Hi guys. Thought I'd put up a public thread to put stuff in.
I typically post privately on the Staff forum, mostly to keep the staff informed of what we're up to, where, etc.
But, I'll drop this in for the rest of the folks on the site.
Most of you know we decided to retire and over the course of seven years we learned to sail, fix up the house, repaired everything in it, sell most of our crap and at year five the wife was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She has fought it valiantly, like a superhero - and has won so far. As of April, she is doing great.
So two years went by while she battled cancer, had chemo, surgery and medical problems. After she was told she was clear of cancer, she found our boat for us.
The boat is a Transworld 41.
We were ready to go and planned for June 1st, 2015. Seven years after we had decided to do this.
On May 11th, I turned in my resignation. Two days later, on the 13th of May, my heart tried to kill me. I had an aortic blockage, and "stenosis", a narrowing due to calcification on a deformed valve. My friends on here know I was in good shape and stayed in good shape, so when it happened I was in shock.
The following Monday I underwent open heart surgery - and thought when I closed my eyes it would be for the last time. Fortunately, and with good doctors, I'm still around. I have a new valve and I'm in better shape today than I've been in a few years!
In July we departed Colorado (I spent enough time to heal up my chest and I was on the road as soon as I could go).
We picked up our boat in New York, at Stony Point and splashed her, worked on the things we needed to work on to go, and went without any fanfare or expensive repairs. We knew there were a myriad of things to fix but nothing preventing us from having some fun and traveling. We set out from Stony Point, stopped in Nyack NY, and a few places down range. Eventually we were towed into Atlantic Highlands, NJ due to engine issues.
Later we were towed a second time in the C&D Canal.
The third time we were towed was to the spot we're in now, in Norfolk, VA.
We were hit in the marina waiting on engine repairs - and $12,000 dollars later, we were repaired again.
On 2 December 2015, my wife slipped while boarding a friend's boat and fractured her back. We traveled to Colorado, stayed with one of the kids for a few weeks while she healed up, saw doctors about her back and her (now former) cancer. I've been checked and we both go back in July for one more set of physicals.
She is doing better and we came back to the boat a week ago.
This coming week, we're moving up to the Potomac River in a rather remote location to do some work, installing wind generator, solar panels and a composting toilet, as well as repairing the refrigeration (I hope).
Then this fall, we're shooting for the Bahamas.
Anyway, that's the story so far.
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