About Us

On Wed, 17 Dec 2003 18:53:46 GMT, wrote:

snip

The real bottom line: Skip or his wife could die at any time. They may
not have tomorrow.

BB

We met a lovely Aussie couple when we were crewing in a Darwin - Ambon
a few years back. They'd been planning to sail around the world for
ten years, bought a beautiful but mature 39' something and were
fitting her out when the wife was diagnosed with a degenerative eye
disease.

So they sold everything, paid off the boat and headed off with little
reserve capital and before they were really ready.

Repairing the grounding near Brisbane took 80% of their emergency fund
and then they collected a coral bomb in Indonesia. They patched up
the boat and got her back for proper repairs in Oz, but had to work
again to raise the money.

One evening, he came back to yacht to find she had died on board
during the day.

We found out because she was due to be visiting us that weekend and
she never showed up. We found out when we called her mobile.

Suddenly, we became a lot more focused in our search for "the perfect
boat". We decided we would never find her and would accept "75%"
perfect. Even so, it still took six months to find her and to date
another two years fitting her out.

But by the time we finish, we'll know "Hinewai" inside out - and in
the process, we've become plumbers, sparks, diesel mechanics, welders,
painters etc etc. Indeed, at times it's been hard to remember we are
primarily sailors.

We aim to leave for our big trip in two years - by that time "Hinewai"
will be as ready as she'll ever be. But, as important, we run a small
company - just the two of us - and our clients buy us so we can't sell
it. When we leave, that income stream will stop. At our ages, it's
unlikely we'll be able to start again when we get back (sorry - IF we
ever bother to come back). So, and I realise others may disagree, we
have to be comfortable with the money we take and with what we leave
behind.

Hmm, having just reread this, I'll rephrase the start of that last
para - we WILL be leaving in two years. Come what may. Sometimes,
it's easy to forget.

Peter

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