RESOLUTIONS FOR THE NEW YEAR !!!!!

SHIP'S LOG:

In keeping with our cultural tradition for the day, I thought it would be a good idea to put forth some resolutions for the coming year. . . . . and then see how long it takes for me to break them. A resolution is, after all, a lot less binding than a promise and carries with it little penalty aside from the embarrassment for failure, but then the number of people who will be in the same state will be legion.

My first resolution will be not to run aground again! It is getting on toward a month since I last "discovered land," then again, it is hard to "run aground" when one is not in the water! To keep this First Resolution, the Second Resolution is needed . . . . .

"do better at planning trips." Actually, I had thought that I had done this very well as I knew exactly where I was when I ran out of water. I suppose that it is not so much "the planning" part that needs the work so much as paying better attention to what I "planned!" It would have help that much in the New Haven debacle but certainly would have been most beneficial at Southport in recognizing I was in the wrong harbor and using the wrong chart. As someone once noted, it is not the water that is the danger for a boat, rather it's the hard parts around the edges that cause most of the problems.

The Third Resolution, complete all of the projects/jobs necessary to be done before launch. Now that might seem like a no brainer, but it all has to do with your definition of necessary. The absolute- bare bones - priorities are to 1.) Keep water outside the boat; 2.) Keep the rig on the boat; 3.) Keep the keel, hull and deck intact; 4.) Be able to control the vessel's direction; 5.) Keep the crew onboard; 6.) Know where you are and where you are going. Thus it is that replacing the zincs, painting the bottom, replacing the packing in the stuffing box and other such items, 27 in total, are necessary, but . . . . . they can all actually be delayed for another season "if", if one is willing to run the risk of having to do them at a highly disadvantageous time, in a certainly more difficult situation and location, at what will undoubtedly be at a much greater financial price. Every boat owner lets something slide each year in the rush to get "into the water." Considering how things have gone, it is probably best that I resolve not to do so this year and get them all done.

The Fourth Resolution will be to "GO SOUTH!" I will get out of Long Island Sound! I will get through New York Harbor! I will get down the Jersey Coast and up the Delaware Bay! I will get into and through the Chesapeake Bay! I will traverse the ICW! I will get to the Decision Point (Fort Lauderdale) and either continue to the Keys or head for the Bahamas. I will! I will! I will!
Well, I will if everything works out. If it was merely a question of resolve, I'd be there already, laughing at everybody up here in the cold and snow. Still, I resolve to do it! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! !

MASTER'S PERSONAL LOG:

It is always a good thing to keep one list of resolutions small, as the fewer the number of resolutions, the easier it is to keep them. Looking out on the snow and the thermometer that hovers in the single digits, sailing seems a long way away but it is merely 120 days or less if I get the work done early. Trying to live in the moment while trying to make plans for the future seems kind of counter-intuitive and tends to give me a headache. I wish that the weather would break and there would e a short winter so that I can get started on stuff. It is no fun working around a boat, inside or out, when the weather is cold. It makes everything exponentially more difficult and raises the screw-up quotient significantly. Waiting and simply being present can be a real struggle. Thank goodness I don't have any Marine Units or I would be spending them like a drunken sailor . . . . sort of appropriate, on stuff that I really don't need. So I will enjoy the beauty of the day and pray for an early, very early, incredibly early Spring!