onesmallboat

We leave on Sunday. It has been raining for what seems like the month of June and I am a bit worried about the weather in the sound. The forecast looks favourable but really, when are they ever right?

Our boat is a 1976 27′ Catalina, sleeps 4 (kinda), and is pretty bare bones. It is a perfect boat for learning to sail on, not many gadgets and it has an outboard. The storage is very limited so by the time we pack foul weather gear, extra clothes, food, blankets, dishes, PFD’s, water, and the porta pottie, we won’t have room to turn around. I am encouraging the kids to only bring the essentials but to an 8 & 10 year old, everything is essential.

I have been scouring the net looking for meal plans for a 2 week cruise, recipes, and how to satisfy everyones wants/needs when we have no refrigeration and a tiny bbq on which to cook. I think my husband would be happy with sandwiches and hotdogs everyday but that doesn’t fly with me. I have started provisioning and putting it all in one corner of the kitchen. The pile is already big and I just started. Where am I going to put it all? I fear having to haul bags of food out of my one cupboard to get that one thing I need while the boat is listing from side to side. Perhaps lunch will be made while breakfast is being cleared and then it will be ready to eat while we are under sail.

Speaking of being under sail. The kids don’t like that. The boat gets tippy, their pencil crayons or games slide off the table and then the complaining starts. Our eldest daughter gets that worried look on her face like we are to sink any minute and she is desperate to get to land. She hasn’t found her sealegs yet. Our youngest daughter seems to take it in stride for the most part but picks up on her sister’s anxiety as I do also. Then there is Dad, the faster and rougher the seas the happier he seems to be and he simply ignores the wails of “are we there yet?” and “please dad, drop the sails!”. Of course, once we get to our destination the girls are excited to explore, meet new friends and get a treat for their surviving their journey.

Nick says 2 weeks on a small boat is like 2 months on a big boat. I don’t know how I am supposed to feel about that?