Aboard Dignity (Lagoon 420) Blog

Less than 12 days to go before Helen and I go to Bermuda.  We’ll be heading out on Friday morning – the 16th of May.  We’re going to stay in Hamilton until Monday.  We’ll probably rent bikes to tour the island.  There is supposed to be an abandoned railway that allows one to cycle about avoiding the traffic.  Before Helen leaves we’re hoping she can meet John and the rest of the crew of Windancer IV.  We understand there is at least one Indian restaurant on the island.  We’re hoping the food is made more like it is back in the Uk rather than here in the US.  It’s just not the same here unfortunately.  Being an English island we have our fingers crossed.  The following Monday Helen flies home and I’ll move aboard and join the crew.  I am quite excited.

This weekend I was supposed to pack.  I’m not finished.  Helen was given a couple of old laptops from school.  We figured they would come in useful on the boat – particularly when it comes to dinghying to land with a computer.  An old laptop won’t be such a loss if it gets drenched.  I spent all day Saturday configuring it – it was so slow.  Today I bought a new laptop.  Amazing what one can get for $600 these days.

I have a big confession to make. I’ve been holding back sharing the biggest news possible. Back in early February we made the big decision. This is the year we’re going to move aboard Dignity and begin our travels. This is year 0.

Our original intention was to review our situation while aboard Dignity in February and decide whether or not to go this year or defer the decision to next year. As a result of activities at work and an opportunity that landed my way (more soon) I felt I had to make the decision a little earlier so it was in fact the first weekend in February when Helen and I took a final look at our situation and made the decision.

For me the point of no return was informing my management the following Monday of my intentions. Up until that moment we could back out easily but that conversation on February 4th essentially ended my career and placed us on the path to retirement. Helen, as an IT teacher, had already handed in our notice several months earlier. Her mind was already made up. She recognized there were risks and that we may have to delay our plans. But she felt she could always find work if we had to delay a year.

Continue reading We’re Off

Now that the business of selling the house is behind us I was allowed (by the future Admiral) to put up another antenna.  I wanted to create one perpendicular to the line to the Caribbean so I could pick up the Carib nets.  The results were disappointing.  I reckon the nets are at a time of day when the propogation is most suitable for the near region and I, being 2000nm away, am not having any luck.  Also, we are on the north side of a ridge.  This, or the trees on it, may be creating issues.