How does one start a story like this?
I guess we need to back up a few months to April or May of last year. Around this time, as I was coming out of the long winter months, it is pretty usual for me to start longing to go sailing again.
Something I never get to do enough of, it seems.
Several years ago I, along with two friends, obtained the International Certificate of Competence, allowing us to charter sailboats in sunny holiday locales, but circumstance and financial concerns had allowed us only three real charter holidays over 6 years. And each time there was a serious feeling of trepidation once the time came to sail the boat out of the marina after 2 or 3 years of not setting foot on a sailboat.
This needed to change...
The options
So what is needed to go sailing? Only two things really: Time and a boat.
Time I could make. Without any family obligations and with me being a freelancer, this is a simple trade: money vs time. Simply ... don't work for a while.
Checking my personal and business accounts, I felt I could afford to trade some money for some time... Part one completed.
See! This is easy ;-)
If only the other part of the equation was so easy. Because - surprise, surprise - boats are expensive!
But I'm competent crew! This can't be a problem. Right?
Surely I'll find a friendly boat owner looking for a crew member between now and a few months? How can this plan go wrong? It's - pun intended - watertight!
So off I go...
I told my current customer I wouldn't be renewing my contract at the end of the year and started registering on a number of crewing sites and I tell EVERYBODY that I'm looking for a boat.
Really, how long can this take? Days? Weeks?? Surely not months?!?
The plan
The initial plan went as follows: I would find somebody crossing from the Canary Islands to the Caribbean.
With this many months to spare I would probably be able to meet up with them for a week or two in the Mediterranean in order for us to get to know one another.
Then I'd rejoin them for the Atlantic crossing and sail along around the Caribbean for a few months. Possibly meeting other people and crew along the way to, maybe, boat hop my way across the islands.
If I'd enjoy the experience, I'd continue through the Panama Canal and sail to French Polynesia. Either stopping at Galapagos or not.
Ambitious, but still reasonable, no? Well, I thought so at least.
Then months start going by... Summer comes and goes. Fall sets in and the window to find someone gets smaller. I'll have to compromise a little bit.
Maybe I won't be able to meet my prospective boat owner after all...
Leaves turn all shades of red, brown and yellow but eventually grow tired and fall down to the ground below. Still no boat.
Autumn marches on and the question on everyone's lips is: "Found a boat yet?" No.
Finally, at the beginning of November, a glimmer of hope. A friend has a friend who sails across the Atlantic. A quick WhatsApp message to confirm. An answer! Yes!
Full crew to cross the Atlantic, but am I willing to cruise the Windward Isles as of mid December and pass through the Panama Canal in June towards the Marquesas?
Hell yeah.
Contact
I guess it's true that no battle plan survives first contact with reality and mine was no exception.
In the end I was happy to have found a friend of a friend to join instead of a complete stranger.
Even though I'd never met Michael in person, I felt like it was a good fit from our WhatsApp conversations and phone calls.
I wouldn't start by sailing across the Atlantic, but maybe that's a better idea too. Get to know the people and the boat in the spectacular and paradisical surroundings of the Caribbean before making the long jump across the Pacific.
So I booked the flight and finally told everyone who asked the question:
"Yes. I found a boat."