Table of Contents
In serialized television shows, often times producers will insert a clip show to bring the audience up-to-speed on complicated story arcs. At the start of the season, it may be a 2-minute intro before the premiere episode with rapid-fire voice over. Well, it’s the middle of July, and we just finalized our travel plans to fly to Ft Lauderdale. For those of you who haven’t read all 99 posts to date, let me catch you up.
Recap
Last year in December, Andrew discovered that s/v Rachel J Slocum was available for sale. We drooled over the pictures and arranged to meet the owners in the spring.
As the entire world was going into lockdown in March, we flew to Ft. Lauderdale to see the boat and meet the owners. Upon our return, news around the world necessitated a pause on buying our dream boat.
Despite not being able to move forward with the purchase, we were still making preparations to figure out what to bring and what to leave behind (give away or sell). It was then that we found out there was another interested party.
To take the boat off the market and to give Bill piece of mind, we placed a deposit into escrow and had a little celebration on the same week of Andrew’s birthday. Then we continued negotiations on the purchase agreement, which was finalized in June.
Our Adventures
As we wrote about In the Arena, the adventure begins when you decide to go, so we have spent most of the spring and summer chronicling those adventures about making some pretty tough decisions and having emotional conversations. The hardest part was learning not be a control freak and to go with the flow. You name it, and we let it go.
Comfort? Gone. Sentimentality? Gone. Stuff? 80% of it is gone.
Over the course of time, I took solace in these writings from Buddha,
Whatever is not yours: let go of it. Your letting go of it will be for your long-term happiness and benefit.
…and from John Steinbeck’s The Grapes of Wrath…
The quality of owning freezes you forever in “I,” and cuts you off forever from the “we.”
When we stop the automatic thoughts in our head and we begin to live with intention, we discover a feeling of lightness. Such is the benefit of minimalist living. Possessions no longer end up owning you. Living with intention means living with a greater awareness of the impact you’re making on the world around you and to do what you can to make a change, whether it is finding causes to support or becoming ethical sailors.
1 Second Everyday
I realize as the years go by that my memory isn’t what it used to be. I used to be great with names and faces. Not anymore. Just as in the Throwback story, I realized that relying on my memory of events becomes more precarious with each passing year.
So when I came across the TED Talks video by Cesar Kuriyama, I appreciated the benefits that come with a visual reminder and so I put together a short montage of the highlights of this year for those of you who are visually inclined.
Why not take advantage of technology to jog your memory and at the same time reconnect with your younger self?
Survey and Sea Trial
Switching gears now to the practical day-to-day matters, we have set aside 2 weeks in Ft Lauderdale. Here’s the plan so far:
- Sun: travel day
- Mon-Tue: inventory everything on RJ Slocum
- Wed: haul out and marine survey
- Thu-Wed (roughly 1 week): bottom prep/paint, repairs
- Wed: sea trial
- Thu-Fri: finalize payment and title transfer
- Sat: travel day
Much like the Project Slocum series, we will try to keep you up to date on this stage of the process over the next couple weeks in a Survey & Sea Trial series. Stay tuned for Part 2 on Monday.
Prep Work
As we were visiting family in Seattle, we received a few updates from Bill who was already in Florida getting RJ Slocum prepped. There were some repairs that he had already mentioned wanting to handle, and he also found a few more based on a very thorough in-water survey and an assessment by a mechanic.
On one hand, we are grateful Bill is being diligent in getting the boat ready before we arrive and on the otherhand, we feel like we’re missing out on a great learning experience. In the end, we know we have years of learning experience ahead, so we appreciate all that he is doing now so we’re not quite so overwhelmed on the outset.
In the meantime, we’ve been debating our strategies with antifoul with this next haulout. Turns out, the decision wasn’t so obvious so we have devoted a post on the topic.
Dockage
One of the decisions we’ll need to make related to antifoul is where to dock the boat after the sale. The current dockage which is up a ways on New River, Ft Lauderdale has low salinity levels. In addition, we don’t know yet whether the owner will permit live aboards.
Because of both factors, we are looking at other dockage options in Ft Lauderdale and Miami, with the idea that we really only need 30 days at a dock so we can move in and get settled. After that, we’re happy to pick up a mooring or anchor until we’re ready to set off for longer voyages.
Seven Year Cycle
In the context of a tremendous year of transitions, turning 49 years old today holds a lot of meaning for me. For the longest time, the number “14” was my favorite number. Based on all that has happened this year, I think “49” is my new favorite number. Go ‘9ers!’
I wrote about why in a previous post Seven Year Cycle, along with a chronicle of all the major upheaval that occurred over the course of my life that happened to fall on a year that is divisible by the number “7”.
So in the spirit of growth through self-reflection, I would like to make a small request of you:
Take a moment to reflect on what has happened throughout your life.
Recall the events that occured when you turned 7 years old and jot it down.
What happened when you turned 14 years old and 21 years old? Write these down.
Keep making your way through the years of your life at 28, 35, 42 and so on.
Then, for my birthday, please send those events in a direct message to me. And in return, I will send you the Seven Year Cycle post.
This reflection may yield revelations too personal to share, for which I can empathize. Direct message me a quick “hello” or send pictures of yourself at each stage, and I will send you the “Seven Year Cycle” story anyway.
More from this series:
- Survey & Sea Trial Part 1
- Survey & Sea Trial Part 2
- Survey & Sea Trial Part 3
- Survey & Sea Trial Part 4
- Survey & Sea Trial Part 5
Thanks for reading!
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