BS1 01 – Checking In
6 Months in Georgetown!
Yes, it’s already January 21st and Wind Dragon II has now officially been in her current marina for six whole months, even though (to us at least) it still feels like we’ve just arrived a short time ago. The unfortunate distance we have to travel between the land house and the catamaran means that we have to be especially constructive with our time between the two locations, and in this past 6 months we’ve utilized every spare minute we can for boat projects of all sorts, in both locations.
Today, as we sit on the boat in Georgetown where the temperature is 31 degrees outside and we are currently in the midst of a winter snow, sleet, and ice storm, our goal is to share a quick hello and answer a few of the burning questions we’ve been asked since last July when we finally docked here after our repositioning trip and returned to our land-based lives.
In no particular order, here’s the short versions of what, when, where, why, and a little bit of how, up until now.
It’s no secret that our end-game has long been to live the cruising lifestyle and our purchase of this catamaran has put us closer than we’ve ever been to achieving that goal. So much so in fact, that William has set what I believe is a super aggressive sail away deadline. His target date, is November 2023. Yes, during fall of next year. When the hurricane season officially ends and cruisers typically head South. A little less than 2 years away.
Now, that may not seem like an aggressive timeline to you right off the bat, but remember that unfortunate distance between the land house and the catamaran that I mentioned earlier? That’s a pretty major obstacle when it comes to spending the time at the boat that it will take to work on projects, and we have quite a few in our list that we need and/or want to have completed before we sail away. That distance issue really eats up a lot of time.
In addition to preparations on Wind Dragon II, we also have the chore of clearing out the land house and then, despite my thorough exploration of options, I still have yet to decide what’s best to do with the property. Also, for now we both have employment ties in Charlotte which require in-person attention occasionally, although relocation possibilities have also been discussed and put forth as viable options. In fact, there is still so much to be considered that my personal departure estimate would be a bit farther out than William’s, but I’m happy to aim for his aggressive target and we’ll see how far the momentum takes us! Wouldn’t it be wild if we actually made that 2023 goal?
If you’ve been following us on Instagram and/or Facebook you may have seen a sneak peek photo posted here and there that would indicate some kind of work is being, or has been performed, but until now we’ve only been able to tease small bits. One part of the work going on these past months was a major redesign and update of this website, where we plan to share more regular written updates in the future about both current and past projects, all complete with photos which we hope will help to catch you up nicely. Also, we’ve redone our graphics and finalized our new boat cards:
We’re not really certain if or when William will be able to do any editing of the video footage we’ve captured, so for right now we won’t even attempt a guess at when there might actually be a video posted to our YouTube channel, but we do plan to eventually utilize video updates more often in the future, and especially once we’re traveling.
The channel is meant to be another way for us to keep in touch, in addition to the posts here on our website. Many of you have spoken of living vicariously through posted photos of our travels, and we hope that videos will really enhance the experience and bring you with us! We only ask that you please be gentle with us in your comments of our posts and videos, like most everything else, we are only learning as we go!
On that note I should probably also include a general disclaimer; we are not experts at anything, and our informational posts are in no way meant to be tutorials or guides, we are simply sharing our experience. We each usually have just enough knowledge of things to get us into trouble, which often makes for great entertainment but we are really more interested in accomplishing our goals and getting out there! In fact, we hope several of you may see an issue being worked on and maybe you know a solution which we haven’t considered, suggestions are always welcome!
Have a look around the site and tell us what you think of the new designs and layout. The site is still under construction of course, and it will continue to evolve as we add more toys and tools, so be sure to bookmark it and check back often! More information about the projects which we were able to accomplish already in 2021, the projects we’re doing currently, and the projects we have planned to focus on in 2022 will be coming soon.
This is just the beginning of what is going to be a really busy year for us and looking at our current situation in a positive light, I have to say there is nothing like weathering a freezing snow and ice storm on the coast to motivate us! Off until next time, fair winds and following seas!
