Life changes dictate a move, and that dictates moving the boat and putting it on the hard next to the house --where it can be kept for free, of course, allowing us to do some needed work on the boat, like dealing with a very stiff rudder bearing and skeg bushing and a few other things...having the boat next to the house means it'll be much easier to do the work than having to spend time driving off to a far-off yard, and there'll be no time pressure, with mounting yard bills, to get the work done. The idea behind this madness is to have the boat "done" for a more extended cruise in 3-4 years time, south, for a few years (as opposed to the short five-month coastal Inside Passage trip we did this spring/summer). For going offshore, a few more things need to be in better shape on the boat.

The plan is not to have the boat on the hard for more than 1.5 years, and it need not be as the work we want to do isn't extensive...at this point, other than the rudder and a few other things, it's mostly a few interior things and fitting a tiller pilot.

The trade off is that the boat won't be sailable and so we won't be able to easily get out sailing. I'm going to go stir crazy not to be able to get in a boat and head out for a day. To start with, I'm more of a sailor than my wife, even though she grew up lake sailing. That being said, I realize that I hardly ever get out sailing.

So, maybe with a small nimble boat like a Cal 20 that I can get my kicks out of by club racing in spring/fall, with my wife as occasional crew, and having the boat on a mooring near the house for summer weekending, we'll re-connect with the sport of *sailing*, which will hopefully make us enjoy and move the "big" boat later on. And this goes for our now-six year old as well --the more she learns about sailing a small boat --Optimist dinghy this summer in a sailing camp and Cal 20 eventually on summer weekends-- the more she'll appreciate going cruising. That's the idea, anyway.

The hard thing is that, in most cases and for a lot of people, there simply is no time to get out sailing, to learn to appreciate the art and sport of sailing. All this to say...what...that I agree with Jon that it's key for everyone on board to be plugged in to sailing, at least to some degree. And that includes me! I hope we can swing the smaller boat, as I think it'll help us re-connect with the simplicity of sailing, with zero systems on board other than an anchor, few cushions to sleep on over a weekend, a cooler, and a Jet Boil to heat up soup and tea!