Author: Chris Tanner

So I’m back in San Francisco for a few days for a meeting – this time however I’m staying on the boat, which I’m really looking forward to. I stepped aboard, scaring a couple of small birds who flew across to the neighbouring boat, chirping angrily. I soon discovered a nest in the folds of the sail! There were no eggs in it so I guess they were either preparing for a family or have already had their birdlets “fly the nest”. Rose tells me they are Rosefinches, a common household bird around here. The bloke definitely looks da man with his bright coral-red plumage. After about half an hour of hanging around trying to figure out where his home had just gone, he and his lady friend moved on.

Time for me to start working on our new home; as usual with any new boat there’s a long list of things to sort out. In fact two lists; domestic and, let’s say “nautical”. The former is fortunately a lot shorter than the latter, considering the first thing we’d planning to do is move aboard to live. Having bought the boat back in April and then being in the UK ever since, I was a little apprehensive of what I would return to. Would there be a couple of inches of water in the bottom? Would everything be damp? Would the boat still be afloat?! As it happens everything was in great shape. I’d left the 12v electrics on for the automatic bilge pump [which, checking later, I discovered will still run without the 12v main power on]. One of the two batteries was completely flat, and the other was fine. Must be a power leak somewhere, or else 3 months of running the automatic bilge pump flattens the battery. Everything on board is dry, bar a couple of small water marks under one of the cabin ports where it had dripped. The toilet (heads, in nautical terms) is a bit stinky; I need to get to the bottom of this; it might “just” need new pipes.

On the nautical front I need to sort out the anchor chain – rusted away to almost nothing, go up the mast to see what’s on the top, check diesel, oil, tighten alternator belt, inspect the electrics, check seacocks and hoses and make sure I get familiar with all the inner workings of this new machine. It’s a bit like a cross between a car and a house, with all the complicated parts of each, squeezed into a small space. Engine and propulsion, sails and rigging, steering, 12v and 110v electrics, plumbing, gas, kitchen (galley), toilet and shower (heads), hot and cold pressure water, fridge… The great thing is it’s all stuff I can work on myself; unlike the van back in the UK which is all electronic. Fun times!

One pleasant discovery was the way that my 3 large bags of stuff disappeared very easily into the stowage on board. Rose and I have been thinking a lot about how much we can bring over when we come later this year. 3 bags each? How many books? Paintings? How many clothes? We’d been planning to just bring what we could carry with standard baggage, a bike and one excess bag (all full to the gunwales of course) … it’s good to know we can fit more; but should we? I’m working through a new book; “The Voyager’s Handbook – The essential guide to blue water cruising“, which says;

“In narrowing down the list of what you will bring, you will help define your new self, this person who is about to embark on a great adventure and a totally new way of life. In moving aboard and living with fewer possessions, you will begin to separate your many wants from your fewer needs. The possessions you carry will mean more, and you’ll realize how little most of what you gave up mattered to you.”

I’m looking forward to taking a step further in simplifying life.