Papers, please

By Matt Layden
Posted at 11:14 AM on March 09, 2006

Ed here for Matt again.

Well the Wizard is on his way. He just checked in with his wife Karen and said he is getting "harassed by the man." The Coast Guard pulled him over an hour ago and said "Excuse me sir, can we see your papers,please?"

They wanted to know if he came in from Port Au Prince or Havana. He said Rio. They said pull over.

Seriously, the Wizard is in his 12-foot sailboat trying to dump enough wind to stay around 4 knots while sailing in the Atlantic far enough from shore to stay out of the rollers. He is north of Government Cut. It has to be a washing machine out there today.

The Coast Guard said they want to maintain contact with him and demanded he call them on his cell phone every hour while he is in the Ocean. He said that's enough hassle he may come in Hillsboro or Haulover Inlet and come up the ICW.

I know I would.

By the way, I don't know about your cell phone, but mine has about 14 minutes of battery power when fully charged and has no reception anywhere. In fact, I have two and they both stink.

Matt has a solar-powered cell that he made - I am not making that up - that he is using to keep his electronics charged. He has a VHF radio and a cell phone. Hope I get to see him when he comes through this area.

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