The challenge of preparing for a five year circumnavigation is harder than any project we’ve ever undertaken. And, believe me, we’ve done some hard things in the past. I’ve started and run several businesses and any entrepreneur can tell you startups are really hard. And, it’s been equally hard on Karen who has to keep things going when I’m off working on a business. Even when I start a venture, Karen is truly an equal partner. I’ve covered the topic of preparing for a circumnavigation before in an earlier post.
The catch 22 we’re in now is juggling several parallel major projects: 1) Google Earth Blog – a more than full time job researching and writing; 2) Taking care of Tahina, fitting Tahina out, and moving it to warmer waters for the winter; 3) Finding time to work on the redesign of GEB and the design for this Tahina site; 4) Starting in earnest the projects to get our house ready to be sold; and 5) finding time to spend with family (especially now with the holidays). The problem is the scale of each of these projects is large, and it is hard to get any one project done effectively. So, things like finishing the blog designs have been slipping.
So far I haven’t publicly announced this blog (because it is currently still using a default template without any real graphical design). And, so, posts have not been coming out regularly yet. But, I really want to share the trials and tribulations of our preparations. So, I’m going to try harder to keep up with this blog and make a greater effort to get the design at least acceptable for public consumption. The good news is that we’ve been trying to keep a faithful journal of our experiences, so it should be possible to back-fill some of the more interesting experiences with back-dated posts.
Now, if we can only maintain our sanity while we’re trying to get all these projects done! Right now, we’re in Colorado visiting family for Christmas. We’ll soon be back to North Carolina, but will be making another run down to the boat – which is now in Georgia – to show more family and friends the boat. We’ll have to keep it short though so we can get back and get work done on the house.
The goal right now is to begin our circumnavigation by April or May (before hurricane season starts). But, we’re still unsure about whether we can get all the critical items completed in that time. If we’re not ready by May, we will mostly likely have to postpone departure until the fall after hurricane season ends. Insurance companies won’t insure a boat if they are taken into certain waters during storm seasons. But, keeping a house and a boat (which cost more than the house) both going at the same time is a financial strain. So, the incentive to leave sooner is strong. More on this topic in a later post.
Wish us luck!
