Work: The Double Edged Sword

When Scott got his USCG Captain's license, we new that it would open up a whole new world for him in terms of work.  And it did.  It allows him gainful employment as a captain with Island Windjammers and opens up a bunch of other opportunities from doing deliveries to helping out on mega yachts here in Ft. Lauderdale (he's got a five day gig next week with our buddy Travis!).  You never know what the future leads, but I am pretty certain the sea is where his life's work will be, no more going to an office for him.

This is fantastic for us because a) he can potentially find work wherever in the world we are and b) these jobs will allow us to cruise indefinitely.  The down sides, of course, are a) we will not be able cruise while he works and b) we spend weeks apart at a time.  Yep, even when you live like wayward nomads in cool places,  it's difficult to have your cake and eat it too.

Scott reports to Grenada for an eight week rotation at the end of November and he is really scrambling to get all of our major projects completed before he departs.  Our goal is to be - more or less - ready to go when he returns mid-January.  At the moment he's working solo on the boat from 8am to 8pm, stopping for few breaks in between.  I bring him his lunch, steal little moments to help him here and there while Isla is napping, but for the most part - we pass like ships in the night.  Not ideal, but it is what it is.

Projects underway:

• The addition of an inner stay with a roller furling staysail (the boat is already set-up for this, but does not have one) in progress with a local rigging company
• The modification of our bimini and solar panels so that the two can zip together in progress with local canvas company
• Installation of our new watermaker
• Installation of isolation valves on our sea chest (more on this later)
• Installation of dinghy davits by UMT Marine
• Addition of our dinghy motor hoist to our instrument pole
• Mounting of our new Viking life raft canister to the deck

Those are the big ones, there are countless more "little" projects that must be completed as well.  While we might have more money to pay for these projects, we have less time to complete them.  And therein lies the double-edged sword.  We'll get there.  At the moment progress is slow, but slow and steady wins the race, right?