Heart's Delight

Remembering what is important.

This post has little to do with sailing or boats or marine science.  This one's from Damon.  It's personal.

Ten years ago last week, on March 14, 2013, I had a heart attack. I'd felt increasing pain and fatigue for five days, but I did nothing about it. Despite the fact that I have a deep family history with heart disease, and knew what was happening, I was in denial. I did the dumbest thing possible: waiting until I was having a full-blown heart attack before taking any action. I was 44 years old and an avid runner who lived a pretty healthy lifestyle. My story is not that unusual, but it contains some useful lessons. Surviving a heart attack has been a liberating experience; it has actually been one of the best things to happen to me. Here is some of what I learned over the past decade:

1. Your risk of having a heart attack is influenced by 3 things: Your heredity, diet, and lifestyle. A junk food junky who leads the most sedentary life can have a healthy heart if they have "good genes." Conversely, you can lead the healthiest life and still have a heart attack if you have "bad genes."

2. Physical fitness is crucial. So why should you bother to exercise and eat well if it's all about your genetics? The important point is that genes are not the only factor. It's not just a game of chance. Nothing is entirely in your control but you do have a large influence on your health. Someone who is genetically predisposed to coronary artery disease can delay that heart attack by years simply by taking good care of themself. Someone with just "moderately bad genes," may be able to prevent that heart attack entirely. But here is the important thing: heart attack sufferers who were physically fit prior to the attack are more likely to survive and are more likely to return to a normal life than are those who were sedentary and/or overweight.

"Use it or lose it" is the perfect description of your health and fitness. People don't stop exercising because they get old, they get old because they stop exercising. You don't have to be a runner or competitive athlete to have a healthy heart. Anything that increases your activity level helps. Just use your car and your couch a little less.

Snowshoe racing is a thing.  Racing at Bradbury Mountain in Maine, 2016.

3. Don't ignore the symptoms. I suffered from a combination of being embarrased to find out that I may just be having acid reflux, of being in denial, and of being just plain stubborn. This almost killed me. The ER doctor told me that if I had waited another couple of hours to come into the hospital, I probably would have died. My symptoms started out as mild fatigue and an achy back. At first, I thought I was just coming down with the flu. Then it progressed to pain in my throat and jaw, before developing into the classic symptoms of pain in the chest and left arm. I remember these sensations very clearly because the ER doctor looked me straight in the eye and said:

"Remember all the symptoms that you've been feeling. Burn them into your memory. If you ever feel them again, call an ambulance. Don't wait five days to do something because you'll probably end up dead. You were very, very lucky this time."

Her speech should have concluded with "You idiot." Being the professional that she is, she left that part unsaid. But the message was clear. The only reason I survived my foolish delay in treatment was that my heart was very strong. If you feel these types of symptoms and they get worse during or after mild exertion, get someone to drive you to the hospital or call 911 immediately. Don't be that idiot.

4. A heart attack doesn't have to be the end of your world. Of all the life-threatening diseases to have, cardiovascular disease is actually one of the best! The ultimate cause is genetic and biochemical. That stuff is really complicated and researchers are still trying to figure out how it all works. But the result of all that biochemistry is a plumbing problem. Just like a drain pipe, your coronary arteries can get clogged. And just like plumbers, cardiologists can pinpoint the problem and open up that clog. In most cases now, the procedure is pretty simple: angioplasty and stenting. In fact, I was awake for the entire procedure. The surgical team knew that I was a biologist so they turned the video monitor so I could see my heart and the catheter being fished up into my coronary arteries, as well as the view from the catheter inside my arteries. It was so cool; I just wished I didn't have to pay the price of admission for this movie. As I watched the doctor put the stent in place in my heart, I felt better instantly.

As a kid growing up in the '70s and '80s, I had known people with advanced heart disease. Back then, it seemed like people either died suddenly of a heart attack or they slowly withered away. The diagnosis back then was a death sentence. But that is certainly not the case today. Fifty years of medical science has made huge advances in treating this disease. About 8 weeks after my heart attack, I ran a 5k race. I didn't run fast, but it felt so good, so normal, to be out running with people. With approval and guidance from my cardiologist, I was able to resume running and racing all-out. I have competed in half marathons, trail races, mountain races, and snowshoe races. In 2015, I won my age group in the U.S. National Snowshoe Championships and qualified for the National Snowshoe Team (Unfortunately, I wasn't able to compete in the world championships because of a calf injury).

5. Having the right doctor for you matters. When I was in the hospital, I saw a lot of different doctors, usually for very short visits. They'd prescribe something and then I wouldn't see them again. By the time I was released I had a bag full of prescription meds. In the first couple of weeks after being released, I continued to be very fatigued, to the point where I'd fall asleep at all times of the day, even at work. Something wasn't right, so I started wearing my heart monitor all the time (which I normally wore during running workouts). What I found was that my resting heart rate was dropping below 30 beats per minute (the monitor stops recording at 30 bpm, so I'm not sure how low my pulse actually got). When I went to see my new cardiologist about a week or two after my heart attack, he took the time to get to know me and recognized that I wasn't the typical cardiac patient. One of the drugs that I was given suppresses the heart rate. It is a common medicine prescribed to heart attack survivors that allows their heart to rest. Given that my resting pulse was naturally in the 40s, I didn't need that drug. So he told me to stop taking it and I immediately felt "normal" again.

After lots of tests (EKGs, ultrasounds, stress echo tests, etc.), my cardiologist told me that other than the blockage that had been re-opened, I had a healthy, strong heart. And he encouraged me, under his close supervision, to slowly build back up to the level of running that I was at prior to the heart attack.

Racing at the 2015 Granite State Snowshoe Championships (a 10k race that featured 1,500' feet of elevation gain).  I won the masters' division of the Granite State Snowshoe Series that year.

6. Having role models is important. One of the things that buoyed my spirits and inspired me to get back out there and live a full life was the realization that there are lots of people leading active lives with conditions similar to mine. Having grown up in Massachusetts and being a runner, one of the highlights of the year was watching the Boston Marathon. Ever since I can remember, Team Hoyt, consisting of father Dick and son Rick Hoyt, competed in the marathon. Rick has cerebral palsy and is a quadriplegic. Dick would push his son in a wheel chair for the entire 26.2 miles. But it wasn't just the Boston Marathon; they competed in over 1,100 endurance events including 72 marathons (32 Bostons) and 257 triathlons (6 Ironmans). At the age of 50, Dick ran the Marine Corps Marathon in 2:40 while pushing Rick in his wheelchair, which was the fastest time posted by any runner in the over 50 age group. In 2003, at the age of 63, Dick had a heart attack. Following his recovery, he and Rick returned to competition, running their last marathon together in Boston in 2014.

I have other role models who are much closer to me. My older brother, Bill, has a similar condition. He had his first experience with cardiac care several years before me and he returned to his normal, active life, which includes playing ice hockey a couple of times per week. My father-in-law had bypass surgery in the 1990's, a much more invasive procedure than stenting. He, too, returned to an active life. Now at age 91, he is in better shape than most 60 year-olds.

Following a cardiac crisis, your prognosis is largely up to you. You can decide to withdraw and lead a sedentary life, which will be the beginning of the end. Or you can decide to be active, which will help maintain your heart's strength and health. Looking at the health outcomes for people who chose the latter helped inspire me to do the same.

Janet and I with her dad, Charlie, 26 years after his bypass surgery.

7. Insurance matters. Luckily, my employer had an excellent health care plan. The total cost of my care for the heart attack was approximately $50,000. We paid less than $1,000 in copays and deductibles. Because of this good quality insurance, we never had to make any difficult decisions regarding the cost of treatment. If it wasn't for our insurance plan, this health crisis could have triggered a financial crisis. Healthcare is the #1 reason why individuals have to declare bankruptcy. We are very fortunate. Not everyone is as lucky.

The souvenir I got for my experience, a wallet card with the model number of the stent and information on where it was implanted. 

8. Cardiac rehabilitation is important. I had been an athlete for my entire life. I really thought that my body was indestructible. The heart attack caused a profound loss of confidence in my body. It's difficult to regain that confidence, but it's vitally important to do so. Remember that bit about using or losing your fitness? You have to get back out there and be active.

Cardiac rehabilitation is what restored my confidence and allowed me to regain my fitness. It is essentially like going to a gym to workout, except that you do it while being hooked up to EKG and blood oxygen monitors, and exercise physiologists and medical technicians watch the monitors as they guide you through individually-tailored exercise sessions. In this way, you can safely increase your fitness, regardless of your initial fitness level. And you can prove to yourself that your body is still capable of exercising. Cardiac rehab is especially useful when combined with the results of a stress-echo test. Immediately after my heart attack, I was hyper-vigilant about any new pain or sensation. I was paranoid. But after a few weeks of cardiac rehab, my confidence grew and I simply stopped thinking about my heart. Over the past decade, I have spent much more time worrying about my achilles tendons than I have about my heart.

"Healthy" doesn't have to be boring.

9. Having a heart attack was one of the best things to happen to me. It sounds trite but life threatening experiences can be liberating and a source of motivation. It makes you realize what's really important. For years, Janet and I had been talking about getting a bluewater sailboat and cruising for a couple of years. Up to that point, it was all talk. As soon as it became clear that I was going to make a full recovery, we got serious about those plans. We realized that we shouldn't wait until our 60s or 70s; life is too unpredictable. If it hadn't been for my heart attack, we wouldn't be out cruising today.

I don't actually recommend that you go out and have a heart attack, or any other life-threatening condition. Just take my word for it; life is short, live it while you can.

Janet posted in her An Ocean Lover in Maine blog about this back in 2014. It's interesting to read her perspective, one year after my heart attack.

Don't Buy a New Boat!

The admonition in the title of this post may seem strange, coming from a couple of boat fanatics.  But we're also dog lovers and feel pretty strongly that people should adopt dogs from shelters, rather than buy puppies from breeders.  Our logic is the same in both cases: there are already plenty of good dogs and good boats that just need loving owners. 

In our previous post, we discussed the rampant problem of derelict boats in Florida.  It's a complicated, multifaceted problem that has no simple solution.  One thing that could help is if people would stop treating boats like disposable items.  Are we suggesting that instead of buying a new boat you should go and get yourself a long-neglected, derelict boat?  Not necessarily.  It doesn't have to be a derelict, just not a new boat.  But for the right type of person buying a diamond in the rough can be a good value.

A lot of these older boats that are being neglected are well-designed, well-built boats that would have plenty of life left, in the hands of the right owners.  You could easily spend over a half-million dollars on a brand new cruising boat.  On the other hand, you could spend next-to-nothing on a neglected boat and bring it to a decent boatyard for a complete refit or DIY if you have the skills, tools, and time.  If done properly, the results could be a boat that is every bit as good as a new one, for a fraction of the cost.  And there would be one less plastic boat hull in the world.  Besides, old boats are just more beautiful than the soulless, angular barges being built today.  And they often sail better and are more capable offshore, too.    

Right up front, it is important to be able to distinguish a diamond in the rough from a cow pie.  Having to replace the engine or the entire rig would not necessarily be a deal breaker, as long as you knew this from the outset and included these costs in your calculations.  But what is essential is that the hull must be structurally sound.  Nothing else about the boat matters if the hull is irreparably compromised.  Not all boats are worth saving.  Seeking the opinion of a marine surveyor or of a trusted fiberglass repair specialist can prevent problems down the line.  Captain Fatty Goodlander's book How to Inexpensively and Safely Buy, Outfit & Sail a Small Vessel Around the World is a good resource, as is this Practical Boat Owner article giving tips on how prospective buyers should go about inspecting boats.

There are yacht brokers and boatyards that specialize in giving old boats a second life.  Here are few examples:

• Atom Voyages: specializes in outfitting smaller, older boats for offshore sailing.
• Certified Sales, Inc.: buys and sells used boats, including insurance salvages.
• Pacific Seacraft Yachts: Builder of fine yachts.  Because their boats are so well-built and last forever, much of Pacific Seacraft's business has shifted into refitting their older boats. There are a lot of advantages to getting a boat refit by the same company that originally built it. (Full disclosure: Pacific Seacraft built our boat, Fulmar).

You can also find used boats for sale by owner at sites like sailboatlistings.com, Sailing Texas, as well as on Craig's List and Ebay.  And, of course, if you want to go through a yacht broker, there is always Yacht World.  Another strategy is to simply visit marinas and boatyards to search for boats that look like they haven't had much love in a while.  These businesses don't like having such high risk boats taking up space at their facilities.  Often, the yard manager will be quite happy to help you contact the boat's owner to find out if they're interested in selling. 

Here is a beautiful 1974 Cape Dory 28 that we saw in Titusville.  For less than the cost of the average used car, this capable boat can take its new owner just about anywhere in the world (see the listing on YachtWorld).

Be realistic about your finances and your own abilities.  Boats always cost more and take more time and energy than you expect (see this article in Good Old Boat).  The adage is true: "A boat is a hole in the water into which you pour money."  So you're better off with one that is a little too small for your needs than one that is too large or too complicated for your wallet or skills.  And if you are a novice boater, start with a small boat.  You will make mistakes, some of which may be costly.  Better to have these learning experiences on a relatively inexpensive boat.  Costs of storage, maintenance, operating, and repairs increase exponentially with the length of the boat.  And catamarans are exponentially more expensive and more complicated than monohull boats of the same length.  It's also really difficult to find a boatyard or marina that can accommodate catamarans that have a beam wider than 16 feet.     

In the words of Lin and Larry Pardey: "Go small, go simple, go now."

Addendum related to our previous post: In its spring 2023 legislative season, Florida's lawmakers will be considering an addendum to the existing anchoring laws, Florida Senate Bill 1502.  Judging from the locations of the new proposed anchoring restrictions, it seems like NIMBYism is alive and well in the Sunshine State. 

Florida's Epidemic of Derelict Boats

Florida is ground-zero for the "anchoring wars."  These controversial measures limit the rights of boat owners to navigate and anchor freely on the state's waterways, which, of course, are public.  When this first became an issue more than two decades ago, it seemed to be a pretty clear case of NIMBYism.  Wealthy waterfront homeowners didn't want their views spoiled by anchored boats.  But the problem has grown into a legitimate issue.  The number of neglected and abandoned boats has reached epidemic proportions in Florida.  It seems that everywhere you look along the Florida coast, you see boats sunken in anchorages and driven up onto the shore.  From where we anchored one night off of Bethune Point in Daytona, we could see no less than 14 wrecks.  And if you look around the anchorages, marinas, and boatyards in Florida, you see a large number of boats that are severely neglected, just waiting to become future wrecks.  For years, we've simply referred to such hard-looking vessels as "Florida boats."  

So why is the derelict boat problem so much worse in Florida than in most other coastal states?  It seems to us that there are multiple drivers: 

1.  Lots of boats. There are more than a million boats registered in Florida.  And if you look at the home ports written on the sterns of boats in marinas and anchorages, you'll see that an awful lot are from out of state.  (Just like our boat.)  So the actual number of boats in Florida is likely much higher than a million.   

2. Many novice boaters.  One in every 20 Florida residents owns a boat.  On average, 3,000 people move to Florida every day.  Most of these people move close to the coast.  A lot of them think: "You know, I've always wanted to have a boat."  So some of these transplants buy a boat, which is often their first boat, first large boat, first boat on the ocean, or first boat moored in a hurricane zone.  Some of these novice mariners have no idea how to maintain their boats and become discouraged when they learn how much work and money it requires (even for a brand new boat).  In many cases, their interest in the boat evaporates quickly.  Or, another thing that happens with surprising regularity in Florida is that the boat owner becomes ill or dies.  They don't call Florida "God's Waiting Room" for nothing.  After the owner is gone, their family may have no interest or ability to deal with the boat. 

3. Schizophrenic weather.  Florida's weather is characterized by long periods of relative tranquility, punctuated by brief episodes of fury.  Thunder storms, tropical storms, hurricanes, and winter cold fronts wreak havoc. The tranquil weather lulls people into a false sense of security. 

4. Year-round boating.  Because the weather is warm enough for boating year-round, there isn't an annual haulout season, and a lot of boats go for long periods between haulouts, leading to "deferred maintenance."  Contrast this with boats in the north, which are in the water for less than six months out of the year, allowing time for maintenance.  This also means that every fall, harbor masters in northern ports get a chance to easily identify derelict boats.  If all the boats in a harbor are hauled out in October, except for one, then the harbor master has a chance to track down that owner and deal with that one boat before it sinks and causes problems.  In Florida, it's more difficult to identify newly-abandoned boats, the numbers of which keep increasing over time. 

5. Lack of harbor masters.  Love'em or hate'em, most New England ports have harbor masters; one local authority whose sole responsibility is to know everything that's going on in their harbor.  Ports in Florida are patrolled by law enforcement officers from the state's Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission and, in some cases, by local law enforcement (whose efforts seem sporadic at best).  Their mandates are broader, their jurisdictions are geographically larger, and the number of boats using their waterways are much higher than what marine law enforcement agencies face in other states.  So they don't have the time or resources needed to do the type of community policing that is required to identify and deal with every problem boat.  

6. Housing insecurity.  The fact is that Florida has a huge number of homeless people and others who are on the margins of society.  For many of these people, living on a boat is an attractive option.  They can buy a boat for next to nothing (they're not sailing or cruising so they often don't care if the engine works, it has any sails, or the rigging is sound) or they can simply squat in an abandoned boat.  They can then anchor out for free; no mortgage, no rent. And being far away from other people means that they generally won't be bothered by anyone. There are many nice people in this group.  But there are also a lot of damaged people with addictions and all of the problems that follow.  For example, when we lived in Sarasota in the 2000s, there was a growing population of liveaboards on ramshackle boats in the local anchorage.  These boats, for the most part, were incapable of moving anywhere and definitely were not pumping out their wastewater.  Due to all the raw sewage from these boats going directly into Sarasota Bay, several people in the area contracted hepatitis A.  During that same period, we had two nice sea kayaks stolen from our backyard.  We found both of the kayaks a few days later tied to some very rough-looking boats in the anchorage. (This is a funny story in itself, the moral of which is never steal a boat from people who work on the water.  Also, never cross Janet; she will hunt you down like a bloodhound.)  These are the types of societal problems that accompany derelict boats.  Not surprisingly, these decrepit boats in the anchorage suffered very high rates of grounding and sinking every time the wind blew.  To be clear, there are plenty of nice, well-maintained yachts that sink or get blown ashore.  But for a lot of boats, the path to dereliction begins with neglect. 

You may not be able to tell from this shot, but the mainsail on this boat is a (very expensive) laminate racing sail, neatly flaked on the boom (perhaps put back on the boat after the storm?).  The fancy mainsail and other equipment onboard indicates that this was a well-cared for racing boat.  It, and the other boats shown in this post, probably came ashore during Hurricane Ian (Sept 2022) or Hurricane Nicole (Nov 2022).

So what's the big deal?  Does it really matter if there are derelict boats littering the shoreline?  These wrecks are more than just an eyesore; they're an environmental hazard.  They physically damage sensitive sea grass beds, mangrove forests, and coral reefs, all of which provide vital ecological services.  And each of these wrecks contains toxic petroleum (tanks of fuel and oil), heavy metals (batteries and antifouling paint), and lots and lots of plastic.  If you are concerned about plastics in the environment, then all of these fiberglass (aka plastic) boats breaking apart should alarm you. 

This 42-foot Endeavor ketch was well-loved by someone.  That custom-welded stainless steel solar arch/pushpit/dinghy davit is a work of art and appears to be brand new.  The canvas also looked nice (at least before the storm beat it to death).   

Why don't "they" just clean up the mess and haul these boats away?  The short answer is because it's expensive and logistically difficult.  The boat owner is legally responsible for paying for the cleanup.  But, often the owner can't be identified, is financially incapable of covering the costs, or has passed over the rainbow bridge.  Many of the boats are uninsured and sometimes the owners go to great lengths to remove all identification markings (e.g., name, home port, registration/documentation #, hull ID #, and engine serial #) so they can't be held responsible.  This puts the burden of cleanup on local governments, and the costs for a community to clean up the derelict boats after a storm can run into the millions of dollars.  But the first hurdle faced by a local government or waterfront property owner wanting to get rid of a boat cast ashore is the fact that it is someone else's property.  That boat, even if it is a wreck, has a legal owner somewhere and it may have some value.  By carting it away (which usually involves demolition), you are taking and destroying someone's property.  "Salvage rights" are not so simple.  Taking someone else's property is kind of a big deal in our country, so the legal system intentionally makes it a difficult process.   

It's clear that an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.  But many of the preventive measures taken by Florida and some of its local municipalities have seemed like harassment and a violation of boaters' rights to navigate public waterways (rights guaranteed in the Commerce Clause of the U.S. Constitution).  There have been limits to the amount of time a boat can remain anchored in one place, prohibitions on anchoring in certain areas, and prohibitions on living aboard boats in certain areas.  Several cases have wound up in court, with some local anchoring ordinances being found to be arbitrary and capricious, or just plain unconstitutional. 

One afternoon when we were out for a ride in our dinghy, we came upon this scene of a derelict boat being plucked from the shore.  It was an impressive, sad sight.  This is about the easiest cleanup one can imagine.  The boat came to rest on the shore of a public park, right next to a boat ramp, so access was easy.  And the boat itself was on the smaller side (a 28-31' sloop, looks like a Hunter).  The boat was to be loaded onto that flatbed trailer you see being towed by that white truck on the right. 

The crane struggled mightily to pick up the boat.  As the crane backed up slowly toward the trailer, the operator had to stop occasionally to deploy the stabilizer legs so it wouldn't tip over.  This sort of work takes nerves of steel or brains of rock.  The boat was far too large to lay on the trailer on its side.  So the crew commenced chopping it up with chainsaws.  The first thing they tried to cut off was the rudder.  Word of caution to anyone attempting this sort of operation in the future: the internal structure of a rudder is stainless steel, which chainsaws do not like.  

So what's the solution?  We won't even pretend to know the answers, other than to say it's complicated.  This issue involves a conflict between the rights of individuals to use public waterways and the ability of a community to safeguard its citizens and its environment.  It also pits the private property rights of the boatowners against those of the waterfront land owners (who tend to be very wealthy and politically well-connected).  And it is intimately linked to housing insecurity, one of the most pernicious, stubborn problems in our society. It is  obvious that addressing homelessness has to be part of the strategy.   

The problem of derelict boats will probably never be solved completely in Florida.  But the current situation is unsustainable, both economically and ecologically, and has to be brought under control.  Boaters who simply want state and local governments in Florida to take an entirely hands-off approach are being unrealistic, in our view.  But the focus must be on environmental protection, public health & safety, and preservation of constitutional rights to free navigation, not on NIMBYism.  There has to be some give and take.  In other words, we need actual governance.       

This boat came to rest about 30 feet from the Endeavor pictured above and about 200 yards from the boat that was chopped up and carted away.  There are at least a half-dozen more wrecked boats within a mile of this spot.