FUBAR Plus

Some months ago my friend Bruce Kessler (Spirit of Zopilote) asked me if I would put up a sign in our booth at Trawlerfest in Solomons, MD. Always willing to help a friend, I said: "Sure". The sign was the first public information about the upcoming FUBAR Odyssey (see sidebar for link to their website). The FUBAR Odyssey is to be a powerboat rally from San Diego to La Paz, Mexico beginning in early November, 2007, Well after talking to Bruce I got to thinking what a great idea it would be to enter our new Northwest 42 in the event. Then I got thinking further and thought what a great idea it would be to take the boat on its own bottom from Seattle to San Diego. Then I got to thinking what a great idea it would be to take the boat to Stuart, FL for Trawlerfest, 2008 on its own bottom. Well at first my wife (Jan) didn't think that I was having a string of "great ideas" but now after talking about it, she has gotten excited as well. In fact, the whole team building the boat is excited.

Well, the decision to do this is not without causing extra work. We essentially have had to re-organize the engine room because I wanted to have extra tankage aboard so that we could make longer runs without having to refuel. The boat with standard 600 gallon tanks has a range of about 600 miles at 10 knots and about 1000 miles at 8 knots. I would like to have a margin of error so we are increasing the tankage by about 50% and adding another 300 gallons or so. So back to the drawing board.....er computer to make sure that we don't upset the CG (center of gravity).

Anyway, we are now saying we are doing the FUBAR Plus.... Our scheduled itinerary is as follows:

• Depart Seattle 9/17 at the conclusion of the Seattle Boats Afloat Show
• Arrive San Francisco 9/21
• Depart San Francisco 9/28 after a week of visiting old friends and letting interested people in the Bay Area see the boat
• Arrive San Diego 9/30
  
• Depart San Diego in the FUBAR Odyssey 11/7
  
• Arrive La Paz about 11/27 with many stops and cruising parties on the way
• Depart La Paz 11/27
• Arrive Acapulco, MX 12/1
• Depart Acapulco 12/3
• Arrive Puntarenas, Costa Rica 12/8
• Depart Puntarena 12/10
• Arrive Panama City 12/12
• Depart Panama City 12/14
• Arrive Cancun 12/18
• Depart Cancun 12/20 (Do we really have to leave???)
• Arrive Fort Lauderdale 12/23

We will spend a month or so in Fort Lauderdale because our representative there, Judy Waldman, has several people lined up to do sea trials and inspect the boat. We will arrive in Stuart, FL in time for Trawlerfest. After that.......who knows?

If any of you have any suggestions or good ideas (other than "are you nuts?") please either comment here or send me an email.