Building Our Wings came out of storage today at Pleasure Cove Marina in Pasadena, Md.
After splashing, I spent a half hour on the phone with the former owner going over some of the systems and procedures. My next door neighbor, Fran Murphy, came along with me to help move the boat to its new home in Hampton, VA. He filled the water tank while I fueled the boat. Then we cast off the lines and headed for Solomon's Island, MD for our first stop. It was cold and rainy, so after getting out of Bodkin Creek I drove from the lower helm out of the weather.
The boat ran beautifully and there were no problems except when I accidentally engaged the autopilot while fooling around with the GPS. It took a few minutes to figure out why I had lost steering control, but once I figured that out it was smooth sailing the rest of the way. It took about 5 hours at 16-17 mph cruise to reach the Calvert Marina at Solomons Island, where we stayed the night.
We finally got the dinghy titled and registered. We decided "Little Wing" would be a good name for the tender for "Building Our Wings". She should fly with that 15hp Yamaha!
Stevie Ray Vaughn playing his version of the Jimi Hendrix song "Little Wing"
Have you ever heard of a boat card? I'm sure most of you have, but we had not until we began reading and doing research about cruising and traveling the Great Loop. It's like a business card for boaters to exchange with people they meet while cruising. What a great idea! After finally settling on a boat name we decided to order these boat cards. They give our basic information like boat name and make, hailing port, our names and our boat dog's names, as well as our contact information. For this picture on the blog I deleted my telephone number, but it is on the card itself beneath the blog address. On the back we decided to put the Ray Bradbury quote that is the origin of our boat name.
We ordered these "economy" business cards on-line from VistaPrint, and I thought they were quite reasonably priced. The background is one of their standard economy templates. You can order 100 cards printed on the front only (blank back) in full color for $5.00 and add the back in grey scale for $4.00 or in full color for $8.00. Of course you can spend more for fancier cards, but we think these "economy" cards will serve quite well!
“If we listened to our intellect we'd never have a love affair. We'd never have a friendship. We'd never go in business because we'd be cynical: "It's gonna go wrong." Or "She's going to hurt me." Or,"I've had a couple of bad love affairs, so therefore . . ." Well, that's nonsense. You're going to miss life. You've got to jump off the cliff all the time and build your wings on the way down.”
― Ray Bradbury
This quote hung on the wall above my desk the whole time I was in business. It just came to mind again because Sharon and I are getting ready to jump off the cliff and build our wings.
At the end of October I had to have triple bypass surgery. It threw a real wrench into our boat purchase and cruising plans. Due to the uncertainty of my outcome we had to back out of the contract we had just negotiated to purchase the PDQ MV-34 Powercat.
While staying with me in the hospital Sharon aggravated a back condition and after consulting with multiple doctors it was determined that she needed spinal fusion surgery. It's now late January and she has had the surgery and is making steady progress. Her doctor says she can go cruising within a couple of months. I have apparently recovered well ahead of the curve for my bypass surgery and my doctors say I can do anything I want.
Luckily it turns out the boat we had contracted to purchase back in October is still available and the owner and broker have agreed to extend the original contract, so we are going ahead with the purchase as planned! After all of this we decided to come up with a new name for the boat, but I'll leave the blog name the same for now. The new boat name?
"Building Our Wings"
Once she comes out of storage in April we'll bring her from Baltimore to Hampton, VA and outfit her for some shorter Chesapeake Bay cruises this summer, and perhaps up to Cape May, NJ. If all goes well we'll plan to head south in the fall. Hopefully our major health issues are behind us and we can Just Go! Wish us luck!
This 2007 Welded Aluminum Pilothouse was built in British Columbia. She is a great coastal fishing boat with overnighting capabilities. She is 27 feet long including the motor bracket, and has an 8'6" beam. The interior has a v-berth, head, sink and faucet, refrigerator (AC/DC), a dinette that can be converted to a berth, and a two burner diesel powered cooktop/cabin heater. There are two cabinets under two dinette seats and a drawer under the captains seat for storage as well as space under the v berth. It is powered by a 250 hp Mercury Verado and has a 9.9 hp Mercury ProKicker as a trolling/backup motor. Top speed is about 48 mph, and it cruises with best economy at 25-30 mph (depending on sea conditions). Kicker alone pushes the boat 6-7 mph. Steer from inside the pilot house or from the outside controls.
Come see the advantages of an aluminum hull boat. Economic, durable, ease of maintenance, and it's all weather capabilities. The lighter than fiber glass hull cruises on much less fuel than the fiberglass alternative. Cruise at 30 mph while only burning 11 gallons per hour!
After all of the planning, and being right in the middle of the boat purchase, we can't go. I had a cardiologist appointment the day after the boat survey and my cardiologist told me he needed to do a cardiac catheterization to see what was going on with me. He said if I needed a stint it could be placed during the procedure. I scheduled it for a few days later so I could get it out of the way. I had a stint placed before (9 years ago), so I knew the recovery was not a big deal, so we should be able to get on with our boat plans with the delay of a few more days.
On the day of the procedure it was discovered that I had a 99% blockage in one coronary artery, and 95% in another. A third artery was fully blocked, which I knew from 9 years ago, but I had never had a heart attack because the artery had grown new circulation around the blockage which took over once the artery was fully blocked. I needed bypass surgery, in fact the cardiologist told Sharon that I shouldn't be alive. They were wondering how I managed to walk in under my own power.
The next day I had a triple bypass, the surgeon bypassed the new blockages and "while he was in there" also bypassed the old blockage for good measure. That was three weeks ago today, and the doctors say I am doing very well, in fact I am at least two weeks ahead of a normal recovery schedule, but I still have to spend months recovering and undergo cardiac rehab. We let the boat owner and broker know we had to pull out of the deal, even if it meant losing our deposit. The future was just too uncertain to commit to the boat and then dealing with taking care of it on top of everything else.
We were planning to attend the AGLCA seminar in Charleston, SC on November 8th, but had to cancel that as well.
The good news is that the owner of the boat we were trying to buy has decided to just winterize where it is near Baltimore and not keep it on the market for the winter. If I am up to it in the Spring he will apply "most" (!?) of our deposit to the purchase price and conclude the sale if we are willing.
After racking our brains for a boat name for a couple of weeks I think we have a winner. You're probably familiar with the process. I think of a name, Sharon doesn't like it, she thinks of a name, I don't like it. I came up with "Just Go!" and we both like it, since that's exactly what we are going to do. We will settle on the boat in about two weeks, assuming we have satisfactory engine and boat surveys on Wednesday. Then we will bring it from Baltimore down to a marina in Hampton for a couple of weeks while we outfit the boat, and then we're just going to go south and figure out the rest as we go. We have decided we are finished planning, now it's time to "Just Go!"
I searched the Internet to make sure that there was no obvious negative connotation for the name, and I found this Lionel Richie called "Just Go". I had never heard of it before, honest! Lionel Richie's music is not something to which I generally listen, but after hearing this song we both decided the name and the song were just perfect for our new boat. Take a listen and see what you think. Since our adventures will no longer be on our old boat, Coast2Coast, I have renamed this blog as well.
LIONEL RICHIE
"Just Go"
It'd be so nice
If you didn't have to feel so lonely
It'd be so nice
If I could sneak you for a moment
I know you like to get away, go away, far away
To a place where there's just us two
Got a busy day, everyday but not today
'Cause I'm here to take that stress from you
So you can just chill and clear your head
And let me do everything for you
'Cause you deserve it
Prepare your meal and make your bed
Well, let just first make this with you
'Cause you are so worth it
I just want us to go
(Go, go)
Drop everything and just go
(Go, go)
I just want us to go
(Go, go)
Drop everything and just go
(Go, go)
How would you like to sail away in the Bahamas?
(Just you and me, girl)
So far out in the sea where nobody can find you
(Just the end of the world)
'Cause there is no rush
For you to come back and face the rain
'Cause there is plenty sunshine where I picking you
And I'm here to reduce the pain
I know you like to get away, go away, far away
To a place where there's just us two
Got a busy day, everyday but not today
'Cause I'm here to take that stress from you
So you can just chill and clear your head
And let me do everything for you
'Cause you deserve it
Prepare your meal and make your bed
Well, let just first make this with you
'Cause you are so worth it
I just want us to go
(Go, go)
Drop everything and just go
(Go, go)
I just want us to go
(Go, go)
Drop everything and just go
(Go, go)
Just imagine when you tired and
Laying by my side and
Sipping on some wine while I stand in massage
And releasing all your tension I couldn't handle a time
And my job is to keep my baby smiling
So you can just chill and clear your head
And let me do everything for you
'Cause you deserve it
Prepare your meal and make your bed
Well, let just first make this with you
'Cause you are so worth it
I just want us to go
(Go, go)
Drop everything and just go
(Go, go)
I just want us to go
(Go, go)
Drop everything and just go
(Go, go)
I just want us to go
(Go, go)
Drop everything and just go
(Go, go)
I just want us to go
(Go, go)
Drop everything and just go
(Go, go)
