"The time has come" the walrus said

"to think of many things, of sailing ships and sealing wax, and cabbages and kings"

Lewis Carol I think.

So Bill has informed me that the boat leaves the workshop early next week and will make its way into storage. Its hard to believe the time has come. I have been advised that there still are a few things to tidy up here and there, likely there will always be.

Of course the whole project has been a marvellous roller coaster, closely matched by the ride on the back of the Canadian dollar, which has recovered from a 30 cent margin. It sits about 95 cents to the US now and I can live with that.

I have had ever so much assistance from so many folks during the build, and its been a lot of work. I told the shipwright Bill Bucholtz of Apache boatworks that I don't think I could have done this without him. I toyed with the idea, however the climate and the logistics to build a boat here in Newfoundland is just not favourable. Whats more, whilst I am broke, I am still married! When Joshua Slocum was asked how much money it took to build a boat he replied "as much as you have"

A good friend of mine told me it would take two years at which I scoffed, I have had to eat my words. Mercifully Bill is a patient man and has managed to occupy himself when the money ran out.

Just reading a book right now about this curious love affair that some people have about boats, it is quite irrational and even rational folks get bitten by the bug, the far away look in their eyes and the compulsion to proceed despite many good sense reasons to cut and run.

Given a few years I am sure the psychiatrists will have a name for it, no doubt medication will arrive shortly after to treat the condition. May I suggest "the banana boat syndrome", hows your husband " oh he's gone bananas on his boat". People will knowingly nod their head and ask whether he has been taking his meds, and then wonder about the prognosis. My suspicion is that the condition is likely uncurable...............

Well the boat will be stored until late spring, at which time, if all the stars align, we shall get the boat commissioned, and then hopefully sail into the sunset so stay tuned.....

I have asked Bill to send me a last lot of photographs, before it settles in Camden for the winter, I shall be delighted to share these with everyone as they become available.