Like many things about our adventure the reality isn’t exactly how I imagined it. Specifically regarding this blog I had imagined blogging much more often, perpetually putting out pithy posts. Instead it seems as though these updates are happening monthly and take much longer to write than I expected. I’m not sure what requires more work: sitting down at the end of the day and putting together a post or collecting one’s thoughts over a period of a month and then trying to synthesize my thoughts and collective experiences?

My last post came at peak happiness thus far in our adventure. We had finally met up with Kid Boats and had had some really amazing passages, visiting some fantastic towns and harbors. If you’ve got some free time I recommend going back and rereading that post titled “Religion.” I had to just do so to remember where we last left off. I will try to bring you up to speed with just a few highlights since that last update. At the end of the post I will get slightly emotional and philosophical.

We bid farewell to Noonsun when we both departed Amelia Island/Fernandina, FL, us headed to Jacksonville to haul out and Noonsun headed to West Palm and beyond. Our sadness in having to say goodbye to Noonsun was assuaged somewhat by the knowledge that Passat (the Wilsons) would be at the marine yard we were headed to. We had always planned to haul Atlas out of the water for our time shore visiting family. While we aren’t inclined to spend more money having work that we’re capable of doing ourselves, we really wanted to see family and this was the most efficient way of getting work done while allowing us to see family and not delaying our voyage south any more.

You many remember that we were told our standing rigging (the wires that hold up the mast) needed to be replaced. While we found that information dubious we’ve (mostly) learned to listen to those with more knowledge and elected to replace it. Thus began an arduous process in reaching out to many, many riggers. My god what an awful experience. This could be its own post but let me summarize by saying that many of these people would initially respond but then go dark. We spent 5 weeks begging people for quotes. We had one guy, finally, assure us that he could do the work for us and the quote would be imminent. Needless to say we’re still waiting for that quote. This drove us to be more creative and we ended up finding the supplier who does all the OEM rigging for Group Beneteau in NA, ordering the stays and then doing it ourselves. The upside of this was a material savings, approximately 75% less than the rough quotes we had received from these riggers [spits on floor]. The downside is I’ll never get the time and stress back from all of the calls and e-mails hounding these riggers [spits on floor] to get us a fucking quote.

While we were a bit nervous doing this ourselves we had observed and lightly assisted the Marine Services team at RCYC in Toronto with our annual rig stepping/unstepping over the last 6 years. Additionally, I’ve stepped thousands of rigs in my lifetime of sailing though none of them weighed 1000 pounds. Plus, what’s the worst that could happen?! Other than my debilitating fear of heights that forced me to send my dear wife up the rig everything went incredibly smoothly. And Melissa once again left all the dudes at the yard with mouths agape. We’re proud we accomplished this ourselves and also happy with how much money we saved. Upon our return to Jacksonville we will dress the rig, have the same crane come back and step the rig ourselves. #easy

The only other item of note during our 4 days of crushing work getting the boat prepped, seriously, it was an absolute mountain of work that needed to be done, including fully disassembling the aft head vanity (again), dropping the ceiling liner on the starboard side to allow access to the hull/deck joint, and completely emptying Oliver’s bedroom, disassembling his room to allow access to the fuel tank and a thru-hull, and then packing EVERYTHING up in to a few small areas to allow workers to access all 14 (!!!!) of our thru-hulls, all that paled in comparison to how I felt. I managed to catch some virus that absolutely ruined me. Neither myself, nor Melissa, could remember a time when I was so sick. Unfortunately I was unable to just lay in bed and, instead, had to prep the boat. It was, again, a reminder of just how strong the human mind can be in overcoming/enduring physical discomfort. Thankfully no one else in the family caught my bug and the Wilson’s aboard Passat were absolute angels in taking Oliver and Elliott while Melissa and I scrambled around.

With the rig dropped and the boat safely on the hard we bid adieu to Passat and began our Epic Road Trip north. Melissa drove for the first 2 days as I was more worthless than usual. We picked up our car in Toronto and caravanned as a family (me reunited with my beloved station wagon and Melissa enjoying another day behind the wheel of the Hertz’s finest 70k+ mile, 2017 Dodge Caravan) to Western Michigan. It was great to see family and we spent Thanksgiving with my side of the family in Holland and Grand Rapids.

After Thanksgiving we stuffed the car for our drive to Colorado, where we would be staying with Melissa’s mom in Grand Lake. Due to COVID Melissa hadn’t seen her mom in over 2.5 years, so it was a wonderful reunion for all. We were also, thankfully, able to get the boys their 2nd dose of the vaccine and Melissa and I got our boosters as well. We are so so so grateful to have our boys fully vaccinated.

The last weeks have been filled with much needed extended family time and one of our favorite family activities, skiing. Despite the lack of snow the first few weeks of December, we have managed to ski almost every day. The boys absolutely love it and we’re still amazed at how quickly kids can pick up new skills. While it can be tedious skiing the same green runs with 5 and 8 year olds rather than shredding the gnar, we keep reminding ourselves that it’s a marathon and not a sprint.

That leads me to a moment of reflection as we near the end of 2021. I’ve touched on this before and I’m sure all of us have had those “fuck it” moments where we want to throw our life away and go on an adventure. It’s not for the faint of heart and it’s been scary AF. And, my god, it has come at a big financial cost. Regardless, I’m so profoundly grateful for this experience. It’s hard to express how delightful and hard this has been in a blog post, but that won’t stop me from trying. The highlight has been the time with the kids. This is such a wonderful stage of development and I’m so grateful to be around them. Of course there is drudgery, almost daily, but all of these small moments together are really adding up. Every day while working I was out the door before anyone woke up. Now? Most mornings we have a family cuddle in our bed (Bo included). While this often devolves in to someone farting (usually Melissa) or the boys wrestling/fighting/complaining, those first few minutes are precious. The homeschooling is 75% hard and 25% amazing. Like most things with kids, that positive 25% is so fulfilling it makes the other 75% manageable.

The time ashore has also reinforced just how much we love being on the water. While living aboard a boat isn’t awesome (especially a monohull) it is just magic to be on the water every day, intimately in touch with nature. The adventures we’ve had, the experiences we’ve shared as a family, have been priceless*. Once we return to the boat we’ll begin a new phase, one with more offshore passages and that tropical experience we’ve been dreaming of. We’ll get to experience new countries and cultures and continue to do this together as a family. This life isn’t for everyone but it sure suits us. I want to wish you all a happy Holiday season. Thanks for following along and please reach out to say hello. I expect my next update will be after we launch Atlas and begin making our way down the Florida coast in early January.

*I can, in fact, put a very accurate price on it. 💸💸💸💸