Hi,

Both by experience and temperament, I am a genuinely curious generalist.... Educated as a social scientist (Anthropology, history, geography, and Japanese studies), formally trained in fields as diverse as beekeeping and photography/cinematography, health care and journalism, boatbuilding and computer (and more) consulting, in a number of different languages and cultures.... well, you get the picture.... I am pushing 70 (Ooops!  Have to edit that part!) and have never left my first childhood, and I'm "lovin' it!".

 

I have spent most of my life looking at "available resources" and asking myself (or others) but a single question (and variations of same).... "What happens if we combine some of THIS..... with some of THAT.... and what about THAT over THERE?!?!" Stir and simmer, season to taste, serve with a certain flair and sparkle in the eye....

 

I love cookbooks and building manuals, but I NEVER use them when I am actually cooking or building.... It is sort of like watching a Zen calligrapher.... A still silence followed by a sudden flurry of action, instantly replaced with silent stillness. I never really thought about it, much, but a friend once called what I do (whatever that happens to be at the time!) "performance art".... If it IS, it is completely unintentional.

 

So.... I sometimes use terms like "serious play" instead of "work", and excuse procrastination as a part of the creative process (a very STRESSFUL part, I admit!).... The latter being something that Rob wouldn't buy until only recently!

 

But that eclectic approach to "mixing and matching" ideas, technologies, people and talents, is so much a part of who and what I am and what I have been doing on behalf of others that it was nearly invisible to me.  It has only been lately, in part because of the "flint and steel" conversations Rob and I have (endlessly!) had over the past few years, that I have noticed and started to consciously use those strengths and talents towards accomplishing a few dreams of my own.

 

This website is the spearhead for one of those dreams.

 

I am not an engineer, yet I love to play this game of mine with technologies and technologists.  I am not, formally, a historian, yet nothing gives me more pleasure than finding ways to combine ancient but time-proven ideas and methods with new ideas and technologies that have already demonstrated their potential as game changers.... In this sense, yes, more variety, more range, IS better!....  

And the ultimate test, it seems to me, is how simple, how effective, how scalable and how self-sustaining the result can become.

 

My relationship to multihulls, generally, and catamarans in particular, began back in the mid-'60s, when there were no commercially built multihulls of any kind.... pretty much the only way to own a cat or tri was to either build it yourself, have someone build it for you, or buy one, second-hand, from someone who had!

 

As a kid who had grown up on the high Southern California desert and arid San Bernardino low lands, my first experience with the Pacific ocean was hugely exhilarating and satisfying.... For the first time in my life I was able to actually float (I sank like a stone in fresh water!), so I was already emotionally hooked..... but I had a pretty serious issue to overcome.... motion sickness..... and the combination of the typical monohull's motion and powerboat engine fumes made for misery you can't imagine.... Fine on the shore, and even a bit of surfing, but BOATS?!?!  Not on your life!

 

One day an old friend, Russ Garcia (composer/arranger), who lived up on Mulholland Drive, knowing a bit about my woodworking skills, asked me if I was willing to do a bit of painting and varnishing on his small boat, down in Marina Del Rey.  We figured that if I lived on the boat for the duration, it would take about a week to complete the work.

 

To tell the truth, I had my doubts.... I knew that I had the necessary skills, but I wasn't sure I had the necessary constitution! (See above!)

 

As it turned out, the boat was a 9 meter (30 foot) long Piver trimaran, simple, light on the water, comfortable, and a motion (at dock) that I acclimated to almost instantly.  

 

So I painted and varnished by day, cooked my own meals in the small but comfortably functional galley, and slept like a babe during the evening hours, lulled by the gentle motion and the music of the rigging against the mast. (Smaller than my apartment in Hollywood, but I was already feeling totally at home.)

 

On the Saturday I was finished with the assigned work, Russ showed up with a couple of big canvas bags (I still knew literally NOTHING about sails or sailing).  While I was tossing out the empty cans and worn out brushes, he was busy with a pile of canvas on deck.... When I returned to the boat, we tossed off the mooring lines and simply sailed away from the dock, smoothly, silently, and without any smell (other than a bit of fresh paint!).

 

Next thing I know, we are out on the open waters of the Pacific Ocean, with a piping breeze that sent us racing across the surface of the water like a water skimmer, leaving practically no wake, passing every sailing craft we met along the way, and surfing the wakes of heavier, faster powerboats that passed us....

 

I was TOTALLY hooked, at that point, but then, the final surprise:  In Southern California, at a certain time every day, just before dusk, the wind simply dies, completely.... All across the water, sails were coming down and auxiliary engines were starting up, as the sailors started home....  Except us.  

 

Smoothly, silently, we sailed along, passing boat after boat, all the way back to our slip.... even though there was no discernible wind across the deck!

 

Actually, I lied!  There was one further surprise, as I stepped off the boat, on to the floating dock.... First I noticed the dock's motion, then I realized I hadn't felt even a tiny bit sick for the entire day of sailing!  

 

WOW!  What's happening, here!

 

There is more to this story, over the intervening years, much more than I can reasonably include here.... But might carry on the story, later, in my blog

 

In fact, I have many passions. You may find more about my many passions as an eclectic generalist:

www.theeclecticgeneralist.com