Hey everyone! Travis here.
I wanted our first blog to be about our expectations, concerns, and what we are most excited about. I will start us off:
I have dreamt about sailing nearly my entire life. Growing up in Oregon I wasn’t raised a sailor, but there was just always something that pulled me toward the unknown. Most of that pull was towards the ocean, so at 20 I became a scuba diver and I loved it! I was diving constantly, as much as I could. I went from never touching the water in gear to a divemaster in six months. While all of this being in the Pacific Northwest. Checking out new dive sites and making memories with great dive buddies is what life was all about. I couldn’t get enough of it. But as every diver knows, life gets busy and scuba becomes less and less of a priority. So I would say that one thing that I am most excited about moving to the Caribbean and sailing around is to focus more on scuba again. Making new memories and meeting new divers and rekindling that love of diving with some of my old dive buddies.
Now, lets talk about my concerns. My main concern by far is what condition the boat is going to be in. The boat we purchased took a ride through Hurricane Irma. Even though we had several surveys done and structurally they all came back sound, cosmetically they were all pretty poor. She had her boom snapped, sail torn, and a fair amount of water on the interior due to some leaking starboard windows. The electronics are pretty dated and the skiff is missing. She needs a bottom job and lots of cosmetic paint touch ups. The kitchen needs a refit and the toilet doesn’t work but even knowing all of that we couldn’t be happier to get down there and start bring her back to her to her greatest days yet.
Expectations – Here is where I probably put my foot into my mouth. I know every time I talk to someone about fixing a sailboat they say “Plan twice as much and twice as long”. With that said, I am still going to be very optimistic about how much money and when we get her back in the water. My goal is to have her back in the water by November – now remember we don’t fly into Grenada until October 5th. That doesn’t give us a lot of time for all of the repairs but I have been working diligently with Sandra at Carriacou Marine and let me tell you, they couldn’t be more friendly and helpful. Truly amazing people! As for money goals – I have allocated $10,000 into boat repairs. This probably doesn’t sound like a lot to those who have done boat refits but boy is it a lot to me! We’ll see how far it goes and we will keep you updated with costs along the way.
Good company in a journey makes the way seem shorter. — Izaak Walton
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