I’m a former California boy (Santa Cruz) who grew up in, on, and around

Hello all, I’m a former California boy (Santa Cruz) who grew up in, on, and around boats. All my life I’ve been deeply smitten by a love affair with the ocean. After a 30-year career at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga during which I would flee to some coast as often as possible, I currently own a home on the water in North Carolina. I’ve owned small sailing and power boats for most of my 62 years. I’m qualified for bare-boat chartering, have my Captain’s license, and have chartered sail boats up to 46 feet, but the only boat of any size I’ve ever own is Katahdin, which I purchased in 1999. She is a custom 42-foot raised-pilot-house trawler built by Northend Marine in Rockland, Maine, in 1982-83, and designed by Stephen R. Seaton. Katahdin has a high bow, large foredeck with a cargo mast, canoe stern, and a boat deck behind the pilot house. A single naturally aspirated Iveco diesel (8.1 liter) provides the power, and she has a bow thruster, stabilizers and a diesel generator. She is very heavily built – 65,000 pound displacement which includes more than 16,000 pounds of ballast. Katahdin is seaworthy – which I’ve learned the hard way through my own stupidity in being out when I shouldn’t have been. If I keep her down to, say, 6.5 knots, and don’t run the generator, she is very efficient and can get about 4 or so miles to the gallon. Unfortunately, her fuel tanks carry only 660 gallons, although she could carry extra fuel in soft tanks. She also has no wing engine, which is a concern. She has a sail, but I doubt it would help much. So far my “ocean passages” with Katahdin have been limited. The longest one was across the Gulf from Charlotte Harbor to Mobile Bay. I’ve also taken her on mini-passages from Apalachicola to St. Petersburg, Naples to the Dry Tortugas, and the Dry Tortugas to Key West. The rest has been coastal cruising or cruising on the Tennessee River and the Tenn-Tom. I’ve also done a bit of sailing between islands in the Caribbean on chartered sailboats. I’ve dreamed of taking Katahdin across the Atlantic, doing the Caribbean, through the Panama Canal and up the West coast to Alaska, etc. At this point I’m not sure how much of that will be realized. My partner doesn’t like cruises of any length, so I must single-hand it or find friends who have the time and inclination. I’m in excellent health, but at 62 years of age I shouldn’t put off the dream too much longer. In addition to passages on Katahdin, I’d be interested in crewing on other people’s boats. Given my limited experience, and considering the list has people like Bob Austin, I probably will have little if anything to offer. I’ll probably, however, contribute some questions. My best to all of you. I’m looking forward to your contributions. Lee Robinson M/V Katahdin (Seaton 42 – custom) New Bern, NC