Well we’ve been in Croatia for almost two weeks and so far have been working flat out to get the boat ready for sea. Damian has been doing all of the technical boat maintenance stuff (blue jobs) and I have scrubbed, cut and polished the outside of the boat and been busy on our industrial sewing machine fixing outside covers and making bags for our collapsible bikes (pink jobs), so that we can lash the bikes to the deck whilst at sea. We keep a decent amount of equipment and tools onboard to help us keep the boat in shape and I have become pretty nifty with our industrial polisher….
The amount of work required in boat maintenance never ceases to astound me, but when considering the effects of the elements and the sea in terms of wear and tear I guess it’s hardly surprising. I remember being told when we were looking at buying a boat, that ‘as soon as a boat goes in the water it will start to fall apart’!
Lucky for us that Damian is such a ‘hands on’ boat owner – he does pretty much all of the electrical, engineering and boat maintenance himself, which saves us a fortune.
We brought out a lot of kit with us and finding room to stow it all has been a challenge. I brought out far too many clothes and general belongings (Yoga books!) and have tried really hard to rationalize the space I have available. The reality is that I probably won’t need anywhere near what I have brought out with me, but I really struggled to figure this through when packing for a two year stay on the boat.
Getting used to the change in the pace of life has also been a bit of a shock to the system, I’ve been so used to a full-on working life running my business and teaching lots of classes. Now I don’t have to set an alarm to get up each day and I have no real set agenda, I have no real routine. Yes we have lots of stuff we have to do, but I can do it all in my own time. This has thrown me somewhat and I have felt almost a bit lost in this lack of routine….. Getting off of the fast-rolling hamster wheel of a busy life has been a desire that we have both had for a long time, but I guess it will take a while for the true effects of the change of pace to settle.
I have however, enjoyed waking up to blue skies and sunshine pretty much every day since we arrived, the weather has been unusually warm for April and we are both getting some colour in our cheeks. I love the active feel of our days working on the boat and we walk or cycle everywhere. I go food shopping on my bike with a rucksack and am not missing my car or the frustrating journeys to work every day.
I am having to be inventive with my Yoga practice and am settling for sporadic chunks of practice as I move around my day. We haven’t had much space up on deck up until now, so I have been settling myself into small spaces and making opportunities to release my work-weary body whenever I can. In the future I think I will have to shoot some footage of my new inventive practices – real sailing Yoga!
We are due to leave the marina on 1 May, when we will head south. We have a couple of weeks to put the boat through her paces before we pick up some friends in Dubrovnik. Life is due to slow down some more and I am looking forward to getting our adventure properly underway.