We’ve made the decision to go. At least I think we have. Kate still says she’s not 100% sure yet. Admittedly there is a lot of uncertainty, but how could there not be. Gradually we are working through our lists and things are falling into place.
The dream actually had started to fade a year ago. Not because of barriers, but because things are good in Minneapolis. I have a job I love which I probably won’t get back, Kate and the kids are strongly connected to school, we have friends and routines—it’s not a life we want to jeopardize by taking a year to live on a boat, a year that will go by fast. But the kids are going to be 8 and 10 this summer. This is our window.
Unless you’re new to this blog, you know this trip will be the fulfillment of a 10-year plan which has included a practice boat (the J/27), Caribbean charters, sailing and swimming lessons for the kids and a steady collection of supplies. I’ve read books and been a regular follower of podcasts. I have sought wisdom from anyone willing—racers, cruisers, mechanics, riggers, sailmakers. Whatever I could fix myself, I tried, and if I couldn’t, I watched. I was able to get the guy who wrote the book to help me with my splices. We have now owned Gryphon for 3 years during which I have sailed 4000 miles and spent 135 days aboard (counting days on the hard recovering from the hurricane).
With all this experience, what is important about the trip has changed. When this dream started it was about the physical aspects of life on a boat -- the wind in the sails, the remote anchorages, clear blue water. Now I have come to appreciate Kate’s priority which has always been the human element, how we learn to work together and get along as a family on a small boat. I look forward to homeschooling and exploring with the kids. I have a crew to take care of. This trip will be the biggest challenge of my crew leadership to date.
What I need to be doing right now to foster crew unity is to be active in planning and preparing the non-boat tasks. We keep our to-do list as a Google doc. We try to escape weekly to a coffee shop to go over it (which usually means adding to it) and making sure we have those sit downs needs to be a priority. The first priority is developing a homeschooling plan and that involves meeting with teachers and choosing what educational materials we’ll bring on board. But we also have to get ready to rent the house which means clearing out 15 years of stuff and what about the cats and did you know hybrid cars, which we each own, can’t simply be stored or the hybrid battery dies. And what about the time consuming task of copying all our CD’s, using our old laptop that we do not want to replace until after the trip, so we can listen to them on the boat. And how do we maintain contact with people at home and how do we establish contact with other cruising families. The list just grows.
As for the boat, should be ready to go. I am doing some upgrades related to a race which I set my sights on when it looked like we were not going to do the trip. My continued participation in this race, the Bermuda 1-2, certainly complicates matters because it will take up 3 weeks during the month before we want to go. There’s a good argument for not doing it, especially given how it distracts me from the trip. On the other hand, I could not have made the changes which have so dramatically enhanced the seaworthiness of this boat without the focus this grueling race has elicited in me. I have assembled an expert team who have advised me about questions I did not even know to ask. They include a boat builder, a sailmaker, a consultant, previous race entrants and my crew. There is no way I would have assembled this team, who worked together in design and construction, without this premier event as a goal. The family trip will be safer given this preparation. I think it would be bad luck to back out of the race.
The kids seem onboard. My 10-year-old son Leif is always talking about what he’ll bring and projects he’ll do. Ruby, 8, is content with the promise of a puppy when we return.
The start date we are hoping for is July 15. We do not want to let too much of the summer slip away by dragging our heels in Minnesota. We can’t start much earlier because the guy who I am really hoping will take my psychiatry job prefers not to start until July 20. ( I can do coverage over the phone for a week.) Then we’ll go north towards Martha’s Vineyard and Maine, eventually coming south again to be in the Chesapeake by October.
Here are the lists:
Boat Prep
-JWBC
Clean bilge and under floorboards after flooded
Strip varnish around cockpit
Repair stbd rubrail joint
Convert to 2-line, 3-reef system
Solent stay and set up
Rebuild wheel brake
VHF speaker at helm
Manual bilge pump inside (required for Bermuda 1-2)
Recalibrate Raymarine wind instrument
Replace autopilot control head
Install stern light on wind vane
Service windlass
Install USB outlets
Energy system install
Service seacocks which were underwater after Irma
Repair cracked board under floor
Espar heater tune up
-energy system
Bruce Schwab about energy plan
for battery
-my rigging projects
-Halyards
Order lines
input from Wickhams Cay Rigging in BVI
build eye splices and Reeving eyes
-build soft shackle hanks for Solent and drifter (Hood MPG)
-sheets for genoa and Solent
stripped ends with naked Dyneema eye splice luggage-tagged to clew
-Storage: food, kids storage, bags (homemade)
-Iridium Go install
Play around with at home
practice with PredictWind
-Make Chair hammock
-Purchases planned
Rocha 44# anchor
Shaw and Tenney oars for hard dinghy
Inflatable Dinghy and 8HP outboard
Dinghy purchased/Will looking for motor
-At boat
-sew solar panels in place
-service winches, 7 of them
By 1/27: purchase dinghy
*Cars
-second key fobs for both cars
-re-call
-Care of prius
-Sell Jetta
-Insurance
*Career
-Kate
-renew license
-CEU
-Walter
-replacement at Monticello
-People Inc Notice
*Cats
-Home
-Wags and Whiskers
-Feline Rescue,
-Hockenberry,
-mom and dad
-John’s family
-Madonna
-next door
-Vet
-Holiday
-make holiday bags for christmas
-decorations for each holiday
*Communications
By 1/27: explore Kids4Sail postings
-Boat card
-Friends
-Tanya
-Jenny P
-Erin
-Steve/nancy
-Heather
-Goodbye
-Milda---list of neighbors
Maryann lunch
-stoop party
-birthday party
-Lilly and Malcolm
-Ruby’s friends
-Gram Jam
-Budget
-home improvement
-pipes
-bathroom
-strap
-bed downstairs
-cleaning person
-shower chair
-bed rail
-how to use phone via Iridium Go satellite connection
-cell phone plan
*Education
-satellite school from MSP, waiting for call back
-advocate to come back at Barton
Letter advocating return done by 1/27
Consistent with Open Curriculum
Retain sense of community
Maintaining connections while on boat
-letter to teachers
-inform current teachers
-curriculum
Read homeschooling posts by SailingTotem
Brain storm curriculum
Family meeting
-timeline: including
-Registering (Full Report) 1st day of school until 10/1/19,
Order Standarized test September, complete in november???
-Buy Curriculum
-Music
-Make music video on the boat
-Books
Rent house
many small repairs
