We found her.

Finally.

After almost 6 years of kissing frogs it happened; we bought a sailboat. 

Her name is Eileen May and she lives in Mexico.

This is a surprise to us. How it came about that we own a sailboat in Mexico.

How, after a year of grieving the loss of Summer Rose, our lives have now changed so quickly.

In November, 2015 we found a new listing of a Passport 42 -- Shay's dream boat. The sailboat was moored near Portland, Oregon and for sale by owner, in a price range that was uncomfortable. 

But hey, what's to lose by inquiring?

The owner was living in New Zealand and was ill so no longer sailed Summer Rose. She was cared for by a friend, who would show her to us. 

By the end of the weekend we were seriously falling for her, her layout, deck, cockpit, was just so perfect. She was clearly well loved. We decided to go for it. 

Two months later and $2500 poorer, a disappointing inspection, and a recalcitrant owner, we were at a standstill. We put so much into that process, and we were so very close to completing the deal. But it wouldn't happen no matter how we tried to make it work.

After that crushing ordeal, we couldn't even look at another boat for a year.  

We questioned our path, even our dreams, and focused instead on our rental projects. We hoped that the answer would present itself, for if we were not meant to have a sailboat, then what?

Fast forward to Sunday, February 12, 2017, and I have the flu. The bad one, where doing anything other than staring at the ceiling is too exhausting and mentally straining. 

Having a momentary reprieve from the ceiling, I decided to get online and look at Craigslist for something-or-other; possibly paint for the ceiling.  I ended up at the Mexico Craigslist, at Puerto Vallarta, searching for sailboats.

Sailboat searching did not happen regularly, or at all really, in the past year. Why now?  

My normally racing and methodical, chronic, list making brain, was fairly absent at the moment, having given itself over to the misery of sick, combined with lemon-rum-water (for the throat!). 

I happened across of a picture of a 40ft sailboat that looked vaguely familiar, it was a tad odd looking. Turning the screen to Shay I asked if this boat looked familiar to her?

What happened next, still blows my mind. 

Shay reached into her little cubby, next to her bedside and pulled out a boat card, "Is it this one?" she asks.

I looked at her in disbelief and said, "I'll find out."

So I emailed the owners - not thinking about the boat as much as wondering if this was the same owners we had met 4 years ago. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

After an awesome charter with our friends in the Sea of Cortez, Shay and I were enjoying La Paz, Mexico for a few days. 

We spent the time boat shopping. There was a nice ketch for sale that neither of else felt anything towards. There was the daily walks on the docks of the La Paz marina. During one of these walks, at the very end of the dock, sat a cruising boat that looked slightly different. Shay knocked on the hull, and a head popped out and said hello. 

We had a very nice chat with the owners about their recent sail down from Vancouver, Canada and of course, about their boat. They gave us their boat card (it had a picture of Eileen May with their contact info and the address to their blog). 

The next day we flew home. 

Part-way home actually. Alaska Airlines cancelled our flight, but then put us up for 24 hours in an all-inclusive resort, on the beach, in Cabo San Lucas. I believe Shay was half drunk most of those 24 hours, plus the taxi ride back to the airport. 

We forgot all about Eileen May. 

Or at least I did. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

How that card managed to stay in Shay's cubby through selling our house and most of our belonging and moving into an RV is beyond me. There are no other boat cards hanging out in that cubby. There are only 4 items in there. I looked. 

After a nap, some ceiling staring time and more 'lemon water,' I checked my email, to find that yes, indeed it was the same boat/owners (what?!) and they had an offer on the boat, (sigh), but, and I quote, "...no monies have exchanged hands..."

Okay. Do we want to go down that path? Of hope, dreams and probable heart break?

Sure we do, it'll be fun - said the sick person who's brain is on hiatus. Besides, its more entertaining than staring at the ceiling! 

Within 24 hours we sent a contract with a full price offer. Twenty-four hours after that (Valentine's Day!), we had an accepted offer and flights booked to Puerto Vallarta to inspect the boat. By Thursday I was feeling much healthier and having my wits about me once again, began to wonder what just happened. 

I was ready to get back to my old self and wanted us to make a chart for all the lists we needed, in order to take this spontaneous, week-long inspection of a boat we met exactly 4 years ago - give or take a day, but I think it was the same day. The next day Shay woke up with the flu. 

So that's how it happened. We met Eileen May on Monday, February 27 and spent the next week going over the systems with the owner.  On April 1 we were official with the US Coast Guard. And next Saturday I am returning to Mexico to secure the transfer and boat. 

It's all happened so fast. Its felt as if we never really had a choice anyway. Like there was the gentle pressure of a hand on our shoulders, guiding us to this path. 

Who knows what will happen from here! Maybe I'll catch a cold and we'll adopt a puppy (just kidding Shay!). Crazy things can happen when your brain takes a leave of absence.

Next time we SAIL to Hawaii!

As we flew over the pacific ocean headed for Hawaii on a flight that took almost 6 hours, Shay and I talked about the 2-3 week journey it would take to make the same trip by way of sailboat. The vast blue of the sea looked equal parts paradise and intimidating from our tiny airplane window. 

Our honeymoon for 10 days in paradise was about to begin and all I could think about was sailing offshore. I imagined our sailing experiences; toasting a sunset from the cockpit, taking my shift in the wee hours of the night and listening to the wind thru the rigging, fishing for Mahi Mahi, being obsessed with weather forecasts, sail tweaking and the joy and struggles of creating our own world on our moving island in the Pacific, floating, soaring, flying… sailing along toward our first tropical destination.

The other side of the coin is of course the fears I have about the logistics, the weather, our preparedness. I know enough to know we have so much more to learn. 

So in order to add some excitement to a dreary winter and stave off our frustration about not owning said sailboat we recently attended US Sailing's Offshore Safety Seminar on Bainbridge Island. It was an exhausting and thought provoking weekend of seminars and hands on activities.

We had seminars and classes on COB (crew overboard) drills, sail repair, weather, navigation, keeping crew rested, safety aboard and so much more.

The overriding message however was about wearing life jackets. This was drilled into the participants in a variety of ways and by the end of the weekend we are firm believers in the necessity of a good fitting life jacket. We also got to play with flares, fire extinguishers, and as a finale, a jump into a life raft! 
Which was not as fun as it sounds. 

After donning all our foul weather gear and life jackets we jumped in the pool and wow! was that a shocker! I had no idea I was wearing my life jacket way too loose. Tightening it in the water was almost impossible and it kept riding up my face and trying to float away. Not a comfortable or comforting endeavor. Then with all our gear and inflated life jackets, 6 of us worked together to get into a life raft. It was physically challenging and I face planted into the 4 inches of water at the bottom of the raft on my graceful entry. Not my finest moment. 

After getting everybody aboard we sat around in our wet gear, in a wet raft, claustrophobic and cold. It DID bring home the message that a life raft is really the last place I would want to be!

Having experienced first hand these challenges in a controlled environment I have a greater appreciation for life safety gear and the demands of using this gear in frigid water during an emergency.

We also met many great people from US Sailing and from the Port Townsend area. My favorite speaker was Carol Hasse from Hasse Sails. She is such a wealth of information, combined with her humble, grounded demeanor it was a joy to spend time in her classroom. Shay enjoyed it so much she signed up for Carol's class this year on sail repair in Port Townsend.

While I have committed myself to learning more about weather and how to create a weather plan. I feel comfortable with my internet sources for sailing Puget Sound but I'd like to know how to create a weather plan without internet access and be better able to read the weather from the cockpit.

After we land in Kauai and during the endless wait to depart the airplane I pull up NOAA weather  on my iPad and read the forecast so I can begin to grasp what the local weather scenario is for Hawaii and for the next couple of days. 

This becomes a ritual very morning in Kauai. I pull up NOAA, watch the radar, familiarize myself with the particulars of Hawaii's weather pattern this time of year. This was also helpful in choosing our beach for the day as the northern and southern weather on the island differed substantially.  It was a fun way to start the day while drinking Kona coffee and watching the view of the ocean from our lanai. 

Our vacation in Hawaii was fabulous. We hiked and kayaked and laid in the sun, snorkeled and explored, and prepared local fish and fruit to eat. It was wonderful to be warm. To wake up and put on a swim suit, instead of 3 layers and a rain coat.

It really brought home the truth that our bodies do better in sun and warm temperatures, we feel energized and happy. I don't have to struggle to stay warm, my sinus's are clear and my body relaxes.

The pull of paradise; its weather and beauty is indeed strong. 

On the flight home we drift in our own thoughts. Watching the islands recede, I feel sad to return to rainy Pacific Northwest but excited to begin the next phase in our journey. 

We turn to each other and whisper, "Next time we visit Hawaii it will be on our sailboat."

Fingers crossed.