The Amazon 44 during initial sea trial, in Burrows Bay west of Fidalgo Island, Washington.

La Conner, Washington, July 13, 2008:  After a decade of building the Microship, a profoundly geeky amphibian pedal/solar/sail micro-trimaran, I started thinking that ya know... maybe comfort might not such be such a silly thing after all. That's a strange concept, especially for a technomad who has spent the bulk of his career frolicking with (and writing about) bicycles, kayaks, and geeky boatlets. It's worth considering, though:  Microship Wordplay is in no way a live-aboard, despite her unmistakable geek appeal, and for a growing number of reasons I want to be free to travel full-time.  But how could I make a change of this magnitude without giving up the profound aura of gonzo engineering that has always attracted techies (including me) to Nomadic Research Labs projects?  It would not do to simply "retire to a yacht" and write rhapsodic cruising stories for a living.  I need something that is not only consistent with the technomadic spirit, but also provides a solid substrate for the other projects (like Shacktopus) that keep my gizmological juices flowing. In 2006, I chose a Corsair 36 trimaran that seemed far more nauticalicious on all levels than the monohulls by which I was becoming tempted. I took off on a 500-mile single-handed shakedown cruise to Desolation Sound to learn the ropes, then parked her on a trailer in my yard for the winter.  Something snapped in the Spring of 2007 when I found myself mowing around the boat instead of working on the huge project list. Despite being a sexy rocketship ("Microship on Steroids"), this was not the right boat... she was simply too small for full-time blue-water voyaging.  So I sold the tri exactly one year after I bought her, and am now getting to know my new ship:  an Amazon 44 steel raised-salon pilothouse cutter which also carries the name Nomadness (along with a sailing dinghy called Nomadling and an inflatable Hobie kayak named Nessie). We launch this week for a few local jaunts in Puget Sound to learn the boat, while continuing to work on a few projects (see blog for details).  We'll spend this season exploring Northwest waters and learning to be self-sufficient at sea... return home to accelerate the tonnage-reduction, then next year head out the Strait of Juan de Fuca and turn left at Cape Flattery. From there... it's wide open. For the most timely news and expedition updates, please read the Nomadness Blog.

Here by mistake?  If you're looking for info on the Creative MP3 player, you can find news, forums, downloads, player information, and much more over yonder at Nomadness.net