Another milestone passed! We have packed up our stuff for the boat and have it ready to be shipped to St. Maarten. It weighs in at just over a ton, which is more than I like but still under the designed weight limits of Leu Cat. Fortunately, Leu Cat was designed for cruising and can hold over three tons of gear and supplies with out sacrificing too much speed. Weight and catamaran performance do not get along very well! We leave in just a couple of weeks and can hardly wait to move on board.
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We are in the process of mentally and physically getting ready to move on to Leu Cat. The actual day is still a few months away (January 4, 2008) but there is soooo much to do and not much time to do it. We have put together a two-page punch list of things to do and are working feverously through it. It includes such things as acquiring equipment for the boat, planning a bon voyage party to say farewell to our family and close friends, going to Sioux Falls, South Dakota to establish our new residency and mail forwarding address, getting offshore medical and boat insurance, etc., etc., etc.
In addition to the physical side of the preparations, we also have to get our mental side fully prepared. This is a major lifestyle change and we will no longer have the close support of our family and friends. Don't get us wrong, we definitely are not abandoning our family and friends, it is just that they will be very far geographically from us. Instead of just walking or driving over to visit someone, we will have to be satisfied with a Skype call or an email. We both put such high value on our various friendships that we are concerned this lifestyle change will have a negative impact on the relationships we have with our family and friends. We know that the closest friends we have will always stay that way but given our strong feelings toward them, we are concern that relationships may diminish as people's feelings, priorities and values change over time.
We know we will be making new friends while we sail, and this excites us. However, we anticipate that our new sailing friends will be rather short lived as we go our separate ways as we follow different cruising routes.
We are excited to start our adventure, but the above feelings have an impact on us and we wrestle with them on a daily basis. We find strength in knowing that a number of our family and friends have promised that they will keep track of our adventure and will come join us as we get to exotic places that they have dreamed of visiting.
We already have a number of folks that are making plans to join us this coming year. This includes our daughter Christina and her boyfriend Michael. We will be meeting them in the British Virgin Islands and plan to sail with us to St. Maarten in May for two week. We are also meeting our friends Paddy and Mike Mikkelson for a day in St Maarten in April when they arrive on their cruise ship. We look forward to these times and hope the rest of our friends will also come and visit us.
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Well, we finally did it. After being on the market for 4 1/2 months, our house in Dana Point, CA just sold. Given the current housing market and the mortgage industry shakeup that is going on, I was nervious the house was not going to sell for a long time. Now that the house is sold, we are winding down the company and starting our process to move onto Leu Cat. Hooray!!!!!!!!
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Well, we really have done it now...... We have taken the big plunge and have put our house up for sale. Once it sells, we pack up our bags and move onto Leu Cat.
Mentally, both Mary Margaret and I are ready! With each day it gets harder and harder to focus on work and do the things necessary to run a small firm. The problem is we are facing a very slow real estate market. Thus, we could be sitting here for a while waiting to the one person who is ready to buy our house.
We have starting unloading our "worldly possessions" to our kids. We have decided to simplify our lives by either giving away or selling the various things one accumulates during a lifetime. In the past, these things have seemed so important to us: furniture, paintings, cars, etc. However, we have come to the time in our lives when we realize that such things just don't have the same meaning as they once did. Plus, they are not things we can take with us when we weigh anchor and start the next adventure of our lives.
What the kids don't want we will sell at a yard sale or give to charity. We don't want to rent a long-term storage space as we may be gone for years and the stuff will deteriorate over time. Our thoughts are why not have someone use and enjoy as we did, while the stuff is still good.
But first things first: Anyone wish to buy a house in Dana Point, CA?????????
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Hooray! Earlier this year the FCC has dropped the requirement of knowing Morse code and passing a Morse code test to get a HAM operator's license. This means to get a HAM operator's license one only needs to pass a written exam that covers the basic knowledge of radios/electricity to get a HAM radio operator's license.
You now know that Mary Margaret and I must really be going sail crazy if we are excited about this. However, what this means to us is that we can now study for and take the operator's test without memorizing all those stupid dots and dashes. I still shudder when I remember my Boy Scout days and how hard it was to memorize that garbage to get my Morse code badge. Yuck!!!!
The reason this is so exciting for us is that now we have a chance of passing the exam and getting a HAM radio for our boat. This will allow us to be in radio (and telephone) contact with our friends no matter where we are in the world. With a HAM radio on board, we can call to a fellow HAM operator and have him/her patch us through to a telephone and make calls - even in the middle of the ocean.
Mary Margaret and I have enrolled in a web based study course to prepare for the exam. Who knows, maybe in a few months we will be ready to take the exam. At least we now have a reasonable chance at passing the exam!!!!!!!!!
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