A Good Run

After 12 wonderful years of 'living aboard' and cruising our Whitby 42 we are about to step off of Free N Clear for the last time.

Whoever said that it would be one of the happiest days of a boat owner's life was mistaken.
Bittersweet is a much better description.

For Jan and Orin it will be a day filled with anticipation and excitement as they embark on a brand new lifestyle.  For Deb and Lew it will be a sad day.

It didn't seem that long ago, or maybe it was a lifetime, when we finally finished that seemingly endless 6 months of being 'on the hard' in Fort Lauderdale.  Working daily on our refit of our then "new" Free N Clear, taking only the 4th of July off from the task, we launched in November of 1999.

On 11/18/99 we moved out the New River to our slip on Hendricks Isle.  Lew suggested that we 'camp out' on our 'new' boat for the night.  We headed back to the 6th floor apartment on the ocean in Hollywood to gather a few things, tooth brushes, maybe a bottle of champagne, or at least a cold beer or two... when Lew grabbed a big black trash bag, walked into the bedroom and rolled up our blanket, sheets, mattress pad and pillows, stuffed them into the bag - and said "That's it!  We're moving aboard!  Tonight!"

Yeah!

It was exactly 12 years later, on 11/18/11, that we printed/signed/notarized/faxed/and 'overnighted' the paperwork that took the label of "boat owner" out of our lives.

Whether we were 'flying the chute' or sailing reefed jib and jigger, whether we were motoring the ICW or silently easing through a flock of white pelicans at 2 knots with just the head sail, whether we were head down/ass up in the bilge or entertaining friends in the cockpit - every day we were blessed with the knowledge that we were leaving a small carbon footprint, that we were communing with Nature at her best.

But our lives have changed.  Our needs are different.  Our desire, though, for the 'wanderlust' remains strong.  On Friday morning we will grab our blanket, sheets, pillows and toothbrushes, along with our newest member, Bailey, pile into the "Cute Little Kia Soul" and head north in search of a yacht with wheels instead of a keel!

We'll still be seeking out that quiet corner of the earth where we can be part of the night, a place where we will share a hot pot of chili with good friends, where Bailey can run chasing butterflies in the wind...




But... wait... what is that???  On the top???  Yeah, the Cute Little Kia???

Yup.
It's a boat.

You know, you can take the owner off the boat...
but you can't take the boating out of the owner!

;-)