Well it’s now the middle of July and neither of us have written anything in the blog since May. Why? I hear you shouting. Well…….
On the 1st June we made a hard breaking but we
think necessary decision. Ruby Tuesday is for sale. It has taken a lot of
thinking, talking and decision making but surprisingly no arguing to make this
huge jump. But it is done. We have spent June emptying, cleaning, polishing and
generally sprucing up Ruby. She went on sale on Tuesday July 1st.
The heat has been horrendous and most of the work has had to be done in the
early morning with huge breaks as the day gets warmer. Breaks that the pair of
us have wandered about in silence, thinking, occasionally voicing our thoughts
and I have to say doubts as well. As we emptied her of all our lives over the
past five years, we have both been reduced to tears at finding some forgotten
item that holds some far and distant memory. At that point, we look at each
other. We don’t even have to ask the question. We know what the other is
thinking. “Are we doing the correct thing?”
The thought process that has led us to this decision has
been long and complex. I (Elsie) have fallen out of love with long distance
sailing. A few nights on passage is fine. At the most, five days I can hack it
but what’s the point in putting yourself through something you aren’t enjoying.
When we embarked on this adventure, we both said that if either of us are not
enjoying it anymore we stop sailing. It turns out Lionel wasn’t fully engaged
anymore either. He has voiced his doubts on several separate occasions. The
work to maintain a 40-foot yacht is long and arduous. It takes a lot of time
and if you are relying on the boat as full-time cruisers do it must be done. I
saw the frustration on his face when he realised it was time to change the oil
and filters on the engine again or the head pipes needed another clean. Even simple
jobs like refilling the cooking gas or finding somewhere to do laundry was
getting us down.
The pandemic didn’t help either. We were stuck in one place
for so long. We are used to moving every couple of days, doing some sailing,
doing some walking, doing some sightseeing. I think a month in Key West when
everything was shut was the last push. Then of course going round Hatteras in
the conditions we faced in May was the ultimate straw that broke the camels back.
We could have kept going, east coast in the summer, Caribbean in the winter but
we were both getting bored with it and to go through the Panama Canal and sail
over the Pacific was out of the question. Lionel would have needed to get crew
for each leg and I would have had to fly here there and everywhere so we said “the
end” and Ruby is up for sale in Annapolis MD. She is looking fantastic, all
painted, polished, cleaned inside and out, all her upholstery renewed, her
engine serviced and her sails looking like new. All we need now is the right
person to come along and love her the way we do. Here’s hoping.
We fly back to the UK on 5th August then we do
our two weeks in quarantine. A lovely lady is letting us self-isolate in her
home while we look after her dogs and rabbits. Her house backs onto a wood so
walking dogs while in isolation should be easy and thank goodness for supermarket
delivery people. Yes, it’s back to pet sitting while we look around for a place,
we can call home. Lots of pet sitting, all over the world. Don’t worry, we aren’t
giving up the travel malarkey, just doing it on dry land now. However, if
someone invites us for a day sailing or needs crew to move their boat, I don’t think
they will get a negative answer. So, August, September in the south of England,
while we look around for a home then off to France and Spain for the Autumn,
Winter if there is no further outbreak of COVID19 then back to England to sort
out our home and do some fun stuff. What next…. watch this space because we haven’t
got a clue either…………………………
