The Sailing Shipleys

Every good sailor has a plan. A plan to buy your dream boat, a plan for that next project, a plan to hop to the next island, a plan to sail away. If you’ve been around boats long enough, you probably know that simple projects quickly exceed double or triple the original allotted time. As the saying goes, “The best laid plans are made in the sand at low tide.”

Six months ago, we made a plan to refit and prepare our 37 ft Pacific Seacraft Yawl and ourselves to cross the Atlantic. We set March 1^st as our “leave the dock” date. No matter what projects were done or not, March 1^st marked the beginning of our adventure. We would be sailing into the sunset away from the Florida panhandle into unexplored waters, fancy drinks in hand.

It is March 10th as we write this. Our boat is mastless (the mast is sitting on saw horses as we redo the standing rigging), and the continuous endless list of projects makes departure feel six months away…even when we get the mast on, we feel like departing this next weekend would be short of a miracle.

Since February 1^st, March has loomed over us. Every project has taken too long and opened a can of other tedious projects – just ask us about our sink install…Our original plans may have been optimistic, but busting a timeline by a week, or two, or a month or two, does not signal the end of a half-baked adventure. It’s an unexpected, but pleasant detour. If anything, busting the timeline has been a relief. Now, we can take each day as it comes, unencumbered by project stress, and projects themselves. We can accomplish tasks we set out for the day, and (learn) to be flexible when they (inevitably) don’t go to plan.

We made plans in the sand at low tide. Though the tide has risen, March 1st come and gone, we can ignore the faint remains of that original plan. Some would say refitting a boat for long-term cruising is a tall order in an of itself! If we look back at the last 6 months, we can take joy in all we’ve accomplished.

Sailing is a slow life. Nothing is done in a hurry. Whether we leave this weekend or next month, we will be exactly where we need to be, taking life one day at a time, making plans in low tide, and embracing the wave that might force us to another course. Who knows what adventure it may hold.