I should be diligently completing my account of our time in Beaufort or, alternatively, working on the second draft of an article that I am currently immersed in. I can’t. I am far too distracted. Since this is essentially my own little journal and the only deadlines or timelines that matter are all self imposed anyway, it is allowed. Please bear with me.
The recent passage of Tropical Storm Ophelia has brought with it a whiff of autumn here in Deltaville, Virginia. Boats are beginning to launch from the boatyard we are in. Our sailing pals are either boarding their flights to Europe or embarking on their journey towards their winter harbors. Our friends on SV Callisto, SV UP Bound and SV Radiant Spirit have all left Deltaville as the season begins to change. There is no set end to a sailing season when one lives aboard full-time, but with all this activity happening around us- as Ceol Mor stands tall adorned with many jackstands- it certainly feels like the end of the sailing season for us.
Because I like to count our merit badges – even ones that are completely fictitious and given to me, by me:; Let’s tally up our sailing season.
Where did we go ? Texas, Yucatan, Quintana Roo, the Florida Keys, Atlantic coast Florida, North Carolina, Virginia, Chesapeake Bay, Annapolis, Virginia.
Not as much as we had hoped but certainly respectable.I think that was a big lesson for us- time is what you make it. Well over 3400 miles all told. Enough that when combined with our previous sailing to qualify me for a swallow tattoo. The right artist and place will present itself eventually and its something I will do eventually. I’m taking this knowledge with me.
I ’m also taking the knowledge that if you go sailing, at some point you will make itinerary changes due to circumstances beyond your control. Your best option is to go with it. Just go with it. It might turn out to be a better plan than what you started with. Yes, we had planned to be in Europe on Ceol Mor at this point in time. No. That didn’t happen. Yes, its okay. We are okay. Boat is getting the care and attention she needs and we have a plethora of options for next season to ponder.
Go With the Flow merit badge achieved.
So now we tally up what a season should really- if we are being honest; be the measurement of a sailing season. What broke? I truly believe that every boat will have essentially the same amount of equipment failures. You just hope that they are spread out over time instead of all happening at once.
So what broke this year?
- Brand new ScanStrut bottom mounting plate.
- Furler- didn’t break so much as become jammed causing breakage number 3
- Jib sail- we knew our sails were at the end of their life span but Mark thought it best to make our mistakes with our old sails.
- Backstay- the post incident autopsy of the wire revealed healthy, non pitted or corroded wire. So caused by breakage number 1
- Brand new Suzuki outboard. Less than 15 minutes run time from factory. Seriously?
- Head macerator pump
- Genoa sail
- Forward looking sonar- Brand new, lasted less than 1 year.
- Propane solenoid
- Windlass motor
- Lewmar Chain Counter
- Prop Shaft Seal
- Window on the dodger cracked by a halyard shackle that came loose in the storm off Hatteras
- Small keel crack. Seems our time getting thrown about and bounced off the bottom in Cocoa was more destructive than we realized.
- Perkins 4-108 – not really broken but has become so problematic despite Mark refurbishing it last year at a great expense of time and money.
- Diesel Generator- a broken impeller caused water to back up while testing the new engine because, of course it did. It was this instance that cause me to agree with Mark that he could just sell the boat and retire to a farm. This idea lasted for a day until the generator was fixed.
- Our experiment in cheap dinghies is over and the dink is literally falling apart.
*Edit*- Mark never reads my blog. He read the blog and pointed out some items I neglected to tally. “Gooseneck collar sheared,” Whoops my mistake.
“Davits damaged from excessive wake from power boat wankers causing the dingy to be thrown up and dropped violently – after it was repaired a similar power boating wanker did the same again ” Oh, right.
“Swim-steps bent whilst at dock on account of excessive wake from power boat wankers” I have no comment. Power boat causing damage has been a real issue so I can’t really criticize Mark’s sentiments here.
“Diesel line parted company with engine in pitch-dark on lee-shore en-route to Key West anchorage,”. Oh I remember now. This involved much shouting so I blocked it out.
“hand-held sonar cease to work when needed, transmission oil leak, holding tank level gauge, micro-wave…” Yeah, its been a lot this year.
Everything keeps Breaking merit badge achieved.
We are tired.
So you can see, we’ve actually had a bigger year than most when measured by this metric. This is a crap ton of stuff breaking. Brand new stuff. Stuff that Mark had already addressed before we left Texas. By this measure we’ve had a huge season. Ginormous even.
Keep in mind that Mark does all of the work on Ceol Mor himself. All of it. I help where I can but Mark is the one who works tirelessly. He’s addressed everything with the exception of the solenoid, new sails are on order and we will do a bottom paint job, add new zincs and Prop Speed just before we launch. After such a big season, where do we go to next? That is where we are just now, deciding what comes next.
The plan is still to sail the Northern route from Nova Scotia, by Iceland over to Scotland. That route has a very, very specific window to avoid ice and problematic weather. That window is late June-July. We need to be in Nova Scotia by the end of May for this to happen.
So what next?
We could opt to sail the Caribbean. We would not have a huge amount of time, but could possibly do Martinique, Dominica and Guadaloupe then head back up the 2100 miles to Nova Scotia. Or we could head for the ABCs for hurricane season and take another year before crossing. That is option 1.
Option 2- We could dink around the East Coast over winter and Spring and be up in Nova Scotia for the crossing. This is a lot o f time to spend in the U.S. Doable, possibly the easiest on the boat but there’s not a ton on our must see list for this area.
Option 3- We could tidy up Ceol Mor for storage in Virginia, fly to the U.K. and spend winter and spring with family, checking out various locations for a permanent residence and generally putting some land anchors down before returning to Virginia and launching her sometime next year.
I am inclined to go with Option 3. I think Mark really needs a boat break and as for me, I really need a place on land. Just the knowledge that we have somewhere else that is ours would alleviate a lot of my worries about being out of the housing market too long and not having a Plan B location.
It’s a lot to consider. I absolutely realize what a privilege it is to be mulling these options over. We are so very fortunate to be choosing any one of these adventures. Its just difficult to know which one is the right one for us and Ceol Mor. Its going to take a minute.
So we sit here on the hard in Deltaville where there are tons of boatyards and marine supplies but precious little else. Not even a cell signal or reliable wifi. We are in the sticks, the boonies, the middle of nowhere-waiting to figure out what’s next and it seems we are the last boat standing. We bade farewell to our friends and promise to stay in touch. And here we sit. The skies today are grey and drizzly, leaving the yard full of puddles and slowing down progress on these last few projects. Autumn is here and winter is not far behind. Time to make some decisions.
Choose wisely.