​January 31st 2018 until now, July 2021- what can be said besides it has been an adventure of redemption. dictionary.com says this about redemption: “the action of regaining or gaining possession of something in exchange for payment.” Lynette has been teaching at the high school since returning from Mexico and selling our previous home in Redding, CA. Her work bringing in a steady stream of income has opened the way for Tim to shift into his Captain and Sailing Instructor career. Teaching has paid the bills and Tim has been able to stuff away his tips and income saving for that bigger boat to take friends, family and clients to great new places! 

Lynette has taught for four years at the district and Tim has 3.5 years with Nautilus Sailing as an instructor. It is crazy to think that we are ready to start our 5th year since our lives changed very dramatically in 2016. SV New Adventures was a huge learning vessel for us in so many ways.

Besides all the sailing, seamanship and life hacking, we learned what was missing and essentials to consider in her replacement. Lynette is 5’2” tall (62”) with a 28” inseam, this is a challenge on many boats and some things can become serious safety issues due to her height. Here are a few things that have to be remedied for Lynette to be on board with another boat: while seated on the toilet, her feet must reach the floor (not just the bulkhead); items in the galley must be reachable without a step stool while underway; and when seated in the cockpit- her feet must be flat on the sole. Next are the massive ones: We need a "canoodle corner" for snuggling: Lynette’s eyes are at 53” high, so she needs to be able to see all the way to the bow clearly. Seeing helps considerable when docking or driving the boat. She needs to be able to sit comfortably at the wheel where she can see well to steer while on watches. The final issue for Lynette is the profile of the cabin top and deck needs to be such that it is easy for her to quickly move from the cockpit to the deck without step-down distances over 13 inches. All this is indeed a tall order.

In the 42 months since the sale of SV New Adventures, it really feels right for redemption. The hunt has begun. 

I searched the internet with every term I could to find the right bluewater boat. I had looked on Yachtworld and exhausted all candidates during my spare time. March 1, 2020, I had just returned from a whirlwind set of trips to the Bahamas, Grenada and Mexico, arriving home to the COVID-19 lockdowns. I was previously booked solid through June 2020 to teach with Nautilus Sailing and that vanished faster than a box of donuts at a construction site. For some reason, the thought of flying to a foreign country to spend a week on a boat with 4 other people was not COVID-friendly, so I was home without a boat.

Just searching for “Kaufman” I had found every known design by Michael Kaufman. I have studied his work when I was doing yacht design in the 80’s. I had loved his design of the Skye 51 which was a fast bluewater yacht that I had sought after for many years. There was a beautiful one that would sail in San Diego harbor and the owner took care to sail her as often as possible with perfect trim. Lynette & I found a Skye 51 in Anacortes for sale that had been on Yachtworld for a couple years. Strange, why hadn’t it sold? We looked at it three times the final time in July 2020 where we spent 6 hours surveying her for any show-stoppers. Well, there were so many after the first hour that we just kept looking for sake of practice. For starters, the teak deck would need to be replaced, the core in the deck was wet. The masts had significant galvanic corrosion at the joints and the base. Three bids to replace them were between $80-100k alone. So that is why it had not sold in the past 10 years.

Very discouraged, and now we were seeing the boat market heating up. Yacht sales started to take off and it hit record levels in a couple of short months. Every boat, even boats that had been sitting for sale for years, started to sell at increasingly higher prices.

I had a nice phone conversation with Michael Kaufman and he was very willing to share details about the Skye 51 and his namesake Kaufman 47, which he was most proud of. The 3-cabin arrangement, similar lines it was nicknamed the “Taiwan Swan” so I started looking for that model in earnest.

Enter John Kretschmer, a prolific sailor and author of a number fantastic books, “Flirting with Mermaids”, “Cape Horn to Starboard” and “Sailing a Serious Ocean”. I had read all of his books, some more than once. He’s a real sailor who stopped counting his miles after 300,000. The boat he chose to purchase for his offshore school is none other than a Kaufman 47 named Quetzal. So, everyone who had dreamed of ditching civilization and sailing over the horizon during the pandemic was on the hunt for one of these boats. Great! I had heard of one in Florida while I was doing a delivery from Ft Lauderdale to Ensenada and I called as soon as we stopped in Cabo San Lucas, it was under contract.  Foiled again!

That is when I found www.redemptiverepair.com, Ronnie & Michelle’s website chronicling the process of rescuing Serendipity. Yes, you saw the date correctly, July 20th 2020 is when I first made contact with the owner of a completely refit Kaufman 47. Ronnie & Michelle had spent years of very skilled labor to rescue her from over a decade of neglect from her ailing owner.

Back in 2014, 27 year-old Ronnie found Serendipity languishing in a Napa, CA marina; with leaking through-hulls, ancient Volkswagen diesel  and UV damaged sails. Ronnie was not intimidated. Ronnie grew up under the guidance of his father, a man who can fix anything and owning a marina with a boatyard. He saw nothing but possibilities. Ronnie put Serendipity on a truck and she would wind her way through deserts and canyons before arriving in New Orleans at his father’s boatyard.

In 2015 Ronnie changed her name to Redemption because he and the boat were on a similar journey. The redemption of the boat was a manifestation of what was going on in his life. We have all had moments where we become aware that bigger forces are working in the midst of seemingly secular endeavors.

The redemption was an all-consuming work, he began the process with the boat in the yard, on the hard, for a very long time. The details of the refit are on their web site.

As I read each and every word, I began to get a sense of the quality of character and the spirit of excellence Ronnie possessed. For example when he tackled the wiring, he just removed everything from the AC and DC sides, started fresh following the ABYC standards. Then I noticed a new name popping up in his blog posts, Michelle. Their stories unfolded and the boat began to gleam. Both Ronnie and Michelle are professional merchant mariners, he has his 1600 GT ticket and she was a Chief Engineer on the same supply ship working in the Gulf oil fields. To say they are qualified to refit a yacht would be an understatement.

I reached out through his YouTube channel with something like, “I’m really impressed with the refit on Redemption, I’m not sure what you plans are for her but, if you’re at all interested I have a proposition for you.” What I did not know at the time was Ronnie & Michelle were sailing north to Annapolis for hurricane season. On the trip they were talking about maybe starting a family and the possibility of selling the boat, but they needed a sign. It was a very tough thing to consider.
When they got back on the grid, my e-mail was waiting for them. Serendipity? Perhaps.

We spoke on the phone for quite a while and I asked what his price target was, it matched what I was thinking of offering. He said he was in no hurry to sell, and I was not able to get all the money out of our investments at the time, so we agreed to stay in touch and inform as things changed. They had a couple who had shown interest in the boat before me; friends who were young and sailed professionally in the Caribbean. They felt it was only right to offer the right of first refusal to them. He said he’d let me know what they said.

Meanwhile, I was working to free up every bit of cash I could. It seemed like ages when Ronnie called and said that their friends had purchased a boat they really liked and were getting it ready to cruise. So we were first in line! In a verbal-handshake, Ronnie and Michelle agreed to sell us Redemption when we were all ready. I offered a down-payment and a promissory note, and he refused with, “I don’t need that, I have your word and you have mine. It’s settled.” What a refreshing thing to hear these days.

In November of 2020, Ronnie & Michelle were sailing Redemption back south to Florida and among our many phone conversations, I suggested that I could help deliver the boat and get a real sea-trial at the same time. It worked out that I could join them in Beaufort NC on a frosty day before Christmas. We sailed out of the river and took a right turn for the open sea. The winds were as predicted, a NW wind of 15-20 knots. Perfect! Except for the cold temperature, the direction from the land, kept the seas down and we had a broad reach. Our speeds were consistently above 7 knots, hitting 8.5 knots often. The motion was very smooth, down below felt like a library, in contrast to the speed when you were up on deck. We covered the 220+ miles to Charleston SC, in about 28 hours; quite impressive.

Later that month, my wife Lynette joined the crew to deliver Redemption to Fort Lauderdale, FL. It was essential that she “try on” Redemption since she was asking me to measure the height of the cockpit seats, the toilet, take pictures from 53” off the deck. She is not a tall person and we learned from our previous boat, little things matter in a big way.
The four of us, Ronnie, Michelle, Lynette and me sailed the 400 or so miles from Jacksonville, FL non-stop which gave us a feel for being underway for a few days and sleep at sea. Again it was a comfortable ride and we made really good time. We arrived just as the winds were switching to the SE.

Now several months later, we are the new owners of Redemption — the next boat Lynette and I dreamed about when we did our Mexico wrap-up video in 2017. 

We've learned many things with our last boat and subsequently chartering many, many boats. Monohull and catamarans, large and small. As a sailing instructor, delivery captain, I get to sail on a lot of boats, try them on for a week at a time in all conditions. It's been quite informative. 
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As I have sailed thousands of miles on all kinds of boats, certain things came to the surface; although it was the absence of one trait that stood out.

Sea-kindliness
Sea-kindliness is the collective qualities that makes a yacht desirable on a long trip in a seaway. Almost every boat in the charter fleet is designed for one thing, space. Space inside, space on deck for as many people as possible to party, sleep, sunbathe and swim. I cannot blame the builders for making boats that are in high demand, it's not their fault the market is sending signals to build wide, flat, boats with no real storage or sea keeping features. The increase of buoyancy while increasing the beam (the width of the boat) creates problems when the boat starts to lean over or heel. It lifts the rudder out of the water. The rudder is what you steer with.


A sea kindly yacht is one who takes care of her crew by keeping them safe and comfortable below and on deck. She also behaves well when the seas lift up, is responsive to the helm due to her shape under and above the waterline. So many current production yachts are unwieldy with a quartering sea, they tend to round up uncontrollably, and if you lose your concentration for a set of waves, you could be in danger by the third wave on the next set. Upwind, these charter boats pound like a skiff in short-period waves, which makes it difficult to do anything down below, including sleep. Since rest is critical for safety, the longer the passage, the more likely you are to make a poor decision due to fatigue. 


On one occasion in the Caribbean sea, we did an overnight passage with a crew who had no night sailing experience, it was blowing 20-25 knot trade-winds, like it does that time of year. One of the crew came up after her off-watch was over, she had slept very little, her back was spasming due to the motion below decks. She said she slept sprawled out like a cat to keep from moving, a futile attempt against a corky boat. (A boat that bobs around like a cork due to the volume) 


Performance
Performance is a safety feature too. It provides you with the speed you need to get out of an approaching storm. If you can cover 150-200 miles in a day, and you have 2-3 days notice on a storm, you can get 400-600 miles away, which is more than enough in most cases. If you have a slow boat, it better be seaworthy, because you will be in every storm.


Rigged for simplicity
One key feature we found with Redemption was how she was rigged. As a cutter, (having 2 foresails or jib & staysail) you can reduce sail and bring the center of effort towards the middle of the boat. This means the forces that can cause difficulty steering in stronger winds are reduced. A typical modern boat has a roller-furling Genoa (large jib) that you roll up when the wind blows too much. The Kaufman 47 is designed with two roller-furling sails which give you many options.
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Additionally, the mainsail has three reefpoints which allows you to really reduce sail considerably. The first sail to reduce is the main. It has everything rigged at the mast and in under 5 minutes you can reduce your sail while being secure by the mast. Release the halyard, lower to the 1st reef, then hook the tack and begin cranking the winch on the boom to pull the reefline in. It’s that easy.

There are some that are convinced that all lines must be led back to the cockpit for safety reasons. Remember the sea-kindliness discussion above? The motion of a well designed boat, improves the safety of people up on deck. The motion is predictable and less violent. If heavy weather is on the menu, then rigging jacklines is easy with the many hard points around the boat. A tether is worn when we get to wind that requires a second reef anyway. So, once we put in the 1st reef at 18-20 knots, we add the tether to our life vest/harness. (we use the Spinlock Deckvest 5D and have several for guests and crew) Keep in mind that if things go sideways in a building wind, it’s likely you’ll have to scurry up to untangle something, or tie something down that has come loose. So if you’ve built muscle memory from frequent trips around the deck in more benign conditions, it will not be a crisis. Just one hand for me and one hand for the boat, slowly and deliberately.

This post from Ronnie & Michelle sailredemption
Today would have marked eight years with Redemption since I had her delivered to New Orleans from San Francisco, but life happens and that's not always a bad thing. Michelle and I were changing course in life in 2020 when we said our prayers on our sail off Cape Hatteras the first time for a clear sign of what to do whether continue on or sell our loved vessel. When we finally sailed into the Chesapeake, we got a notification of a message from a guy named Tim asking if Redemption or any other Kaufman's were for sale.
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Long story short, we had Tim on board from Beaufort, NC to Charleston, SC and then him and his wife Lynette from Jacksonville to Ft. Lauderdale. We all had a wonderful time, they loved the boat, our and their prayers were answered, and new course was made.
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We once again secured and shipped Redemption(right before hurricane season too) on a truck for another journey across country to Port Townsend, WA right off the Puget. I flew up there to help put her back together and see Tim and Lynette of @new.adventures.sailing off to a great start sailing in their home waters when we were done! We couldn't have asked for a better experience and a new friendship with both of them and we feel blessed knowing Redemption is in the best hands she could be and she will keep her new owners smiling and safe.
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We encourage everyone to follow Tim, Lynette, and Redemption's journeys on Instagram  @new.adventures.sailing We will continue to periodically post our cruising experiences and travels on here.
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#sailredemption

How is it that months pass like weeks? Oh yeah, I’m teaching again! As our adventures continue, I left you with Tim in San Diego where he can see Mexico and I am in Sequim where I can see Canada. Tim’s purpose for returning to San Diego was to complete a Captain’s License Intensive that was two weeks long. He had a couple weeks to get ready and then it was full-on, full time plus weekends learning and then...THE EXAMS! Yep! True to form, Tim devoured the information and learned a ton! He passed all his exams with nearly perfect scores! Tim is now a 100 Ton Inland Captain, and 100 Ton Near Coastal Mate, both include Sailing Endorsements. He wrapped up his coursework and had two weeks of socializing in the marine environment with an British friend, then family, and included our buddy boaters Steve and Janny. He had a wonderful time of decompression.

Next up? The sale of New Adventures to a new owner so we can upsize! Tim had a huge list of clean-ups, touch-ups and to-dos and then a very large amount of packing out to do since I had given up on a teaching job and had planned to join Tim in San Diego once our house had sold, there was a lot of stuff to do life with on the boat. It had been nearly two months since we had seen each other and we were not liking the solo lives we were dealing with, so Tim decided to ship some stuff, get a huge suitcase and fly home, to his new home Sequim, WA. His Captain’s License was waiting for him in the mailbox the day he arrived. It was so good to have him home.

Leaving the boat in the marina in San Diego meant that when my Christmas Break from school came we would be on the road and down there to pack out the boat and get it detailed like selling the house. The trip is 1,325 miles one way and we spent 7 days on the road driving over my 17 day break. When we arrived at the boat, there were no surprises. That was a huge relief! We needed to get so much done. We also made time for our friends Steve and Janny, as Steve had surgery while we were there and we wanted to help them out as needed. We also spent one whole day sailing with our daughter. The dolphins came to play! Danielle loves dolphins and they played off the bow while we were under full sail. They were so close and it was just a special moment, almost as if they know you love them and want to make your day special by showing up. We took no pictures or video, we just entered the moment. A moment to treasure.

Frustrations were afoot in a major way for me as I tried to figure out how to pack out all our belongings so we could present a spacious and clean boat. Somehow I thought I could pack out in one carload what a truck and three carloads brought aboard! I packed and compacted, resorted and shifted, stuffing small items into tiny nooks and crannies as our Toyota Camry sunk lower and lower to the ground. It was really looking good after six days, I was so excited! I did my best to estimate what we had left with our personal bags, toiletries, foodstuffs, pillows and computer bags. As the final load out began, decision time was upon me! It is not all going to fit, what will we leave behind? First out was the bin of galley items, that wasn’t enough. Next, our ditch bag with the medical kit, now we are getting closer, but still not enough room. Okay then? Alright, the spin-lock life vests and Yes! The rest fit in leaving space for Tim to see out the rear view mirror. There was now no bounce left in the shocks and half of a trunk load was left on the boat. Oh wait! I forgot to mention that we shipped five moving boxes of clothing and outerwear to Sequim! They were waiting for us when we returned.

I did not sleep much during this time as I was obsessing about how to make it all fit. Relief came as we left the marina and drove to Redding where all our house items are in storage. You see, unloading the boat was only half my battle, next was what to leave in storage and how in the world was I going to get what I needed back to Sequim? I needed my massage table and linens and a few supplies to come back with me. I unloaded the car, gave foodstuffs to our friends, and spent four hours unpacking and reloading the car in a completely different way from the trip up while parked at the storage units. I managed to repack the car in such a way that while it was still squatting at the bottom of the shocks, Tim said it drove better. I was able to get our most important items back to Sequim, like our nice set of kitchen knives (the furnished knives bend and are unsharpenable and dangerous) and my massage table and supplies. I also needed to retrieve some winter clothing and shoes. While I fought with packing, Tim did some client work while we were in town. We each had our battle to win that day. All in all, we left the boat looking fantastic, brought home the essentials, and enjoyed some wonderful family and friendship time.

New Adventures is on the market and ready for sale. Just as soon as we put it up for sale, the interest began. New Years Eve we received a call, then New Years day, many more calls. We arranged to have our boat shown by Steve & Janny on the 7th to three parties. We received an offer the 8th and Tim had to rent a car and head back down, 1300+ miles to get the remaining items and final touch-ups. Tim took the new owners out for a sea trial and training on all the systems. They loved the boat! He said, "Compared to my Catalina 36, this is a Mercedes." He kept saying, You have a beautiful boat!" She had much more experience sailing and extended cruising for years. She had even refurbished a larger Cheoy Lee and loves them. There is a saying in boating, "The two happiest days of a boat owners life are the day they buy it, and the day they sell it." We don't agree fully, this is a sad day, Tim was in tears a few times as he was turning it over. Another chapter is closing and we could not be more excited to see this close and turn the page. Happy New Year!

It has been far too long since our last entry. We are still going to share our time in the Sea of Cortez in February and March before returning to San Diego, CA and taking the next steps in our adventures. For now I will skip the details of our difficult return trip, known as bashing, because it’s against the wind and prevailing currents. San Diego to La Paz took 12 days, the return trip took 19 days! We are going to share with you our current land adventures! Are you ready?

A number of times here on the blog we have talked about being free to embrace adventure, loosing the tethers of countless items and things so you can be free. We arrived back in the US on Easter Sunday, April 16th at about 0415. We checked in at the Customs Dock where we had to wait for our clearance. We decided to sleep. A couple hours later we were roused from our sleep to complete our Customs Check-In. We had to surrender about 45 eggs since they were not from the US, you know those eggs that were not washed or refrigerated? Yes, those! Why so many? Because the trip back was so rough, I did not cook like I did on the way down! Oh well, life goes on. After getting settled in the Marina we crashed out! Sleep felt amazing after our long journey north. We tried not to sleep all day so we could return to a bit of the normal awake in the day and asleep at night routine.

Several days after our return, we secured our boat once we were done checking things out from the rough return, we rented a car to drive the 680 miles back to our house in Redding, CA. It was time to see how the house faired through the winter and how the students and couple living at our home cared for it. Not many seem to take care of rental property the way an owner would. The trip was filled with feelings of dread for me. When we arrived at the house it was a relief to see all was in relatively decent order. The long wet winter that included a number of high wind storms left the exterior and roof of our house in need of attention. The yard was in desperate need of spring cleaning and grooming. We still had our office at the house and that was also our room.

Tim and I rolled up our sleeves and got started with our intent set to get the house on the market ASAP. After meeting with the realtor and getting our list of things to take care of, we finally listed 8 weeks later! Days and days of working over 12 hours to pack, store and then stage the house for photos and listing for me. Tim battled the heat clock every day to replace edge shingles and fix paint in windblown areas. We also finished the stair railing in the entry way. With the skills of a good friend Jim, we completed the upgrade vision we had to tie the door, stairs and entry.

After finally getting the house on the market, Tim and I left on a much needed vacation to see family and friends in the Northwest. This was supposed to be my 50th birthday progressive party since we did not have the chance to plan a big party for me in Redding. This trip was cut short by taking care of some family business in Arizona for a week. Then right back to San Diego to hang out on the boat for a few weeks before our return to Redding for some appointments.

We did not anticipate being in Redding for such a long time and when we returned to the boat before leaving for Arizona the freezer and fridge had shut itself off! Oh gross! I will spare you the details and I will say it was days before the cabin smelled clean again!

We are again making some course changes with our lives. It was the sudden loss of both of our jobs that dropped us into this life altering adventure. Tim has the sea days he needs to apply and then test for his Captain’s License. When life has expenses and incomes are gone, there comes a point when income has to flow in again. Together we made the choice that in this next season I am going to find another teaching position so Tim will have the time and space to finish the tasks for his Captain’s License, change our corporations and finish other life details that are needed.

I agreed that I was to focus on getting the house ready for market in my areas and once the house was to market, my focus was to shift to finding work. If you are not a teacher or close friends with a teacher, teacher applications take HOURS to fill out! Some may take 10 hours! I spent the next 8 weeks filling out applications, applying for my teaching credentials in other states and keeping my pulse on 30 plus districts where I was willing to work. The locations had to be in a place close to ocean and moorage. I spent hundreds of hours in this process. Once I came to the place where I had applied for all the jobs available in our target areas and was waiting for calls to interview, I gave-up! Only a couple places responded to say positions were filled and I had one call for an interview from July that was scheduled for August.

August 1st came and something shifted! All of a sudden I had three interviews in one week! I received a call from a principal asking if I was still looking for work. I interviewed the next day and had a job offer the following day! From the three interviews: one I had not heard back from, one I had an offer from, and one that wanted me to spend a day with staff to be evaluated. The job offer in hand became my yes, it was the first application I submitted in my process, and it is the place we really wanted to live and have as our land base - Sequim, WA. My offer came late Friday afternoon and asked if I could be there by Monday, in two days’ time. It is a 700 mile drive, I went up on Monday and started New Teacher Orientation on Tuesday. While completing my training week we sold the house with a very short closing period, which we wanted.

After four days of training, I rushed back to Redding to complete what I could in three days’ time before my job formally started. Tim flew back as well. We worked like crazy for these days. We had many unique challenges such as attempting to get our 4-poster bed frame down the stairwell. We had to saw off the bottom of the legs. We added new stair treads the previous year and it raised the step just enough to keep us from being able to carry the headboard and footboard down.We signed our closing papers, and I left that evening to return to Sequim. Tim stayed on until the end of the week selling and donating furniture that we had decided we no longer wanted to keep. Followed by cleaning up the house so it looked great for the new owners. I left Tuesday and returned to Sequim where I can see Canada. Tim left the following Monday for San Diego where he can see Mexico. And the adventure continues…

Have you ever taken a trip to someplace new? How long did you stay? What if you lived on a trip for months? This has become our way of life at this point. We are continuing our series with Dharam Barrett”s article: “How To Get Your Life Back On Track When You Feel Broken” as our framework for evaluating this process of getting ourselves back on track after massive changes in our life happened in June 2016. Part 1 is about doing something that flat out scares you. Part 2 is about unplugging from the digital world so you can experience the moments that are happening all around you right now. Part 3 is about learning a new language. Part 4 is Barrett’s number 6: Take a trip. The premise is that changing your surroundings can help you find a place of healing by entering into the new scene. The trip can be any length you desire.

What has our trip looked like? Just read the blog! In summary, we purchased our sailboat in August 2016, loaded it up and sailed it from the San Francisco Bay area to San Diego, CA. Once in San Diego we made improvements, repairs and provisions. We left San Diego for La Paz BCS, Mexico on November 21, 2016. We hung out at a marina and beach club there for about 2.5 months finishing up varnish and minor repairs. We pulled out of La Paz February 19, 2017 to sail around the Sea of Cortez as far north as Loreto BCS, Mexico.

The trip was stellar! We anchored in amazing turquoise waters, enjoyed amazing geology, and frolicked with wild sea life! We interacted with small communities in our different anchorages and met amazing people from the local area and beyond. We experimented with our different boat systems such as water, power, and garbage/sewage while honing our boat handling and anchoring skills. This time has been challenging, rich, and nearly beyond words. We have a great deal of content for the blog that will be coming soon!

We returned to La Paz for a week long stay in the yards, which means hauling the boat out of the water to inspect the bottom. This included new bottom paint, new zincs, and a delimitation repair that was a surprise. Once back in the water we provisioned for a month and waited for the right weather window to return to San Diego, at least start the process of our return.

The uphill return to San Diego, CA, about 1,000 nautical miles took 19 days and was grueling. This sort of traveling reveals a great deal about how tough you are and how tough your boat is! We arrived in San Diego on Easter morning about 0415 tying up at the customs dock to await our check in. 

In all our trip was 5 months long. We have been back for about five days and things feel so different. We have truly returned as different persons. There is so much to share and so many stories to tell. As we prepare to return to our house in northern California, our views are so majorly different. The life that we once had feels foggy in my head and our losses don’t seem so large. I still have questions about what will be next and what we have become from our adventures, but my heart is so much more peaceful and whole than when we left in August.

Living on a trip has been a major healing force in our lives. Even though our suitcase is 35 feet long, it has been the trip of a lifetime. Now that we are back, we think we need a bigger suitcase so we can have others along next time we travel taking the next trip of a lifetime. Never underestimate the power of a trip, a very long trip, to places you have never been. Barrett’s supposition is quite true in this, we do see ourselves differently now. 

We are including our Mexico wrap up video with this entry so you can hear about some of the things we learned, what we wish we had on our trip, what we could not live without and more!