A Rose By Any Other Name...

Well its official, our boat has a name.  I didn't imagine it would take a month to get done but there have been several considerations that added together have made it necessary to voyage under a nom de guerre.

Now - travelling under an assumed name wouldn't be that bad,  it could even be James Bond-ish, except for the fact that the name of this boat made me think of a Romanian gentlemen's club.

For the past 4 weeks we've been sailing and checking in as Gypsy Love.  Greece, Albania and Montenegro.  Officials in all 3 countries think we named the boat after some kind of late night made for TV movie.

Thankfully, with quick action from Transport Canada, assistance from our Broker in Florida and about an hour spent trying to find somewhere to print new documents we checked into Croatia as ourselves.

I'd like to introduce Maple, our Leopard 384 catamaran.  A true Canadian lady, with an unmistakably Canadian name.  Words cannot express how much this simple little thing pleases us all.

Of course, renaming a boat is not without its peril.  There are ancient gods of the seas and winds that must be appeased and sailorly superstitions that go back thousands of years that must be adhered to.  Normally, we're not particularly superstitious but in this case we'll make an exception.  The last thing we need is some unhappy ancient god chasing us down.

Thanks to Google and the legendary (among sailors at least) John Vigor we carried out what we believe will be an effective denaming ceremony.  What follows is the text that was read out in an authoritative voice to the assemblage of crew before I poured a full beer across the bows of the boat and into the ocean.  Mr. Vigor's article on denaming and naming can be found here: http://www.johnvigor.com/Denaming.html.

“In the name of all who have sailed aboard this ship in the past, and in the name of all who may sail aboard her in the future, we invoke the ancient gods of the wind and the sea to favor us with their blessing today.

“Mighty Neptune, king of all that moves in or on the waves;

“And mighty Aeolus, guardian of the winds and all that blows before them:

“We offer you our thanks for the protection you have afforded this vessel in the past.  We voice our gratitude that she has always found shelter from tempest and storm and enjoyed safe passage to port.

“Now, wherefore, we submit this supplication, that the name whereby this vessel has hitherto been known, Gypsy Love, be struck and removed from your records.

“Further, we ask that when this vessel is again presented for blessing with another name, she shall be recognized and shall be accorded once again the selfsame privileges she previously enjoyed.

“In return for which, we rededicate this vessel to thy domain in full knowledge that she shall be subject to the immutable laws of the gods of the wind and the sea.

“In consequence whereof, and in good faith, we seal this pact with a libation offered according to the hallowed ritual of the sea.”

The oh so formal denaming ceremony.

Following the denaming I took a few minutes to apply the new name to the stern of the vessel, an important step in the naming of a boat.

After that was done, we got the champagne ready (beer to bid farewell and champagne to say hello) and read the following text (in the same officious manner as before).

"I name this ship Maple. May she bring fair winds, safe passages, and good fortune to all who sail on her.”

And so it was.

The Plan

In looking back at the few posts I've made I realize I haven't actually explained the big decision, our plan B.  So in this post I'm hoping to do just what it says, give an overview of the plan.

What is Plan B?  As noted in my post "Big Decision" the plan is to take a bit of a flyer, walk away from "normal" lives and go sailing.

We're not the first to do this, and probably not going to be the last.  Heck, we're not even the first to do it with kids, or minimal sailing experience.  Thing is, it's not about being first, it's about being deliberate, taking a long look at the path we're on, deciding that we don't really like where it's going and having the courage to change direction - even when we don't know where the new path will lead.

Disaster is a possibility, but so is living life as a closer family, living closer to the big blue marble we all live on, and loving every minute of it.

It's kind of funny, cause the only thing that scares me more than going is not going.  Time to be courageous...

So the plan as we outlined it to ourselves was supposed to take 2 years.  In that time we needed to:

• Learn to sail
• Learn about diesel engines (there's less to this than you'd think)
• Learn about radios (there's more to this than you'd think)
• Learn about weather
• Get some sailing experience
• Sell our home
• Sell almost all of our stuff
• Save a lot of money
• Buy a boat

How are we doing?  Well, we've crossed off most of those items and are on track to head off for at least a year which is the length of my leave of absence from work, and very possibly longer.

The planned departure is this coming July.  Over the next several weeks I'll try to lay out how far we've come, some of the things we've learned and what happens next.  If you continue following along, eventually you'll get to see what a nomadic life looks like - for this family at least.

Big Decision

You know those moments in your life when you take a step back and realize that you're making a decision that is momentous?  I mean, truly momentous?  Sometimes they come after long reflection, sometimes they are driven by careful planning and sometimes they arrive like a bolt out of the blue, driven by events outside of your control.

In those moments, you gain a sense of control over your life and future that is liberating and invigorating.

We had one of those moments a little over a two years ago.  The company I work for had begun a series of layoffs, something that is not unusual in many industries but completely unheard of in my company.  In 35 years we had never been through the same degree of change in resources and organization.  With the realization that  no matter how hard I worked or how well I performed, my job was not safe we made a decision that we believe will change our lives.

Plan B is what we called it when we were discussing our options.

The journey towards our goal and life after will form the backbone of this blog.  I intend to document this journey of personal discovery as J. and I take control of our lives, hopefully enriching them and the lives of our children.  It's exciting and kind of scary, we expect it to impact us in ways we can't imagine and we only hope that the impact is positive for us and our children.

The decision?  Some call it crazy (more on that in a future post) but we've decided at some time in the near future to exit the rat race, buy a boat and sail the world.