Ready or Not..

The planning is done. Cash is raised. Our home rented out. We are almost ready to downsize our life and move the four of us onto a 42 ft yacht. The reality is quite daunting, no personal space, few creature comforts, home schooled kids, limited power and water and having to manage whatever nature throws at us. But isn’t that the point…adventure is about embracing the unknown. Have we had wobbles, sure we have.

The adventure started 15 months ago. It’s been quite a journey. The decision to go was easy. Where to go was more difficult. How to make it work was hard. When you first start planning a voyage it’s almost a surreal experience…you look at charts, plan routes, research anchorages, research the boat of your dreams, then take a reality check. In short you do your homework. Like a complex puzzle pieces slowly fall into place. Sometimes the puzzle is nearly complete, but you can’t find the missing piece or the piece you can find wont fit. So you need to start over. And over.

All the pieces of the puzzle are now in place. We fly to the UK on the 25^th Feb, leave the kids for some long overdue grandparent love and head to Spain to fit out and upgrade Vega. We want to set sail in mid April and have a bit to get through including fitting a new engine, re-building the rudder, installing solar power, upgrading the gas system and then there is all the bits and pieces including cleaning the boat, painting the bilges, installing LED lights throughout, upgrading navigation equipment, servicing the life raft, installing the bimini and making berth cushions. The list goes on, and on. It’s one of the joys of boat ownership…an ongoing, ever growing job list. But if you wait until all the jobs are done, you would never set sail….