Special People
Friends and relationships are really important to me, and I don’t like losing them. As much as I love Dauntless, I think I may have lost a friend who can’t deal with the idea of me leaving to travel the world. Being in Atlantic City reminds me not of the usual A.C. loss of money, but loss of a friend.
And that’s the one thing I did not anticipate about this boat life: I really miss some of my friends in NYC. I’ve never had a lot of friends, but have always had some very close ones and most of them are in the Netherlands, Germany and Italy. But these past few years in NYC, I became close to a couple of people who really helped me in so many ways, and I really miss their friendship and support. They helped me put life in perspective and made my life richer.
I have always valued relationships more than anything else, certainly more than money. Even when I had little money, what little I had I spent to travel to maintain those relationships.
So to lose a close friend, is a really sad event for me. I just hope that it’s not a permanent loss.
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Author: Richard on Dauntless
I’m an eclectic person, who grew up in New York, lived overseas for many years and have a boat, Dauntless, a 42 foot Kadey Krogen trawler yacht. Dauntless enables me to not only live in many different parts of the world, but to do it in a way that is interesting, affordable, with the added spice of a challenge.
Dauntless also allows me to be in touch with nature. As the boat glides through the ocean, you have a sense of being part of a living organism. When dolphins come to frolic, they stay longer if you are out there talking to them, watching them. Birds come by, sometimes looking for a handout; sometimes grateful to find a respite from their long journey.
I grew up on the New York waterfront, in the West Village, when everything west of Hudson St. was related to shipping and cargo from around the world. For a kid, it was an exciting place of warehouses, trucks, and working boats of all kinds: tugs and the barges and ships, cargo and passenger, they were pushing around.
My father was an electrical engineer, my mother an intellectual, I fell in between.
I have always been attracted to Earth’s natural processes, the physical sciences. I was in 8th grade when I decided to be a Meteorologist.
After my career in meteorology, my natural interest in earth sciences: geology, astronomy, geography, earth history, made it a natural for me to become a science teacher in New York City, when I moved back to the Big Apple. Teaching led to becoming a high school principal to have the power to truly help kids learn and to be successful not only in school but in life.
Dauntless is in western Europe now. In May and June, I will be wrapping up the last two years in northern Europe, heading south to spend the rest of the year in Spain & Portugal.
Long term, I’m planning on returning to North American in the fall of 2017 and from there continuing to head west until we’re in Northeast Asia, Japan and South Korea, where we will settle for a bit.
But now, my future lies not in NY or even Europe, but back to the water, where at night, when the winds die down, there is no noise, only the silence of the universe. I feel like I am at home, finally.
View all posts by Richard on Dauntless
Dauntless at Sea 
Friendship is a spiritual thing. As friends, you are always close, no matter the physical distance. Time nor place can change that!
You have spent a lot of time on the ocean, but then again, you haven’t been on the ocean for very long at all–probably less than a tour of duty, for example. Well, life is long for a reason. For many good reasons.
A few days on the ocean must pass like several weeks in a town or city, bringing better moments that produce new beauty and new gratitude. Then there are mental and physical challenges, I guess, along with many stories known only to those who travel on oceans.
Admiral Nelson described oceans no better than “Jaws” did.
Whenever you get around to it, cross the Atlantic a few times in a boat, not an airplane.