When that job ended, Harold went back to Newport where he bought a travel trailer, and drove back down to Key West. “I spent four months walking the docks looking for a job,” he said. “Then one day, I saw this big beautiful 63’ schooner named Cassiopeia. The owner, a big burly guy named Bud Crockett, affectionately known as Uncle Bud, invited me to sail with him on day sails in Key West to the Caribbean. My life was changed forever.” The Cassiopeia marked another turning point for Harold in his connection with sea. Through a series of events, he would eventually purchase the schooner and live aboard her for thirty years, sailing through the Caribbean and South Pacific. “We sailed her through the Caribbean, up and down the West Indies, and then to Panama, Costa Rica, Tonga, French Polynesia, Fiji, and New Zealand. Hundreds of people went sailing on the boat with me. If you take your typical American off shore and show them how the rest of the world lives, it becomes a life changing experience.” Harold shared his love with everyone he met. And those who sailed with him shared in his joy. In 2015, while visiting his daughter in New Zealand, and working on his first book, “From the Bottom Up”, the Cassiopeia was vandalized. The schooner had been docked on the island of Santo, in the country of Vanuatu, which is five hundred miles west of Fiji in the South Pacific, and left in the care of a friend. “When my friend called to tell me what had happened I flew back to Santo as quickly as I could,” said Harold. “But it was too late. The thieves had taken everything, then chopped away the inverters and disabled the batteries, which caused the Cassiopeia to sink. After many attempts to save her, I ended up having to scuttle her. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.”
Hometown Living At Its Best
95