Chat with Keith
Dear Readers,
I’d love to hear from you! I’ll respond to as many of your messages as possible! Your entry will be reviewed and posted to the site — with my response if appropriate — usually within 24 hours. To contact me privately, please go to the contact form; and please consider our free Financial Nationwide Consultation Program, if you want me to help you find a qualified financial advisor.
— Keith
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Carol, I had never heard of this company, but it is certainly worth a look. However, I want to warn our readers that about the only thing more volatile than a U.S. penny stock is a Chinese penny stock!
Read the prospectus before you invest!
Anyway, if you don’t see some comments by me on these pages by the time we get to China in a couple months, please remind me again, and I’ll inquire.
–Keith
Keith,
I’ve enjoyed your podcast…I first logged on here for boating and crusing info…how nice to find someone that shares my view of the World and economics…maybe we’re twins sons from different families…btw, you’re the older brother!
After scouring your website I can’t find the listing of your electronics package you’ve installed on the GA, or any other upgrades you’ve added. Could you list them on your website please?
Btw, is there a reason you aren’t going to hit New Zealand or Australia…two places I wouldn’t miss if I were you. Besides, you’ll be in the “neighborhood”.
Fair winds,
David
Keith
Great website. Did you do it yourself?
Thanks
Fran Magee
62-24
HI Keith,
I’m glad I learned about your journey really close to when it got started. I am currently exploring North America via motorcoach and would love to live on a 55′ Nordhavn once I’m done living on the bus. I’m just starting my research on yachts and think I’m at least five years away from owning one. That makes me especially interested in your adventures… I’ll be following your adventures each week.
Feel free to follow my adventures at http://www.WhereIsBen.com.
-Ben
Thanks, Ben. Even if you are five years out, I would suggest you contact Nordhavn now to begin your learning curve. Some models can take 2+ years to build. Meanwhile, thanks for sharing your website.
–Keith
Gosh No! I’m not that smart. Some very smart people with Gordon C. James Public Relations in phoenix put the current version of the site together, and continue to maintain it.
–Keith
To My “Twin”, David:
Glad to learn you are enjoying the podcasts. That’s why we post ’em! You are obviously a brilliant man since you agree with me.
Regarding our electronics package, I don’t know where to begin: Two redundant Furuno Nav packages, with three redundant Furuno screens in the pilot house; along with an entire slave unit on the fly bridge. Global Navware and charts KVH Fleet77 Sat-Com unit, Iridium phone, two Furono RD 30 Wind/direction/water temp meters, SSB, Furuno FA-150 Universal AIS system, two GP-27 Furuno GPS systems, and a ton of broadcasting equipment built into the pilot house.
Add to this 12 onboard cameras including night infrared, a mixer to show all camera shots on a rotating basis on one of the pilot house screens, etc., etc.
Frankly, we have not begun to use all the electronic capabilities aboard; but one day at a time we’re learning. For example, we’re still struggling with getting our videos up to the website in a properly condensed format.
But we’ve just about cracked that code. Tomorrow it will be something else. For example, I have video conferencing capability via Yahoo Instant Messager between my laptop on the ship (wireless), and my home. So far my wife and I have mastered the video portion, but the sound remains a mystery. Still, it’s great to see my family every day.
We aren’t going to New Zealand or Australia this go around simply in the interest of time. We want to hit Asia hard, then the sub-continent, and then get into not only the Med, but also through the Bosphorus into the Black Sea where there is tremendous economic growth.
Next time around we’ll take a more southerly route and enjoy the usual stops along French Polynesia, Australia, New Zealand, etc.
–Keith
Brother Keith,
I once heard that the greatest judge of another mans intelligence is the amount they agree w/ yours…we must be BRILLIANT!
Thanks for the info..it will be a great help for when I put my package together. Here is a suggestion, look into Skype (www.skype.com) instead of Yahoo Msgr..both the audio and video work better..trust me, I have them all. If you like, my Yahoo Msgr is ‘yottracer’, feel free to add me.
I’ve been looking into cruising the Black Sea as well, hope you have better luck w/ the marinas and crusing that others seem to have had. It would seem that facilities there are fair at best..if you can find them.
You keep mentioning ‘this time around’, just how many circumnavigations are you planning? Are we going to have to have a Viking funeral for you in the end?
Fair winds,
Brother David
Keith,
Sounds like you guys are having a great time. I have been a long time listener from back here in AZ and I wish you guys all the best of luck. I wanted to let you know that I was touched by your Easter post. We do serve a mighty God and it is a blessing to be able to enjoy His creation as you are doing. May He continue to bless you on your journey.
Obie
Aloha Keith and Crew. It is now 3:30 AM your time, Friday the 13th(!!). Hopefully you are snug “starbordside to” at HYC guest dock, or at least in view of Koko Head and Diamond Head with a beautiful sunrise in the offing in a few hours. Know you will (or already have) enjoyed an outstanding welcome by the HYC officers and members. Should be plenty of bubbly, maitais, heavy pupu’s etc. As I mentioned before, my family and I spent some quality time at HYC during our twenty five years as residents of Hawaiiand members of HYC.
I know I heard you say more thane once that you had some info on ETFs, but I cannot seem to find it. Is there a link, or what? I have several Nuveen ETF’s, and want your latest input as to the concept, and the company or companys that you feel offer good products.
I would like to be there to welcome you, but now reside in Litchfield Park, AZ, with no hope of returning except as a tourist. Pitty.
Good sailing, looking forward to your April 15 “Hawaii calling” program.
Addison Pace
Keith,
Congratulations for arriving in Hawaii !
Simple questions to ask. Did anyone onboard G-Adv get sea sick during this first leg to Hawaii ?
I will look forward to seeing pic / video updates in Hawaii.
Thanks
Hide
Irvine, California.
Hi Keith,
I have been following your first leg to Hawaii and enjoying it.
Have a good time in Hawaii.
Mike
Very interested in your electronics installation. Do you have two F77? Do you have Trackvision? Are you watching TV? Do you have plans to have a sat receiver for television as you go around the world? Which charting software program are you using? What charts did you end up using? When operating on your autopilot, do you alternate using one today and another tomorrow to equalize ware? Has anything broken down since you left stateside? How much time each day are you on the phone? Do you use MPDS or F77 for your access to the internet? Have you estimated what a daily usage would cost a non sponsored vessel owner? Please share the anticipated vs actual feul burn for the trip, estimated arrival time vs actual arrival time.
My wife and I envy your trip and hope to do the same in the next few years, best wishes for a safe and enjoyable trip.
I heard you discuss your Hawaiian R&R from Vietnam and how you first met your oldest son there. My cousin also reconnected with his wife in Hawaii when he was on leave from Vietnam. His wife had just had a baby that was about 3 weeks old, so she left the baby on the mainland, with her mother. My cousin never met his son. He was killed a month later. Your story did hit home with me.
Keith: As a past client of DeGreen Wealth Management, I have followed your adventure with great enthusiasm. I very much appreciate the informative and intellectual discussions during your broadcasts, but would like to bring you down to somthing a little more mundane. We will be traveling to the Big Island (Kona) next week. Any idea what the Island water tempuratures are at this time?
Keep up the good work and smooth sailings!.
John
Keith:
I have been a loyal fan for a number of years. I have found your show to be extremely informative on financial and political matters. You are well informed on both these issues.
I was enjoying your show on April 15th, until you said the two words that are a complete turn off for me, “Global Warming”. Having done extensive research on this subject, I have come to the following conclusions. According to facts from numerous sources, the average temp of the earth has NOT risen in the last eight years. Furthermore, any climate change has probably more to do with solar activity than SUVs.
This past winter has been the coldest in the US in many years. I believe the last time winter temps were this cold in the US was in the 1930’s. As a Phoenix resident, you know that this past winter was the coldest in 28 years.
Please, research this farce. Follow the money!!!!!!!
Doug Rando, Scottsdale az
Doug,
When I mentioned on today’s show that global warming might affect the low-lying Marshall Islands I never stated or implied that mankind was primarily or even substantially responsible for what seems from my perspective to be a natural global cycle that has occurred, I have repeatedly read, about every 500 years or so.
That is not to say that there are not large parts of this planet that mankind is really messing up — especially within emerging economies. Nor would I ever imply that we do not have a profound duty of stewardship over the resources God has given us.
But please see my April 10 article on the home page where I discussed the awesome power of nature as seen from a small boat in the middle of the Pacific, and how from there in particular it seems the height of human arrogance to assert that the forces we set in motion primarily impact the temperature on our planet.
I might add that, according to what I have often read, the last global warming cycle impacted Europe so beneficially that the benign weather conditions helped spawn what to this day we refer to as The Renaissance Period.
Since we are talking but a few degrees in any long-term weather cycle, regions will continue to experience occasional extreme temperatures away from the norm. The fact, as you assert, that we in the U.S. had our coldest winter in a long while does not indicate whether a broader warming trend is or is not occurring; and in fact there is substantial evidence that some modest levels of warming continue.
More than half of mankind lives within 200 miles of a large body of water. Therefore any rise in the ocean level — even by a few inches, will impact some low-lying areas. That doesn’t mean the sky is falling, as Chicken Little said. It just means that in over the long term Mother Nature, and not we, will decide just how close to the water we may live.
To be precise: According to the water temperature gauge on our ship, the current water temperature around the Hawaiian Islands is 78 degrees. In the warm tropical air, it’s absolutely perfect!
Penny, I think of how that newborn child had to grow up without his natural father. I only wish we could have produced a better result for that family’s sacrifice.
–Keith
Bob, I have asked our intrepid First Mate, and electronics-guru, Rip Knot, to respond to your questions as soon as practical.
–Keith
Hide,
Remarkably, we experienced very little seasicknesses. The first two days of our adventure were really the most difficult, with 12-foot seas. We experienced seas close to that about a week later, but by then we were used to them!
During those first two days we all had sour stomachs, and one crew member fed the fishes. But it quickly passed.
I wore a sea-sickness patches for the first five days, but I was the only crew member who did so.
You’d be surprised how the human body adjusts. Even by the end of the second day, the prevailing question on board was, “What’s for dinner?”
–Keith
Addison,
I’m sorry we don’t have any specific information about Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) on the site, but I would recommend you call my friend, Herb Morgan, at Efficient Market Advisors. Website: http://www.efficientmarketadvisors.com.
EMA is a Global Adventure Sponsor with an excellent managed-ETF program. regardless whether you use their service, I’m sure Herb would be more than happy to discuss your ETF questions with you.
–Keith
Good hearing you from our favorite home, Honolulu. Glad to see you in the Halekulani, the showers have to be better than those on the lower deck of HYC! Glad to hear that Nick took care of you upon your arrival.
The answer to your question about fed. tax being due on April 17. Seems April 16 is Emancipation Day in the District of Columbia, and since D.C. happenings can impact the nation tax wise, the IRS, in their infinate wisdom decided best to observe the holiday, and extend filing date one day! This comes from our fellow Arizonan Kim Komando. I did not “Snopes” this, figuring Kim would not put anything in her weekly e-mail that was made up.
Enjoy the rest of your stay in Honolulu. Incidently, you are staying in the Ala Wai small boat harbor, not the Ala Moana boat harbor.
Aloha, Addison Pace
Hi Kieth,
I just wanted to say how pleased I am that you are getting to do what most of us can only dream of.
Also, if I might make a suggestion, I would not tell the world my position, bearing and speed. You are a famous person, and worth a lot of money. It is my understanding that there are still bandits on the high sea’s, and there are only four of you on board. For your safety, the rest of us can wait to hear your next location. May the water be calm, and may God protect you and your crew. Have a good trip.
Bill
Bill,
First, thanks for your kind comments. Actually, there are MUCH richer folks plying the worlds’ oceans; and at best I am, as is Barry Young, only nearly-famous.
The good news is that not too many pirates read financial websites; and, the sea being as fickle as she is, there is much to be said for as many people as possible knowing where we are.
I do appreciate your concern, Bill; and in fact there will be places around the globe where we will go out of our way not to signal our plans, particularly to the local audience.
Again, thanks not only for your concern, but also for so enthusiastically following our adventures!
–Keith
I have a friend in the Chicago area who is interested in listening to your global adventures. What radio station and time in Chicago should she listen to?
Thank you.
Tom,
The only broadcast station on which we currently air is on KFYI in Phoenix.
HOWEVER, that is exactly why we post the show each Sunday to our website. Your friend need only come here, to http://www.theglobaladventure.com. We archive all shows for about two months — they are right in the blog (the right-center column).
Many web visitors from around the globe are now enjoying the show in this way.
Hope this helps.
Keith
Keith,
You were my dock neighbor (B-dock end tie – Kona Kai)for a short period. I have a 38′ North Sea Trawler (“Cloud Nine”). I read about your adventure in the Business Journal. Good Luck. I am in the commercial real estate management business and am living vicariously through your travels!
Good Luck ….
Don Schaefer
Thanks, Don!
–Keith
Keith,
Sorry to hear about your departure delay, but that’s cruising. One cruiser once said, ” We don’t have a schedule, and we’re sticking to it.” At least you get to spend some more time w/ your family.
It would be great if you should give a total of engine hours, genny hrs, and fuel consumption after each leg. For those of us planning to follow in your wake it would be very helpful.
Fair winds, and cheap diesel,
David ( your twin)
DAVID,
Well said! That about sums it up!
–Keith
A-Hoy there, Keith.
I am enjoying your Global Adventure so much! Just want to correct your pronunciation of one of the islands, Majuro: It’s Mah-jure-oh. Accent is on jure.
Robert L. Blake, my husband, now deceased, spent a couple years there during WW2, supervising the construction of Navy built air fields…….charting them out…….pouring cement, etc. He was a Seabee Navy Lieutenant and Master Civil Engineer……graduated from the University of Arizona.
From his letters during the war I came to know the Marshall Islands, especially Majuro and Kwaujalein, quite well. From my standpoint I am very excited to learn what you are going to tell us next Sunday, and I am alerting my two sons, Buckley James and Scott to tune in to you ……prepared to be thrilled to know that the location where their father helped to defend our country by building air fields may be the exact location of our Missile Intercept Practice today. So exciting!
This is historically wonderful of you to teach us on your way along ….on the Global Adventure.
Thank you!
Pae Blake Eaton.
(NOTE: Pae’s email originally came to me at my direct email address: keith@theglobaladventureadventure.com. So I posted it here to the Chat Room — above — for her — Keith)
PAE,
Your kind words are much appreciated; but what strikes me most is your pride in Robert’s career, and your excitement in sharing a small part of that, through us, with your boys.
All of us on The Global Adventure are proud and grateful to contribute in a small way toward remembering the incredible accomplishments of The Greatest Generation.
Thanks for traveling right along with us here on the site!
–Keith
Hi Keith,
I came accross your site via BYM (Boats, Yachts and Marinas) News, an daily email service for world wide marine industry news. At 52 I am just slightly younger than you, however, my wife and I plan to retire in about 5 – 8 years (our boys will be both in college and out of the house) sell our main residence and move onto a boat and begin our adventure. My wife and I are avid boaters and love to cruise. We presently own three boats, a Sea Ray aft cabin which we cruise with our two boys, a center console offshore fishing boat and a 17 foot inshore fishing boat.
Obviously, owning three boats, I am not much of a financial genius, nor do I care to be. By the time we start our adventure we will be debt free, own a coastal home in Florida and have a small income that we believe will suffice for our fairly humble needs.
What interests me and I would like to hear more about in your postings is how you manage negotiate local visa and official visitation laws, money exchange, communication issues, the daily problems and solutions of overseas travel via a boat?
Anyway, may you have fair seas and a following breeze …
be good,
Captain Mark
CAPTAIN MARK,
There is a company called Travisa (www.travisa.com) that was very helpful in securing our visas for China and Vietnam. I was amazed at the number of countries where no visa is required if you plan to stay for just a short time. Then, certain other countries are so restrictive and/or administratively unsophisticated (such as Cambodia) you really need to wait until you are in a nearby country where you can actually go to their embassy, or until you actually arrive there, to navigate through their requirements.
Travisa has all that information, by country, on their site. We worked through their San Francisco office.
We certainly plan to share our experiences regarding money exchange, communications issues, etc., as we begin hitting foreign ports. Here in Honolulu, of course, there are no such issues — unless you count my complete inability to pronounce most Hawaiian words!
Keith and Crew,
It sounds like you’re having a wonderful time on your voyage so far. I do have a question in regards to transoceanic travel. Is there some type of notification service that you use to advise you of any areas of the ocean that are temporarily off-limits? I ask in response to the missile test that occurred off of Kauai on Thursday morning. I know that an area of several hundred square miles had to be cleared of all vessels prior to the launch of the target missile.
I wish you all the best!
Lance
Keith,
I’m avidly following your travels, as I have your radio show & investment advice over the years. Good stuff so far.
However, your crew seems to be dropping like flies, only 1 month into the journey. First Kate. Now Rip. 2 out of 3. What’s really going on?
Smooth sailing,
Lorenzo from Phoenix
SORRY, LORENZO,
There are no sordid stories here. Kate is a young woman who simply missed her life on the mainland. We knew that was a real possibility when we departed from San Diego, but we also knew that Kate would be very helpful, at the very least, on our first, longest, leg.
Rip has an established boat repair business back in Seattle. He originally felt he could leave it for several months, but demand is great this time of year, and he simply “must take care of business”.
BOTH Kate and Rip have expressed the hope that they may rejoin the crew at a later date.
Ultimately crew will rotate. Keep in mind this is an open-ended journey. Even Wolf, our steadfast Captain, has a family back home; and from time to time he will also return to the mainland.
It’s all good, Lorenzo.
–Keith
LANCE,
There are numerous information sources. The U.S. State Department maintains a world-wide traveler’s advisory on its website; a website called http://www.noonsite.com maintains great information; and another site, http://www.travisa.com, is also very helpful.
Along coastal areas the military advises mariners of restricted areas using VHF radio. Channel 16 is the hailing frequency, and responsible boaters monitor that frequency all day.
Finally, there are large SSB (short wave) radio networks of mariners throughout the world. They keep each other well informed of such things.
–Keith
Keith;
Will you get to stop at Kwajalein? I spent a week there one Aug. it was great! The WW 2 battlefields on Roi-Namur (on the same atoll)are well worth the time. Their newsletter is: http://www.smdc.army.mil/KWAJ/Hourglass/Hourglass.html
THANKS, JACK
If time permits we hope to ask permission to visit Kwajalein. As you know, it is a secure U.S. military area. And we’d love to visit Roi-Namur as well.
–Keith
Hi Keith,
All people have dreams and yet only a few actually execute them. My dream was to visit every major league ballpark and see a game with my 12-year-old son. And do it on one single road trip. My wife thought it was a mid-life crisis. I assured her that this would be much cheaper than a twenty-one year old girl friend and a Corvette. She acquiesced and Zach and I set out for a 57 day baseball odyssey. We traveled 15,000 miles in the car and made it to all 30 ballparks!!! But somehow this was bigger than baseball. From San Diego to Montreal…Seattle to Miami and everything in between. Eating a cheese steak in Philly or having pizza in NYC, Crab cakes in Baltimore, Chinese food in San Francisco. It was all incredible. We did it!!! And so are you!!!!
I have taught my son that the most self-defeating words in the English language are: Woulda, Coulda, and Shoulda. People will find a thousand excuses not to follow their dream but not a single reason.
My trip was my Global Adventure. It was cheaper than a twenty-one year old blonde and a Corvette. If you think about it, I believe that you will agree with me that your trip is cheaper than a twenty-one year old and a Corvette. Its all relative.
Tom
Listening to your show for many years and an avid boater(served in the navy),
I commend you for taking the true meaning of “work hard,play hard ” and bringing it to life ! ….I enjoy keeping up with your journey and someday soon hope to be in your place !……..Great show,great boat and Great people …It doesnt get any better !……..Continued Success and a great Journey !
Frank Leutz
Phoenix,Arizona
Thanks, Frank!
–Keith
TOM,
What a great story! Those are memories you and your son will cherish for life. I REALLY wanted my 13-year-old to accompany us on our San Diego to Honolulu leg, but his Mom wasn’t having any of it until I gain considerably more experience at sea.
Of course, she’s right, but I do hope my children — all five of them — at one time or another will be able to join us for at least part of the journey.
Meanwhile, we are looking forward as a family to touring China for several weeks this summer.
I absolutely love your advice to your son. It is SO true!
–Keith
Jack,
If time permits, we will. However, before the end of May I need to return home for a family reunion, and for my %^%$#-year high-school reunion (Seems to be something wrong with my keyboard when I attempt to type in the number!) back in Chagrin Falls, Ohio. I want to get the ship as far east as possible, and to a location the entire crew can enjoy in my absence. Because Kwajalein is a military area, we may have to pass in the interest of time.
We do plan to spend some extra time in Palau, and to dive on some WWII sites there.
–Keith
Sure would have been nice if you had qualified for an amateur radio license. Then you could have talked directly with astronauts on board the space station right from your ship.
But I coveed this quite some time back.
Bil Munsil
K1ATV HAM TV
Mesa AZ
Hi: I am enjoying following your trip with you. It reminds me of someone I met 30 or 40 years ago whose dream was to sail around the world. I have long forgotten his name, but he owned Arizona Firewood, and in those days, haulers of agricultural goods could “backhaul” without regulations, when the trucking industry was highly regulated.
He ended up selling the business and his home, and bought an old sail boat (schooner?) once owned by a Hollywood actor, I’m thinking maybe John Wayne. I do remember him saying it had a crew of 17. I visited it when it was tied up near Harbor Drive and Scott St. in San Diego.
It was a rather large boat, perhaps 80 ft in length with a beam of maybe 12 ft. It was in terrible shape, and he was trying to make it seaworthy. When you went below the main deck it was like a deserted warehouse, dark and damp. When you went to the rear, there was a nice small, comfortable cabin that was fully furnished. I assume a caretaker had been living aboard for several years, and this is where he stayed.
This guy was going to take his wife and two small children and head for Hawaii. No other crew. I’m not sure that it even had an engine, but it must have had a generator. They were living aboard it when I visited. I often wonder if they made it around the world. What a brave family. He had no GPS, no fancy communication equipment….just them and nature.
By the way, can’t your show be heard on KFYI’s internet stream?
Take care, and enjoy.
Dear Keith;
So great to see the right way to see the world. Living in Scottsdale for the last 15 years and Lahaina Maui for 13 years prior I would love to get to do what you are doing. Selling my investment rentals in the valley and in Payson, doing swing trading and in the next 5 years will hopefully get into a position to do a version of what you are doing. I will following your adventure will by best Walter Mitty…
Best of luck in your travels
Penn
Thanks, Penn. Glad to be an “inspiration”!
–Keith