Starting this up again

Well it was operator error. I was trying to click on the wrong link and was unable to post. I still don't know why that link is not working but here I am.

Lots has happened in the last few years. I suddenly found myself guardian to a teenage girl and my life was wrapped around that and still is. My niece has now graduated high school and I bought her a car which is needs only minor work to get fully mission capable.

I the last few years my fleet has grown. I found that working on ECHO was stalled by lack of money, and I was distracted by other boat work. I have two photo albums of ECHO prior to the start of this blog, and a few for my 30' boat HOOT, and several more on two or three of my seven dinghy's. I'll have to migrate those over here somehow. And now might be a good idea as I have some time on my hands.

The other big thing in my life is I have split with my partner of 6 years and plan to move aboard soon. I have two options-move on ECHO or move on a new bigger boat. I'm leaning towards getting a good turn key charter boat so I can get more money rolling in to throw at ECHO. I've decided working on boats all by myself is too time consuming and takes away from sailing time. I need a helper and have three or four possibilities in the local kids. I also plan to put up a help wanted advertisement on Craigslist and the local store.

I'm also working on refinancing my house to a lower rate and taking some cash out. I'm luck in that my houses are not inside out like many other people's.

For a bigger boat, it would be easier to find another US Hull so that it can be US Documented. I'd like to find one that is, or can be inspected. So far I've only seen one boat on the market in my price range, and I feel it is way over priced as a wooden schooner. I wrote the owner and have not heard from him. I wanted to come and work on the boat and then I'd consider buying it or leasing it.

I would prefer to run a charter operation here in Long Island Sound in the Summers with voyages to Nova Scotia and down the east coast, with Winters in the Caribbean working the USVI, BVI and SVI.

I've found two other boats--both of which I like. each have issue with cracked plexiglass windows that may be crazy expensive to fix. I'd like to put them both into charter. While I'd like to buy them, I'm thinking of lease with purchase options might enable me to get my hands on both of them. As a professional Captain, I know plenty of people I can use to run the second boat if it is crewed.

So, I need to gather more information, work on my financing, and get my paperwork in order.

My last issue has been delay after delay from the USCG on renewing my license. I forgot to fill out three sections of the medical forms, and the USCG lost on of the 53 pages I submitted. Not that it matters too much while I'm wearing a cast.