Air & Sea (... or "Fly & Sail")

Michael A.N. Winkler
S/V Afternoon Tea. . . . . N28°24.51' W080°40.74'
P.O. Box 621418
Orlando, FL 32862-1418
United States
ph: 516/343.8905
fax: 516/908.4672
alt: SKYPE: manwinkler
manwinkler@yahoo.com

Protection

I have a number of “sailing-trips” ahead of me, and not all areas I want to visit are entirely free of man-made danger (off of Venezuela, Colombia, etc.).

To take on some safety precautions, I decided to learn how to shoot. Please understand that until two years ago, at the age of 51, I had NEVER shot a gun or pistol before.

A few good friends -a former Marine by the name of Ramon, a DOD contract pilot and hunter by the name of Bob, and another good friend (who vacillates between spending his money on good guns and good watches) by the name of Craig- with infinitely more knowledge about guns helped decide what would be an appropriate model and where and how to learn to shoot.

They suggested one designed for the marine environment, namely a Mossberg 500 JIC.

Since then, the children (children in my eyes, who had the temerity of growing up, and have turned into wonderful adults, already :) ) and I have started to shoot on a monthly basis (so as not to forget), but at nearly US$ 1.00 / round, we also added an EAA Witeness Compact, a Ruger 10/22 and a Beretta 21A, which are much more affordable to shoot (9mm are approx US$ 0.40/round, and .22s approx US$ 0.05/round ..... big difference when practicing).

We debated long and hard (and adding to the confusion, we were and still are able to argue all points for and against from all sides), since none of us were raised with guns at home, but the destinations we envisage may require a departure from ideas we previously held.

We are well aware of the tragedy that can befall one when one does have a gun, as well as when one does not. We hope never having to use one!

Here is what Keiko will be getting as her graduation present (double major) this Summer:

KelTec PF9 (vid 1 and vid 2)

Caliber		mm	Commentary
0.22	LR	5.59	------------------------------- Conversion: 25.4 mm = 1mm
0.22	WMR	5.59
0.25	ACP	6.35
0.32	ACP	8.13
0.32	H&R Magnum	8.13
0.327	Federal Magnum	8.31
9	mm	9.00	-------------------------------- Caliber: Distance between opposite lands inside the barrel expressed in 1,000ths of an inch. For our purposes consider it to be the inside diameter of the bore.
0.38	Special	9.65
0.380	ACP	9.65
0.38	Super	9.65
10	mm	10.00
0.40	SW	10.16
0.41	Magnum	10.41	------------------------------- Gauge: Determined by the number of lead-balls of size equal to the diameter of the bore that it takes to weigh one pound. --------------------------------
0.44	Magnum	11.18
0.44	Special	11.18
0.45	ACP	11.43
0.45	Colt	11.43
0.50	AE	12.70
28	Gauge	13.97
20	Gauge	15.67
16	Gauge	17.02
12	Gauge	18.47
10	Gauge	19.81

Hunting

Until I read Michael Pollans "The Omnivore's Dilemma" about two years ago, I never would have considered hunting as anything other the demented idea of cruel people.

However, the book turned me into a vegetarian, albeit for no more than 6 weeks (I hold convictions very deep, but obviously not very long :)). I was very ashamed what we as a society do to animals to eat as cheaply as possible.

If you feel you want to read a fabulous account on food production (contrary to what you may think, it is a riveting subject), I strongly suggest the above mentioned book.

If you want to learn to hunt in FL, please click here or here!