Real time update for November 4, 2022.
So, I really don’t want to write this. I’d rather not talk about it. I’d like to put the whole thing behind us, which in a sense is what we are trying to do.
Anyone that has ever been on sailboat knows that sailing is often hours of boredom, interspersed with minutes of chaos. However, even in the down periods, there is a lot of stuff going on, with the boat, and around the boat. It is however, easy to get distracted with other things and take your eye off the ball. That’s exactly what happened to us.
I will spare you the details.
We hit an immoveable object that had a ladder attached to it yesterday, in addition to a navigation mark a couple of weeks ago. Both were careless mistakes. It could have been a lot worse. We fortunately didn’t do any structural damage, but we do have some cosmetic scars.
Now to the responses.
In our latest incident, we were trying to be a good buddy boat which is why we got distracted. I have to keep reminding myself that the reaction should not be to become a bad buddy boat going forward. It was our mistake, not theirs. We will however be more careful in the future. The safety of our boat and crew is the priority.
While the damage is not structural, it is a constant reminder, and it is hard to “get over it”. Some people seem to be OK driving around with a big dent in their new car, I am not one of those people. We just happened be next to a full service marina that has a good reputation for doing quality work. The marina is also next to a village with pubs, restaurants, walking trails, grocery stores, etc. We also spotted dozens of turtles lining the marina entrance on the way in that caused quite a bit of excitement on our boat. All those things warrant some investigation.
I’ve already used the time to do my oil change, do some electrical fixes and have added several other jobs to our maintenance list, now that we have some time. I might even get caught up with my blog posts. We have also been enjoying hot showers and laundry facilities.
So, we are doing our best to put it behind us. I have also learned some important lessons on how I should respond to other people’s misfortune, given the response we got to ours.
First, Judy’s immediate reaction was, we need to get this fixed. She knows how I feel about these things, she knows how I feel about this boat and she also knows that the cost of repairing the boat is irrelevant if it puts a damper on the next 7 months of our adventure. That understanding comes from 40 years of marriage.
There are also other people, who we have literally only known for a couple of days, some of which don’t even speak the same language as us, who understand the need to fix this, put it behind us and sail forward. In the words of one of my BHYC buddies when talking about some of his own issues recently, “this is not just some random piece of plastic”. It is comforting, to have people respond positively and with understanding, rather than be dismissive. Something I’d like to move away from.
What lessons have I learned, after musing about this for less than 24 hours, mostly on land not at sea?
First, we have to pay more attention when we are on the boat, regardless of conditions. Things can happen in an instant. Luckily our bumps were minor, but it could have been a lot worse.
Secondly, we have to take responsibility for our own mistakes. A negative outcome to doing a good deed, should not be to stop doing good deeds.
And finally and most importantly, when something bad happens to someone, my opinion of how they respond is irrelevant. Unless of course, I was asked to share my opinion. What may seem petty to me, might be very important to someone else. They need my support and encouragement, not my critique of how they problem solved their issue.
In closing, to all our family and friends who follow these posts and others on social media, thanks for the kind words. As much as I don’t want these posts to be a pity plea, I also don’t want them to create the illusion that everything is easy and fun 24/7. I also am not naive to think that what we are dealing with, compares in any way with some of the challenges and issues some of you are facing.
The folks here at Atlantic Yacht Basin, including staff and other boat owners have been great. We are hoping the work can be done by mid week and we can continue down the ICW. One of our friends has already moved on and we expect the other boats that arrived with us yesterday will be moving on today as well. That means we will be meeting some new boaters in the coming days, which is always fun.
We look forward to sharing with you what goes on in Great Bridge Village in future Crew Log posts.
Out.
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