The cabin, all torn up, in the midst of boat projects

The captain shows up Monday night around 8 or 9 pm. He and Matt talk in the marina lounge for a while. The plan is that he will sleep on the boat and then he and Matt will have most of Tuesday to go over boat items before he drives back to Maine. I’ve made up the settee in the salon for him. I see him only long enough to shake his hand and say hello. My brief first impression is positive.

Matt comes into our berth and we go to bed. I lie awake thinking how bizarre it is to have a complete stranger sleeping literally 6 feet away from me. I hear his every movement before finally falling asleep.

A Lord Nelson (our boat) on the magazine cover

The next morning, the captain is very complimentary of the boat, how much work has been done, and the kind of shape things are in. The boys and I clear out for the day so they can talk and have a little more space. By late afternoon, there is a long list of tasks and projects still to be done. Matt is doing some of them; the boat yard doing others. They include getting a SPOT locator, hooking up the single sideband radio, installing a satellite phone, moving electrical equipment, provisioning the boat and the ditch bag, etc. The list is expensive and seems endless. Most of my job (beyond child care, boat school, child entertainment, laundry, meals, errands, and keeping the family going) is research and purchasing. Although there are liters of water in the new life raft we bought, we debate about whether to buy a manual water maker. I look up info on water makers and am shocked that the least expensive one is $1200. “How about I just throw a few extra gallons of water in the ditch bag and hope the Coast Guard rescues you before it runs out?” I ask Matt.