The Sailing Shipleys

I write this sitting at a bay-window desk in a second floor apartment building in Baltimore, Maryland. Jolene sits emptied of our belongings at a marina 35 minutes away in the Upper Chesapeake.

Back in June, Jimmy and I were dealt some serious lemons – and the lemonade since has been rather tart. While in Charleston, South Carolina, we received news that Jimmy’s dad had unexpectedly passed away. Somehow, we sailed through the shock of the news up to Annapolis, and immediately dove into a whirlwind of grief, estate affairs, occasional boat work, and landlordery.

We temporarily moved off Jolene in July, a move that is looking increasingly more permanent as the seasons begin to change. Since the June, we have tried to make lemonade out of lemons and drink with contentment. Our boat project skills have transferred well into basic home renovations. But it is still bitter to think about how we spent the summer with twice as many days laying vinyl sheet floors and fixing plumbing than gunkholing around the Chesapeake under sail. Sailing has shape-shifted to accommodate the terrible loss of a parent.

So what does this mean for the future of the Sailing Shipleys? Will we still sail across an ocean or have we become permanent landlubbers? The jury is still out, so for now consider us on hiatus, trying to formulate the best lemonade from fruit picked too early. It’s not the end of sailing for us and with any luck, we’ll be back on the water full-time in Spring of 2024. But, the sailors we are, we know all the best plans are made at low tide in the sand.

In the meantime, perhaps we will catalogue our journey to return to sailing, and some home-rehab projects along the way. Thank you to all those who helped us get this far, and continue to support us. Fair winds, and may your lemonade be sweeter than you expect.