Reasons Why Wednesday: The Rain Stopped

Reason Why #6: The Rain Stopped on Our Survey Day! 

Yesterday was a VERY big day in this journey of ours, we had our potential boat surveyed and we took her on a sea trial! When we set out from New Castle at 7am it was POURING BUCKETS, I mean torrential downpours as we made our way up I-95. We had our "foulies" on and had committed to a VERY wet day. We arrived at Centerboard Yacht Club in South Portland and our potential boat "Zephyr" was up on the boat moving 'hammock' ready to "splash in the water". She hasn't seen the water since last September. Inside we met the current owners, the broker, the boat mover and all the old men from the yacht club there to help the owner who is the Commodore. There was coffee, doughnuts and sailing stories being exchanged around the table - a very typical scene for a yacht club and one we could certainly see Timbo being a part of years from now. For us, we were too excited/nervous to eat! And, the rain kept pouring. 

Here the owner is below being sure she's didn't blow a hole!

The tender helped us maneuver her to the dock, she's a hefty girl! 

Then it was time to "Splash Her" - as in drop her in the water! 

We climbed aboard and prepared for the ride. It was quite a thrill and all the while the owners were showing us different things with the boat's systems, electronics, storage, etc. etc. etc. It was phenomenal to have them aboard, though also bittersweet because we could tell how hard it is for them to let her go. The gentleman who owned and loved this boat for the last 5 years suffered a debilitating accident last winter while cutting trees in his yard and he's now on crunches and unable to really do the moving and work needed to sail his boat. Though yesterday, he was a ROCKSTAR - climbing aboard on the ladder, crowding into the engine room, taking the helm to guide us in. I'm sure he was in a lot of pain last night but in his mind this might be last time he gets to ride aboard his old girl and he wasn't going to miss it! 

The surveyors arrived at 9am and spent the next 3 hours aboard doing their thing - inspecting every inch, every hose, every wire and connection and valve and spigot. As the hours ticked by the rain stopped, the clouds moved out from Portland and Casco Bay, it started to get warm and then THE SUN! 

At the inspection dock - with the SUN blazing! 

Tim learning more from Deb, the current owner!

We spent the time listening in on the surveyors work, learning more from the owners, the 'old men', the broker. At one point the broker said, "You've got combined over 150 years of boat knowledge here and we still all got our heads together to figure out this goddamn water pump! Welcome to boating!" 

The assistant surveyor who was in his mid-70s said to me, "You see, this is the beauty of an old boat - you're constantly having to figure something out, fix something, jury rig something. You're constantly presented with a challenge and solving it. It makes the beer at happy hour taste a lot sweeter when you have that sense of accomplishment."

About 12:30pm the surveyor announced it was time to "take her out, shake out her sails and see how she does!" So we all climbed aboard, cast off her lines and set out into Casco Bay in the sun. There were seals popping up their heads all throughout the Fore River - amazing! We did some tests of her engine (Mr. Perkins as the owner instructed us to call him because, "he deserves our respect":)), her steering under power, her turning capacity, we raised the sails and eventhough there was no wind she sure did look pretty with her sails flying! 

Heading up the Fore River

Casco Bay

Brand new sails - they so pretty!!!

Well, our potential (can't call her ours YET) boat did AMAZING in her survey and sea trial! STUPENDOUS! Mr. Perkins, an old diesel engine, started right up and did all the tests without even a hiccup! Keep in mind this is a 34 year old boat that has sat for a year - this we were told from the surveyor and broker is PHENOMENAL! The Surveyor gave us a summary but overall he said, "This is a real solid boat". We could tell he was impressed and from the horror stories we'd heard of similar age boats that have sat we were very excited! There is one major and few minor things that we need to see remedied before we can 'sign, seal, deliver' this boat and the broker is working on that now with the owner. 

This deal is becoming more and more real than we could ever imagine! We could not have asked for better results or better weather for this survey and sea trial. We are hokey and believe in karma, signs and astrology - The fact the sun came out for our sail was a sign. The fact that the owners and friends and surveyors (those in the know) were so unbelievably helpful, enthusiastic and genuinely happy and excited for us and our new chapter in our life is a sign. The fact that the results of the day were so good is a HUGE sign. 

We are beaming from ear to ear and that will help as we pack up the U-Haul this weekend in 90+ degrees with all of worldly belongings that we're keeping to move it to storage! Life is very interesting these days! 

There she is at the dock with Portland's waterfront in the background

Our future home looking her best in the SUNSHINE!

Reasons Why Wednesday: Mobile Home

Reason Why #5: We like to change up the scene now & again. 

In the live aboard and cruising culture marinas have often been to referred to as the Trailer Parks of the yachting world. 

And there are definitely some major similarities - rather tight quarters, no rolling spans of green lawn to distance from your neighbors, no fences, you can't choose your neighbors, a lot of time is spent outside your private space, everyone deals with similar challenges, the lifestyle is a specific choice. But there is a BIG difference - THE VIEW. There's also a lot of smaller differences too that make living aboard a whole lot sweeter than a double wide in a trailer park. 

Tim and I have been navigating the world of marinas trying to arrange where will be keeping this 43' yacht that we are (hopefully) taking ownership of in a couple weeks. Since it is the end of the summer season here in New England slips are not at a premium as they would have been just a month ago - good news for us! Here in the Portsmouth area there are 3 major marinas one of them is up the Piscataqua River and our mast on our boat is too tall to fit under the bridge for Route 16 so that marina is out. Then there is the Wentworth Marina on New Castle island, around the corner from where we rent now.

Wentworth Marina - Our Summer Home

And Badger's Island Marina which is just under the not-there-right-now Route 1 bridge that spans from Portsmouth to Kittery, Maine. The only marina that "allows" year-round liveaboards is Badgers Island - They call them "extended stay" guests. So this will be our winter home. 

Badgers Island Marina is where the arrow is pointing.
That bridge is not currently there right now

Both marinas are fantastic. If looking only at facilities the Wentworth wins out. It is GORGEOUS! With 4 restaurants, 3 bars, pools, showers, laundry and even hotel rooms if a Nor'Easter hits! 

The walkway at the top of the docks

Latitudes restaurant that overlooks the Marina

Marina "members" get use of the pools

And there's the SWEET Wentworth by the Sea Resort & Spa
on the grounds too!

Badger's Island is ALSO super sweet too - great showers/bathroom facilities, a Tiki Bar in summertime, great outdoor grilling area & patio plus our new friend Justin lives at Badgers, is the dock master and can throw a super mean cocktail party! When NH Dept. of Transportation finishes the NEW Memorial Bridge (slated for completion July 2013) Badger's Island will be a 5 minute walk to downtown Portsmouth. That's the kicker with Badger's right now - it's literally UNDER a construction zone which for our first year aboard should be interesting. But we can walk to downtown Kittery Foreside a fantastic up and coming little neighborhood with a great restaurant, yoga studio and dive bar and it's only a 15 min. or so drive into Portsmouth over the Route 1 Bypass bridge. So winter should be fantastic at Badgers. 

 Now comes our reason why - Mobility. The best part about living aboard - we have a MOBILE HOME! We can move when we want/need to and can experience different scenes, towns, marinas, people, views all the time! Our plan now is to move into the Wentworth Marina for the end of the season, through October 31st and then move to Badger's Island for the winter. Sometime before Turkey Day we will shrinkwrap the boat (that's a tale for another post), winterize and hunker down for the cold New Hampshire (technically we'll be in Maine) winter at Badger's Island. 

 Boats hunkered down at Badger's Island for the Winter 

Then come next spring we will open up the shrink wrap and most likely move back to the Wentworth since the bridge construction will be FULL SWING by that time.The idea of our first spring aboard being marked by cranes, jack hammers and a giant bridge being built above our decks is not all that appealing. However, we could also move south to Newburyport or north to Portland or maybe try a mooring or maybe Mexico????-- the beauty of life aboard -- MOBILITY for two gypsy souls like us it's the best lifestyle we could think of! 



"The whole world's topsy turvy, you feel like you're upside down.
Everyday it's a push and shove of people tryin' to get around.
Workin' hard, tryin' to make some bread, tryin' to get it 'fore it gets away.
It's too bad how a man must work to get along, 
but to live you know he needs the pay.

The city is a place in which to build your dreams,
It's a chance to give your ideas life.
A man gets a'longing for some country green, 
He'd just like some peace and quiet, peace and quiet, peace and quiet...

So, ah, to be up and leavin' this town, I said, headed down that open road
With all that you own kinda thrown on the backseat, thinkin' 'bout a-where you'll go
Maybe New Orleans... Maybe Mexico, yeah, got to go, yeah, Mama
I got to get outahere, doncha know, yeah, Babe, I got to head on down...

If only you could pack up everything you love
And everyone who'd ever been your friend,
Well Keepin' close to you the things that make you strong
Got to carry them with you around the bend.
The fear to move and meet the new can keep you in line,
Though you know that something stays behind,
So separate the good and bad and take along the kind
To the place you'd like to be at right on time... time...

So, ah, to be up and leavin' this town, I say, headed down that open road
With all that you own kinda thrown on the backseat, think' 'bout a-where you'll go
Maybe New Orleans... Maybe Mexico, yeah, got to go, yeah, Mama
I got to get outahere, doncha know, yeah, got to go..."

                                          -- Jerry Jeff Walker "Maybe Mexico"  off Mr. Bojangles 1968  

Reasons Why Wednesday: Purging

Reason Why #4: To Embrace the Art & Beauty of Purging 

So recently a team of anthropologists from UCLA published a book called "Life at Home in the Twenty-First Century" it looks like a coffee-table book with big, glossy photos of the living rooms, garages and bedrooms of 32 middle-class Los Angeles families. However, the book has a deeper story line, one that totally sums up why Tim and I are buying a boat and moving aboard and hope to one day raise our children aboard -- American families are being buried by and stressed out over our "stuff". 

The researchers called their findings "disheartening" and "troubling". The book shows garages so full of bulk boxes of fruit snacks and 500 oz. bottles of laundry detergent and skis and float toys and old baskets and storage boxes that the cars have to stay in the driveway. There's photos of shower stalls full of laundry because there is so much clutter everywhere there's nowhere else to put it. They talk of these fantastic backyard 'oases' with the best furniture the outside living section at Target had to offer and yet 50 of the 64 parents studied never stepped foot outside and less than a quarter of the kids did. The family dining table was covered with mail and books and toys and the families never sat together for dinner - Mom in one room on the phone, Dad in another on the computer, the kids watching TV or playing video games. And then there's the toy obsession for kids -  America has 3.1% of the world's kids and 40% of the world's toys. The children were DROWNING in their toys and yet all they wanted to do during this study was watch TV to see more commercials of more toys they want. The consumerist culture we seem to embrace has resulted in a clutter-filled and very stressful life for our society and our next generation isn't showing signs of slowing their constant need for material possessions either. 

OK, off my soapbox and back to our Reason Why. We are just as guilty as anyone else of having "too much stuff". Our little 2 bedroom duplex is full - every closet full to the top, every dresser full, 2-3 junk drawers, stuff under the back porch and in the basement.This lifestyle choice we are making to move aboard a boat with approximately 250 sq.ft. of living space is causing us to embark upon the very cathartic, emotional, at times overwhelming experience of purging. A famous Farrell family saying is, "Everything must go." There's a long story behind that but it couldn't ring more true for us these days. Our friend who's living on his boat told us we will have to "ween" and all the books and blogs we consult also say there is this "weening" process that one goes through with their stuff where you move aboard more than you'll ever need and slowly you'll realize all you need is some warm clothes, good beer and a good mug. Isn't amazing that we liken the process of a baby maturing off of breast milk to the process of giving up our material possessions? 

We did the first round of purging this weekend - the upstairs storage closet. There was one particular bin that I've moved with me the last 3 times we've moved and never actually opened it because I knew the process of purging the contents would be emotional. There were old notes that were passed between my best friend Tierney and I in math class in high school. There was a middle school "slow dance diary" of every song I'd slow danced to with a boy. There were countless concert ticket stubs, festival maps, a "Welcome to Aussie Land" banner made by my amazing Australian friends when my parents arrived in Brisbane. There was poems written about road trips I'd taken from NOLA to Chicago and a "100 things to love about college" list that was added to for 4 years. There were palanka notes from college retreats and even the beer festival program from the day Tim and I met (I didn't purge that!). These things recalled fantastic memories of amazing people that may or may not still be in my life and though that thought is bittersweet the memory of these people and those times is still as poignant as ever. I don't need to hang on to some crumbly, half faded note to remember the care package my mom mailed me my first week in college, I can still taste the brownies. Or the lab report from my 7th grade Science Fair. I can still feel the pride from the moment I heard my name called. They are just material representations of life stories and the reality is I will never sit with my granddaughter and go through that bin of old things. I'll tell stories, show photos and sure, the details will fade or embellish with time but that's the beauty of life -- it's living the moment, making the memory, telling the story, not holding onto the things. 

This life path we are embarking upon will provide such amazing stories and moments of inexplicable challenge and beauty that no material thing could ever represent. The constraints of life aboard will challenge us to fulfill our lives with moments and experiences rather than gadgets and toys. When we buy something new, something old must go. Our future children will learn to love a strange piece of driftwood on shore as much as some plastic playmobil toy. Our living space won't be surrounded by our stuff but instead will be surrounded by the ocean, the wind, the damp dew in the mornings, the cold frost at night, the cozy teak interior. Our time won't be spent using our newest gadgets or things but instead we'll spend our time learning to fix a faulty cooling line or charting a course to a new anchorage. We will have no choice but to eat together at the table every night. And we'll spend every single day experiencing the outdoors in some meaningful way whether it be shoveling off the deck, walking up the dock with Toby or sipping coffee in the cockpit. 

So for us the "clutter culture" of American society is stopping now. We are taking a path less traveled and trusting that life experiences will provide far more happiness for us than things. 

"I believe we would be happier to have a personal revolution in our individual lives and go back to simpler living and more direct thinking. It is the simple things of life that make living worthwhile, the sweet fundamental things such as love and duty, work and rest and living close to nature." -- Laura Ingalls Wilder

It's All Happening...

This fantastic scene from my most favorite movie Almost Famous pretty much sums up how Tim and I are feeling these days. It's all happening...

There's something about how William has Penny ask him again so that he can feel that exuberance and excitement flush through his body and he can smile that wide smile and respond again YES that gets me every time. That's us these days...asking one another again and again - "You really want to do this?" And every time the answer is more emphatic than the time before - absolutely, positively, for sure! 

So first things first - the big news -  OUR OFFER ON THE GULFSTAR WAS ACCEPTED!!!! We still can't believe it! In the next 2 weeks we'll have the survey and sea trial and the closing is scheduled for September 5th! We'll be celebrating our 2nd Anniversary on the 18th on board our very own boat!!!! 

Just finished signing this!

The last blog we'd written we were setting out for a week-long liveaboard sailing class and as we'd expected the class only put longer legs and more stamina on our dream. We ABSOLUTELY loved the cruising lifestyle. We took to it like a fish to water (pun intended). From the early morning swims off the stern in Prudence Island, to the morning delivery of pastries by boat in Block Island, to the soggy night in Newport, to the hours sailing downwind. We loved every single second. 

Anchored out in Dutch Harbor the first night 

Dutch Harbor, Narragansett Bay 

His 33rd Birthday at the helm - living the dream!

Navigating with binoculars on the bow

The "Foulies" are out for our approach into Newport Harbor

He's a natural 

Five Mile Smile 

Block Island - The Oar Bar, amazing sailing bar - note the dighys behind us

The Crew - Capt. Jen, John & Amanda - incredible people! 

Dinghy-ing back to the anchorage as the sun sets 

Aldo's Bakery - Delivery by boat! 

The view from our cockpit - Newport Harbor sunset 

Coast Guard Eagle arriving in Newport Harbor off our cockpit - the benefit of waterfront property! 

There wasn't a single aspect of life aboard that we didn't love or at least tolerate well. The week was a mix of flash flood warnings, pea soup fog, HOT sun, drizzle, gale force winds and sea breezes. Your life is led by the direction of the wind and we loved that. When else in modern life do you determine the track you take to somewhere based upon the direction of the wind and the time of the tides? That close connection to the natural world is something that I LOVED the most. Being "environmental" it was incredible to live and breath by the elements. We woke to damp sheets and knew there was fog outside. We rocked to sleep by waves and we knew the wind had picked up out of the west. We hung our towels to the lifelines when the sun came out and took them in when the dew set in. Water and energy conservation is a way of life aboard a boat. Everyone is mindful of the amount of water they use and no one ever leaves a light on in a room they've left. 

The time spent heeling over on a close reach sail with wind whipping your hair and your sails full is especially thrilling. Sailors call it "the groove". Sure, you're only maxing out at 7 knots but sailing isn't about getting anywhere fast, it's about the journey there. It's about fine tuning your sail trim to maximize your "wing". It's about hearing the waves splash in your wake rather than the hum of an engine. It's about letting nature propel you, not fossil fuels. You work in a team to trim your sails, sheet in your jib. The crew and the helmsman execute a finely orchestrated dance to propel your boat through the water. You steer by the compass and the predetermined navigation course that you'd laid out over breakfast. You make sandwiches in a small galley while you balance yourself as the boat heels. As you approach your port you find your navigational beacons shining through the fog or the rain. Once you've dropped anchor and it's set in the mud you coil up ropes, stow charts, bring up the beer cooler and the cheese and crackers. You jump off the stern for a swim rather than a shower. You grill steaks off the stern mounted grill. You sit in the cockpit with cold beer, sunburned skin and salty hair and watch the sun set, knowing you'll do it all again the next day! 

Here's a little taste of sailing on a close reach from below deck and you can see our floating home away from home for the last week: 

We came back and stepped on shore, got in our car to head back north to New Hampshire and immediately we felt a bit overwhelmed. The speed of the car, the fast paced nature of life on land, not knowing which direction the wind was coming from - we missed it immediately. We made the (horrendous) mistake of stopping at a mall to cool off on our way north - the VW bus doesn't have AC and she cools by air moving so when we're in Boston traffic on a 90+ day it's a recipe for disaster for her and us! Being in the mall, watching all the people buying all this stuff, the store windows full of so much stuff, the bags of stuff filling people arms. None of it interested us at all - we just wanted to go back to the ocean, back to the small, little boat that had all we ever needed to be extremely happy. It was in that moment, in the crowded food court, that we both knew we were going to call the broker in Maine and offer our top dollar for the Gulfstar. We loved that boat and now we knew we LOVED the life that boat will lead us to. 

So today we sit with a signed purchase and sale. We've let our landlords know that we'll be leaving The Dupe. We have begun to discuss what we'll sell, what we'll store and what we'll move aboard. It's all happening... 

Sailing Away - not in our own boat...YET!

What's life without a little up and down, back and forth, highs and lows? Since last weekend we've been on the crazy ride called - NEGOTIATION. From researching "comps" to pricing out known repairs to calling Dads, Brothers and friends we've gained a lot of knowledge and opinions on the ancient art of price negotiation. 

We put an offer in on the Gulfstar last Saturday. The broker didn't scoff but was honest in telling us that he didn't "think it would work" because the owners were already hoping for $20,000 more than he got them to list it at. The broker was right - on Monday morning the owners came back only lowering their asking price by $2,000...we were VERY far apart. We thought and talked and sought advice and more advice and TRIED to emotionally detach ourselves from the boat because no good negotiation comes from being emotionally invested. We claimed we were "over this boat", we proudly said, "there's many more boats in the sea", we convinced ourselves that we were "right at it". So we put in our "top" offer on Tuesday morning saying that we were willing to drop a deposit in the mail and sign on the line that day. 

The owners didn't budge. We were still pretty far apart. We made sure they had our phone number and were clear how motivated we are and then...we walked away. 

So today we sit and ever since we 'walked away' we feel like the "wind's been taken out of our sails" a bit...we are a little less excited, a little less nervous, the butterflies in our tummies have stopped fluttering, we're feeling like the kickoff to this dream which we thought was going to happen sooner than later is now going to happen later and that's left us with a bit of a defeated feeling. 

BUT all is not lost! Because this evening we are embarking on a BIG part of this dream - the Blue Water Sailing School Bareboat Charter class! Yup, that's right, tonight we are heading to Newport, RI and Sunday morning we leave on a Dufour Gib'Sea 43' sailboat and won't return to port until Friday! 

Our floating home for the next week!

We booked this class back in early March because as we started to put legs on this dream of ours we both felt like we could use some more training and confidence on sailing larger boats. We've both had a good deal of experience on smaller, day cruiser boats but nothing over say 30' and once you get up over 35' there's A LOT more to know. There's major electrical and mechanical systems, there's a lot more rigging to learn, there's a galley to learn, etc. This class was highly recommended to us because it's one of the only "live aboard" classes where you learn all the in's and out's of living aboard a cruising yacht. You learn provisioning, navigation for passage making, cooking, maintenance, etc.- you live, breath, sleep and eat sailing the whole week. At the end you get your bareboat charter license meaning that we can go down to the British Virgin Islands, rent a yacht and captain it for a week! It's a big step to the ultimate goal of getting our USCG Captain's License.We are both extremely excited! So the blog will be quiet for the next week while we get a taste of this dream of ours.

We half-joke that on our way back from Newport next Friday we'll be calling the Gulfstar broker and offering what they're asking! We have no doubt that this week will only solidify and reinvigorate our motivation for making this dream happen now and not later. But we've promised not to make any move on the Gulfstar until we return from this trip. 

Since we are heading to another seaside area we've also set up appointments to look at two other potential floating homes. We have to see what else is out there in order to truly feel like the Gulfstart is it. We'll be seeing a Hunter Legend 40 with the owner who's promised us a sail and a classic Cheoy Lee 40' Midshipman Ketch. The Hunter is a newer, production boat. The Cheoy Lee is classic with LOTS of teak, including her decks. We shall see...though our minds can't seem to let go of the Gulfstar... 

Hunter Legend 40' 

Cheoy Lee 40' Midshipman Ketch

So next week as we sit on board a 43' sailboat somewhere in Block Island Sound watching sunset or a sunrise with the water all around us I know clarity will come to us and we will know in our guts what our next move will be. 

As my absolute favorite Jimmy Buffett song says:

"...Alone on a midnight passage 

I can count the falling stars

While the Southern Cross and the satellites

They remind me of where we are

Spinning around in circles

Living it day to day

And still twenty four hours may be sixty good years

It's still not that long a stay.

We've gotta roll with the punches

Learn to play all of our hunches

Makin' the best of whatever comes your way

Forget that blind ambition 

And learn to trust your intuition

Plowin' straight ahead come what may

And there's a Cowboy in the Jungle..." 

                - Jimmy Buffett "Cowboy in the Jungle" 1978 

We may have found her!

So like I said last week, there is A LOT to update on! The biggest thing is that we may have found our floating home! A few weeks back we went up to Southern, Maine to check out a boat we'd found on Yacht World. A 1978 43' Gulfstar Mark II. She was just listed at the beginning of June and she meets everything on our top 10 "must have" list. She's bigger than we'd been looking at, a lot bigger, about 7' feet bigger. She's got the center cockpit and aft cabin we want and she's got the heavy displacement (think stability) and rugged craftsmenship that we like. She's a ketch rig which we like for heavy weather. She's in our price range AND she's local - only an hour or so north of Portsmouth! 

She's BEAUTIFUL, in great shape for her age, no visible water damage anywhere that you'd expect it, warm teak interior, brand new sails and a full cockpit enclosure (think warmth and safety). She's currently "on the hard" because her current owners bought her to be their floating, cruising home and did some work to get her ready to cruise and then last winter the owner suffered and accident and is now unable to climb on her. It's a sad tale but it also bodes well for us because the current owner is the commodore of the local yacht club so he's probably not going to buy a crappy boat!

Aren't her lines pretty? And we love the ketch rig. 

She's got a lot below the water line - stability! 

Galley with fridge & lots of natural light

Some good instruments at the helm

Relatively good size cockpit  with full enclosure

Checking out the windlass - note the full dodger enclosure. 

Warm teak interior which we love

2 leaves that open up - I will be recovering the white cushions, need cozier colors

Super long navigation station & fantastic headroom leading to the aft cabin

So, after seeing this boat which was next to perfect for us we got pretty serious about our next move. We went to have beers at Joe's Boathouse in South Portland - because you can't look at a boat and not have "debrief beers" after and there were all these locals sitting around having come in from their boats talking about their days and we thought, "this could be us, on THAT boat!" 

It's like we're at this moment where we either talk about doing this for another year or we make a move and move aboard before winter sets in. Are we rushing it? Maybe. But if we wait we are one year older, one year behind the Fall '14 departure plan, one more year of rent goes in someone else's pocket, one year of "learning" is lost. And we all know all the things that can come up in a year - there's expenses that happen, trips that must be taken, family and friends who need help, etc. There are a thousand things that can and will happen between now and next spring that could deter us from our plan. Not to mention this boat might be sold! We've done A LOT of learning and research in the past 5+ months since we started this journey and though we don't know it all or have all the answers we are accepting the fact that we might never have it all figured out. Inherent in this plan is uncertainty - will we survive January in New Hampshire in the middle of a river? How will Jill, Tim and Toby dog all fit into a small cabin of a sailboat without killing one another? Will we lose power when we try and run an electric heater and the microwave? Will we misjudge the current in the river and overshoot our dock? Where will we fit our record player :) We just have to be smart enough to minimize the amount of uncertainty and the severity of the ramifications of mistakes. This is truly living - accepting uncertainty, learning from mistakes and taking risks! I feel myself taking very deep breaths these days, my heart races sometimes when I think of all that is ahead for us and though that could be looked at as stress, I see it as being alive. Feeling my heart race, taking that deep breath, my mind racing with questions in the middle of the night - to me, that's the beauty of being alive and living life fully of embracing the uncertainty and exhilaration of our life right now. Without exhilaration - what's life?

So in the past month we've done all the myriad of things that have to happen to buy a floating home. Trust us there is SOOOOO much to get in order. It's not like you just write a check and then sail away. I keep telling myself that this (stressful) part of the journey will be a distant memory once we're aboard and sitting on deck with a cold beer and the sunset. 

So in the last month:
- we have secured a boat loan (aka mortgage) for the amount of the boat
- we did a lot of comparison shopping to be sure we have a secure idea of what we'll   offer

- we read the last marine survey done on the boat in 2009 - ALL GOOD!
- we got quotes on on the land survey, the launching, commissioning and sea trial
- we read countless blogs, forums, reviews and tutorials on the Gulfstars, on sea trials, on surveys, on boat - negotiating, on boat insurance, on marinas....

- we talked to trusted 'boat people' in our lives (thanks Doc Rynne & Dad!)
- we talked to the marina about rates to move in, parking and electricity
- we talked to Town Clerks in 2 different towns in 2 different states about registration, taxes and residency - (hello Kittery, Maine!)
- we got quotes on boat insurance
- we got tutorials and quotes on shrink wrapping for winter (stay tuned, this should be fun!)
- we planned out where we'll store stuff (thanks to our parents!)
- we had numerous moments of "holy sh*t what are we doing?!"
- we worked out our down payment and our drop dead highest offer
- we had drinks overlooking as many marinas and harbors as we could to keep up the inspiration and motivation
- we figured out the price difference from mooring to slip to compare for next summer (we are most definitely slip dwelling our first winter!)

-- Oh, and we still worked full time plus some, made 2 trips to Cape Cod for family reunions and work, 1 trip to the White Mountains for Farrell family fun, and all the other life stuff that goes on daily...WHEW!

(In all truthfulness, this all wouldn't/couldn't have happened without the amazingly organized and determined Tim at the helm -there's something so great about having a cost estimator for a husband -he gets it done, done well and done fast! He is phenomenal!)

Inspiration for all this stress! September 1 maybe???

It seems these days when Tim and I are together it's all boat all the time - we are constantly talking about the logistics, the plan, the move, the details. Every time I open up a closet in our house I have a small panic attack thinking, "oh my god, all this stuff has to find a place or be sold or thrown out!" But that part of the journey is a ways off, next up comes THE OFFER. We are heading up this Saturday at 5pm to look at her again, this time look in more crannies, lay in the bed to test out our sleeping arrangement, count closets and drawers - look at her with a much more discerning eye in terms of truly living on her in under 6 weeks! In our pockets we will have a down payment and an offer letter. If all checks out this second time we will submit our offer - HOLY COW!!! 

The next step will be for the broker to take the offer to the owner and there'll be negotiating but if we can come to deal then it's on to the marine survey...

So folks, STAY TUNED it's about to get real interesting around here....

"The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing, and becomes nothing. He may avoid suffering and sorrow, but he simply cannot learn and feel and change and grow and love and live." - Leo F. Buscaglia

Reasons Why Wednesday "Life is Short - Do it Now"

Reasons Why #3: Life is Short, Do it Now!

Sorry to be so quiet here in Blogger Land but summertime (or as Tim says, "SUMMAH TIME!") in New England means less time indoors at the computer and A LOT more time outdoors with family, friends and fun! There is so much to update on but for now I'll stick to our "Reasons Why Wednesday Theme". 

We just got home last night from 5 days down at the Scahill Family Compound on Cape Cod (definitely just as luxurious and expansive as the Kennedys - HA!). The weekend was extra special because it was a Scahill Family Reunion. Jill's Dad's side of the family gathered together. There were so many amazing moments amongst the 31 folks that gathered. Saturday evening was spent on the beach with a bonfire and pizzas. The older relatives got such joy from watching the younger ones dance in the waves, the younger kids got such joy from catching a "giantous" crab and a flounder and then releasing them. The view was priceless. The pizza never tasted as good as it does with your feet dug in the sand. Fireworks were going off on both sides of us and heat lightening - nature's fireworks - was exploding over the ocean - It was the stuff of movies. Somebody made the comment, "This is why we work all the time, for moments like this." It set my mind reeling...

Sunday was an all-day classic New England Clambake. Cousins, siblings, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews from near and far (as far as India!) gathered together to hug, laugh, hear stories, tell stories and be together. For the older folks there was a lot more reminiscing about past reunions and missing relatives who have passed on. For younger folks it was more about everyone's jobs, houses, kids, travels, projects, plans and general life 'busy-ness' and boy are people busy these days! 

Dad & his Sister Aunt Jed - the lifetime of photos
hanging on the line behind them

Surrounding the entire patio was photos of past family adventures - there were photos of foggy sailing trips, my dad and uncle in matching green pants with Manhattan cocktails in hand, weddings, trips to Florida, Europe, Nantucket, the mountains, there were smiling faces of those who have passed on and baby faces of those who are 25 now. Looking along the line of photos you can't help but realize, even though it's cliche, life is short. While you're in it and living it you don't tend to notice time moving along and you are wrapped up in the difficulty of making ends meet, of making the big decisions of house buying or child rearing, or job seeking. It's not till you stand in front of 75 years of photos or sit with your dad and uncle who are looking at 80 years on this earth that you realize that life is short and the latter part of it isn't as easy as the early or middle part. 

Tim and I are in our early 30's, we've got no kids, no mortgages, minimal debt, we don't own companies or have an investment portfolio, we don't have daycare bills or life insurance premiums, we don't have a leaky house or a need a new water heater, we are able bodied with no achy knees or sore backs. We will undoubtedly, one day, have all of these things plus MANY more, but for now, we don't. We spent a lot of time this weekend talking to family in different stages of their life - some with young kids, some with older kids, some with grandkids and every single person said to us about our boat plans - "DO IT NOW!" Complications and reason's why not to do it come quickly and before you know it you've got a 30-year mortgage or a you've got a kid who's sick, or you need a new car or the furnace blows out. 

As I looked at those photos this weekend, at the adventures my mom, dad, grandparents, uncles and aunts had, I thought - I hope someday my kids stand in front of photos of Tim and I and think what I thought, "what a life! how much fun they had, how many places they saw, how much adventure they sought! They lived it up!"

So, today's reasons why Wednesday comes from all the family we spent this weekend with and those who looked upon us from above. LIFE IS SHORT, LIVE IT TO ITS FULLEST, DO IT NOW! 

The Family, Summer of 1980 (that's Jill, the tiny baby on Larry's Lap) 

The Family, Summer 1992 (Note Jill's Joey McIntyre NKOTB t-shirt) 

The Family, 2012 - A lot bigger! The Orange Bus was a BIG hit!