Farewell Tour

The last hurrah. The final chapter. Whatever you want to call it, Rick is coming to the end of his twenty-six year relationship with sailing, and we are embarking on our last big adventure aboard Valkyrie. 

After our aborted voyage last year, we have both done some real soul searching. Rick’s enthusiasm for these trips has been waning for some time, or at least the long, hard, expensive burden of maintaining the boat. Without his enthusiasm, sailing loses most of its draw for me as well. And having had last year, the worst seasickness episode ever, I would welcome the idea of never having that experience again. 

But, like childbirth, the bad memories fade, leaving the good memories to take on an almost mythic status. I will miss many aspects of cruising on our boat, the wildlife, the constantly changing scenery, the people we’ve met, the excursions ashore, and the self-contained freedom to go anywhere. I’ve talked Rick into one last summer aboard, a chance to savor the good things about sailing, and to say goodbye.

Valkyrie needed some work before we could even think of another voyage. The drive shaft problem that ended our trip last year turned out to be an easy fix, but there was a long list of other things that needed attention. That list seemed quite doable initially, but just before Christmas, Rick missed a step at the bottom of our staircase and tore his quad-tendon, right off the kneecap. Surgical repair was necessary, and it has been a long recovery. He is expected to be fully functional eventually, but for the moment, crawling into extremely tight spaces to work on the engine or replace the hot water heater are excruciatingly painful. 

Rick and our friend and fellow sailor Tim - "Wait, what goes where?"

Always a do-it-yourselfer, it has been hard for Rick to relinquish complete control, not to mention relinquishing funds from his bank account, and simply hire someone to do the work for him. But it turned out to be less expensive than he had feared, and certainly worth saving his time and his knee to pay for some help and get these tasks done. 

Our son Dewey wrestles with the dinghy

Rick still did most of the work himself, and Valkyrie is now fully equipped with a new head (toilet), a new hot water heater, a new dodger (windshield), new macerator pump (yeah, don’t ask), new lenses (plexiglass) for all the ports (windows), a new screen for the forward hatch (skylight), and a new carburetor for the outboard motor. Rick is finally getting enthusiastic about the trip, exclaiming over and over again, “ This boat is in the best shape it’s ever been!”

Our plan was to leave sometime in mid-June, but as usual, we fell behind. Getting the boat in the water was one challenge, due to weak high tides, and then once finally in the water, the engine had some trouble, so we were stuck in the well for a few days while trying to get it fixed. Rick’s friend Eric the mechanic came to our rescue, and now we are good to go. 

Eric Dickerson, Mechanic Extraordinaire

We load what seems like a year’s worth of non-perishables onboard, along with clothing, shoes, hats, pillows, computers, kindles, etc. By now, we know exactly what to bring. One last trip to the grocery store for perishables, and we are off. 

We spend our first night anchored just a quarter mile from the dock, hardly what might be called an epic departure. But we're on our way!