August 02, 2012

Why Not?

It is now official we are the proud owners of Salty Ginger! A beautiful brand new 2013 Jeanneau 44i. Can somebody pinch me? I just can't believe this drastic dramatic turn of events.

When Graham and I reflect on how the heck we ended up here, when just a few months ago we both were talking about our 6 year plan, we agree that the seed was planted this past January at the 2012 Toronto Boat show. Funny isn't it because this is the place where the four of us first stood on a sailboat in 2006 and now as we toured through boats, we didn't just have big dreams to speak of, we had adventures to tell. It was a great day.

As we looked through boat after boat you could see us trying to imagine what our past adventures would have been like on one of these yachts? Yacht seemed an appropriate title for these homes. We returned home and the seed began to grow...fueled by our thoughts, dreams, aspirations and stories of past adventures.

And then if we had any doubt, Graham and I returned to Mother Ocean in April and helped our friends Dave and Cheryl sail their boat from Cuba to Panama. Any anxiety I may have had or questions in my..."Would I still like sailing?", "Would I remember how?", "Would I be afraid?"...all melted away. I felt more at home on the sea than I did on the land. The seed was now growing like a weed!

A few weeks after our return Graham, Amelia and I were sitting in the living room talking yet again of the adventures we would have in the future, when I said......"Why not now? WHY NOT?" We all decided to not automatically dismiss it and to think about it for a week and come up with our "Why Not" reasons.

Well a week later we realized that there were a few "Why Not" reasons and some of them were definitely show stoppers, such as: (1) convincing Alex to come with us (2) finding someone wonderful to watch our lovable doggie (3) figuring out if we could financially afford a boat and adventure  (4) finishing up work contracts for departure or finding a way to work on board (5) possibly sub letting our house (6) could we homeschool for highschool courses and then come back and have the kids successfully reintegrate...yet again?

So we decided to give ourselves another 2 weeks and divided up the showstoppers and set to work to see if they could be overcome. Within 2 weeks we knew that each issue could be managed but still had a few straggling ends to figure. At the end of the 3rd week it was decided. OMG we were going!

Now the fun begins! Decide on our new boat, work out a great deal, purchase, purchase all the electronics and safety equipment, school registration, house renting, insurance, car storage, banking, doctor visits, prescriptions, first aid kit, dentist (both kids now have braces...adding to the complication), sail plan, etc etc etc...You can imagine how busy it has been. Basically from May to July all of this has happened! It really is shocking and so amazingly exciting. I love being an adult and in charge of my own future. I can head in any direction and do not have to stick to the path. Makes me feel like how it use to feel the first year I got my license and could just go....ok I digress...

So the plan as it currently stands is for all four of us to move on board Salty Ginger (SG) in mid September. She is currently located in France and then the plan is to cross over to the Caribbean before the end of January!!! We would then leave SG and fly home for Feb 1st and the kids would return to school and us to work and reunite with our pooch!

In order to prepare in advance for our arrival and install all of the electronics, etc., today (Aug 1st) Graham fly's to France with our friend Jeremy to prepare our "Yacht" (I love calling it this). We so want to give the kids that moment that never happened last time when we stepped aboard "Artemo" in disarray and said "Welcome to your new home". He is hoping that when we all arrive together on September 15th the boat is picture perfect.....Are my expectations high, you might ask....YUP!

And so begins not the next chapter but book 2 of our adventure now titled "Salty Ginger"! stay tuned for the journey