If you are a sailing Walter Mitty, then you should be following the wanderings and doings of one Ronnie Simpson.

Simpson is still in his twenties, but he has lived quite a life. A short, but far from complete, summary: he served in Iraq as a Marine and was badly wounded, he abandoned his first sailboat in the Pacific, he bicycled across Asia, he raced the Singledhanded Transpac to Hawaii, he lost the keel on the boat on the way back and managed to sail it 800 miles back to San Francisco, he won his class in the SInglehanded Transpac, and now he is aiming for the Vendee Globe. Also, he lives aboard boats that he buys off Craigslist.

This is his latest, and he is about to spend a few weeks sailing it from Washington, down the PNW coast, to San Francisco.

Phew. In short, he travels a highly unconventional path that incorporates a degree of freedom few of us can

Of course, the other ocean race drama you should be watching online (in addition to the Volvo), is the venerable STP. That reality show is about a group of half-sane, sailing-addled, misanthropes who are flogging a very diverse group of sailboats from San Francisco to Hawaii.

Live tracking is here. Updates from the boats are here.

Wishing you were out there, too? Here's a recent update. You have to ask yourself one question: 'Am I tough enough?'