Category Grifter’s Tales

The Grifter's first principle is simple: listen before you act. Use empathy, observation, other people's stories and past experience to enter unfamiliar situations wisely.

Keeping the ordinary moments aboard the Aqua Service: real work, crew meals, photographs and stories another person might find useful.

An observational view from the Aqua Service near Esperanza: workboats, netted pens and the limits of what one photograph can explain.

Field notes from the Aqua Service: meals, deck work and the everyday coastal moments I want to remember between the jobs.

GRIFTER’S TALES THE CURSE OF THE DECKHAND · The jobs nobody sees Everybody eats. The laundry doesn’t do itself. And being the cook doesn’t make the deck work disappear. Aboard the Aqua Service, I’m the deckhand-cook. Breakfast, lunch and dinner…

GRIFTER’S TALES Adapt. Survive. Thrive. Keep your code. To me, being a grifter means being able to adapt, survive and sometimes thrive in whatever situation God or the devil drops on my doorstep. It means moving between different worlds: different…

My brother offered me a temporary deckhand job in Clayoquot Sound. Years and dozens of vessels later, the surprises—and lessons in humility—keep coming.

A night out with my students in Japan showed how a familiar English pattern could turn hesitation into action—the practical idea behind the Four Finger Rule.

GRIFTER’S TALES Eggs Benny, oven bacon, and a little morning preparation Breakfast??? On a slave ship—oh, oh, I mean a workboat? There’s the morning joke out of the way. In my experience, breakfast aboard can be a big thing or…

GRIFTER’S TALES B.O.A.T., teamwork, and a system of systems Yeah, yeah, we know—the captain is God at sea. That’s the joke, anyway. But look a little closer and you’ll find the deckhand running around helping the engineer, the engineer keeping…