New Rigging, Nav Gear and Crew, Its Time To Sail

I keep thinking one day Jason is going to wake up, look me square in the eye and say, “Nikki, I am tired of all the work your dreams require, I’m hitting the breaks”. We are both 100% in on this voyage but I am the one always pushing to make it happen faster.

Jason would’ve been happy to spend the rest of the year cruising along the lower east coast tackling one boat project at a time. Then, island hopping our way to Panama in the spring.

But no, my impatient wanderlust starts flailing around her panicked arms like the boat is on fire. As if time is against us and any operating speed under 110% is simply unacceptable.

I push us hard and then Jason pushes even harder to make sure I am happy. He is a good man, exhausted most days, but very good, especially to me.

So, if dreams and work go together like peanut butter and jelly, we are about to have one incredible sandwich.

Last time we left you the rain brought our boat work to a grinding halt. It was a relentless nine days of almost nonstop rain storms.

We worked on as many inside projects as we could but there are just too many tasks that require dry days. You know, so things like paint and adhesives can dry. But, once the weather eased up we were back at it with a vengeance…and with two new crew members to boot!

Talk about tearful goodbyes, what a gut wrencher! I don’t think we realized just how close of a friend Kent had become until it was time to say goodbye. We’ve spent a lot of time together over the past year not only with Kent but with his family too. They took us in under their wing and treated us like family. They will forever be etched in our story and in our hearts. Big love to Kent and the whole Grimbeek family.

This round of work has taken so much longer than we expected, it’s hard to believe we’re almost out of here and on our way! With our boat in tip top shape and our new crew members on board, we’re unbelievably excited about the adventures ahead.

Speaking of our new crew members, Justin and Dale are the first of several new faces you’ll see joining us over the next several months. They are the first round of crew to be selected out of our Patreon submissions. We have a few others lined up and working on more to join us in Panama and throughout the rest of 2017!

There is much more to come on all the mods, maintenance and upgrades we’ve done. So stay tuned, things are about to get exciting!