Ever hear the term 'armchair sailor?' It's a somewhat derogatory term for someone with little or no boating experience, who can expound in great detail about how some nautical catastrophe like sinking, running up on a reef, or getting dismasted in a storm wouldn't have happened to them, because they've read all the manuals.

We have them here too:

Economic recovery

This year there seems to be a drought in the normally abundant money season. Lots of boats didn't go into the water. Many summer home owners are doing cleanup and repairs themselves, rather than hiring someone.

Last summer, even though I was barely able to function thanks to lyme disease, I earned more than I have so far this year. Apparently, I have recovered much better than the economy. On Memorial Day weekend, the official start of the season, there was no parade of boats in the harbor, despite the picture perfect weather. The beach town next door was bereft of the usual traffic jams.

When I returned here two years ago after several years of wandering, I had the best summer ever. Why? Because I mostly diddled, enjoying sailing the bay and playing on the beach, working just enough to get by.

Trying to live here year round is a completely different shell game. Freezing all winter, garnering debt that needs to be eradicated by hustling to earn a buck in the short summer season, all while trying in vain to breathe the constantly yellow air, has made me realize that I'm doing it backwards. I should be living and working somewhere else ten months a year, and then taking an extended vacation here in July and August, working a little bit just to break even.

But where to go? What to do? I want to stay in canvas work, near boats and the water, and I don't ever want to see snow. That pretty much narrows my choices down to Florida and coastal California. Florida is a hurricane prone, soon-to-be oil coated swamp; California tends to have earthquakes and be on fire. What a selection.

I'm thinking that I'd like to participate in an exchange program starting in the fall: Anyone who has a boat canvas business in Mexico, Central or South America (not cape horn or anything stupid like that-palm trees only!), let's swap for a year to see if the grass really is greener on the other side. Before we trade places, we can apply for a government grant to study, document and publish the results of our experiment, possibly encompassing a best selling book and movie, so we'll be covered if it doesn't work out. Any takers?