one drawback to having moved out to fisherman's wharf is that it is quite a bit colder out here compared to the inner harbour - the air temp can be three-four degrees colder, it's windier, and i swear that the ocean is colder as well. with july on the horizon i pulled out our large 1500 watt heater and replaced it with the small 750 watt jobby that we use in the v-berth in the winter. big mistake. every night we've been forced to fire up our dickenson propane "fireplace" to take the chill off. i don't believe we used our heater last summer, certainly not every night. but the floor gets really cold, with the water hovering around 11 degrees and once the sun sets we have to fire up something and 750 watts of heat just isn't adequate. i was going to line the sole with insulation for next winter, but i might have to do it sooner than i thought.
tracy only gets another week off this year and as it's been a very tough spring on us (our daughter has had some severe health issues, forcing her to go on disability), i'm thinking someplace hot would be just the ticket. probably the okanagon and spend a few weeks crisping on some beach. we have very fond memories of osoyoos as we went there camping many summers when the kids were little fantastic place for sailing hobie cats as it can be a very windy lake, and the water is incredibly warm.
later this summer i'm planning on heading out solo for a couple of weeks. the big issue is finding a place for tracy to stay during this time. the long and the short of it is that with all the stress tracy just isn't up to going on a major cruise, even if she took the time off. unfortunately, and like many other couples i've met, sailing is where tracy and i part company. it's not that she is adventurous, but sailing is just too, well,
physical. the real physical risk just isn't something that interests her, no matter how small it might be (i would argue that driving a car is more dangerous). it's all about perception. she would rather backpack across asia then sail up to the broughtons.
the issue of home really complicates it, a realisation that came clearer to me after a discussion we had. tracy has come to see our boat as
home, which to her means safety, stability, refuge; the one place safe to retreat to when it all gets to much. and that notion of home is put in jeopardy whenever we throw off our moorings.
i think we should have had that discussion before we started the liveaboard life because her notion of home is very different than mine, and frankly, incompatible with cruising and exploration by sea. for me, home really is where i hang my hat; i've made a lot of places home - including cars - and as long as i have a door to close behind me i'm content. the idea of being able to bring my home with me on explorations is something i've always loved, which is why i've enjoyed my stints living out of rvs or automobiles.
but tracy needs permanence and stability, which means her comfort zone is keeping the boat tied up at the dock.
if we had an apartment in town i know her willingness to cast off would be enormously increased. she was much more an adventurer aboard when we had our little thunderbird, even though it wasn't half the boat fainleog is. her ideal life would be to own a condo ashore and cruise with something fun and inexpensive like a catalina 27.
i said that we should have talked about this sooner, but really, how could we know? everyone we meet loves our lifestyle, and yet very few people are willing to try it. the myth of romance is very strong regarding living aboard, but the truth is most people do want the stability of their home built on solid earth, looking the same whenever they come home, immovable and reassuring. most couldn't live out of a car, rv, or boat, because it's too tenuous, too uncertain. and i think this is especially so for most women. which is why 95% of liveaboards i've met are single men.
since the main purpose of this blog is information, i would encourage anyone contemplating this kind of lifestyle to throw out the romance and have a hard look at what home means to you. anyone can adapt to the minor discomforts of living in a small space, but it would be much, much more difficult to change a deep-seated need for stability and security. and it would be a shame to spend major $$$ for a great bluewater boat only to find that suddenly your spouse cannot leave the dock.

we recently saw the movie young people f-ing, and my recommendation is to not bother or wait until you are really bored and get the dvd when it comes out. in my opinion the movie was dull, and not because i was hungering for booty (not that there's much in this movie either). it was promoted and reviewed as smart and quirky and insightful, but only if you are 17. the movie showcases sexual coupling between assorted (straight) individuals who look in their early thirties but are supposed to be a decade younger, which already bodes no good for believability. but the dialogue is very much the bland cliche of people who have not had many insights into themselves or others, which i suppose is realistic enough for most young twenty-somethings though it makes for painful watching.
and the situations that are set up are so very banal - the player who finally falls for a girl who is also a player, the exes that pretend that they no longer have feelings for each other, friends making out who turn out to have real feelings for each other, a young couple bored with each other, and roomate threesome that becomes awkward.
because these people are such superficial automatons, we really don't care what happens to them. and there is no getting to know them and so developing some empathy; we are introduced to them while they are already committed on an obvious course and i really could care less whether it worked out or not.
i didn't see any chemistry between any of these fornicating actors. mindless, empty, shallow and superficial. is that what we are supposed to believe young people's sexuality is all about?
there were a few laughs, though several young men around us thought some mildly amusing scenes were the best thing since free weed, and several girls went
ooh, and
aww, and "
that's so sweet" when one character gave his partner a rose on
his birthday. so maybe if you're 19 the movie feels real, which is a scary thought.