The First Post

Starting a new blog is proving to be almost as difficult as leaving to cruise. One has to start somewhere though, so here it is. I used to write all the time, 15 years worth of journals and an old blog with my early sailing days and a few international adventures. It’s not like there is nothing to talk about…my life is about to turn upside down, and the plan I put in motion right around this time of year way back in 2004 is finally coming into fruition. There is some serious content here! And yet each word on the screen is hard-won.

I think I’m scared we’re not going to go, or that we’ll leave for a bit and have to come back. And that by creating this site I am tempting fate somehow. We have already pushed our departure date back a few times. This is totally normal for cruisers though. But still, in my mind I can’t actually envision the day. I can say the words but don’t see the actions playing out…the proverbial “tossing of the lines”.

The plan is just to go to Half Moon Bay. That’s it…a whopping 6-hour sail. I’ve been a ton of times before on other people’s boats, but this time it’s our boat, and the first leg of a (hopefully) limitless journey. So ya, I guess it’s a big deal.

All we have left to do is pull the heat exchanger. We either need to clean it, dip it, or get a new one. I am pushing for Wednesday to just pull the thing to see what we’re dealing with. We shall see. While that’s going on I have a few more sewing projects to complete: the outboard cover, windlass cover, and foredeck staysail bag. I can probably finish those Wednesday-Friday. Saturday we are going sailing with our friend and rigger, Barrett, so we can tune the rig. In all this time I haven’t sailed Solla, and Harry hasn’t sailed her for 4 years! She’s got a new main, new roller furling and all new rigging. In reality, she’s a new boat, so we have a lot to figure out. Sunday is New Year’s Eve; we are taking our friends Deb & Chris out for the day and will anchor overnight to watch the fireworks. If the stars align, we will be in Half Moon Bay the following weekend.

Whew. WordPress tells me I have 400 words now. Thanks for suffering along with me and this first post.

(Image Credit: Me, Taken in French Polynesia in 2010 after crossing the Pacific as crew on a delivery).