By Jae Sherwood, Sailing Yacht Sirius
Annapolis, Maryland, USA
August 2011
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| Jae & Jeff aboard Sirius |
During the past two winters we have almost rebuilt our boat. Many existing systems were out of date or just didn’t work. I’m also on the anxious side, so it was imperative to me to have all the latest electronic equipment in order to see anything (weather, rogue waves, large ships, containers or whales) coming our way. Among the new toys now fully functioning (we think) on our boat are radar, AIS, Sirius weather, GPS, VHF, single side band radio, a satellite phone, a chart plotter and probably one or two others that I’ve forgotten to mention. Sounds impressive, right? Well, to me it sounds daunting. How in the world am I going to master all these systems (in addition to rigging systems, plumbing systems, electrical systems, propulsion systems, etc.)? My solution is to organize. My husband often says not to worry. Since it’s a finite amount of information, he reasons we are capable of learning it. I absolutely agree with this sentiment.
Already, in the past two years I have destroyed several things on the boat (unwittingly, of course), and thus learned never to break them again. I have watched our forward head flood with water during a seriously intense heel which allowed me to learn to close the sink sea cocks when sailing on windy days. And I have gathered, organized and assembled a binder on every system on the boat.
Now I know gathering and organizing manuals doesn’t translate to knowledge: but it’s a start. Just figuring out what equipment we still had on the boat and what we added was the first step. Then I had to gather all the documents on board and separate everything into piles. Finally, I arranged piles of similar things together and put them in a book. It sounds tedious, and it was. However, it is an excellent way to start to get to know your boat. Once you know what you have and where it is, then you can move onto what to do with it. Of course, you need to know how to operate the radio, for example. But you also need to register it (probably, for warranty purposes) and sometimes register yourself as a user (single side band radios require you to have a license). Once all of that is complete, there needs to be a place for logging usage and consequent maintenance tasks.
My binders are almost complete and I am moving onto registering everything (because I do tend to break things and I need those warranties to be in effect). When the paperwork is complete, I will then look for digital manuals online and organize those pdf files on my iPad (this year’s birthday present!). Thus I will have an easily searchable library on my iPad and a backup set of manuals in my binders. And even though sometimes my eyes start to glaze over, I am impressed with how I am absorbing the information. I can actually tell you what an inverter does, what equipment runs on AC vs. DC, how to read the pressure gauge on my fuel filters, why you want LED lights whenever you can get them and how to keep your head from stinking up the whole boat!
Pretty good, wouldn’t you say?
Jae Sherwood Sirius, Hylas 54
Comments? Questions? We welcome your posting!
Authentic Yacht Group - AuthenticYachts.com - Authentic Yacht Brokerage, Inc. (DE)
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By Jae Sherwood, Sailing Yacht Sirius
Annapolis, Maryland, USA
July 2011
My husband and I have had boats on and off for the past 30 years. He introduced me to sailing before we had children and we bought our current boat after we were officially empty nesters. While it was fun to go out on the water, it took many, many years to appreciate how much sailing could teach me.What I love about sailing is the freedom and the sense of adventure. I also can’t wait to actually start living on the boat. Being anchored off some tropical island where it never gets cold and the sky and the sea vie for bragging rights on which has the prettiest blue, now that’s the life! I see myself there toned and tanned. Any I’ve always loved small spaces. So I don’t feel cramped on the boat in the least. But there is a dark side to the dream. Though I know all these pleasures and more await me, my problem is primarily that I worry too much to enjoy them. I worried about the financial burden of buying a boat, then about paying for maintenance. I still worry about learning all the systems onboard. I even worry that though I like being out on the water, I don’t really actually like sailing—trimming the sails, etc.
So I push to spend more time on the boat while simultaneously wishing we wouldn’t. My solution has been to totally commit to sailing; for Jeff to quit his job and we take off toward the horizon. That way I’ll be forced to learn the systems and be comfortable with the boat’s operation. Jeff, as well, can retire and move on to all the pursuits he has so far put off (learning the guitar, writing a novel, honing his photography skills). But the conflict continues. In the current economy Jeff knows that he cannot leave his job and then return to it making the same salary he makes today. We both plan to live a long time, and he is concerned about having enough financial resources to comfortably do so.
Thus we take our boat time in bits and pieces. And while that works for Jeff, it is hard on me. I can’t seem to conquer my fears and anxieties staying on the boat for such short periods. Many days I’d rather just not go.
So what is sailing teaching me? Ultimately, it think I’ll be a stronger, more confident and self-reliant person. But for now, it is teaching me patience. And that knot in my stomach? Well, I’m learning to live with it.
Jae Sherwood
Sirius, Hylas 54
Comments? Questions? We welcome your posting!
Authentic Yacht Group - AuthenticYachts.com - Authentic Yacht Brokerage, Inc. (DE)
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