Getting Ready
01/12/2002 - 03/15/2002
The decision to relax for a couple of weeks following our last day of work, January 11th, fell apart around January 15th. With the list of "must do final preparations" as the only obstacle between our departure from San Francisco bay and the California coastline, we started sneaking chores into our relaxation period.
On the fun side, we visited Seattle, joined the gym (and actually used the gym), walked across the Golden Gate bridge, anchored out at Treasure Island and Angel Island, watched movies including "A Beautiful Mind", "Monsters Ball", "Harry Potter" and "In The Bedroom", dined with friends and read some books.
The "must do final preparations" work broke down into a few categories of tasks:
- Eliminating and Distributing land based "stuff"
- Procuring more non-land based stuff (aka boat stuff)
- Finding places on Whisper to put the "boat stuff"
- Setting up additional navigation and communication tools
- Doing the chores we used to pay people to do when we received paychecks
Eliminating and Distributing land based "stuff"
After selling our house and most of its contents, we ended up with a 5x5 storage unit, a dock box, a 42' boat and a car. The storage unit contained a mish-mash of things we planned to find a home for on Whisper or send to a family member. The family china was the most daunting item in storage. After $500 in shipping and packing materials, the china found its way from the storage unit to Duncan's parents house. Packing fine china and crystal in the parking lot of a storage facility made the task even more "fun". Other items such as photo albums and miscellaneous nick-nacks were packed and shipped, too. The remaining items included a couple of bikes, a kayak, miscellaneous computer equipment, photography equipment, storage bins and miscellaneous little stuff. Duncan placed signs around the marina advertising these items and the car. Let us know if you want a 1991 Nissan Pathfinder with 140,000 miles. Eliminating and distributing land based stuff is almost complete although Duncan dreamt he found a new area to store things on Whisper. We wish!
Procuring more non-land based stuff (aka boat stuff)
Shopping for the last "few" items to outfit the boat consumed a significant portion of time over the last couple of months. We visited West Marine so many times, they know us by name and even asked us whether we wanted a volume discount. Finalizing the rigging for our new cruising spinnaker, adding the remainder of our anchoring gear, outfitting the medical kit and ditch bag, and equipping the boat for storm situations resulted in lots of stuff to find places to store on the boat. To take a break from spending money, we spent a few nights on a mooring buoy at Angel Island. I (Robin) felt much better after not spending any money for a few days.
Finding places on Whisper to put the "boat stuff"
Most of the items purchased for the boat tended to be large, heavy or funky shaped. This become a challenge on a boat. When we bought the boat, I thought "Wow, look at all the storage space". Somehow, we managed to fill up most of the easy access storage space prior to moving on the boat. One of our big tasks included taking apart the floor of the interior of the boat to map all the available storage space in the bilge. Then, we promptly filled the available space with our new acquisitions.
Setting up additional navigation and communication tools
As information age junkies, establishing a non land based email solution worked its way to the top of the priority list. The predominant solution for sailors is something called SailMail. We are in the process of getting SailMail working on Whisper. Not only are we information junkies, but also we enjoy sailing in good weather as opposed to bad weather. To help us figure out the weather, we set up weatherfax software that works with our pc and Single Side Band radio. Way cool. Then, we upgraded our charting software and charts. We now have charts of the entire West Coast all the way to the Panama Canal on our laptops.
Doing the chores we used to pay people to do when we received paychecks
I keep trying to figure out how we fit jobs in between all our non-work activities. In between all preparing the boat and having fun, I discovered how long it takes to accomplish the tasks we used to pay people to do. Without paychecks, we reduce our cost of living by doing our own laundry, cooking at 'home' and shopping at discount stores. What a change for us. As it turns out, laundry is a very time consuming task. Cooking is fun, but the result of cooking is dirty dishes. Duncan got the short end of the stick on the cooking front since he does the dishes. Shopping at discount stores is interesting. We've discovered that you do not have to pay $20 a bottle for chardonnay.
Thanks for checking in on us. We are in the last few weeks of preparation for our departure. We'll keep you posted as we get close to leaving for our first stop - Half Moon Bay.