As the World Turns...

So are the days of our lives...

Just kidding, enough with the soap opera crap right... However, I would argue that most peoples lives are like a soap opera anyway. And so goes my own...

Originally there was a five year plan to purchase a boat, get to know her really well, upgrade her as we used her, and then head off to the wild blue wonder for an indeterminate number of years. Basically until it stopped being fun. Then, as I mentioned before, during an alcohol assisted whim this spring, we decided to leave in Sep 2012 to try it for a year. Good plan I thought. We would leave the house in the capable hands of our teenage son, and off we would go for 10 months to try cruising. It was an aggressive schedule to try and accomplish the refit. But I am never happy unless I am in over my head.

Unfortunately, things change. It scares the crap out of me, because I know that there are a lot of people who continually put off going cruising because of one reason or another, until it is too late. I do not want to be one of those people, however, Sep 2012 is not going to work for a couple of reasons, so sailing to the Bahamas has been put off for another year. I console myself with the fact that we are still well under our original 5 year plan.

So the issues. Most importantly, the stock market has taken a shit kicking, and all the money for the refit is tied up in the market. Only a fool would sell at time like this, and I don't want to be one of them, so I really need the market to come back a bit before I would feel comfortable completing the refit. Second, we are really uncomfortable leaving a $250,000.00 asset in the hands of an 19 year old. Don't get me wrong, he is a good kid, but not yet mature enough to the handle the responsibility of maintaining a house in pristine condition, so that it can be ready for sale when we return. The house is very "dent-able" as Serena puts it, which basically means that a little bit of neglect or damage could have a dramatic effect on the aesthetic value, and subsequently reduce the sale-ability. Read; a lot of soft wood; floors, ceiling, trim, stairs, railings, etc...

So we have decided to sell the house before we leave and put everything in storage. Unfortunately because we just received occupancy this summer, we cannot sell until Aug 2012 in order to escape the capital gains tax on the sale of the house. The agony... Plus, Aug is a bad time to sell a house, at least around here. The Spring is a much better time, so we'll list it Mar 2013.

That doesn't change the blog much. I will still be doing the refit, and we will still be traveling, it might just take a little longer, and there won't be an arrival in Nassau for an additional year.

By the way. I got an email from Transport Canada. It looks like the boat's new name will be "Vita" out of the Port of Belleville, Ontario, Canada. Vita, pronounced (Veeta), is Italian for "Life". They still need some pictures and a declaration from us, but it looks good. Can't wait.

The basement is coming together nicely, so hopefully I will be back to boat stuff very soon.

Until next time.