The Story of The Henriettas

THE STORY OF THE HENRIETTAS

(note – if you aren’t a family friend, or if you prefer Hemingway-style writing to Melville, you can skip this entry. It only discusses the reasons for the name of the boat, as well as how the voyage came to be a reality. It’s long-winded.)

“Why Henrietta?”

I was asked this by Miguel, the person in charge of the marina in Nicaragua. In fact, he asked it twice, when we checked in and checked out. Apparently Immigration and Customs had the same question, as he was interpreting for both on both occasions.

My dad and I always had an agreement. When he died, he would be reincarnated as a basset hound, and I would find said basset hound and raise it. Yes, you read that correctly.

There was one condition on my part though – I wasn’t willing to raise a male basset (they are the most stubborn dogs on earth, not unlike dad, but . . .), so dad would have to be reincarnated as a female basset. Not Hank, Henrietta.

But dad didn’t die at the most opportune of times. He and I were not speaking to each other, though I’m not sure he was aware of this. My marriage was falling apart, and would soon end.

And my lease was up. I had no place for me to live, nonetheless me and a puppy basset.

It had always been a dream of mine to live on a boat. And dad had encouraged it as well. I did the math – I could buy a boat, and pay my slip fees, for far less than renting an apartment in San Diego. I would be living there illegally, but I wouldn’t be the only one.

So I bought Henrietta, a Sea Ray 350 express cruiser.

If you aren’t familiar with this model, it is very Miami Vice, cigarette-style. But it had what I needed – the interior space was massive, and the price was great. It would have broken to pieces in 10 foot seas, but that wasn’t my plan. It allowed me to live on the water for less than $500 a month. In San Diego. That’s like living in Manhattan for $500 a month.

Within a few months, I met Sam. I like to joke that, for a while there, we had a boat and a house in Del Mar. Unfortunately, we were paying rent on both. Sam and Monty (Sam’s dog) moved on to Henrietta. It was a tight fit.

So we started looking at other “homes” (boats only). I had grown accustomed to living aboard, and wasn’t interested in ever being on land again – Sam had caught the same bug.

(brief digression)

I got started in the education racket because I briefly worked as a substitute teacher at the International School of Aruba. My goal has always been to work in an international school, and for this reason, any boat we bought would either have to be really cheap (so that selling it at a loss wouldn’t hurt) or capable of taking us to far-off lands.

(digression over)

The first boat we looked at was a Hunter 42. Not enough space. After that, we looked at motorsailors, catamarans, everything in the book. Not enough space.

Eventually we started looking at motorboats again. At a boat show we saw a Nordhavn, a true bluewater motorboat, and fell in love. But it was way outside of our price range –as were even the used ones.

However, it gave us an idea – maybe we should buy a trawler (Nordhavns are trawlers), learn how to sail it, and then upgrade. We started looking at trawlers. We saw a beautiful one while visiting Sam’s family up in Santa Barbara, but it wasn’t right – the price was too high for a starter boat.

Sam mentioned our dream to the broker – “We want to buy a Nordhavn down the road, but can’t right now.” The broker asked, “Have you looked at Kadey-Krogen’s?”

The poor guy lost a sale. We still owe him a case of wine.

Nordhavns and Krogens are the two production boats that are true bluewater trawlers. New, Krogens cost more than Nordhavns.

But while the first Nordhavn came out in the 1990s, Krogen has been building since 1978. Krogen 42’s, which have crossed the Atlantic, were available, and within our price range.

I did my research, and knew what we wanted. It had to have stabilizers. “Soft decks” were an issue with some models, and I wanted to avoid that. Due to economics, any model after 1990 was out of the question.

Lo and behold, there was a 1987, stabilized, in San Diego. Even the Krogen people had told me that finding a stabilized Krogen for what I wanted to pay was “impossible”. Which was totally untrue, but what do you expect of a salesperson?

So we negotiated a deal on Henrietta II (formerly Sea Turtle). She performed great at the sea trial. Our surveyor, however, was a total idiot, missing the obvious (stuck thru-hulls, the existence of an inverter, coolant loss (I fixed it), shot alternator on the genset), while making note of the mundane (the autopilot remote didn’t work, nor the security system, and the mast and spreaders needed painting).

If you’ve ever bough a home, you are familiar with the inspection process. When your home is inspected, your inspector is legally liable for what he says – if the second floor falls through due to water intrusion, and he missed that, he’s on the hook.

Not so for boat surveyors. They have zero liability. Yet you need a survey in order to be insured . . . and you are required to comply with the survey recommendations. So, in our case, this moron noted that the mast wasn’t painted right (not a structural issue) and that the 1987 Radio Shack security system wasn’t fixed, and put them in his report. Nevermind the frozen thru-hulls - which need to be operable because, if a hose blows, you’ll sink.

Sorry, but I’m calling you out by name, Tom Beech. I don’t know if the prior owner paid you off, or my broker, but you did a horrible job. Two insurers wouldn’t even accept your report. Smart insurers.

That rant aside, it has been nice learning new things about Henrietta II. We have an excellent inverter (device that takes 12 volt battery power and turns it in to 110 volt current). We have 2 air-conditioning units. Everything is top-of-the-line.

Basically, the survey was a wash. I wish the idiot hadn’t mentioned stupid things (painting the mast, the remote for the autopilot, the security system), and I wish he’d noted things that matter (coolant issue and thru-hulls in particular). But, we have an inverter, and that ‘s a $2000 piece of equipment that doesn’t even appear in the report.

Enough. We bought Henrietta II. We had our dream – 10-20 years before we thought it would be possible.

STORY OF THE VOYAGE OF HENRIETTA II

I lived in Aruba for 3 years. Towards the end of it, I contacted the head of the International School of Aruba, and asked if he needed any help. I was hoping to be a “school psychologist” or “school counselor”, but did not realize that I needed a master’s degree for either position. No dice.

However, my bachelor’s would suffice for the position that was available – substitute teaching.

For the record (and for DIMAS), I was a volunteer, never paid.

But it changed my life, gave me a direction and purpose I had never had before.

One morning, as I was getting ready to go in to school, I got a call – the teacher who I was supposed to sub for was feeling better, and I didn’t need to go in.

Normally, a “day off” would have been cause for celebration. But in this case, I was sad. I had never felt that way about getting a day off of “work”, never actually wanted to . . . I guess . . . work before. I stood there in the shower, and reflected on this.

I loved working with those kids. Maybe I’d found my calling.

My part-time sub position became a full-time job when the PE teacher broke his leg.

If you know me, you’re already laughing at the idea of me teaching PE. I avoided PE like the plague growing up, taking drama, sports medicine, even dance. Anything to stay away from PE.

But I loved working with those kids. And while I would have rather been teaching social studies, I took what I could get.

At the time I was there, the oil refinery (who many students’ parents were employed by) changed ownership. Having experienced a lot of mobility in high school (five schools in five years), I wanted to do all that I could for them. But I had limited skills, and limited knowledge outside of my own experience.

I would have to return to the US to get a master’s degree in school counseling. Experience alone does not suffice when you are dealing with the lives of young people.

But where does one go to study when they’re coming from Aruba? How do you trump paradise?

I only had two choices – Florida or Southern California. I had spent time in both locations, and preferred Southern California, San Diego specifically (the story isn’t that simple, but you don’t need to know the details if you don’t already).

So I spent two years there, working on my degree. I met Sam, the best thing that has ever happened to me.

But the summer of 2010 was . . . I think Mark Twain said it best when describing San Francisco, “The worst winter I ever spent was a summer in San Francisco”.

Apparently, there are weather conditions called “May Gray” and “June Gloom” in San Diego.

They extended in to September. The best summer day we had was in December.

I had completed the first 60% of my internship for my master’s degree, and we were headed north to see Sam’s family. I had excelled in my position – my supervisor wrote in her letter of recommendation that I was the best intern she had had in over 30 years.

But there were no school counseling jobs to be had in California, and certainly none in San Diego.

I was up for a position at the International School of Sosua, Dominican Republic.

I got to thinking – “why are we here?”

I couldn’t come up with a reason.

I turned to Sam, and said, “What do you think about the idea of us just going south, regardless of what happens with Sosua? Maybe we end up in the DR, maybe we end up in Florida, who knows. I’m tired of waiting for other people to make decisions for us. Let’s force the hand and see what the cards are.”

I’ve never seen a bigger smile in my life. I’m not a poker player, nor is she, but she was all in.

A few weeks later, I found out that there was not a position for me in Sosua. There may be next year. But either way, our plans were set.

We were heading south, transiting the Panama Canal, and from there . . . maybe North to Florida, or the Carolinas, or Delaware. We would be closer to our families.

With more investigation, I discovered this period called “hurricane season.” I had been through quite a few hurricanes in North Carolina, but apparently it’s a lot worse to be on a boat during one than to be in a concrete apartment.

Insurance companies are aware of this as well. They charge a hefty fee in the hurricane belt, a fee that I’d rather avoid if possible.

Aruba is below the hurricane belt.

On to Aruba, to wait out the hurricane season. And from Aruba, most likely Florida – there were school counseling jobs there.

Sam and I went to Aruba in the spring. We met with the new head of school at the International School of Aruba. They needed a college counselor. And lots of substitute teachers.

I would have the opportunity to go back to the place where I first developed a passion for education, and help the students I most deeply connected with realize their college dreams.

I love my kids there – they gave me direction, purpose, everything. And I’ve stayed in touch with them, acting as a counselor on many issues – drug use, death, bullying, etc. I’m proud of what I’ve done, even if it has been in an unofficial capacity. I will continue to do so. They changed my life, and if I can return the favor, I will.