Monday, January 13, 2020
“Security may indeed be a large sailboat with Krugerrands for ballast”
Going through the last box of Dad's papers, Bunny found an extensive collection of notes and drafts of a book Dad was trying to write back in 1982, titled Running Away To Sea. It seems the election of one Ronald Reagan to the Presidency spooked Dad a bit and he started researching how to survive “the badness” (as he called it) not by living off-grid in a shack in the middle of Montana, but by living off-grid in a boat in the middle of the Pacific.
From the time one slips his mooring lines, he begins to put an insurmountable distance between himself and those who might try to take that which he has set aside for his family's survival. Once the ocean is reached, safety from the problems on land ceases to be an immediate consideration.
Until the pirates show up.
Okay, to be fair, I did find references and draft material covering the problem of pirates, but I found his stance on a 12 gauge shotgun to be “more accurate” than a hand gun to be questionable at best. “Accuracy” on a rolling, pitching boat in the open water is going to be questionable, regardless of choice of firearm.
There is correspondence with yatch manufactuers, blue prints, price breakdowns (nearly $300,000 in 1982 dollars, making it nearly $800,000 in today's dollars—ouch!) and scores of articles on everything related to sailing. It also appears that Dad was trying to invent a new type of sail, as there were drawings he did and correspondence with an engineering firm. I'm not sure what I'll do with it all, but the blueprints are cool.
