I will be leaving Calgary September 15th, 2010 to go on a sailing trip around North and Central America in a boat I intend to purchase on the East Coast of the US and sail to Victoria, BC, via the Panama Canal, with my girlfriend Cindy. It will take us up to a year to complete the trip and, if all goes well, we will reside in Victoria upon our return to Canada in 2011.

For local technical support, network administration and consulting advice, Amjad Riaz, my colleague and business partner will be taking over my responsibilities. He has already been in to help most of you and knows your networks and needs. If you have not yet had the pleasure of meeting Amjad, I will introduce you in the coming weeks. I am certain you will find him intelligent, mature, responsive and friendly. I trust him completely for sound advice, ideas and hard work. Amjad can be reached at 403-973-0124 or at amjad@darwintheory.ca (vcard attached to quickly add Amjad to your contacts). Though I am leaving Calgary, I will keep my business in operation and make myself available as much as possible via internet and phone throughout to assist you and Amjad in ensuring your networks and systems keep on running well. My email address remains, darwin@darwintheory.ca and my phone number will remain 403-589-4398.

For clients who are open to remote, appointment-based training and troubleshooting sessions, I will be available for remote desktop support. Yes, I can do this from the boat! I will post a calendar with availability at the link below and make it available on my website at www.darwintheory.ca and I would encourage you to contact me for an appointment. The calendar will be updated in more detail as we approach the end of September and commence the trip and you can see it here:

Calendar

In the meantime, I will be updating your documentation and cleaning up unfinished projects so that the transition will occur smoothly. I'm very sorry for springing this on you and appreciate the work you have had for me thus far. It has been a privilege to be your IT consultant and I hope to continue to be part of your business in the future from my boat on the trip and from Victoria.

Sincerely,

Darwin Grenwich

ps: I'm including a set of Frequently Asked Questions in case you are curious about the trip.

 

Frequently Asked Questions.

Why are you doing this?
The initial thought, oddly enough, came from the very land-based desire to build an 'off-the-grid' sustainable home, complete with solar and wind power, geo thermal heat, composting for waste, and water from a natural source. I soon discovered that sustainable homes actually already exist in the form of cruising sailboats with the added bonus of mobility, exploration and adventure. A sailboat provides not just a great view, but one that is infinitely changeable and the act of changing the view is real delight in itself. In 2006 Cindy came with me on our first sailing adventure and was quickly hooked herself. We have since discovered an entire community of like-minded people living in a way that we previously never imagined. Sailing changed everything.

Did you win the lottery?
No. Not even close. Though I've been living relatively modestly for years now and saving my money for this trip, it is not as expensive as people think. Certainly new sailboats can cost as much as new houses, but old sailboats are still plentiful, affordable, safe and seaworthy. We'll be sailing an old sailboat. Our boat likely costs less than that shiny SUV in the parking lot but, in my opinion, the value doesn't even compare. The biggest expense is loss of income. Living expenses are actually cheaper. Quality of life is through the roof.

What about pirates?
I get this a lot. The truth is that we are more likely to be carjacked, held up at an ATM or suffer a break-in right here on dry land in Calgary than on a boat. We are not headed for Somalia and boats are like castles - they have a big moat around them and it takes some initiative, planning and fuel to execute an attack. I'll keep my eye out but you shouldn't worry. Look out merging on to the Deerfoot.

What about storms?
I worry about storms more than pirates but we are going to do everything we can to avoid storms, prepare for them, and, most importantly, sail a boat that is capable of handling herself well in rough conditions.

Aren't you going to be lonely out there?
This one is actually really quite funny to us because it illustrates people's skewed perspectives on the cruising lifestyle and how they differ from our experience. First of all, we will be sailing together. More importantly, we'll be joining the sailing and boating community and spending 90% of our time at anchor or at the dock (not in the middle of the ocean), usually among dozens of other motor cruisers, sailors, boat bums, fishermen, wealthy gin palace owners, and so on, most of which are eager to help with problems, share/exchange gear, stories food and libations. When we went on our 6 month trip in 2006 my family gave me a volleyball in homage to 'Wilson' from the Tom Hanks movie Cast Away and they all signed it. I laughed when I saw it and appreciated the gesture but, to be honest, we never made so many genuine friends so quickly and met so many nice people as we did on that trip.

How do you communicate?
VHF radio for short range communications, such as bridge operators, harbour masters, other boats. SSB (Ham) radio for long range (optional - we may or may not have this). In harbours and near land we will also use cell phones, WiFi and cellular data for voice and internet. It is with these internet connections that I intend to stay in touch with clients, family and friends. For emergencies, we will have an EPIRB (Emergency Position-Indicating Radio Beacon) which uses satellites to send emergency info. We do not intend to have a satellite phone, satellite tv or satellite internet as the costs are prohibitive and rolling boats make for bad satellite dish platforms.

Do you really know what you are doing?
Yes and no. We have done this once before but that was the first time ever. Sparked by this dream I began sailing training in 2005 and completed my skipper certificate. I've since added VHF radio and Navigation to my course lists. In 2006 we embarked on this same trip but failed to make the Panama Canal, West Coast Victoria. Instead, we managed to virtually circumnavigate Florida and explore the Abacos region in the Bahamas until hurricane season threatened and we parked the boat. In 2007 I did a shorter trip with my brother to move the boat across Florida's canal system, from the East Coast to the West Coast in order to sell my boat, a beautiful Tartan 33 of which I had named, sardonically, The Beagle. We still have much to learn and approach the entire trip with - what I hope is the right amounts of - humility, courage, and wonder.

September 15 is right in hurricane season. You really don't know what you are doing, do you?
Yes, hurricane season runs June-November in the North Atlantic. It takes weeks to find the right boat, so we are renting an apartment in Annapolis, Maryland for a month and plan to be ready to purchase in mid October. We will wait out the storm season on land and head down the Intracoastal waterway to Florida with an arrival date in Key West of approximately November 1. Last time we felt we over-reacted and cut short our trip due to the threat of a tropical storm, but in our defence, it was 2006, right after 2005's record season, and in June we had a Tropical Storm blow between us and the mainland when we were in the relatively exposed Bahamas. It turns out that we could have stayed much longer but, being prairie people, we really are new to hurricanes.

Aren't you going to be bored?
This one is almost as strange to us as the 'Aren't you going to be lonely?' question. In Canada, we, like many people, take for granted certain comforts in life that become blatantly obvious once one does without: Running water, flush toilets, hot showers, limitless gas and electricity, heat, air conditioning, dry shelter, washer/dryer, dishwasher, Taco Time, Starbucks, Timmy's, a car to get from here to there. Experts to help us with any problem we might have, just a phone call away. We will be living without these.

Every gallon of water used to wash, cook or drink needs to be hauled aboard, stored and rationed. Every gallon of diesel fuel for the engine, every pound of propane gas used for cooking, every bit of garbage and waste, every boat part, food item or drink needs to be provisioned from a strange city in a strange land, on foot, then loaded into a small dinghy, ferried out to the boat and stored. In addition, water from these ports needs to be treated, diesel fuel filtered for sediment, and food, such as produce, needs to be treated for insects etc. Checking into and out of customs and immigration for many countries can take an entire day, and this is before route planning, weather and navigation. All boats need constant maintenance, parts and repairs. Parts are a challenge to obtain in many areas. In addition, there is socializing with locals and fellow cruisers, reading the 100+ books we will have aboard, snorkelling, scuba, paddling and sightseeing. Plus I have work to do! It is actually a far busier lifestyle than that which we engage in on land.

What are you going to do in Victoria?
I will be resuming my business there. We intend to live aboard the boat for the initial period until we settle in. If you know people in Victoria that need either an IT person and/or an Interior Designer (that's Cindy), please let me know. I may also approach you for a letter of reference, if you do not mind. We want to reside in Victoria to sail, kayak, windsurf, explore and live a more balanced life. We may return to Calgary at some point, but right now the ocean is calling.

I'm in Belize December 17. Can you meet me there?
Maybe. We will try to hook up. Sailing safely requires an enormous respect for nature. To make a passage, say, from Cuba across to Mexico, we must wait for a weather window, which can take weeks. In addition, we have little control over equipment failures, parts suppliers, customs and immigration paperwork and, added with the slow speed of sailboat travel, we give people estimates of arrival and departure times but all must be taken with a grain of salt. We turn to the sky and hope for a puff of wind and if we are lucky we'll move along to our destination at a speed a little faster a man can run.

I would like to know more about the sailing trip and, at times, laugh at your misfortunes. Where can I do that?
Cindy and I did a smaller trip in 2006 which inspired a blog that I write called Operation Wordfish - name inspired by the infamous Operation Swordfish, a FBI/DEA codename for a Miami drug sting that went South, so to speak (don't ask why that inspires me because I don't know. It is a mystery to me too). Swordfish is also a well known computer password, a movie where IT people are kinda badass, and, well, impressive fish. For an example of how this sailing lifestyle is not quite Margaritaville, please see links below.

Content warning here: dialogue on Wordfish is not business language, heavily opinionated posts abound and many commenters use potentially offensive language and espouse potentially offensive ideas - mostly for effect and often just to get a rise out of me. I do not endorse opinions of commenters and mine are, well, just opinions. Consider yourself warned!

Samples from 2006 Trip:

http://operationwordfish.blogspot.com/2006/06/dont-go-in-water.html

http://operationwordfish.blogspot.com/2006/04/what-becomes-of-broken-lust-grip.html

http://operationwordfish.blogspot.com/2006/03/whatever-you-do-dont-read-this.html

Main page
http://operationwordfish.blogspot.com