home.

This is our second trip to the Abacos in the Bahamas and we’ve been living on the hook (at anchor for all of you non-boaters) continuously since March 2nd of this year. That’s nearly three solid months of hauling water, groceries, trash, and laundry back and forth to shore by dinghy.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s been an interesting life, but we’re beginning to wonder if we want to do it any longer.

Mary is beginning to have a hankering for a washing machine and dryer along with a full size refrigerator. I on the other hand am longing for an office to write in with a full size desk and internet service I can count on. I’m also getting tired of working on boat repairs.

And we’re both beginning to feel our age. Mary’s having knee problems and my back has been bothering me for years. I’m beginning to think of boat tasks in terms of 3 or 4 Ibuprofen jobs.

For those of you who are still young and thinking about cruising–go as soon as you can. When you’re forty or even fifty it’s hard to imagine what being sixty is going to be like. I don’t even want to think about doing this when I’m in my mid-seventies.

If you’re wondering if we’ve made the final decision to sell the boat, not exactly, but we’re talking more and more about doing so. We plan on being in the Bahamas for another month and then when we get back to the states we’re heading north to see the grandkids. When we get back to Florida we will either start prepping the boat for another year of cruising, or put it on the market and start planning our next adventure.

For those of you out there who have given up the cruising life and moved back to land, how about a little feedback. Do you miss cruising? Regret your decision? Or are you glad to be back among the dirt dwellers?

 

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From a small boat in a small world

View of Great Guana Cay from the air

by Christine Kling

Imagine how vast the earth must have seemed to the 18 men from Magellan’s Expedition who completed the first circumnavigation in 1522 by arriving in Seville almost exactly 3 years after they departed. Over 200 men died including Magellan himself and they lost four ships on that arduous voyage.

How much has changed in 500 years! Our earth seems to be growing smaller and smaller today due to our ease of travel and communications. As one who still travels in a small ship at the slow 5 knot speed, I am often awed by just how much has changed in our perception of the size and complexity of our planet.

Wednesday morning, I awoke in Marsh Harbor aboard Talespinner tucked into the marina off the Jibroom and finished packing my bag for my little five-day adventure off to present a workshop on self publishing at the Blue Ridge Bookfest. Mike Jastrzebski came by and picked up the Yorkshire Terror’s crate and later he and Mary came and took the dog for a walk and then herded both dogs into their dinghy and an unsuspecting Barney found himself aboard their boat for the next five days.

While it had taken us three days of sailing to get to the Abacos, my flight lasted just under an hour and we arrived at the Fort Lauderdale airport. In minutes, I was whisked away from the island life of golf cart traffic, awaking to the crowing of roosters, and the big decisions like do I order the cracked conch or the conch chowder — to six lanes of rush hour traffic, bright city lights and everyone in a hurry. When the world around you changes that fast, it makes you sit back and examine the hustle of American life with new eyes.

I had a rather long To Do list for my one night layover in Lauderdale that included a trip to Frank & Jimmy’s Prop Shop for new zincs for my Max prop, a haircut and new lithium batteries for my Spot. As I was walking back to my car on one of these stops, I heard my name called out in the parking lot. I turned around and there I saw Pat and Joe Turner whom I’d first met aboard their boat LovePat (back in 2011?) at the Jibroom marina I had just left a few hours earlier. I stopped and we chatted and got caught up and I left shaking my head thinking about what a small place the world has become. I don’t imagine Magellan’s crew ran into any old friends when they arrived in the Mariannas Islands after crossing the Pacific.

In fact, the whole reason I am on this trip up to the Blue Ridge Bookfest is thanks to another cruising acquaintance, Joy Franklin whom I met with her husband Robert on their boat Arwen in the Chesapeake. So, yesterday afternoon when my flight landed in Asheville, there were my friends who picked me up, drove me to my hotel and then took me out for drinks and dinner in Hendersonville. New culture clash — from the beach-fueled tourist traffic to the piney woods and small town charm of Western North Carolina.

When I got back to my hotel room, I checked on my book sales on my computer and I saw that I’d sold seven books in the Kobo bookstore in Sri Lanka while I ate delicious goat cheese pizza, drank chianti and talked boats and dogs with Joy and Rob. I also had an email from Mary on Rough Draft reporting that Barney was settling in and not living up to his “terror” reputation. She sent me a photo and I like to think he looks like he’s missing me just a little

B&B

Magellan’s men would never have imagined a life as connected as mine. They would be astounded if they could have seen me hurtling through the air inside that jet while looking at my navigation program on my iPad and noting that the GPS told me our speed over ground was 420 knots. I watched as the little boat icon traveled at that speed across Georgia and South Carolina via my Garmin BlueChart app.

It was Socrates who said “The unexamined life is not worth living.” I would perhaps say instead that examination of life makes it all the more rich. Because I live so much of my life at 5 knots, I appreciate the wonder of traveling at 420 knots, of moving from tropical beaches to cool mountains in 24 hours, and of being connected to the far corners of the earth via the magic of the world wide web.

My world may seem to be growing smaller, but I still regard it with awe.

Fair winds!

Christine

 

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Handy places to hide bodies…

C.E. Grundler

Improperly stowed body. Then again, the bigger they are, the harder they are to hide.

Anyone familiar with Travis McGee’s houseboat probably remembers how the Busted Flush had a strategically hidden space, all but undetectable and just large enough to hide one human. On more than once occasion Travis utilized that space, either to avoid or to ambush his enemies. And while my boat is nowhere near as big as the Busted Flush, I’ve often considered how handy some hidden space like that might be. I’ve always know there were a few odd areas tucked here and there, it wasn’t until we needed to remove the midship cleats and fuel fill pipes from the side decks that I discovered just how much space I really have aboard.

Let’s look at the dimensions. On both sides of my salon, for a length of approximately 12 feet, are vacant spaces measuring roughly 20″ wide by 30″ high. One side is accessible through the hatches beneath the dinette seats, which takes a bit of bending, but can be accomplished by even a 6’4″ 190 lb. man. As a 5’2″ woman, I had no problem slipping in there. The other side has a larger entrance, except that it involves pulling the entire stove out first. All the same, it is fascinating seeing just how much space we have aboard that we’re not putting to good use. Still, short of smuggling whatever, what could be done with this space?  At the moment, I’m considering setting up more accessible entryways, and making these caverns a combination storage space as well as cabins for our four-footed crew.

 

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It’s a dog’s life

By Mike Jastrzebski

First off, I’d like to apologize for missing my post last week. I have no real excuse–it’s this writer’s life I lead.

Since our dog Belle has been complaining that Barney has been getting so much exposure in Christine’s blogs lately, and she’s had none, I decided to let her make my excuses.

I’ve been writing a lot, always with a little help from my muse. (By the way, Mike hates it when I call him that.)

Along with writing we’ve been spending time enjoying the sun and beaches of the Bahamas. It’s easy to lose track of time out here. Sometimes I’m not even sure what month it is.

I think part of the problem with all of us is we’re spending too much time in the sun, reading and sunbathing.

Anyway, we’ve all been leading a dog’s life out here. It’s a tough life, but none of us are complaining too much. And Barney, eat your heart out. I know Christine doesn’t get you all dolled up like Mary does to me.

Anyway, I hope all of our readers had a nice Christmas, I mean Mother’s Day. If you like this post let me know, maybe Mike will give me a little more time on the computer.

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Boats chart my course

USS Pampanito SS-383 in San Francisco

by Christine Kling

Last week I wrote about trying to find a new boat name for my character’s boat. I had suggestions in the blog comments, on Facebook and via email, but I haven’t made a decision yet on what boat name to choose for Cole, so I will report on the results of that next week.

The skipper’s cabin

This week I’d like to talk about the way boats influence my books – especially the historical ones. Yes, in my work in progress, Dragon’s Triangle, I have another submarine. It seems I cannot get away from this fascination with World War II subs. In this case, however, it was a boat name that led me to it. When I was casting my net for an idea for this new novel, I decided first that I wanted the book to be set in the Philippines because I found Cole’s conspiracy theory. Then when I was doing research on missing WWII ships, I happened upon the story of the USS Bonefish. Now, this name reached out and grabbed me because it was the name of Riley’s sailboat, and a traditional boat name for her family.

 

The aft torpedo tubes

But when I took my big research trip last November to Thailand and the Philippines, I decided to fly out of San Francisco so that I could visit with my sister. It was purely by accident that I stumbled onto the San Francisco Maritime Park where they have the USS Pampanito, a WWII Balao class submarine, the model that came after the Gato class (like Bonefish), but which had very few changes made to the interior layout.

When stuff like that keeps falling in your lap, it’s difficult to ignore. I mean, I don’t believe in fate or anything, but when something captures a writer’s imagination, I think it would be foolish for the writer to ignore it. And getting the chance to go aboard a sub very similar to the one I’m writing about was pure research gold.

The head on the USS Pampanito

When writing scenes that take place aboard the sub all I have to do is go to my collection of photos that I took that day aboard the sub. I can see easily describe the galley area to describe the tables or what the surface of the floors was like. And as a sailor, I was fascinated by the head! These boats were designed to carry 60 men, but at the time she disappeared, the USS Bonefish had a crew of 10 officers and 75 enlisted men – and they only had two heads that I saw on the Pampanito! While I don’t suppose I’ll be setting any scenes in the head, seeing the conditions these men had to live in — sleeping in bunks on top of torpedoes — will really help me in writing the characters who are aboard my sub in my book.

Maybe I get too hung up on all this research and trying to make my fiction based in as close to a real world as I can make it, but it is my passion. To the best of my ability, I try to get it right in my boat scenes.

So the name of this sub led me to my story and stumbling on this museum sub in a San Francisco visit clinched it. Now I just have to figure out what happens on board!

Fair winds!

Christine

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The perfect writer’s retreat…

C.E. Grundler

Outside, a work boat softly idles while a gentle rain drums on the un-insulated roof. An occasional boat motors past the dock, the damp morning breeze carrying the faintest hint of diesel fumes through the open windows, and with each wake the pilings that support this miniature building shake ever so slightly. Off in the distance, a lone tug heads down-river, barge in tow.

Where am I?  Quite contently occupying the fuel dock shed at Haverstraw Marina on a dreary, drizzly Thursday. Needless to say, at the moment boats aren’t exactly lining up for fuel. Due to Sandy’s visit last fall, few fuel docks are up and running, even all these months later. The space I currently occupy is all fresh and newly rebuilt. In a few weeks the college kids will be returning for the summer, but until then, I’m quite happily tending this post from time to time.

From a writer’s standpoint, this is about as perfect as it gets. The atmosphere is ideal. A long dock separates me from the rest of the world, and the amenities are the bare basics:  a desk, a chair, some electricity, and a roof over my head.  There’s just enough space beside the register to squeeze in my laptop. That’s about it. The WiFi connection out here is painfully slow and uncooperative — certainly not surfing conditions. Just posting this was like pulling teeth. The head is over in the buildings on shore, which means a decent walk, and now the rain is really starting to come down.   I don’t think I’ll be getting many visitors today. Which leaves me with only one thing to do, virtually distraction-free….WRITE.

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This Old Boat

It’s early May in the boatyard. As a wooden boat owner, sandpaper, paint, varnish, and brushes are my primary springtime tools. Lots of work and lots of time to think about this old boat of ours, one that was first launched just after the war…World War II to be more specific. 1946. Back when the Andrews Sisters were a top performing act.

Back then, the leading household technology came in this form (1946 Philco AM radio):

And cars looked like this (1946 Ford Convertible Club Coupe):

And authors tapped the keys, page by page, on typewriters that looked like this (Royal Quiet DeLuxe Typewriter):

What’s surprising is that we still push our sailboat hard even though it’s close to 70 years old. Yet, even when we get that old boat up to top speed we’re only going 6 or 7 knots.

So when it comes to scooting around on the water with a bit more speed we turn to a fiberglass Boston Whaler that I picked up at a shrewd price about eight years ago. That little Whaler is a great utility boat for gunkholing, fishing, and water skiing. I remember seeing similar 17 foot Whalers in my youth. It’s a timeless design that I admire as much today as I did in 1976 when it came off the production line.

Then again, a 1976 model boat isn’t exactly new. 1976. Remember that year? I do. What I don’t remember is how all the years in between escaped so fast. And how did our’76 Whaler – our new boat – end up being 37 years old!

For those of you who have forgotten, 1976 was the nation’s bi-centennial year. It was back when the Detroit auto industry was still building land yachts that were so big you practically needed tug boats to help you in and out of supermart parking spaces, ones that looked this these (1976 Chevy Caprice):

And authors and businesses would slowly start shifting from this (IBM Selectric Typewriter):

To this (Apple 1 Personal Computer):

Hopefully our 67 year old sailboat and 37 year old Whaler get through another season – hopefully many more seasons. With care and a bit of good luck, they should. But the staying power of these old boats is nothing compared to the power of books.

Consider the many reads that are as relevant and enjoyable today as when they were first released. Fitzgerald’s Great Gatsby in 1925. Hawthorne’s Scarlett Letter in 1850 and Melville’s Moby Dick in 1851. Or Cervantes’ Don Quixote in 1605 and Shakespeare’s Tempest in 1610.

If you sit back and read those books and take in their lasting value, a 1946 sailboat and a 1976 skiff don’t seem so old. And what’s even better about old books and stories? They don’t require annual maintenance to keep them current. At least that’s how it seems to me as I toil away on this old boat of ours.

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UCF Book Festival

I must apologize for missing the last post. It’s a long story, but the short of it is I to my annual road trip to NY/NJ to visit my daughters, saw the Red Sox beat the Yankees on opening day at Yankee Stadium (I’m originally from Boston) and found out after coming back from the UCF Book Festival that I didn’t have a major sinus infection, I had walking pneumonia. Took the wind out of my sails for three weeks. Kind of like being stuck in the doldrums. Anyway, here is a blog I did on the festival that you might enjoy. If you are close by Orlando, stop  in for next year’s event, it’s well worth the time.

Late last year, I applied to be a participant in the fourth annual University of Central Florida’s Book Festival. I submitted a copy of my recently published book, Car Wash Blues, and a bio and on Dec. 10, 2012, I received an email from Sandra McCall that I had been accepted.

The first UCF Book Festival was held in 2010 at the UCF Arena, with Carl Hiaasen as its keynote speaker. There were 30 authors and about 2,000 people in attendance. The festival has grown to more than 60 authors and 3,500 attendees.

This year, Lisa Scottoline was the keynote speaker.

When I drove into the hotel in Orlando, I was sure what to expect at the conference. When I served on the Florida chapter of MWA’s board of directors, I saw what it took to put on SleuthFest and we’d been doing it for years.

For a recently new event, the festival was well organized and events seemed to move along efficiently. With the number of activities, that was no easy job. The arena where the events took place was packed with venders and sponsor displays, as well as author discussion groups.

It was evident upon entering the arena on Saturday morning, that this was a community event. The setup of the arena had a children’s zone with roaming book characters to keep the children’s attention as well as readings. There was also a zone set aside for young teens.

My first panel, “A Discussion on Journalism,” had fellow journalists turned writers, Bruce DeSilva, Eric Deggans, Jeffery Kunerth and me talking about how journalism helped or hindered our fiction/nonfiction writing. We all, in one way or another, still had a toe in the tepid waters of today’s journalism.

Black curtains separated our table from the arena and we faced the bleacher section. Far from what the seats are used to – loud sporting event crowds – we were sectioned off into a small, intermit group. There were a number of sections throughout the arena. The mics worked and the audience was able to hear us. When it came to questions from the audience, the moderator brought her mic to them. Questions ranged from journalism to fiction writing. Both Deggans and Kunerth have published non-fiction books, while DeSilva and I have published mystery novels.

The arena was close to full when I arrived at 9:30 a.m. and it was nice to see so many people interested in books. The Orange County Library had a table set up to help people file for a library card. Stage 2, ‘cooking zone,’ featured authors on cooking and it included healthy foods, to cupcakes. The cupcakes must have been good, because whenever I came by to taste one, they were gone.

When I looked at the program, I wondered how the college was going to be able to fit so much into an eight hour day. Johnny Magic of 106.7 FM hosted ‘Literary Jeopardy’ from 1 – 2 p.m., to get donations of books for local schools.

On another stage, Steve Barnes, NY Times bestseller, talked about yoga and ADD in children. Later in the day, he talked about screen writing. Tananarive Due and Beverly Jenkins discussed black history.

I finally found my cupcakes in the children zone at 1:30 p.m. when the ‘Yum! Yum! Cupcake Truck’ showed up for the read aloud that came with cupcake treats. I was too old to participate but the kids thought I was funny!

For the kid in all of us, from 2 – 4 p.m., Star War characters roamed the arena for a read aloud, photo ops and book signings.

I think the success of the festival to get young children interested in books – be it by cupcakes or Star Wars – was admirable. I know that the wave of the future is reading on the computer or some other device, like Kindle, but I hope books hold out as long as I do. I remember a few years back going to my son’s English teacher and asking how Alex was able to get an A in reading when I’d never seen him open a book.

The teacher explained that since the first grade Alex and the other students had been taught to read on the computer! Computers for every student, books for no one! I guess going without a cupcake makes me grumpy.

Bruce DeSilva and I had a final panel at 3 p.m. in the Gold Room. The festival had rooms off the arena set aside for panels. Robert Williams was our moderator and the panel was called Mulligan, Murphy and Murder. Bruce and I had never met before, but both belong to a small collective of writers and emailed back-and-forth on projects. Another nice thing that most conferences offer is a chance for authors from different areas to meet. As it turns out, Bruce and I have a lot in common both personally and with our writing.

We were both born outside of Boston! Both our characters are Irish, smoke cigars and like Irish whiskey and are involved in journalism. Bruce’s Mulligan is an active journalist while Mick Murphy is a recovering, burned out journalist.

The one-day book fair came off well – even without cupcakes – and the university should be proud that it has been able to involve the greater community, not only college students. With its success, and as word spreads between writers, I can only see the event growing and possibly turn into a weekend event. Sometimes writers like me have our heads stuck in the genera of mystery, so when a book festival comes along and reminds us that there are book and books and books out there and that people read them – be it travel, history, cooking, poetry, or mysteries – it is a good thing.

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