Cruising Miss Sadie

[Grime]

I think the adventure is over. At my age and the wife physical condition every dollar I spend on Miss Sadie is one less dollar to care for my wife after I'm gone. We were told and believed that all she needed was a good cleaning not 1000's of dollars on refit just to make her safe to sail.

[Captain Smollett]

Maybe the sailing portion of the adventure is over...YOUR adventure is not.   ;)

[Jim_ME]

David and Lisa, I think that we all admire you for giving it a try. It must be discouraging that things didn't work out this time.

At times when cruising wasn't possible for me, I have found enjoyment in more local and even daysailing, so would also encourage you to get back out on the water, even if with scaled back plans, for now.

Grog to you.  :)   And continuing best wishes for your health.

[Grime]

Well Capt. life is an adventure so its not over yet.

Jim_ME

I'm one of those type people that has to have a reason or goal to do something. For example You see people riding a horse around and around a arena. I can't do that. I spent my life horseback but never just rode. I had to have a reason. Training, moving stock, getting around a fence line.  Sailing to me is the same I've got to have a goal. Cruising over to Fla and up the east coast was that goal.

Sailing Matagorda Bay is another thing. There are very few days you can sail. Matagorda Bay is shallow 10 or less average with strong winds an a rough chop most of the time. There is only one or two others here that even leave the dock. 

Thanks for the kind words,

[jotruk]

I know that life knocks you down sometime. But never give up the dream. as I always think life does not end at the end of the pier.

[Jim_ME]

I'm one of those type people that has to have a reason or goal to do something.

About 10 years ago, I had some trouble and lost my mooring on a nearby bay. I bought an O'Day [Rhodes] Mariner 19 Centerboard version and began sailing it on a large lake about 1/2 hour to the Northeast of me. I enjoyed it much more than I expected that I would. I found that for myself, to a large degree, sailing is sailing. The sunsets to the West in the mountains varied with nearly each evening sail. My friends and family were glad to come along for and evening or afternoon sail. There was a State Park with a beach that one could anchor off at the North shore of the lake. there were towns and villages around the lake that one could go visit.

A friend of mine and my former significant other came up to camp out at the park and daysail for a couple weeks. She had been afflicted with a rare degenerative disease, but loved to get out of the big city and camp out and get out on the water. Fortunately, the campground (Sebago Lake State Park, where John and his children also camped out on their visit), had just constructed new state-of-the-art accessible facilities, including toilet and showers, each with a big skylight. She loved dogs, but wasn't able to really have one in her condition, so got her dog fixes from my springer, who would lie next to her and put his head in her lap as we sailed.

The only plan was to have no plans, and do whatever we felt like doing at the time. Hang out at the campsite...bring the boat from anchor into the beach where she could climb from her wheelchair over the combing into the cockpit and off we would sail, drive into Portland to the art museum, or to some other event...

They are both gone now, but I get to keep the memories of some great times. We did what we could with the time...and the boat...that we had...

[Below is a photo of us about to cast off from the park boat ramp dock after launching the boat, and head out the river to the lake and sail over to the beach at the campground.]

As I decided to scale back to the lake, i expected it to seem like a poor substitute for sailing on the ocean, but in practice, I was too busy enjoying sailing to worry much about that...

[Grime]

Very nice story. Thanks for sharing.