Credit: Reflectandrespond.com
My plan, which made so much sense on wintry Iowa days when I was trying to get feeling back into my fingertips, was to buy a small sailboat, outfit it with the gear needed for being self-sufficient cruising, and take off on the adventure of a lifetime. And all those things eventually happened, not without some hiccups, not without me wanting to abandon the whole idea quite a few times, but when you decide to do an adventure, I have some advice.
I always tell people Rebecka and I lived on a sailboat for two years and then go on to tell stories, some of which i will post in the days ahead. And we did live on the boat for two year, but we spent 16 months converting a small sailboat from a day sailer to a cruising sailboat which had all the equipment, tools, rations, and entertainment we needed so we could move as we wished, and live anywhere we wanted for as long as we wanted.
The boat as I bought it for $3,500.
The Iowa Waltz underway in Mexico, having gobbled up just about every cent we had.
If our minds had been focused solely on the sailing part of the adventure which loomed somewhere off in the future, rather on the day to day tasks that needed to be done before we could start our trip, we would have missed so much of the adventure.
Typewritten to-do list
This was my checklist of things that needed to be done to the boat. In part it is a shopping list, other items are things to construct or modify. And trust me everything you buy for a boat is significantly more expensive than it is if it was to be used in a house. Walking into a marine supply store is like entering a dark alley, there may be a mugging in your future. Standing in the check out line I always felt like I should have both hands in the air when the cash register was pointed at my head.
There are a couple of sayings about owning a boat. ‘A sailboat is a hole in the water you pour money into.’
And, ‘Being a sailor is like standing in a cold shower tearing up $100 bills.’
It is all true.
My goal was to prepare a sailboat which we could sail down to the Panama Canal, then to cruise through the Caribbean Islands where I had already lived for a year. Dream on, Bopper, dream on.
I bought the boat before I met Rebecka, and she has correctly suggested, that it would have been much smarter to take my savings, fly from San Diego to the Caribbean and buy a boat in the islands and then start cruising. Live and learn. But looking back, it was wonderful spending those 16 months in San Diego with my family, doing one small job after another.
So as you go through your day today, please try and value these moments, it’s not preparation for something important, it is not a dress rehearsal, today is the main event. You will have the chance to live this day only once in your life. This is the youngest you will ever me. Cherish the day, seek out every bit of joy it holds.
And when you are in adventure mode, keep the faith, keep pushing forward even when you are terrified, and remember, if what you are planning doesn’t scare your parents, it’s not an adventure, it’s a vacation.
A note about sailing vs cruising. We spent the first year just working on the boat, then a year cruising on our sailboat in southern California and Mexico. You are cruising when you live aboard your boat and take it new places. If you keep your boat in a marina and take it out only for nice afternoons on the water, then rush back in time to drink beer at the bar and watch the sunset, you may be sailing, but you are not cruising. I’ll admit there is more than a bit snobbery involved with people who call themselves cruisers. I admit that I am one of those people.
“…a smooth sea never made a skilled sailor” President Franklin Delano Roosevelt
Cruising sailors are more skilled in the art of sailing, not by dint of study, although it is important to read about what to do in emergency situations, and prepare the equipment you will to survive them. You would be reckless to not prepare. But the real lesson comes when you are on a long passage, moving from one anchorage to another, and you find yourself caught up in weather and sea conditions that no one in their right mind would ever want to encounter. It is only when the wind is howling and the waves are breaking over the bow of your boat, when you strap on your safety harness in case you get washed overboard, when you try to keep you balance as you are tossed around dropping your sails, putting out a sea anchor, and then you batten down the hatches, and then just hang on for dear life until the storm passes. When dawn comes and the seas begin to calm, you have had your first lesson on how to sail your boat in a storm.
I learned the hard way, we survived and I don’t recommend it. But there was one thought that kept me cruising:
Out for Justice 