The beginning of The Plan

My year to take some time off racing and spend more time on the boat has really let me down. my hours on the boat have dwindled with all the stuff going on at work and home. I spend most of my extra free time running when I should be working on boat stuff. I have the mast 3/4 way stripped, then spent the last 6 weekends fixing up the house for company coming and a party; which now looks like it will be canceled.

The running is coming along nicely if i am not too hard on my neuroma. We have a Plan to do a major run in November. To train for that I have been looking at other runs and Ultras. I will do the Grand Father Mountain Marathon in July, Lineville Gorge and Spring Maid in August, Blue Ridge Relay in September and the New River 50K in October. I hope to get up to VA and spend a weekend on the Iron Mountain trail as well.

That and all the vacation and work time will pretty much consume the the year. A disappointment on the boat end. I am letting myself down here but the running is a big stress reliever and I need that outlet. The last issue is telling MFW about the run in November and figuring out someway to make it a fund raiser.

Let no man be sad

It is said that the two worst things that can happen to a man are: He never realizes his dreams and that he does realize them. It is the middle state that keeps us going, planning, pushing on. I started to get too bogged down into details this weekend while working on the boat and the immense size of the jobs and started to get overwhelmed while I waited for some epoxy to set. The truth is the refit on the boat is a HUGE job but must be broken down into smaller pieces and I can not get ahead of myself or I will be over run with anxiety. The only job at hand right now is to finish the new deck and fair it to the point of painting.

I haven't chosen a paint, but I am sure it will be the same for the deck as the cabin roof for a seamless transition. To do that I have to raise the canopy, prep the surface, mask, sand, clean, etc, etc. But before I get to all that I still must finish glassing in and fairing the re-cored deck. I have finished (95%)the starboard side, the bow is sanded and just needs light fairing. The port and stern deck has been re-glassed and now must be sanded and faired. My goal is to get it ready for paint by the end of the year. The next finish parts will be the wood toe rails and cockpit coaming, grab rails etc. Over the winter I can do the mast, cockpit lockers, etc. See, there I go again. All I really need to do is finish the deck.