This month we are celebrating many anniversaries; including our wedding & being together since 2001! Hooray for us! While it’s mostly been fun it’s not easy all the time. But we made a commitment. -A commitment to have fun & work through things when they aren’t so fun.

Owning a boat…. -I’ll speak for sailboat owners since powerboats are something I don’t know much about & also seem much easier to deal with if you have the $$. -Our dock neighbors point this out to us all the time. They think we’re crazy & I think they might be right a lot of the time.

Anyway, owning a sailboat takes commitment. It’s like adopting a pet, child or getting married. If you’re not willing to put the work in then you are going to very much regret going down that road. -Or at least complain much more than those who love their boats & love sailing.

The dream of owning a sailboat….

When buying a sailboat you are commiting to:

-Spending every waking hour that’s free working on the boat. If this is something that brings you mostly joy, then it’s no big deal. It’s much better than just sitting on the sofa or aimlessy scrolling around on the internet. If it’s not something you can do without the appreciation for it, then you’ve chosen the wrong “hobby”. I mean it’s not really hobby. It becomes more of a way of life.

I can’t begin to tell you how much fun Matt had working on the engine! All he wanted to do was go to the boat & work & work & work on it! But hey, is it really work if….. if…. you finally find a solution?!

-Spending a lot of money on your boat. Does the thought of giving up on eating out a lot bum you out? Or, does the thought of grilling on the boat & cooking on the boat excite you more? Would you rather have a new car or fix up a boat to make it safe & comfortable? Are you more likely to want to save up for a new TV or a chartplotter? In some instances people can have all of the above but in most cases we have to decide where our hard earned cash is going to go.

**Why would you want this? When you can have…..**

-Learning all you can about sailing & knowing you’ll never be learn it all. That pretty much sums it up.

**Just try to learn everything there is to know about sailing! You can start from the top shelf down.**

-Learning that weather predictions are a misconception. Weather & prediction should probably not exist in the same sentence. Weather is going to do what weather is going to do. -Especially wind. Wind could say one morning, “I’m just too tired to get out of bed today.” But by the time noon rolls around & it’s had some coffee it might say, “I think I’ll do some Zumba! I’m just feeling so energetic!”. Oh you can make plans, but your narcissistic friend, The Wind, doesn’t care. The wind only cares about itself. So if you want a relationship at all with it, you have to follow it’s lead. Probably an unhealthy relationship but we are too committed to give it up! Therapy can come later.

**I swear the weather called for sunny skies!**

-Learning to be dirty. There’s dirty, dirty & then there’s boat dirty. Boat dirty might include saltwater hair, sandy toes, dried sweat from working on the boat. Not necessarily the worst kind of dirty but the kind of dirty that can go on for a few days because it’s too cold outside to take a sunshower on the boat. Or, the fresh water you have remaining is for more important purposes than washing yourself. Furthermore, if you can take a bird bath, it might not be thorough enough. So you just have to learn to live with it. I don’t care for feeling dirty but “boat dirty” doesn’t seem to bother me. -More so, if I can at least jump in the ocean & swim around. Salty skin is fine with me.

**We have yet to see Zephyr this sandy. He seems to just naturally repel dirt.**

-Learning to let things break. -Well, not letting things break but when things break not letting that get to you. And they will break or not work. Just like the ocean, you gotta go with the flow or you’re going to drown fighting against the current that is all things boat. In addition to things breaking, there’s also the waiting for parts to come in to fix those things.

**Spilled milk has nothing on the parts of a sailboat!**

-Fixing things yourself. Or having your significant other prolific in doing this. -This is the model I choose to follow. Although, I try to pay attention to a lot of the things Matt does so I can be more & more helpful as time goes on.

Even if you have a ton of moola, there are going to be times when there’s no one around to fix what needs to be fixed. Are you willing to learn? Are you willing to trouble-shoot or put a temporary fix in place until it can actually be taken care of.

**Just a handful of tools that Matt is carrying on the boat! 😁**

There you have it! -Just a few of the aspects on owning a sailboat & committing to it. Not easy but very worth it to us! We feel so thankful! -MerSea!

Luckily we have had progress admist our commitment to MerSea. Below is just a few of the things that have been accomplished in the last few weeks.

“We” cleaned the canvas covers & water-proofed them.