“The sea’s vast depths lie open to the fish;
Wherever the breezes blow the bird may fly;
So to the brave man every land’s a home.”
- Ovid

This is my first collection of videos taken of the boat project I undertook in Pensacola, Florida. After winning this boat on EBay, I soon learned that a whole lot of little jobs can be much worse (and more expensive) than a few large ones! I traveled 1100 miles to north Florida in the heat of summer to get this boat in the water.

Despite the hardships, in the end it was worth it.

Topsides and Belowdecks: A Study in Nautical Horror – This is my very first video taken with my new digital camcorder, documenting the early stages of the boat’s repair and some of the colorful people around Patti’s Shipyard in Pensacola.

Boat Progress: June 6th, 2006 – This video was taken during the midpoint of the restoration. Mariah would not launch for another month and it would be weeks before her mast ever went up. At least most of the woodwork was getting done inside.

Last Boat Update: June 28th, 2006 – My final video taken before she went into the crane. The mast had finally been raised despite weeks of delays and hundreds or additional dollars in expenses. With her name and origin on her stern, running numbers and Hunter logo, Mariah was finally looking like a real sailboat!

Mariah Launches: July 3rd, 2006 – Mariah went into the water just in time to make the regatta for the Fourth of July in Pensacola Bay. We cruised out to White Island and watched the fireworks, drank beer and yelled at every powerboater who came through too fast and waked us. Good times!

My car is a red 1997 Mitsubishi Spyder convertible. I’ve had her for over two years now and we’ve gone across the country twice. She has blown her transmission completely and had it replaced with a brand new one, all four new tires, new clutch system and lots and lots of wax.

Stock photos:

Specs:

Engine 2.3L I4

Drive Train FWD

Wheelbase 99″

Standard Features: FWD, Cruise Control, Power Steering, Power Brakes, Aluminum/Alloy Wheels, Power Antenna, Bucket Seats, Power Windows, Power Mirrors, Power Driver Seat, Power Door Locks, Remote Trunk Release, Tilt Steering Wheel, Intermittent Wipers, Rear Window Defroster, Tachometer, Infinity Premium Sound System

I tried to get some footage of a dolphin that swam in close to our shipyard in Pensacola. Larger fish have been swimming farther into the bay in recent years and this increase in the food population has lured larger animals. There have been several bull and hammerhead sharks moving in and plenty of dolphins as well. This particular one was fishing just a few yards away during the last week before my sailboat went into the water.

It was hard to get the camera on focus to get her, but I did catch some shots. Check it out!

On Memorial Day this summer I went out on my buddy Wayne’s sailboat, an Island Packet 38. Wayne taught me how to sail on both his boats and we enjoyed a couple of good daysails and an overnighter. The Islander was big and beamy, a real joy to sail. We went out from Pensacola Bay and Bayou Chico across to Spanish Cove and anchored amongst about 100 boats.

On the way sailing into the cove we got to test our navigation in tight spaces and check out lots of hot chicks. Later, we dinghy-ed into shore and walked the beach, checking out lots of hot chicks. The rest of the day was spent lounging in the shade of the Islander’s cockpit, listening to music and using our binoculars to… well, you get the picture.

“Should I ever need religion, I have lost faith in myself.”
- James Daily

“Christian Fundamentalism: The doctrine that there is an absolutely powerful, infinitely knowledgeable, universe-spanning entity that is deeply and personally concerned about my sex life.”
- Andrew Lias

“The Bible has noble poetry in it; and some clever fables; and some blood-drenched history; and a wealth of obscenity; and upwards of a thousand lies.”
- Mark Twain

“Of all the systems of religion that ever were invented, there is none more derogatory to the Almighty, more unedifying to man, more repugnant to reason, and more contradictory in itself, than this thing called Christianity. Too absurd for belief, too impossible to convince, and too inconsistent for practice, it renders the heart torpid, or produces only atheists or fanatics. As an engine of power, it serves the purpose of despotism; and as a means of wealth, the avarice of priests; but so far as respects the good man in general, it leads to nothing here or hereafter.”
- Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason

“The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one. The happiness of credulity is a cheap and dangerous quality.”
- Preface to Androcles and the Lion, George Bernard Shaw (1856-1950)

“My notion is that religions should be robust enough to trust their members. A religion should arm you to go into the world, not wall you off from it. One thing censorship achieves is to create an aura of forbidden glamour.”
- Roger Ebert

“To hear many religious people talk, one would think God created the torso, head, legs and arms, but the devil slapped on the genitals.”
~Don Schrader

“Give me the storm and tempest of thought and action, rather than the dead calm of ignorance and faith. Banish me from Eden when you will, but first let me eat of the fruit of the tree of knowledge. For happiness is the only good, reason the only torch, justice the only worship, and love the only priest.”
- Robert Green Ingersoll

“The man who invented the telescope found out more about heaven than the closed eyes of prayer ever discovered.”
- Robert G. Ingersoll, “The Great Agnostic” (1833-1899)

It is not enough to conquer; one must know how to seduce.
– Voltaire

Men make love more intensely at twenty, but make love better, however, at thirty.
– Catherine II of Russia

Anybody who believes that the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach flunked geography.
– Robert Byrne, quoted in 1,911 Best Things Anybody Ever Said, 1988

If God had intended us not to masturbate, He would have made our arms shorter.
– George Carlin

As she lay there dozing next to me, one voice inside my head kept saying, “Relax… you are not the first doctor to sleep with one of his patients,” but another kept reminding me, “Howard, you are a veterinarian.”
– Dick Wilson

I regret to say that we of the FBI are powerless to act in cases of oral-genital intimacy, unless it has in some way obstructed interstate commerce.
– J. Edgar Hoover

Love is the answer; but while you’re waiting for the answer, sex raises some pretty good questions.
– Woody Allen

Condoms aren’t completely safe. A friend of mine was wearing one and got hit by a bus.
~Bob Rubin

Don’t knock masturbation – it’s sex with someone I love.
~Woody Allen

Life in Lubbock, Texas, taught me two things: One is that God loves you and you’re going to burn in hell. The other is that sex is the most awful, filthy thing on earth and you should save it for someone you love.
~Butch Hancock

Sex without love is an empty experience. But, as empty experiences go, it’s one of the best.
~Woody Allen

Desire is in men a hunger, in women only an appetite.
~Mignon McLaughlin

Don’t worry, it only seems kinky the first time.
~Author Unknown

Nymphomaniac: a woman as obsessed with sex as an average man.
~Mignon McLaughlin

Kinky is using a feather. Perverted is using the whole chicken.
~Author Unknown

There are a number of mechanical devices which increase sexual arousal, particularly in women. Chief among these is the Mercedes-Benz 380SL convertible.
~P.J. O’Rourke