Reflections

Ever since Peter changed careers, I've been going through quite some changes as well. He accepted October last year a job that took him first overseas for 6 months and now he is sailing on a fantastic new vessel, but that takes him away regularly for long periods. For both of us this has been a journey and last night, it made me aware how much of a journey it is and how easy it is to become strangers with each other.

How easy it is to make assumptions about the other and despite staying in touch over Skype, communication is only 100% when you can see each other.

We've been talking about our plans for "Ataraxia". We want to sell her, but it is a bit of a bittersweet thing to do. We always hoped that more people would see the brilliance of the design and thought when we finish her we could make more people enthusiastic about the whole idea behind her. We would have loved to reach Brasil on her and really hope that any buyer we find, will be as loving of her as us and will want to work with us to finish her. It was really warming for me to find out that like me, he too hasn't given up on our dream to become cruisers. How stupid actually that you start assuming things.

Sailing and hiking

After doing a hike yesterday, I find myself in quite a reflective mood. During the hike, we talked about the fact that as a child, our parents used to take us into nature. I clearly remember the Sundays with my parents, where we went for a walk in the forest. In the Netherlands there are not that many mountains. Or that we walked on the beach from one town to another, eating sandy eggs during lunch with the sand crunching for hours afterwards between your teeth... We had free travel on the train, so we normally did a walk from one station to the other. As a parent now too, I realise how important those seeds and memories are.

My parents clearly planted the seed for being in the outdoors.

Website boat

Today I had an appointment with two great guys, who are going to help me develop a proper website for our boats. At the moment the plan is to do two sites, the one from Ataraxia and the other site is for the commercial side of the school; Whisperboats Pty.

The main goal of both sites is the same: sell a boat. So what sort of info is necessary if you look online at a boat; what tickles you to write that mail, or pick up the phone to go and start looking at it?

We came up with a plan of action to assist me with my goal.

Ataraxia for sale; setting up the basic sale strategy.

As mentioned in my earlier post, Peter and me decided to sell Ataraxia our boat. So in the coming period, will have a lot to blog about yachtbrokers, yes I am one too, potential buyers and ideas of what is the best sales strategy in these times.

After all, at the moment she is not ready to go, why should anybody even be interested to see her?

Getting back in the game

Hi all,

am very bad with this blogging and do promise to be better in future, euh almost every time... It's not that things haven't been happening, it's just much easier to trust my thinking to paper. Sorry computer era, really love to sit like yesterday on the mountain and trust my thoughts to paper.

Just an update then.

Hello Blogging world again...

Hi all,

oops, it was in 2009 since I last wrote about our boat and building it. I must admit, in the mean time our new crew member Sofie arrived and she's quite a handful. But, it is nice to be able to report some progress.

What have we added since we moved in; there is quite a list of lots of small and some bigger jobs that are done. Some you can't see, but seem to take forever, others there is instant result. We had two portholes in the hull added and this is such a success, that we're quite eager to have 3 more. This changes the whole salon, instead of a dark place, it still is a dark place, but more natural light is able to come in.

Champagne was opened

It finally happened; we're live aboards again ;) Last weekend we started moving and managed to get most of our stuff packed and stored onto Ataraxia. Had to throw away some clothes and shoes and think that this weekend some of my bags will have to go too when we move the rest of our junk, euh really necessary items.

We found storage in Hout Bay, so Peter wants to go there tomorrow and store some of our boxes there. From a client of Peter we received some steel storage boxes, so we want to use these in that garage.

Of course, the first night we couldn't sleep out of excitement, but the next two nights and last night, we experienced some hectic South Easterly winds. We have found the benefits of a simple thing called: earplugs...

Time to move, almost...

Yeah, when people ask us when we will move onto our boat, our answer now has changed from two months to, we think in a week or two. What a milestone!

Peter put a lot of time and effort in the boat and like now, it is really satisfying that things are coming to an end. Sunday he showed me that he finished with the electrics, both AC and DC and the first thing that he connected and showed me was the clear view spinning away. If he has a moment during this week, he will connect the water pump and we can start buying lights.

All the large painting has been done, the compressor is off the boat and we ordered on Saturday carpets. The cushions for the seat in the pilothouse and the large cushion for the seat in the salon are in our house and we already sleep on our new mattress. This is as well because the existing mattress on the bed is so worn, that we both had difficulty sleeping on it.

We canceled the rent of our apartment per the 1st of December, so we will have to find some storage space before that time. Preferably in Hout Bay if somebody knows something, much appreciated.

There was a moment that Peter might had to go away for a month for his work, but it seems that was false alarm. Imagine that, then it would have been up to me to organize the moving and final finishing... oops.

So, at the moment we spent every weekend working on the boat and the work is getting lighter, since we start to see results. Next time you're on the marina, pop your head in and at least pretend that you see it coming to an end too ;)

Moving up, moving on

With all the weekends where Peter had to work, or we had some other obligations it's not going as quickly or as smoothly as we want to. However, we got some pretty good motivation going; Peter wants to go on a trip to Malawi by train and bus in November, which is fine with me, as long as we will live on the boat by then. As well we sort of told the landlord that they could rent our place out to other people from the 1st of November, so oops.

Peter made a bare minimum list of what we need at least before moving in. Forgot to take this, but at the moment this is:
* working toilet
* running water
* galley ready that at least we can cook and do dishes
* mattress in our cabin
* electricity, so we can have some lights, use the calorifier etc

Things that can be done later:
* railing, so we won't slip off deck, at least at cockpit
* cushions in pilot house and salon
* additional windows in salon
* finishing the lockers
* making 2nd bedroom

Well, that doesn't sound much, but somehow easy things tend to take unexpectedly long, or need something else finished first.

Been bribed to come and help this weekend; we're going to pull wires, but in exchange we will spent the weekend on another boat, so there is less traveling time. It really works motivating to have the use of this boat for staying on, it reminds you again why we loved living on a boat so much.

So, will see you this weekend in the harbour.

yay, a new post

The other day I commented on a friends blog, that he should update it more frequently, but got the ball back. See that it's been a month since we last updated this blog. Even got an email from my mother-in-law, but then, she's having an infection on her leg and needs to sit a lot at the moment. She uses that time to surf on the internet, a truly remarkable lady.

We have hired Colin, a boat builder, to do a number of jobs for us, so the show can get a bit more moving. At the moment when friends ask how is it going with the boat, I ask for the next question. In fact, some days I have the feeling we have been able to do quite a number of things, but most days I just see this long list of things that we still need to do.

There are the odd jobs that I can do, but mostly Peter lets me off the hook. Yes, I'm exploiting the fact that I'm a woman and I bring him a beer or G&T around 5... Hope that no emancipated women are reading this, but lucky we don't live in an age where they were burning their bras!

Haven't canceled the rent for our apartment yet, we still have a bet about the time when we will leave and according to Allan and Eva we will still be there with Christmas. They do speak out of experience; when Allan took their boat out of the water for an at most 6 month job, Gremlin was relaunched about 5 years later and is still not completely recovered...

So, most weekends you can find us on the boat and we hope that soon we can give a final date of when we move in.

slowly, so slowly

pfft, so, the painter found a new job and left us, after only painting the fore cabin, shower and heads, so we still need to do the rest. Peter spent weekends with sanding etc, but this is going slowly.

We just need a small ship with money, then we have the boat ready in approx two months, but now this can take a while, or not if we sell another big boat. Time will tell.

In the harbor

Having her in the water and close to us is making quite a difference. Peter is checking in the morning if our painter Quinten arrived and gives him the orders for the day and checks in the afternoon what progress he made.

In the weekends you see us both on the boat and Louis found already his favorite spots on deck. Been cleaning her inside thoroughly, despite the fact that this week Quinten will sand and paint again. The moment his job is finished and we have the last two windows in, we can seriously think of moving in! Although Eva en Allan still think that we will have another Christmas at their place.

It will be good to be back in the harbor with our friends. Despite the fact that my vegetable patch is coming along nicely; I managed to grow purple chillies (don't ask how they got purple, I thought it was the way they normally grow), living back on the water will be great.

launch drink

the launching of Ataraxia went in our usually chaotic way. We did invite our dragon lady from NSRI to give a speech and name her and some friends passed by. If you've missed this one, we intend to give a large party by the time we will move onto the boat. You will probably have to bring your own food and wine with, but that's concern for later.

Margi gave a brilliant speech, see below for the complete text.

After that she was towed to our mooring, where we will be finishing her off and make her suitable for living on. Hopefully in a few years, or sooner, we can install the engines and take off with her.

Text of the speech from Margi "the dragonlady" Benson:

"since being awarded this honor (note: she is head of the awards committee at the station, so used to giving awards), I have done much "trawling" through the internet.

In pagan days, the naming of the boat was accomplished by draping themselves in olive branches, much beating of breasts and human sacrifice. The Greeks and Phoenicians (becoming more civilized) modified this somewhat, having the vestal virgins cast wine upon the sea, sacrificing a ram or two and invoking the patron saints of sea and navigation.

However as I don't think the authorities will smile on us if we "slag a skaap" on the slipway, and there is no way I can pass for a vestal virgin... I have two gifts for Peter and Nicole (note: we got a packet of lamb chops for on the braai and a picture of a St. Brendans Cross to be placed on board)

The definition of Ataraxia is of Greek origin, meaning perfect peace of mind, tranquility and freedom from worry.... which apparently Peter and Nicole discovered in a bottle of wine! (note: always good to bring Ataraxia wine to us, especially the Chardonnay)

I name this boat Ataraxia, may god bless her and all who sail in her

Moving on up

Another episode is almost concluded and a new episode in the life of our boat is about to begin: tomorrow it will hit the water!

The last few weeks have been quite hectic. At my work we sold quite a large yacht, allowing us to finally pay some debtors and push the progress. Leading to the fact that she will go out of the boatyard tomorrow.

Peter towed her with the car to the exit of the boatyard, yes, our boat is trailerable and today they we're supposed to lift her on the truck. I say supposed to, the crane that arrived was too small to load our boat... Now they come tomorrow morning at 5h00 with a bigger crane. So Peter is about to scream and very tense at the moment. He's been having sleepless nights since two weeks, since all sort of things we wanted to do went wrong.

We ordered the windows last year; gave the templates, or better the cutouts to the windowman, who had to redo them a couple of times, due to delivering them with incorrect thicknesses etc. Two had to be redone due to our fault, since we didn't realise that you can't cut hardened glass, of course, when installing the windows last weekend, nothing fitted. Then you're very happy that we could adjust the boat to the windows.

Oh well, so there are more stories to tell about hiring people who then never show up, or get you to buy material for them and then quit. But tomorrow our baby will move to Hout Bay and then we will have another nerve wrecking session of getting her to the mooring.

Margi, our "mother" at Searescue will give a speech and throw a bottle of bubblies to the yacht. Then it will hopefully not so long any more before we can have a proper party and move back onto the boat!

New Year Resolutions

A bit late, but we wish everybody a healthy and prosperous new year, may there always a hand of water beneath your keel!

This holiday period we used to work more on the boat and we expect to hit the water in March this year. We haven't given up the lease of our apartment yet, but Peter and Ivan are making a lot of progress.

We felt really weird, going through the kitchen shops the other day and then to disappoint the eager salesman with saying that we just needed a kitchen sink and a tap... We bought a great sink at a plumbing shop, now to find a fitting tap. We both like the taps with the large spray heads, but the prices of these are too ridiculous and Peter decided that height-wise it wouldn't fit. So we're now chasing for taps, very homey.

Completely off-topic: at thinkgeek.com they have awesome led lights for in your tap or shower, who react to the temperature of the water, alas, these can't be fitted on our taps. Would have been a nice effect though, especially during the night. Too bad I discovered this site only after Christmas.

So, here we are, Peter bought anti-fouling and will start doing that one of these days, I've sold a boat, so we can pay for it and hopefully my next post I will place some pictures of her.

much needed update

Ok, I've been scarce with blogging, but my mind was completely elsewhere. In July my sister came down for two weeks with my niece and nephew, so I went a week off with them to show them a bit around South Africa. They loved it, despite the rain and cold.

Since July I've been working hard, trying to sell some boats, so we can finish our boat quicker.

Ataraxia moved from Strand to Paardeneiland, where mainly Peter works on her regularly. The hull is painted and they will start with the decks soon, which is now finished with sanding and smoothing. Peter is organising the inside; we have a carpenter working for us to make lockers, drawers etc. Peter did most of the painting inside, that stuff is just vicious and I don't know how he can do that.

Am feeling guilty, mainly my weekends are spent hiking or running in the mountains, while Peter is doing most of the work, but I really need my weekends to get some rest. At the moment since October I've been working regularly the weekends too, but as it looks like, things are coming together.

In December we will slow down, since we're going away together for a week and after that, have a big party in the Eastern Cape. The son of my friend Tabisa has been in the bush, so we're going there to celebrate his safe return and his crossing into manhood! There will be lots of meat and alcohol, so we'll probably need Christmas to recover. Oh wait, then a friend from The Netherlands is here, who will take us out for more food and wine....

At the moment I'm on a strict diet, since I'm suffering from Candida. This means no wheat, yeast, sugar, alcohol, mushrooms etc... Have already lost 4 kg's and am losing more at the moment. I combine this with a Bi-com resonance therapy, so I only felt sick the first week.

The major change is getting out of the rythm of having a glass of wine in the evening, have my ups and downs, but will get there.

Hopefully I will write something before our holiday again, Cheers.

sorry friends, we do listen

Peter and I are truly blessed with very good friends who care about us. They are always willing to listen and come with good advice too. In the case of building the boat, we haven't listened to you guys, sorry. Even now, with the boat over budget and late delivery, we still don't follow your advice... Is it stupid? Perhaps.

At the moment, or even a few months ago, people asked why can't you place the project on hold, so you have a chance to save some money before you allow them to continue working. Alas, the problem is that even if the builder wouldn't work on it, we would still need to pay money for rent etc to them. Furthermore, the builder already accepted a new project after us, so wants us out of there rather sooner than later.

Both Peter and I know a number of boatbuilders, but as well a number of amateur builders. We learned that as soon as the project loses momentum, it is very difficult to re-start it. We had sort of this experience when we had problems with the delivery of wood. Only after much blaming and arguing, the project started to get going again and is making good progress now.

We got offered a place on the hard, to finish the yacht off while still comfy living on land. We refused this, since we know ourselves. I know that as soon as we're not confronted daily with a problem, like get running water, we will be lazy and work will progress slowly. As well one thing that is bothering us a lot at the moment is the fact that we don't have an overview, or control of the expenses. A supplier faxes you his invoice and we have to assume it is delivered and will be used for our boat. The moment the yacht is out of our influence, we run the change of having this experience again. We want to be able to be more in control of our budget and want and need to do it in our time and pace.

We knew when we started, that it would take years before the yacht will be finished. It is not great, but something we can live with. She will be comfortable enough without all the nice finishes and we will have running water, a toilet, a matrass to sleep on, places to chill or lounge, lights and bought a whole lot of plastic containers for our stuff. We will have our crying moments, especially when trying to remember where you left what, but hey, it still beats living in a house.

Cheers, N

money

ok, I admit it, I'm Dutch and like to sit on my money. Boatbuilding is the opposite, so I still wonder how I got myself involved in this. Despite all our good intentions, yes, the way to hell is paved with these, we have gone over budget and just got a mail describing how much more we will be over budget...

Yikes, panic, major panic. Normal people could ask a boat builder that they could put the project on hold for a few months, but for us it is impossible. We have no extra funds to pay for the storage and they have been pushing this project since they have another one coming up and need the space.

The major complaint for holdup is the lack of drawings from the designer and from the designer you get the answer that he has never received emails from the builder. In between we try to come with solutions to problems, but how should I know how to attach the deck to the hull...

All I want in this stage that this nightmare is over. Euhh, if somebody has some lose money, let me know, since we really need it.

Woopie

Wow, visited the yard today and you see it progressing with every visit. They have laminated extra stringers in on the floor and all the standing parts of the interior are being busy laminated in.

they had to make adjustments to the height of the kitchen worktops, I know, no comments please and we discussed the layout of the kitchen. The builders have a number of problems issues they desperately need the advice of Tad for, like the wood capping on the deck, but the work is going quick.

The hull will be finely sanded one last time before they will put the top coat on, but that will be done as one of the last things. Up to us is now to put in some more money, get the fuel tanks ready, get the hardened glass and paint ordered and chase up Tad for solutions. Well, sounds easy enough.

Cheers, Nix

things I've never thought of

Ok, did I mention that this boat building thing is really like another dimension? It seemed like it took forever to do the hull (hmm wait, it did take forever!) but now the builders are going for a medal in the sprint races.

Peter was at the yard yesterday and they've been busy with epoxy etc on the inside and reinforcing the bulkheads. As well they want to start next week on the stringers for the floor and the two further interior bulkheads that need to be placed. We're worried about the hours and the cost, but hey, that feeling is not new anymore.

We agreed with the builder that we want him to do the bulkheads, stringers, tanks and floors and then close the boat. We really want to avoid having a nice interior, but no funds to pay for the glass to close up. I'd rather then camp a bit primitive for the first few months. Besides, the moment we can stop renting a house, we can already spent that money on things for the boat.

There is no doubt in my mind that people who will see how we are going to live, will declare us insane on the spot. But in a way it does make sense: we wanted to place a new product on the market here, had not enough funds to buy a second hand boat of our choice and the moment we saw the design, felt that this was the sort of boat we wanted. I still have my negative moments, but now that we've come this far, it all seems more worth the trouble.

At least it is a nice feeling that when we come on the yacht club, we can show pictures of a boat and the progress they've been making.

Cheers