Preparation

It seems as if we have been preparing for this adventure forever. The one where you untie the lines and sail off into the sunset. The one that we have been thinking about for almost 30 years, ever since Sputnik came into our possession. The one where the seemingly endless replacing, repairing, sanding and scraping is finally good enough and we can untie the lines.

We are not there yet. Not quite. Although Jud left his employ in December and has been working full time on readying Sputnik, we are not yet done. He seems to have 100 projects all at once concerning care for our sailing ship, including replacing safety systems like the bilge pump, navigational aids, hoses, engine bits, solar panels and use of power. He built a new dodger. Believe me, it's so easy to write that sentence, but that project took almost a year from conception to templates to construction, refinement and mounting. He's making our boat into a home that we will be living in 24/7, so some sweet updates in lighting and other niceties. My input has been marginal compared to his effort, but I did recover all the cushions. I've also started to get our house in order so that we can move onto Sputnik and rent our home while we are gone.

Once I end my formal work at the end of the month, I'll be able to contribute more fulsomely. Then it will be a boat haul, sanding, painting the bottom; replacing the rigging; fixing some annoying conduit in the mast; starting to build a swim grid perhaps.; replacing the anchoring rode; getting our hull xrayed and surveyed. If we are lucky, that will be a two-week endeavour, although it is likely it will take longer. It's hard to feel we will get all the things that we want to do on our list completed in the time we have. We will do our best.

It is not only the physical aspects of Sputnik that needs preparation, but our personal mental and emotional readiness for this adventure. We are registered for a psychology of voyaging course in a couple of weeks. That will be interesting. We also both reviewed and recertified our basic navigational credentials by taking a Sailing Navigation course together. We both continue to read books to help us learn and be more ready.

I'm excited and scared. I'm sure we will feel better once we get our emergency systems in place and practiced this summer. And once we are on the water, that always feels good and builds our confidence. But until then, we are working hard, trying to narrow the long lists, and anticipating. What a ride!