Returning to our boat

We have been away from our boat for nearly four months, mainly to escape the brutal winter weather this far North. We certainly didn’t need to ride out freezing temperatures while living on the water for our first time ever, so we drove the van to the South West for those few months. It was nice to be nomadic again, and to see some of our nomad friends too, while staying mostly warm.

A big-ticket item that we made sure to set aside the time to do during the winter was to learn to sail. In January, we drove to Santa Barbara, California where we had booked the American Sailing Association’s  Sailing 101 and Sailing 103 courses back to back in a single week. It was six long days of learning how to tie knots, talk like sailors, and even sail. As a result, we feel comfortable taking our own boat out for some practice sailing in the coming weeks.

Since our return we have done little other than try to knock out as many of the items on our very long to do list, starting with some smaller projects before parts arrive for larger projects; like solar and our new wood stove. Things have been progressing nicely, with a couple check marks making it on the list each day, including a big one – fixing an exhaust leak that was filling our engine pan with water. With that settled, we are ready to take her out for our maiden voyage on this beautiful boat… if only it would stop raining.