Reality Check

In frustration last week, I started this post with the working title “Sometimes Boat Life Sucks.” (And sometimes, it DOES suck.) I still want to share some of those thoughts here, because the reality is that life, boat or land-based, isn’t always sunshine and roses. I’m struggling a bit with this – I want to be realistic in how I share our cruising life but don’t want to come off as whiney. That said, I’ll do my best.

You probably have an image of what the cruising life looks like – sundowners at a beach bonfire in some amazing remote location or a perfect day of sailing with dolphins riding the bow wave. Whatever that image is for you, yes, cruising IS that and so much more that our imaginations couldn’t begin to conjure up (dolphins joining me for my 2am watch, outlined in bioluminescence as they break the surface, for example). 

Windara is over 20 years old and while she passed her survey and sea trial with only a few minor fixes needed, things have been giving out. This doesn’t come as a surprise to us – we expected that there would be things the survey just wouldn’t find and that with extensive use, more things would need repair/replacement. Up until last Monday, I’d been taking that all in stride. 

But within the space of a couple of days, it felt like everything was breaking. Our main fridge decided to cut out AGAIN, right after a big provision run (we managed to squeeze almost everything into the freezer, which we’ve been using as a secondary fridge since last time the main one died – but we did lose a few things). Our autopilot failed about 20 miles into our 140 mile passage from Charleston. The aft head stopped dumping overboard (we only do this well offshore) and developed a leak, so raw sewage collected in the shower sump (ask me how much fun that was to clean). And when we launched the dinghy, we found out the new fuel line we bought doesn’t connect firmly enough to the outboard, causing it to stall out. Not to mention that our watermaker STILL doesn’t work after replacing/rebuilding nearly the whole darned thing, and the macerator on the forward head stopped working on the passage from New York.

Between all of that, the colder-than-normal temperatures and lots of rain so far, I was pretty much over it. I allowed myself to take the day and hate cruising. I may have yelled at the universe too (sorry, universe – you’re actually pretty amazing). Even as cruisers, I think sometimes we get wrapped up in the expectation that cruising is a series of Instagram-perfect moments. I know better. I often say that cruising is life on hard mode… even when all’s going well, the basics are just a little harder. And when things start to break, you’re the plumber, electrician, mechanic. There are bad days, frustrating days, scary days – just like in life on land. But for all the challenges of boat life (and the days when it really does suck), the amazing moments, people, and experiences we get to have more than make up for it.