“Have a look at this,” my husband says and motions for me to sit down. He squints and sits hunched over, where he has sat for hours in front of a computer. Sitting on our boat in his pajama shorts. “For the haul-out,” he continues, “I’m thinking we need a PERT chart or a CPM diagram.”
Without a word, I fidget with my phone and google PERT chart. It’s a flow chart. He wants a project management flow chart. “You can have a look at this spreadsheet. I’ve narrowed our ‘to do’ list down to 148 items”.
This scene is familiar to boat owners. Sort of. I think. Boat ownership requires managing wants and needs, setting priorities, and developing a plan. Of course, it’s a short task then the plan looks more like the Nike slogan “Just Do It”.
But we aren’t planning short tasks. We are planning the safety, insurance and maintenance tasks to cross through the Panama Canal and across the Pacific Ocean.
The crazy thing is that after all of our hard work, and all the spreadsheet activity, we know that when it comes to ocean crossing – pure exhaustion is what could bite us in the tail.
In the interest of safety we are looking for two crewing couples. We have an ad on Crewbay, which is a site that unites people with boats.
We’re looking for people who sail to share crewing shifts, cleaning and cooking duties, as well as share running costs.
We mention that we’re seeking crewing couples because it helps with sleeping arrangements. However, one person on Facebook seemed to wonder if we were swingers. With four kids? We had not considered that as a possibility.
The trip will be 90 to 120 days, which allows us to spend time in Galapagos, Easter Island, Pitcairn, Gambier Islands and French Polynesia. No smoking or illicit drugs. And, did I mention we are homeschooling four noisy children? We’d love our guests to share a skill with our kids, though it is not an essential requirement.
I should mention that we are not racing. However, our catamaran has been trialed doing 30 knots in 60 knots of wind. Any sail boat on the horizon is fair game for friendly, if unannounced, competition.
We are continuing to ensure the success of this trip. And, would love to meet with people to share this adventure.
lorraine@escher.ca
Becoming a Sailor 
Interested, retired Canadian couple, have a 40 ft sloop and some blue water experience. I was in law enforcement and emergency management, my wife in payroll management at a university. When is your planned departure date?
LikeLike
Hi – thanks for your note! People can join us on the Pacific side of the Panama Canal or the Atlantic side. We plan to begin the passage in late January 2018. I will email you more details.
LikeLike
Hi, we are a family with three young children who enjoy a lot of coastal cruising from our home town of Auckland, New Zealand. I’ve been really enjoying your blog as we often dream about doing a similar adventure. If you want somewhere to do some loads of washing or have a meal in a house full of toys, we’d love to meet you and hear about your travels when you make it down this way. Let me know if you would like our contact details.
Kind regards,
Jenny Lang
LikeLike
Thank you! That would be lovely! We would love to connect with your family. My email is lorraine at escher dot ca. We won’t be in newnzeland for a while – Round the world travel we go but sometimes at the speed of a bicycle!
LikeLike