September to February
Once we returned to the dock after our August summer trip, we knew we needed to work on all the projects we put off during the summer and the ones we needed to get done before leaving the dock. We thought the weather was turning, so we didn't think we'd miss out on good sailing weather. We were wrong!
September went by with a trip to Whistler for a bachelorette party, the new mainsail finally coming in with the right sliders and a trip to Victoria. The month ended sadly, and we said goodbye to the goodest dog Taj.
October was full speed ahead with a birthday, a wedding and a pile of education courses. Mark spent most of the month learning how to maintain and fixe Diesel engines and standing rigging.
November saw Mark go home for a visit, and we took up sailboat racing to get more on-water experience. We spent a week on land to realize we preferred living on the water.
December was Christmas, and we finally had the time to start the long overdue projects. Mark rented a garage and got to work on batteries, cupboards and autopilot rebuilds. I started the looming canvas projects by picking off the easy lee-cloths. We thought we'd get away for a sail at Christmas, but we were frozen into the marina. And with the boat in constant project mode, it looked like we wouldn't be going anywhere soon.
January was full of projects. Mark was away each night working on getting the list of stuff done, and I started the dodger sewing I'd been putting off since the canvas came back in September.
Five months went by in a blur, and it doesn't feel like we made much progress on getting the boat ready for longer trips. Now that we're in the home stretch of work, it's starting to come together, but there's still a long way to go in a short period of time.