Getting Back to My Roots in Panama City

Corpus Christi, TX in December

Over the past two weekends I’ve been fortunate enough to visit Panama City, Florida, where I was stationed in 2014 for about a year. I had already been kiteboarding for about three years by this time so a beach location was a perfect first base for me. While in Panama City, I met Paul, who built his own boat, the “Lau Eng” by hand. Designed to sail around the world, Paul designed his boat in 1987 entirely without the aid of the internet and getting to sail with him a few times, I witnessed how much care he put into every single piece of wood.

Inspired by Paul, I finally made the time to start planning the bus while I was in Turkey for a year during Operation Inherent Resolve. The Derelicte Bus was directly inspired by the Lau Eng and I employed everything that I learned from Paul in the building process.

I was extremely saddened to hear that the Lau Eng didn’t survive Hurricane Michael as it passed through Panama City in 2018. Paul spent 12 years building the Lau Eng and I was happy to talk with him about The Derelicte Bus. I’ve asked him to write some guest posts on the blog to pass his knowledge and building principles onto others looking to build or just looking for principles to live by.

While in Panama City I got to do some kiteboarding, so here are some of the pictures from the 3 day weekend. Kiteboarding is one of my primary reasons for the bus so even though I’m in Del Rio I try to get to the coast