Hi All,
Been a while since I have posted. I have backed off on climbing and biking, still doing both but not as much. I did take a sailing a bit, well I think I took it up. I have bought a couple of sailboats. I initially boat a boat to see if I liked it and then bought one because I got a deal I could not pass up. So, I sailed a bit more and with a bigger boat, I liked it. So being a rational well thought out person that is not know for taking risk, I bought a bigger sailboat. I boat a bigger boat in another country.
I will step back just a bit, I was thinking of going all in, I traveled and looked at a couple of boats. While I was in the British Virgin Islands looking at a boat, I called a bunch of places to see if I could get on a boat and sail for a week. After spending most of a day calling places and getting no response I gave up and started to look for touristy things to do. I was in the BVI for two weeks, one week to work and one work to have fun. Monday morning 9:30 AM I get a call from a sailing school, they have a boat leaving at Noon, I can partake if I get there by 11:00, it is a two-hour walk. So, I asked her if she can send a cab. Cabs are not a real simple thing in the BVI since no one really uses addresses. You just have to be able to provide a good description of the place. If you typed the name of the place into a search engine it came up down the street. She stated that she would send a cab and it would be there in 20 minutes. I gave her my card info and started to pack.
The sailing class ASA 103/104, I had already taken 101 and there is no 102, consisted of sailing between a half dozen islands and snorkeling. There were two moments that really hit me. One was at an outdoor restaurant with a thatch roof. They cooked fresh lobster over a homemade BBQ made from old barrels. I was sitting there staring out from under a thatch roof, looking out over white sand, and into a pale blue sea. Time just seemed to stop, people were talking, dinner went on, there was music, dancing, limbo, but my mind was off. It was as though I had no thoughts just mesmerized by the sea.
The second moment was when we went to Saba Rock. The instructor and I went there, and the rest went over the infamous Bitter End. After a drink, the instructor told me I should go out back and check out the beach. It is a man-made beach with hammocks, sand, and some tables off to the side. Normally I am not into this kind of stuff, but after staring out at the vast blue in front of me for a while I walked over and laid in a hammock and just stared out into the Caribbean Sea. So much stress from so many years just seemed to flow out, I just sank into the hammock, the gravity of time just sucked me down. I was stuck, I felt like I could not move, did not want to move, just laid there and stared. After a bit I pulled myself together and got up.
I went inside and everyone was there and starting to close out tabs since our table was available. I sat down ordered another drink closed out my tab and started get ready to go to our table. The instructor looked at me and asked, “ What did you think”, my reply was “ I’m going”. That was it, nothing else, it just came out and at that point I knew. The sailing was awesome, we hit a few more Islands and it seemed the instructor gave me more time at the helm and questioned me a bit more after that.
I came home and purchased the boat in the UK that I had decided not to buy and called a Real Estate agent and told her I needed to sell my house. I took the sailing course the end of April, and about 6 months later I am homeless and have a boat in the UK. I live part time in my boat in Everett and in the camper on the back of my truck. I am still working but work remote and drop into the office on occasion. I have been to the UK and spent time working on the boat, mostly cleaning, and removing layers of grime. The boat was well loved but not well cleaned. Also, it has been sitting in a boat yard for around 3 years. Most of the systems are out of date and basically needs a full refit.
Working remotely has challenges and rewards, I have been getting out way more than I have been in a long time. I did two of the best MTB rides since being in WA, lots of walking, I wore out a pair of shoes in less than a year, wore out as in going through the soles, saw part of WA I have not seen in a long time. The biggest challenge is of course connectivity, but also electricity. Not being plugged into a socket and still needing a day or a couple of days of power for electronics in order to work.
I will update later with some pictures.
