Weather Helmed

Every once in a while someone will make a comment about how relaxing our lives must be now that we’re going into a period of not working and just “hanging out” on the boat.  Yeah, wouldn’t THAT be nice.

We’ve suspected for a while that there was a major structural repair needed on the boat, but just got confirmation of it yesterday.  There are 8 “knees” on the boat.  The knees are more or less triangle pieces that are attached on one side to the hull, and on one side to the underside of the deck, with the third side as a support brace.  A couple of the knees are attached to bulkheads, making them uber-strong (we think), but the others are simply fiberglassed to the inside of the hull.  The reason the knees are important is because they are the things that hold the shrouds in place and the shrouds are the things that hold the mast in place. And the mast is kind of one of the most important things on the boat.

So, three of the knees are pulling away from the hull.  Which means that the strength of the shrouds is compromised and hence the mast is compromised, which means that the knees have to be fixed before we can go anywhere.

Matt is estimating that fixing the knees is going to take about 3 weeks+ of constant work, on top of all the other work that still needs to be done, and will probably cost us an extra $1,000.

SO – if you’re looking for a “charity” to donate to this Christmas, or someone to pray for, or a family to cook a warm meal for, or a sad, discouraged person to send a smile and kind word to, well……………..

take a look at Matt’s recent post on his maintenance blog and see if the Spirit moves you  😉

Just kidding (sort of – I won’t underestimate the power of beggar-blogging), but weeYOW this has been an emotional last two days.  I can’t even begin to explain how defeated Matt feels.  It would be one thing if this had come up last year, but since we’re trying to leave in January – OY.  Bad timing, Syzygy, BAD TIMING. If she doesn’t start behaving we’re going to have to rip her guts out and grind out her insides…….(sound familiar, you janky pos?!?!?!) And then, of course, there’s more drama surrounding the crew situation and we still don’t know exactly who is going to be with us on the boat at any given time.

Something that struck me yesterday, though, was that – through everything, through the last four years – the only thing that has been consistent in our lives has been mine and Matt’s relationship.  Our commitment and our love for each other have never wavered.  There has been no second-guessing, no drama, no doubting, no questioning.  We are in it for the long haul.  And, considering that there has been a lot of crap going on with this whole boat trip (and undoubtedly more to come!), I think that is quite a victory 🙂