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New Year’s Resolutions 2012
New Year’s Resolutions for the Can Opener
- work out 4x/wk
- build some serious sea miles
- pass RYA Coastal Skipper Practical
- finish researching yacht designs on the short list
- start actively viewing/self-surveying potential yachts on the final contenders list and keep notes
- study French 15 min/d, 5d/wk
- study Spanish 15 min/d, 5d/wk
- proactively maintain smoked salmon stockpile at all times
- … and publish the Cruising Kitty blog 5x/wk
New Year’s Resolutions for Captain Cat?
Hard to come up with too many as I am a nearly perfect cat. But no harm in trying…
Here we go:
- be nicer to the Can Opener – regularly recognise his efforts with judicious application of the oyster tin (with contents). We know positive encouragement beats all other routes to success hands down every time
- share my mouse more often (Why? See #1 above.)
- …and I suppose I could join the Can Opener for a few weekly turns on the treadmill. To keep up his spirits of course… there is no truth to the rumour that my belly currently provides more durable buoyancy than my own life jacket.
–Captain Cat
(transcribed by the Can Opener)
So Have We Accomplished Anything Yet?
2011 in Review
What Have We Accomplished So far?
This year in August, the Can Opener and I officially (officially to us at any rate) launched our Get Cruising Now Plan. We honed, we polished, we set goals, a timeline (2014 or bust) and a plan to get there.
It’s been 5 months now, so what progress have we made?
Well, a lot of ‘we’ve made a start’ type of ‘to-do’s’ have been ticked. The kind of ‘to-do’s’ that are meant to set us up for the real work we will need to do in 2012.
So, the 2011 highlights (since August) are:
- joined yacht club
- started team racing
- read 9 cruising reference texts, attended 4 cruising lectures
- made contact with 3 boats that we hope to crew on for next year
- researched foul weather gear upgrades (still have to buy them though…)
- began yacht designs research
- the Can Opener worked out 4x/wk… usually
- the Can Opener began studying Spanish and picked up his old French studies and…
- … in order to share what we learned, and keep ourselves organised and focused – we launched this blog!
Are we happy?
Well, you can always wish you had done a lot more. But writing it down feels good. And maybe it’s not too bad… It’s a start. Something to build on in 2012.
… Off to carve out some New Year’s Resolutions for 2012!
–Captain Cat
(transcribed by the Can Opener)
10 Reasons To Sail Off Into The Sunset
The Cruising Kitty’s 10 Reasons To Sail Off Into The Sunset
- new places
- new faces
- new food groups!
- freedom from onerous societal expectations
- independence – no boss! *
- self-reliance, self-sufficiency, time to yourself
- the beauty of wind and the waves and the feel of it on your fur
- fish – for eating: mahimahi, dorado, tuna, flying fish, every kind of fish…
- fish – for watching: whales and dolphins
and most importantly (this one is the Can Opener’s)…
10. sailing naked! **
So, what’s on your list?
–Captain Cat
(transcribed by the Can Opener)
* Well, the Can Opener has a boss, of course. Me. But this is mostly my list.
** This is yet another quirk of the Can Opener’s that makes me despair. What’s the big deal? I sail naked… always.
About The Cruising Kitty
I‘ve been sailing since I could pounce and catch my own sardines. When I adopted Can Opener, it was a matter of expedience, but I’ve grown to appreciate his technique. Enough to train him up as First Mate for the time being.
I rescued Can Opener from an 80-100 hour/week job as a Wharton-trained financial analyst… which left him no time whatsoever to sail. Kind of missed the whole point.
I took him away from all that. Now he works for me.
–Captain Cat
(transcribed by the Can Opener)
In Which We Meet the Can Opener
Captain Cat: My First Mate, Can Opener, is on the one true and straight path to personal preparation for buying the yacht of my dreams and slingshoting me into the cruising life I deserve. Fill in the details, Can Opener.
Can Opener: Yeah. What he said.
Captain Cat: Hey! You told me you were a litter-trained smarty-pants with an MBA from Wharton. What kind of incoherent language is that?
Can Opener: Captain Cat, after years of cranking out financial plans and strategy for a faceless conglomerate I realised spoken words just got in the way. The written word is king.
Captain Cat: Yeah, well king this! I need you to listen up, take notes on what I teach you and do a TON of research. And that research includes asking a lot of humans a lot of questions, getting opinions and advice, and relaying all that good info back to me. Then I can tell you what the right answer is.
Can Opener: Right. Practice talking. I’m on it. Right after I fry up the cheese burgers for dinner.
Captain Cat: Nix, Can Opener. The “Cod and Plaice Dinner Packs” will do nicely. We’re on a lean-protein performance diet regime. You can serve me in the east wing. I fancy the garden view tonight.
Can Opener: You didn’t mention any of this stuff when you showed up one night banging on my back door, screaming for food… How is it that an old salt sailing cat knocks on my door when sailing around the world was exactly what I wanted to do?
Captain Cat: Match made in heaven. Now go get the Cod and Plaice.
Can Opener: Yeah, um…
Captain Cat: Yes, Captain!
Can Opener: Yes, Captain.
–Captain Cat
(transcribed by the Can Opener)
In Which We Meet Captain Cat
Sailing is what I live for, the reason I bounce out of my basket every day at the crack of noon. The wind in my stripes, my cup of mojo bubbling on the galley stove, the whole sea like an endless fish supermarket ahead of me…
But my first goal in life is to lure Pussy Galore onto my ship in which case I’ll boot the Can Opener out onto the saloon berths faster than you can say “mouse-flavoured Meow Mix”. Pussy and I’ll shack up in my Captain’s Quarters with all the tuna treats in the world stored under my Foam-Lite cushions and the fuzzy dice I installed below the hatch swinging gently in time with the waves.
Before that can happen though, I’ve got to get the Can Opener trained up and motivated to buy me the yacht of my dreams. Something with class and style, seaworthy and suitable for all the long term blue water traveling I plan to do.
He’ll need to be fit: physically, academically and financially. Fit enough to haul on all the boat work I need done; strong enough in navigation, tides, meteorology, outfitting, boat management and safety; and with a steel-riveted financial plan that will keep my velvet-tasseled cruising kitty bag loaded with enough coins for the cruising life I aspire to and deserve. I’ll even let the Can Opener sail with me on my boat. Everybody needs a first mate.
‘Course if Pussy comes along he’d better add a few useful circus tricks to his offering or I will have to reconsider my personnel needs…
–Captain Cat
(transcribed by the Can Opener)
The Cruising Kitty 