OK so you may have been wondering what has happened to me. Sadly with the Wisconsin winter weather rolling there hasn't been too much nautical going on in my life. It has finally snowed, and we're due for another blizzard tonight. I love the snow! I got a tarp put up over the cockpit on my boat just in time so it doesn't fill up with snow and ice over the winter. I helped cover up one of the Sea Scout boats, a Merit 25, in the middle of the first snow storm. It just makes me wonder what it would be like to be sailing on the southern ocean. I'm sure it wouldn't be the tropical dream that everyone thinks of when they picture sailing off somewhere, but for me any aspect of sailing is amazing.
On a more financial note, my paychecks won't be going towards my vessel for a little while since I have to get my wisdom teeth ripped out. They've been bugging me for quite some time, so I finally decided to get it done. The good part is that my jaw will stop swelling up, and my teeth won't hurt; the bad is that it costs $2300! I'm not looking forward to that, but I'm sure it'll all work out.
In more news in relation to my planned voyage to Europe. I have officially decided to postpone it a year. On the one hand I'm a bit worried that if I put it off life will get in the way and it may never happen; but it's just too much stress I've piled on myself telling everyone that I'm going on a jaunt across the Atlantic next summer in a boat I've never sailed. I need not only more time to prepare the boat, and practice my skills on it, but I need to save up money to get the proper gear to make it a safe trip. And although I'm sure I'll be demonstrating thrifty living for a while, I would like to have a little bit of spending money while I'm over there. I can think of a couple individuals who would not be pleased if I were to come back from Europe again without any souvenirs for them.
So with this new plan I am still confident that it'll happen, but this way I know I'll be more prepared and I'll be able to spend the summer with my friends testing which configurations work well for me on the boat, and which ones don't. One example of this is the presence of lifelines. I've already spent time and money fixing the stanchions, but at the end of the day I'm kind of liking the extra deck space in not having the stanchions there. I've heard just as many stories saying lifelines are a necessity as there are that say they are dangerous. Pros: they can catch you if you lose your footing, slip, or are about to roll overboard for any other reason. They are convenient places to tie things. Cons: Anything you tie to them adds windage and drag up top, they cannot be relied upon to keep you in the boat, if you fall on them you could damage the hull if they try to rip out, they take up valuable space on the side and fore decks, the head sail can chafe up against them, they get in the way when trying to get on a dock of another vessel. OK I'm beginning to thin that I sound biased. They do add a sense of security, but it may be a false sense if you don't hold onto the boat because you trust the lifelines to catch you. The only benefit I can see now is if I had small children on board. In that case I would string netting between to stanchions to catch kids. I'm kinda wishing I hadn't put so much adhesive on the stanchion bases, I might not be able to get them off now.
Like I said, I'll try all sorts of different configurations with people on board, and test to find out what work best.
Anyone that would like to learn more about my boat, or my planned trips feel free to comment below. As well anyone that wants to donate to my boat fund, or my Wisdom Teeth fund can let me know as well.
