So, I am now two months into my five month stay. Wow, has it been busy! I spent a lot of time on projects that needed attention to live well on the boat. I tore out the old head system (yucky job!) and replaced it with a composting head. Reworked a bunch of the LP gas system and installed a second LP tank. Installed an air conditioner, but it only works so-so. I replaced the jib sheets on deck, did routine maintenance on the rigging, and ordered a new bimini. Also had the dodger repaired after the plastic windows broke over the winter. They had gotten brittle over the years, and finally just shattered.
All of this is to be expected with a 42 year old boat. Or at least, it is expected if you are paying attention. I was not prepared for all these projects because as a weekend sailor, it was easy to ignore them—so I did! But this has been good for me because it has made me aware of all the little things I have ,been ignoring. Awareness increases, and so does one’s consciousness.
The boat is like a mirror to one’s life. Just as dogs tend to reflect the characteristics of their owners, so do boats. The neglected boat is not so much a matter of neglect, per se, but rather of overwhelm in the personal life of the boat owner. When you are overwhelmed, you just can’t get to the small things because so many really big things are demanding your attention. If you focus on these small things, your whole life goes haywire. Overwhelmed parents know this perhaps best of all. I learned it through parenting, but also through dealing with the mental illness of my wife before and up to her death. My previous boat went through two winters when it didn’t even get covered. Talk about a metaphor. There it was.
This boat, newly renamed Sailing Poet, has provided that mirror for reflection. She got much better care but was still used as a weekend cruiser. It wasn’t that I didn’t know I had a lot of things to tend to on the boat; it was just that I was so busy with work and life that by the time I got here I thought to myself: “Well, Tony, you can do the projects or you can go sailing. Which is it going to be?” Unless it was obviously dangerous, you can guess where my priority was!
When a boat is treated that way, problems begin to poke through here and there, just as they do in life. Then you need to tend them. So it has felt good to address these various issues and have them settled. LP gas system, water system, head system, etc. And what about in life? Finances, spending budget, clarity on lifestyle, addressing friendships and old relationships, exercise, fun, and of course, writing. This is how life on a boat can change things. You get clarity on everything. And you realize that once the maintenance work is done, you get to let life, and your sailing trips, unfold on their accord. This is when things get beautiful, and this is why I am grateful for the life I have here.