Oh yeah, and Erik!

I thought I'd tell you, Erik that they are successfully getting me dirty on these boats. My shirts have dirt and grease stains all over them! No tractors or three-wheelers to carry stuff anymore! Not as of yet, anyways. Love you! Woof,

Jacks

Old Opportunity New Again

I think I may be coming down with a cold. I didn't have the second day of my class today cause there were too many people in the class so instead I went to check in with a couple of the agencies again. After that I just came back here and worked on my CV all day. I'm so tired and my throat is just kinda thick is all. I've been sitting out back with the rest of the guys since around five though. I find them to be more enjoyable company than the girls sometimes.

I was just told that I was girly. I don't like that at all. I'm not girly just cause I like my puppy(Pip.. no new puppy here), am I? Haha, well maybe I am. Goodness, though! Girly? I am not girly, am I? How very rude to call me a girly girl! Not ok!

Laz called me today. On Saturday we thought that the owner wasn't going to buy the boat and that the job was gone but when Laz called he said that the owner just put a deposit down on the boat so it looks good. If he buys the boat then I have a job. If not, I go to Antibes and find a job there. I'll get a job no matter, it's just a matter of where and when is all. I'm not too concerned about it though.

I don't have all too much to say. I felt like typing for a bit but I just don't know what to tell you. I'm listening to my nighty-night music to relax before I go climb into my bed and cuddle up with my pillows.. yayy. You know me and how well I could ramble on about nothing but for your sake I won't. I'll find somebody else to babble on to. Love you all. Woof.

Jacks

Pictures.. Yaay

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Blogspot didn't let me upload as many pictures as I would've liked but I'll try to add more after these ones finally load. There are a few pictures of the yacht I've been working on. The sign, thank goodness, on the back has been changed now and looks much snazzier.

For starters, however!, I want you to notice that diet coke up there! Do you realize that it's a "coke light?" How weird is that? Haha, it came from somewhere else. I had to put the pretzels next to it so you knew it was from the airplane:-)

The picture of the boat there's Pete on the far left and Jody, Ben's girlfriend and chief stewardess. I like her a lot. The third picture is of the two tenders with their covers on. Both of those covers used to be yellow and now, as you can see they are NOT! yayy again!

I rode on the water taxi the 2nd day I was here to just have some fun and see where all the marinas were. It was fun because that is how I found out that the next picture is Lucille Ball's old place(the one with the white roof!) The last one there is of one of the apartment complexes right next to the Hall of Fame Marina where I'm working. You don't even want to know how much it costs to live there. WAYY too much for anyone in their right mind to even consider it! And well, the last picture is from today. Dad wanted me to post a picture of what I look like right now so here I am!

I'm super tired tonight after spending a day on the beach in the sun and going to a BBQ tonight with the crew from Revelation. I'm off to bed. Until later! Love you all lots. Woof,

Jacks

Short Update

Not too much has changed. I'm really tired today because I went to dinner with a friend I made here at the crew house last night and ended up watching the Deadliest Catch till later. I'm super-psyched because my roommate came back! Her name is Kelly. I thought she was leaving forever but she came back from the charter and is my roommate once more! Oooh yayy.

Still working with the Revelation but am going to take next weekend off because I want to have some fun in Florida a little bit. I'm taking a class next Monday and Tuesday to get certified internationally to drive a tender. Ben tried to get me a job on a friend of his yachts going to the Med and then eventually to Australia but unfortunately, though they liked me when we went to chat, they can't hire an American because of insurance. Apparently Americans sue more than any other country. Right after the U.S. is Australia. ''

So anyhoodle, I'll be working with the Revelation for the rest of this week and then the class the first two days of the next week, and then I'm looking for new day-work/!job! Ho-kay. I'm going to bed now but I love you all oh so very much and I am so glad I am not experiencing break-up right now. Goodness me... Love you all. Woof

Jacks

A Day at Sea

Today was my first day at sea. We went.. umm, let's see... approximately 100 meters away from the dock. It was very exciting let me tell you. I was the roaming fender. I stood on the bridge deck holding a sausage fender making sure that the boat didn't hit anything. After we drove clear of those obstacles I ran down onto the bow to help Ben throw out the bow and spring line to the fuel station/boat. We then sat there "at sea" from 9:30am until 5:00 tonight while a grand total of just under 7,000 gallons of diesel fuel filled up our tanks. It was loads of fun! Serious!

I can't really remember what I did today to be quite honest. It was great, though. My muscles are just barely starting to return to what they should be at the very least. Man I've really let that slide, haha. The muscle that's the most sore is the one right under the bend of my right elbow on my upper forearm. That's the muscle, apparently, that is used to do those tiny little circles when polishing or cleaning in general. Haha.

So here's the story on the Revelation. The captain that was on it is now leaving. Pete is there to take his place but the boat is so old and mostly unkept that it has a lot of idiosyncrasies to learn. The old Capt. is Laz. Laz is staying on board until the engineer shows up on the 10th of May. From there he's trying to find another job. He's English, by the way. I've been working on the Revelation for 3 days now and going on into the weekend. Laz told me this morning that he wanted to take a few of my CVs so that he could pass them out and keep one himself. I thought that was great so I let him take however many he wanted tonight. He then asked me if I was willing to fly somewhere to get a job. I said yeah, of course. He then said, "Well I'm looking for a job too and mostly in Europe but when I get a job I'd love to take you with me to work on deck." Hahaha, yes! He said that he will never hire another American. He said that he would definitely hire an Alaskan!

I've discovered that in my case, it is best to be upfront with the captains. I now, knowing full well that the consequences may be not getting the job, will tell them that I am a rookie and that I really don't know very much at all concerning yachts but that with a little direction I will do just fine. If they say no, that won't work... well then that's not a job I want anyways. I keep thanking Ben and Pete for teaching me as much as they have. Ben said to me, "Even the best captain in the world started out knowing nothing. It's only right that we teach you this stuff." They're great. They explain everything to me.

I am loving it here so much. I've been here a week but it feels like it's been longer. In a good way, though. I am more confident now that this is where I want to be than I ever was before. I cannot imagine myself doing anything different for the time being and by golly, I'm going to the Med. I'll be there within 2 months, guaranteed! Pete's going to give me a recommendation and send me on to his agent and then with Laz gunning for me as well and the day-work I hope to be doing on the Itasca, for which I may be counting my chickens before they hatch, but still....I think I'm doing dog-gone alright!

I'm taking my camera with me tomorrow..haha unless I forget again. I'll take pictures! It'll be fun. I'm going to go have a ham and cheese sandwich now. Cheers mates!

Love you all. Woof,

Jacks

Sun Burns Are Like Places You Haven't Checked Off Your List Yet

Ben, the guy I've been working with said the other day that every time you check off a place you've been wanting to go, a new place joins the list. That's what sun burns are like. Every day when you put lotion on you think of where you got burned the day before and each day you discover a new place that needs to be covered. I'm constantly shocked.

I absolutely love working with crew I'm working with. I have only been there 2 days and have learned so much. I'm still no where near being competent on my own but with a little direction I do alright. Today Ben had me cleaning the little powerboat on board. So, for many hours I polished the stainless steel that had oxidation occur on it so it still looks ruddy after it's been done. So lame, but, with the help of my ipod tomorrow it'll be much better. I didn't mind it at all though. I drank a lot of water today and felt more at home on the yacht which is really upsetting because it won't be the yacht I'll be on. Ugh.. I'm so sad.

I'm going to work with Pete and Ben for the rest of this week and weekend along with all of next week. After that Captain Pete said he would write me a recommendation and send me to talk to his agent so that she can place me where I need to be. There's a yacht called Itaska(I think) that's going to the Med next month and they told me on Monday that they were going to be looking for a deck. So once I'm done with the Revelation I will move on over there and see if I can do day work with them which may turn into a permanent position. That's the hope anyways. We'll see. You never know.

I talked to Ben after work over the very hypothetical of me not getting a job within the month or month and a half. So, if I don't get a job going over to the Med I will go over to Antibes, France to find a job. Ben expects that I'll be able to find a job though, so that's good.

Anyhoodle, Pete and Ben are picking me up an hour earlier than usual tomorrow cause it's a busy day so I'm off to bed. Love you all. Woof,

Jacks

P.S. That picture is the Revelation. It used to be the Savvy. G-night!

An Official Yachtie

I never knew that not writing for one day would have caused such an uproar! Well, perhaps I did, but I had to think things through before I laid it all out on the table.

I had my interview in Miami yesterday for which the captain picked me up here at the crewhouse. We had to drive to the airport to pick up a freelancer (temporary hire) that was dropping of her rental car and then we headed to Miami. When I was done with the interview, I had an awful lot to think about but I think I have finally made up my mind and for good reason.

The 130' yacht just lost its last captain. The old captain took his crew with him leaving a new captain to fill his shoes and with him a whole new crew. When I was there there were only three permanent members of the crew and three freelancers. The relationship between the crew was rough, to say the least. There seemed to be a lot of tension that the captain was not really picking up on. Don't get me wrong. He was very nice and offered quite a bit but the crew is what makes the yacht a good or bad one and I realized today how very important that is.

Today I worked as a day-worker for the yacht Revelation. She is captained by an Australian man named Pete. Today I worked with the Boson, Ben--who is also from Australia--, to empty out storage lockers and then for a good portion of the day I made brown tenders look pearly white. I had a fantastic day with the crew. They're going to the Med on the 10th of May after the engineer and chef shows up. Ben taught me a lot and was very willing to take the time to explain things.

I absolutely loved the crew I worked with today. As of right now, though, they are not hiring because the owner doesn't want to spend any more money. I think I made an impression, though. The captain thought he might want me to recruit one guy from the crewhouse to help out tomorrow but Ben said no and that we would be just fine. So they've got work lined up for me today and the rest of the week and then starting again on Monday. I worked 11.5 hours today at 15/hr!

You are probably wondering what the captain that interviewed me offered me to make it a difficult decision as to whether or not to accept. I'm saying this later to keep it all in line and make sense. I would've been the only deckhand on board and he wanted me to move up into the navigational role and be the deckhand/mate. That's all fine and dandy but I am a rookie and as the only deckhand, I would have to figure everything out on my own because I know full well that the captain isn't going to want to come down to show me every little thing each time I have a problem. I don't want to learn that way. It would be really stressful for me and I don't think it would be worth it in the end. I would very much rather get a job as the lowliest deckhand so that I can watch and learn as I go knowing full well that if I miss something, someone is watching my back cause, haha, well they'll need to.

My experience today was a great one. One of the awesome things about it was that when they picked me up and brought me to the yacht, we all went down to the crew quarters, had coffee and tea and discussed what was happening today. At lunch (at noon) we did the same thing. *Side note: Boy was it an excellent spread!!* At the end of the day (would've been 5 but we ran into some difficulties which pushed us to 7) we sat down and rested and had a drink of our preference. I may be thinking a little off but does that sound familiar to anyone? Anyone at all? Morning coffee, lunch always at noon, and... deck/porch-time? You can understand why I felt so comfortable!

The captain dropped me off this evening and as he was leaving I mentioned that if ever the owner changed his mind and that they might want another crewmember, I hoped he'd think of me. He said he would.

So that's my day, folks. I only just now realized how tired I am. I may hit the hay early this evening around 9:30 or 10. Love you all. Woof,

Jacks

I have an Interview!! In MIAMI

I have an interview tomorrow in Miami!!!!! Here's the website to check out the yacht:

http://www.motoryachtsojourn.com/main/main3.html

It's 130' and it would be for a deckhand position!! AAAAaaaak!:D I'm so excited! Captain Steve will pick me up here in the morning around 9 or 9:30 to bring me to Miami to check out the boat and then tomorrow evening send me back on some sort of train or something. I am way super psyched oh my goodness gracious! I'll take pictures! Love you all! Woof,

Jacks!

I Hear Red is the New Tan

Hello hello hello,

What a day what a day. I could not fall asleep for the longest time last night. Tossed and turned for at least 2 hours after already going to bed late. I think I got a very rough 4 hours... very rough. I went into three agencies today to get set up. Didn't take long at crewnetwork since that's where I was already dealing in SD. I have to get official interviews tomorrow morning with the other two. I have some day-work opportunities for tomorrow but I can't do both the agency work and day-work in the same day. My plan for tomorrow is to finish the quick interviews and then pass out more CVs at the marinas. I passed out 13 today.

One of the guys here, Bernie, calls the dockwalk the walk of shame. I think I agree. I mean, it wasn't bad, but, well... Some of the people were super nice and said that even if they didn't have a position available they would pass it on to someone who might while others just looked at me funny. Oh well. Not too bad for a first day.

I messed up today. I didn't bring water with me on my long walk and I definitely felt it by the end of the day. I think (can't be too positive but I think!) that I may have had a little bit of heat exhaustion. I ended up calling a cab to take me home. Big d0-doo. I must follow my dear friend Cam's advice and drink mucho mucho mas aqua. I do not know how Erik and Ty go without their water. But Erik, I can tough my way through it! I can! I didn't today, but I can!

Tomorrow's dock-walking will be a little easier since I now have a bike that I'm able to ride. No matter how comfortable chacos are, 10 miles tends to wear on your feet. The bike helps a ton.

Today I took the water taxi. It was really neat because not only did it bring me to a couple of marinas that I needed to get to, but the guy taking my money told us about all of the million-dollar mansions we passed. I say Lucille Ball's old place and the owner of the Dolphins and quite a few more. It was really cool. The canopy also blocked the sun a bit so that was really nice as well.

Lessons of the day:
1) Drink more water!!!
2)Wear an inch of sunblock on my shoulders!!
3)Call the numbers on the bulletin board in the crewhouse because they are very useful!

Anyhoodle, that's it for now I s'pose. For Jod and any others that may not be aware, I believe you can enter your name by selecting the OpenID bubble right after the word verification. Love you all. Woof,

Jacks

Night Before the Race

Day two is now over. Woke up late today (go figure) but I think I forgot to set my alarm.. actually turn it on. It was ok though because there is nothing to do on Sundays in the yachting world. Richard picked me up at noon and drove me around for an hour or so just showing me where the marinas were. I quickly discovered I had to buy a map so I went to Walgreens and did that. After Richard dropped me off I set out walking, knowing full well there was no way I was going to make it through the entire loop again. I ended up just going a little way and exploring one marina just walking the docks.

I was wearing normal hot weather garb so I didn't try to talk to anybody on board the yachts because I was not wearing the appropriate clothing. I ended up talking to a few people though and actually got a tour of one 63 footer. It was small but pretty neat. The engine room was much cleaner than I had expected and I saw a bilge tank for the first time. Crew quarters in that yacht were definitely cozy but not at all bad in my opinion. The captain of that yacht, Kevin, said that he would give me a call for day-work and that they will be going on a 3-day charter on Thursday and that he will see if he can get me on-board. That would obviously be short-term. I don't think I want to stay here in Florida.

Florida is great. I'm loving the weather. Dad was definitely right. He's heard it that when people come here it's hard to up and leave and I can see why that is. But, after learning the cost to rent an apartment ($1-3000 +) a month, I think I have a better understanding!

I ended up coming back to the house a little earlier than originally planned but made use of it by going for a run around this loop. I go about 5 blocks, turn and do another 5 blocks... and that each direction. So, adding it all up it looks right around 20 blocks. I have absolutely no idea how long that is but it was good enough. I'm not trying to run a marathon or anything :-)

I am so sorry! I was going to take my camera with me while I went walking earlier but left without it. I didn't realize until I was far enough away I was definitely not turning back. It was a nice walk though. The sun hit me for sure and my shoulders are a little red. A little more sunblock tomorrow me thinks.

I think that's all I have to say for now. I'm hitting the hay now and am going to the agencies in the morning. I won't be able to get day-work tomorrow because I'll be starting too late after I check in with the agencies but Tuesday will be different. Love you all. Woof,

Jacks

Hot and Humid

I'm here in Fort Lauderdale! I'm staying here at the crewhouse. There's a heated pool. Keyword: heated. What's with that? We're in Florida people!! It's 80 degrees at 7 o'clock at night!

The flight was not a bad one but not a great one either. It's mostly awkward just because of the 4 hour time difference. For me it's still 3 in the afternoon. I had a nice talk with an older couple from San Francisco on the flight from Houston to Ft. Lauderdale. She was a County emergency planner and he was a mechanic of some sort. They're going on a 7-day cruise all around Cuba without actually going to Cuba. They were nice and made the last flight a fast one.

Mary picked me up from the airport. I know that caravans get a bad rep but I actually like them. Very comfy. The girls that are staying here went to the mall today so I haven't met them yet. One's from Canada but I don't know where the other's from. I've met, I think five guys that are back here. Only one of them has an accent I'm used to, haha. One is from Hungary, another from South Africa, Europe... and The others I haven't asked. They all have accents but for the one because of course, I have no accent:) They also all smoke I've just realized. Each and every one of them. Hmmm.

The brother of one of the guys here already has a job on a yacht and they're looking for a stewardess. I'm going to email him my resume (calling them CVs now, apparently) which he will then pass on to the chief stewardess.

Richard, the guy Robyn (Agency connection in San Diego) talked to about showing me around is going to hopefully do just that tomorrow. He said he would call me a bit later. According to the guys here there's nothing I can do on the weekend. "Monday=Funday" Richard is at a crew party tonight so.. Anyways. I don't like the smell of smoke.

I have to be careful because I don't think you're going to want to read a super long post every time! I doubt they will be as long when I've become comfortable. I tend to slow down at that point. But I have to say a little more!

Camerin was asking me how I could possibly not be nervous. It's crazy because I'm forcing myself not to be. Every time I get a nervous feeling I do my best to knock it out of me because I need to be confident. People are drawn to confidence so that's the image I need to exude. It's really hard though because when I'm with a strange group of people I just want to hide because I don't want to.. well I'm just comfortable. But I'm working on it! Right now I'm sitting by the pool while the guys are all talking about going to some party. So, Wambam.. that should answer your question.


CAM! That song "Doo doo doo looking out my back door" is playing. Thinking of you!:)

Love you all. Update soon. Woof

Jacks

Picture Test

I was just wanting to figure out how the picture added. Who better to steal pictures from than Chris? Never disappointed.