Just keep swimming, just keep swimming....

Ignore the ticking clock.

Will someone please murder the ticking clock?

Ok so we are working very very hard to get the High Priority To-Do List complete. And as per usual for any boat job, the side-jobs that are required to complete the main job spread like spider veins (ew gross).

One teeny tiny case in point from this afternoon. Before I start I can not express how very small and insignificant this example but it illustrates that even getting the little things done takes an insane amount of time.

Try and stay with me:

I am making provisioning list, starting with a menu, and need to look in the freezer to assess space to store what I am thinking
I need to remove all of the billion freezer packs we brought from home (obviously thinking we were going to be spraining ankles left and right)
I need a place to put the freezer packs but all of our wash basins are full of other stuff; I take one that has the old exhaust elbow in it and decide to throw it away now so I can use this basin
I decide since I’m going to shore I should also finally take the “Used Items for Sale” posting that we’ve been sitting on for a million years and put it up on the bulletin board
I don’t want to fire up the printer so I re-write the list (it’s short) with a Sharpie on a blank piece of paper
Greg tells me he is going to shore as well because he needs something from MTS (marine IT company here at Herrington) to keep making progress on the solar install and asks me to join
We walk to MTS, I drop off the exhaust elbow on the way
We walk in the opposite direct to post the “Used Items for Sale” on the bulletin board
We return to the boat and I ask the girls to wash the rust out of the wash basin so I don’t get rust all over the ice packs (ya, remember those?)
The girls need help because the rust has stained the wash basin so I get them some cleaner and old toothbrushes to work with
The girls finish the job (more accurately they start playing and I decide the job is as good as it’s going to get) and I dry the wash basin, open the freezer and put the ice packs into it, place it in the cockpit for them to melt…which will later need to be dried and stored in some magical, logical place
I look in the freezer.
I go back to my list.

I am not F*&%ING KIDDING. I’m sure this all took at least 30 or 40 minutes or more….I don’t really know because if I timed it all out I think I would sit on the floor and never get up again. During all of that the kids of course have many ailments (sore toe, sore tummy, sore finger), complaints (hungry, tired, hot) and needs (someone has to poop, someone has to find something that is super super important, someone has to tell me something that is super super important). During all of this I am trying to submit expenses that I owe a client so I can pay our business credit card that has a huge balance on it from said expenses. During all of this I am listening to a conversation between Greg and someone from the marina about the fact that our generator isn’t working properly; a conversation that changed the course of Greg’s solar install (he would be able to tell a very similar tale as I am here I am sure). During all of this I am trying to manage a family conflict through texts. During all of this I also think of 5 other items to add to the to-do list (not the Highest Priority List, that other one that is the we really should do it/buy it but if we don’t no one will die list).

We are only weeks away from two big passages. We are making great progress everyday. We are learning a ton every day. But it feels like we are on a treadmill.

Let’s revisit the list from the other day shall we?

Navigation lights…DONE. Complicated due to a very hard to fit part but Greg did a great job and they work.

Solar…IN PROGRESS. Very complicated. Panel was supposed to be here in 2-3 days but ended up being more than a week. And good thing because the wiring is being a dick. It took Greg, Liam and I hours just to feed and fish the wires through the tubing of the push-pit at the stern. HOURS JUST TO FEED AND FISH THE WIRES. This does not include, you know, THE ACTUAL WIRING. The panel arrived today. Today it’s blowing 30knots and we can’t put the panel up. Supposed to calm down by Sunday.

Hello you beautiful 370W LG solar panel….we will try not to drop you in the water when we install you.

Water purifier…DONE. Thank goodness. You’ve already heard about this one (cracked filter and all).

Haul out / shaft seal…IN PROGRESS. The haul out is scheduled for Monday and we hope and pray to Poisiden that it is back in by Friday. Preferably by Wednesday. We are getting 5 through hulls replaced that were “sketchy but might be ok for a few years yet” according to the contractor (no thanks, gotta go since most boats sink from faulty through hulls apparently). After this all the through hulls below the waterline will be new and bronze (much better than salt water brass as per original). Also we are getting the shaft seal replaced and changing the bow thruster oil (which we have never done before and I’m sure we will mess up and then create 5 new jobs for ourselves). ALSO we just noticed that the bottom paint along the waterline has started coming off. This should not be so. We had 2 coats of black put on over the old blue so we’d be able to see when it is wearing through IN TWO YEARS or so. It’s been FOUR MONTHS. My guess is that the bottom is great but just along the waterline the painters may have lost track of their coats and for a stretch of about 5 feet didn’t really go over it properly. This will need to be remedied when we are on the hard as well but I am not paying for a re-paint so my plan is to talk REALLY NICE to the contractors and get them to give me a cup of paint and do it myself. If you are a Herrington Harbour contractor with bottom paint reading this right now, act surprised when I come by on Monday ok?

One of the through hulls to be replaced. HR does all of theirs with saltwater brass which has a shelf-life of about 10 years…this baby is turning 20 next year so we thought we’d retire her and move up to bronze.

Sewing Projects Part 2…AT RISK OF BEING REMOVED FROM LIST BUT THEN WHAT? Just don’t know if we are going to get to it but really really need to because the carpet my lovely in-laws brought down for us takes up and entire berth that will be slept in as of November 1 (probably by one of those in-laws). Greg and I might need to work together to knock this off early next week but we were really hoping to keep an eye on the installs happening on board to a) learn something and b) help achieve the get-us-back-in-the-water-by-Wednesday objective

Spares…IN PROGRESS BUT KILLING ME. This has required a detailed inventory of everything on the boat. We are not done and are about 30 hours in. I am not kidding. We have many spares but also need to re-up a few things. We have not yet placed orders. I have no more words for this.

This boat is amazing…there are many, many, many places to store equipment and spares. But without a really good inventory and detailed index there is no way we could keep track of them all. We have started this task a few times in the past but we fi… — This boat is amazing…there are many, many, many places to store equipment and spares. But without a really good inventory and detailed index there is no way we could keep track of them all. We have started this task a few times in the past but we finally now know enough about this boat to actually know what we are looking at and therefore can provide the information required for the inventory…and then put it in a logical (to us at least) place.

Life raft…IN PROGRESS. As far as we know what we want (Viking, 8pax) and we know where to get it (boat show) and we have tickets to said boat show for Thursday. Only thing that can screw that up is if the boat gets re-launched not next Wednesday, or next Friday but….next THURSDAY. What do you think is likely to happen folks?

Engine Maintenance…NOT STARTED. Oil changes and such are scheduled for when the boat is back in, and the boat show purchases are secured. This will be a last-week-before we go job. Which is, you know, two weeks away.

Outboard Maintenance…NOT STARTED. Same as above.

Generator Maintenance…NOT STARTED. Same as above with the caveat that it’s not even really working properly right now (not going through its shut off sequence fast enough) so you know, there’s that.

Insurance…IN PROGRESS. Research done, decision yet to be made. It’s one of those adult decisions where there is no obvious right and no obvious wrong and you have to spend money on something that hopefully never happens and you try not to imagine the worst case scenario and you have kids and you find yourself hyperventalating when you think about the situations you are insuring for and then you squash all of that fear into a little box and not make a decision and decide to revisit it again tomorrow when you feel less crazy.

Comms…IN PROGRESS. Iridium Go is set up (except I have not set up my email, more decisions to make in terms of forwarding emails etc. which I don’t have the headspace for at the moment….wait! Realtime update! Greg just read this over my shoulder and said he already set it up for me…thank you Matriarch IT Department). Predict Wind is set up and freaking awesome. For fun (because we don’t have time for real fun anymore) we predict a new route everyday based on the most recent forecast and see how they change day to day. It’s oddly comforting. Garmin InReach is not set up yet…I believe the Matriarch’s IT Department will knock that out in one evening probably after solar is done and he has more head space.

This day would have been really sweet…green and yellow is real nice sailing weather…this trip (plotted a few days ago) would have taken us about 4 days…today’s route (same departure and destination) would be 6 days…I’m hoping for a nice green / yell… — This day would have been really sweet…green and yellow is real nice sailing weather…this trip (plotted a few days ago) would have taken us about 4 days…today’s route (same departure and destination) would be 6 days…I’m hoping for a nice green / yellow 4 day-er to Bermuda :P

Personal AIS…NOT STARTED. I predict this will be tackled on the same night as the Garmin InReach.

Cruising Guides…DONE(ISH). We don’t have ones for the Bahamas but we have all the guides we need for the Caribbean. Some are even out of the plastic.

Canvas…IN PROGRESS. We ordered from HR Parts but when they sent the invoice today before shipping it was with the frame (and therefore 10X the price) but we told them we only needed the canvas so we kindly reminded them we only needed the canvas and then they told us they would have to start all over again so now I am not sure where we are at.

Liam and Grace enjoying one of the off-list jobs…upgraded the 24V outlets to fast-charging USB posts for the various electronics…Liam had the genius idea to do one out here too! And yes, we have flamingo cockpit cushions.

Ok so I am not all doom and gloom here. Hopefully by the end of next weekend we will should have Solar, Haul out / shaft seal, Sewing Projects Part 2, Spares , Life raft, Insurance, Comms , Personal AIS, Cruising Guides and Canvas complete. It seems impossible but I am going to channel the crazy optimistic and upbeat Dory (from Finding Nemo…obvs) and tell myself to “just keep swimming, just keep swimming”…the only problem is that people are starting to look at me funny as I chant this under my breath as a mantra that gets louder and louder until I am nearly shout-singing it.

Gotta drown out that damn ticking clock somehow.

Much love,

M