We’re Off

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.

For a number of reasons, as is often the case, the communication of my circumstances at work had to be delayed until the consequences had been fully worked out. As a few of my colleagues from work read this blog, I have held back on the news except for the odd hint here and there for those folks who knew the decision was coming up.

Just because the news has been withheld, that doesn’t mean we haven’t been busy.

First, the opportunity I mentioned earlier. For some time I’ve wanted to gain some ocean experience as crew on another vessel. My original intention was to crew aboard Dignity as she was delivered across the Atlantic. That didn’t work out and in hindsight it was probably better I didn’t. I still wanted to do this as I feel it would be better if the first time Helen and I do a serious crossing that this would not be the first time ever. Prior experience is valuable in so many ways. So I continued to keep my eyes open for the odd opportunity. The two opportunities I was looking for was crewing on a delivery or joining a boat traveling either east or west on the ARC. The ARC is the very well organized cruisers rally where a couple of hundred boats cross the Atlantic “together” complete with captain/crew training, vessel inspections, the lot. From a safety perspective, this is very appealing.

In late Jan I was surfing the Lagoon Owners yahoo group and was looking at some owners websites and came across the website of Windancer IV where the owner had just announced he had registered for the 2008 ARC to Europe. The ARC to Europe has two primary departure points in early May. The US east coast and the Caribbean (Antigua to be precise). The boats all converge on Bermuda where they wait until all setting off together to The Azores in the second half of May arriving in early June. Again, they collect in The Azores before setting off to European destinations. The whole crossing was not on for me but the leg between Bermuda was perfectly timed between Sam’s 18th birthday, his graduation and our 22nd anniversary, all of which I want to be around for. Also, at the time, I hadn’t yet locked down the notion of retirement this year and the length of time away from work would be awkward.

This was tempting so I emailed the owner and asked if he had any crew positions free for this leg. It turned out he had just had one crew member drop out. After sending my sailing resume and a conversation over Skype I was accepted on the crew for the leg I wanted.

So this became a factor in forcing Helen and my decision this year. There were many others of course. We have met our financial goals although the recent market volatility has made this an on and off thing. A few events in the last year have also served to remind us life is short.

So we made the decision to go this year. On Feb 4th I declared my intention to leave work on May 14th. This has since been revised to August 12th for a number of reasons. This works out well for both sides. The extra income will help defray some of the impact from recent market turmoil and things like medical coverage stay simple.

Declaring my intentions was so much harder than I ever imagined. Emotionally I was torn in many directions. Obviously the desire to move ahead on our dream was immense. At the same time I am still committed to my career. We knew this would be a conflict years ago so we set down some criteria / goals we had to meet which would trigger the decision. I must admit, I didn’t think we would accomplish them by 2008 yet we did despite the noise going on in the financial markets recently. So in some ways the decision was set several years ago. Nevertheless, drawing a line under a major part of your life is a scary thing to do.

So now we’re in the throes of unwinding one life in order to build a new one. On the housing front we have a lot going on. Our ski condo is under contract and due to close very shortly. Our main home went on the market recently and is now under contract. We’re also in the processes of buying a nearby multi-family home to generate rental income while we are away as well as hedge the recent downturn in the housing market.

Putting our house on the market required us to really tidy up (Helen did the most). This forced us to start the process of actually getting rid of some of our junk. We’ve made progress but there’s much more to do. Mentally though we’re in gear as once you’ve started doing this it does get easier.  I’ve been through all the computer/electronics junk that I’ve hoarded over 20 years and got rid of all but the essentials.  That was hard to begin with but actually quite mentally stimulating by the end of it.

The date we set foot on Dignity is driven by insurance considerations. Dignity is now blocked off from charter from Monday October 20th. We’ll arrive on or around this date and stay in the BVIs until the end of the month covered by the CatCo fleet insurance. During this time we’ll prepare ourselves and the boat for the crossing to St Martin which we’ll do on the first suitable weather window in November. In St Martin we’ll pick up the stuff that we’re shipping down to the islands and for 2-3 weeks we anticipate doing boat projects (fitting water maker, chart plotter, etc.)

Later in November my parents will be flying into St Martin to visit for just over 2 weeks. We’ll tour the nearby islands but generally just bob about and have fun together. Around Xmas we hope to get the boys down during college break. We anticipate being around Antigua at this time. Then it’s open season. The first Caribbean sailing season (ending May/June 2009) is just going to be spent in the eastern Caribbean getting settled into the new lifestyle. Beyond that, we have options which we’ll consider nearer the time.

So that’s it in summary. This is *the* year. It really is going to happen. Up until recently it’s been hard to believe it’s true. There is so much to do while life carries on. Every now and then the realization of what we’re doing becomes front and center and the combination of excitement/trepidation/anticipation is suddenly overwhelming. The mind seems to escape these emotions and very soon it all feels very unreal again.

More recently, as the announcements have gone out at work and some of the major items (like selling houses) are put behind us, the reality is sinking in on a more permanent basis.

On May 16th, Helen and I fly out to Bermuda. We’ll spend the weekend there staying in The Oxford House before Helen flies back to NJ and I stay for the crossing.

The Atlantic trip, for me, will be a time to really come to terms with what we’re doing. It’s going to be a very interesting experience. I have no idea if I’m going to be one of those who get bored to tears or who find the isolation from land mentally stimulating. I am hoping it’s the latter. I’ll have the chance to blog as I go so watch out for these.

Then it’s back to work for me while Helen finishes the school year. Somewhere in between we will move out of our current house. In August I finish up. Then it’s off to Arizona for our medical training and side trips. Back on the east coast we’ll get Sam settled into college. Then we have a break to fill in before we head down to the islands. During this time we’ll go to the Uk for a wedding and probably fit in the Annapolis Boat Show. Then the story really begins.