The last (for now) boat project

I have been on a rampage this past year.
So many upgrades.
Changing those non tailing winches have been on my list for a long long time, but the cost always stopped me.

Seal tailing vs non self tailing

When West Marine did a first - one buy, one free - last year, I passed after a lot of hesitation.
Then I regretted it.
They just redid it, one week before us leaving.

More holes !!!

Not a lot of time, but this is overall a relatively simple project. No electronics, no electrical.
The hard part as always, is to dismantle the old frozen nuts and bolts and get the damn old thing out of the boat.

Beautiful engineering work

It was a bit strecht - but this is not everyday than you can save 1600$.
While still spending 1600$.
Hum.I feel I have been played.

Anyway, here they are.

And now, fueling, provisioning....



and... Sailing !

101 Running Books

 A friend had the bad idea to come on a run with me and ask about running tips.
Looks like he survived, then I must not have bored him to death.
Almost.
Maybe he was just super resilient.
Anyway, at one point I realized there are a few books that can definitively get your started on the right foot.
This list is not extensive, of course, but, well, that's my list.

There is mostly two categories-
 let's call it inspirational - read it as a story
 running techniques and fitness


Inspirational (by order of preference)

The book that started it all.
If you have to read only one, read that one.

Well, I am a fan. I cannot help it.
If you like, you have 600 hours of podcast to follow up.

A reference.
This book re defined the ultra running phenomenon

good book from one of the best runner around

Found the book itself a bit disappointing,
but the man is truly exceptional

Running technique.

I am a little biased because I ended up with book focusing on a more natural and intuitive way of running, but all of those should be on your night stand if you plan on giving a serious shot at running.

I really like this approach.
Not for everyone, but definitively a very intuitive and deep way of revisiting
your technique

Extremely complete, tons of exercises.
If you have it and it hurts, it's in it.
The biology lesson is great.

There is something purely magical in the aerobic training.
A bit verbose, but unavoidable. It changed my perception of the sport. 

Very complete, technical and precise.
One of my first book and a great coach.

As a proof of how to be a complete and exceptional vegan athlete

A bit more anecdotal, but some great stories and good spirit.

Another very good and complete book that cover it all,
and give you a very strong program.
For the self-motivated one.

Next one, a few good podcast to come.

The last sea trial

This is it. The boat is ready.
Dream awaits.

Honolulu and Diamond Head .. and a rainbow !

Not exactly sure when I realized it could be actually doable, but I have dreamed for the South Pacific paradise islands as long as I can remember. I guess as an escape of the grey and rainy north of France.
Falling in love with the water 10 years ago in California, everything as built to this moment since then.
Learning to sail, buying a boat, buying another (better and smaller) boat, working on the boat, crossing half of the Pacific to Hawaii, improving the boat and sailing a bit here and there.

Windy !

Seeing dock buddies dreaming large and undertaking crazy adventures ill-equipped just reminded me that we are running out of time and can't delay chasing our dreams.

This year, everything sort-of aligned - job, money, time, crew -  for it to be possible. 

Sort of because you are - down the line - creating your own opportunities.

We are sailing South. 

And we will cross the equator at sea, a tipping point for all sailors since the early ages. 

We will reach new landfalls. Paradise landfalls.

I have been lucky enough to get my perfect 1st mate this time again to avoid this to be even more adventurous. Not sure how long I will be able to avoid doing those passages solo - the boat is definitely equipped for at this point and my skill set slightly improved. The mental challenges are of a whole other level though.
Great. There is always a next step, a next challenge to drive us forward.

To be fair - once you reach the South Pacific atolls, the distances toward Asia are less impressive. You jump from place to place with not more than a week long passage.

This one gonna take us another good 21 or more days, weather permitting.
Crossing the doldrums gonna be an experience by itself. 

Every sailor fear a storm at sea, but dead calm for days can drive you insane - they say.

Traces

Well, we are about to see by ourselves. 

Two weeks to go.

Running Again

Those past few months have been very busy, between preparing the boat, work and a bit of travel to support our little cheerleader.
The hard work on my body started to pay.
The counter intuitive imbalance work from Ben Greenfield - with a website that looks like a scam - did a little miracle, combined with a couple of successful chiropractor sessions and deep release work.
Pushing ankle exercise every other day instead of every day provided a good healing of my Achilles tendinitis - Maybe one year in the making !

Hips have been stable for a couple of weeks, Kiting - Foiling , Sir ! - is now permitted and some progress have been seen on this infamous flying carpet.

But the most pleasant of this past week were the three Makawao forest run I did with Barnaby, One hour 15min + runs that reconciled me with running, the forest and the mud.

Did I mention that in winter, the forest is a bit wet ?

I am working now with a new physio, Mackenzie, who I recommend - Deep Relief, a little bit closer from home - to be fair I highly recommend Mike from Orthosport - situation was becoming impractical between the two islands though - but I deeply appreciated all the work we did together last year.

Barnaby is not happy when I dry him,
but believe me, mud baths are good for his skin

Obviously, all the work I did with my other half (Christelle) is certainly not a stranger to this - so far - happy outcome.

I have high hope that continuing to focus on flexibility and strengthening gonna pay its dividends.
Or continue to pay off, it seems.

Better have to, because I signed for a marathon early October - plenty of time still, but still feel like a very very far reach at this point.

What if it were fun ?

"What would this look like if it were easy? is such a lovely and deceptively leveraged question. It’s easy to convince yourself that things need to be hard, that if you’re not redlining, you’re not trying hard enough. This leads us to look for paths of most resistance, often creating unnecessary hardship in the process." Tim Ferris

Proud owner of Hull #44

Let's challenge the "No Pain No Gain" rule.
I am the first to be guilty of believing that hard work pays, and high pain tolerance bring you want you to be.
I always thought that it was my dedication to my career that made the difference.
Truth to be told, it was always easy for me to spend long hours sitting in front a computer, programming.
I liked it, still do. I am enjoying the creative process of coding, the constant brain games and solving problems.
It is easy for me to go in flow while programming. Time flies, code lines accumulate.
Was it that hard to achieve success ? Maybe not.

Rage drill on an old aluminium traveler

Running my first marathon I had a fierce determination to never walk.
What ever it will take, never stopping. Failure was not an option, pain to be endured.
No pain, no gain.
Now, after I finally learned to stop and walk - hitting the wall on my second marathon pretty dramaticcaly made me believe that
all rules are meant to be broken - I am following the MAF method - which could be resumed by taking it easy.
You focus on running in zone 2 - Anaerobic zone - the easy zone. Believe it or not, you will improve and run faster and faster.
This is actually the golden rule of endurance.
As a side benefit this is more gentle on your joints and body and you reduce greatly the risk of injury - not a small advantage for me - still recovering from at least 4 different running injuries.
Running slow and easy.

back winded working jib.

Take it easy and bring the fun into everything you do.
Everything you do becomes a hobby.
Times flies, you are in flow, living the moment and improving.
The only way to improve is to spend the time. The body is an incredible adaption machine, and  so adapt the brain as well.
In everything you do, find the fun, and offset it to be easy.
Raging or swearing makes it worst, every obstacle is a chance to improve.

Starting on make her pretty. A paint job.

I discovered lately how to apply this to boat work.
I always assumed I did not like working on the boat. Hard, long, expensive. Not gratifying.
It was a mean to an end, travelling, cruising, and only because I did not have enough money to pay someone to do that grueling work in my place.
Now, what if boat work was easy ?
Remove the time constraint, work on one project at a time, and allocate only few hours a day to it.
Don't make it a live or die situation. Buy the right tools and do any shortcut.
What if it was fun ?
Prepare it well, make yourself comfortable. Take the time, Do it well, Appreciate the results. Appreciate the creation, the problem solving, the handcrafting.
Be patient. Do it once, twice, third time. Listen to a podcast.
It is actually quite marvelous to see your work take shape.

Reward of a job well done.

What if fixing the boat was actually half of the fun ? And the cruising only the excuse ?
By embracing it, you go with the flow, you go in the zone.
Slow and easy. And you improve.
Live your life like a hobby, live in the zone.