Leaving dreams at the dock

Planning to sail around the world is not the same as actually doing it. Lots of books have been written about the latter, a new one is coming: Sailing Faith: The Long Way Home (The Gregg A Granger  Family Adventure). And it begins with an inspiring (and recognizable) story of how it all started.

We find, while preparing for our voyage in Hampton, Virginia, a number of folks planning voyages of their own and a few who have actually left the dock.  The planners are dreamers, conjuring obstacles to maintain the dream.  As soon as the boat is all ready; boats are boats, and will never be all ready.  As soon as they have accumulated enough money; there will never be enough.  As soon as the kids are older, or the kids have moved out, or … I recall a man I worked with years earlier who refused a sizeable Christmas bonus.  “I always wanted a Cadillac,” he said, “but as soon as I get my Cadillac, the dream is gone.  I just think the car can’t be as good as the dream.” People know when they leave the dock, the dream is gone.

Long lasting food

 

I'm sure that anyone who ever spends, or plans to spend, a lot of time aboard without guarantees of having access to fresh food will have asked themselves this question: how long will it last? There are many great resources on this topic, but sometimes a simple first-hand account (In this case coming from Wind Horse) is nice to read.

We thought that you might be interested in what we have found on longevity. We’ll start with the photo of dinner. The shrimp are from Trader Joes, and at this eating 13 months in the freezer. They don’t compare with fresh of course, but they taste pretty good in the curried prawns dish. The tortillas are an amazing story. These are remnants of a big stack we bought in Mexico spring of 2007 - now over two years old. We vacuum packed them originally, but these have been in the freezer in a Ziploc bag for the past year. Really tasty too.