Introducing s/v Innamorato

[Sea Rover]

Hello everyone. I'm new here so I thought it'd introduce myself and my boat. My name is CJ, a 30 year old merchant mariner living aboard my Cape Dory 30 ketch Innamorato in sunny St. Petersburg FL. After years of dreaming, walking docks, and dreaming some more, I am finally pursuing my dream of cruising aboard my own small boat. I stumbled across this site a while back from James Baldwin's site. I am a huge fan of the KISS principle, though sometimes I find I have to remind myself of this, and both his site and this one are exactly inline with my minimalist tendencies and philosophy.

A little background is in order I guess. I learned to sail at boyscout camp when I was 13 or 14 years old and have loved it ever since. I moved from inland South Carolina to St. Petersburg Florida to attend Eckerd College where I spent three years on their USCG approved volunteer (and free) search and rescue team. In that time I responded to over 250 cases in the Tampa Bay area and gained an appreciation and deeper love of the water. Leaving school I spent a couple years working at West Marine before taking a job on a river tugboat pushing barges all over the country.

At one point I had a brand new jeep, a house, and was looking at buying a nice chunk of land in west Texas when I suddenly realized that I was unintentionally avoiding my lifelong dream of living aboard and cruising. I quickly backed out of my land deal and used that money to start looking for a boat. James' page is like the bible of affordable small blue water capable boats. I already knew what I wanted for the most part but it was nice to have a place to start looking from.

I eventually settled on a 1976 Cape Dory 30' ketch named Innamorato. I've had her since last August and have yet to spend a night in my house since closing on the deal. In fact my house is going up for sale soon and operation "get the boat ready to cruise" is already in full swing. Oh to be able to cruise with no debt and a little coin in the kitty. I am currently still working on the river tugs but my heart stays with my little ketch.

If anybody is interested I have started a blog about my silly adventures and rants afloat, both on the tug and on Innamorato. I am very happy to be a part of this community of like minded people and look forward to hearing from you all.

www.searover.net My blog.

[Frank]

Welcome...you have a fine boat there! A quick glance at your blog and I know I'll be checking in often. Have fun. Keep us updated with your progress.

[Tim]

Welcome aboard, after reading your blog, it certainly looks like you are in the right place.

[CharlieJ]

OOPS- ANOTHER CJ!! ;D ;D ;D

Gonna get confusing ;D

Welcome aboard CJ- You'll  find this to be a really comfortable forum

[Jim_ME]

I am a huge fan of the KISS principle, though sometimes I find I have to remind myself of this, and both his site and this one are exactly inline with my minimalist tendencies and philosophy.
...I am very happy to be a part of this community of like minded people and look forward to hearing from you all.

Hi CJ, Glad to welcome such a like minded person. I'm also a big fan of the CD30, and spent a bit of time on a friend's cutter-rigged version here in Maine. I too took a peek at your blog, and look forward to reading more of it. Your planned cruise to the Texas coast will bring you close to the other CJ.

Ah names...Reminds me of a scene from This Is Spinal Tap...
David: "So, we became the Originals."
Nigel: "Right."
David: "And, uh, we had to change our name, actually."
Nigel: "Well, there was another group, in the east end, called the Originals and we had to rename ourselves."
David: "the New Originals."  ;)

[Sea Rover]

Jim I'm not actually planning a cruise to Texas. I was planning a short cruise in Florida from work in Texas which is logistically a pain. Though sailing anywhere from Corpus Christi to Brownsville must be exhilarating, it never blows below 25mph it seems.

[Jim_ME]

Jim I'm not actually planning a cruise to Texas. I was planning a short cruise in Florida from work in Texas which is logistically a pain.

Ah...shows what a brief peek I took! Saw the map and line under Cruise Prep...

Anyway, good luck with your prep work and cruise.  :)

[CapnK]

We've got CJ (orig), then Chris who joined a week ago or so as "CJ" initially, and now CJ who's Sea Rover  yep, could get confusing around here! lol

Welcome aboard, CJ Rover - good call not to buy that land! ;D