A Dream of a Boat ...

Adam and I often walk along the docks at Whittaker Creek Marina. It's a quiet, romantic spot. It's perhaps the junkiest marina in Oriental, but there are interesting boats, and boats for sale.
Loving a boat is a bit of a disease. Sailors are crazy people. And when a particular boat wriggles its way into your mind and begins to capture your imagination ... watch out.
This massive old bark has caught my eye for quite a while. It's nearly a wreck.

She's long, about 45 feet, Adam estimates. She's for sale, but she's not listed on the marina's website under "boats for sale." Probably she was abandoned here by her owner, with years of slip fees due, and she sits, rotting gently away. It feels like a crime.

She has two masts, and as you see below, she's quite broad in the beam. I look at her from behind and think of all the fun a group of people could have on that much boat.

The cockpit is in the middle, and she has a rear cabin, and in the forecastle a main saloon and cabin also. Lots of space for comfort.

I know Adam and I could never, ever handle a sailboat this large, especially with two masts and all the sail area that would involve. It's unmanageable for us in a multitude of ways.

The cockpit isn't huge, but all the sides are for sitting. The wooden door panel on the right goes into the aft cabin. The flat wooden panel on the left is over another companionway that leads to the forward saloon and cabin. The cockpit is a mess, with old cushions pulled out of the boat, moldering away in the rain and heat.

The boat's in bad shape. Here you see some of the lines rotting on the deck. Years have passed since she's been out in the wind.

This port light is particularly bad. Rain has undoubtedly gone inside. I wonder how much water is in her hull, and how much damage has been done inside. You also see how the side has bashed against the dock, breaking the paint and damaging the fiberglass. It's not severe yet, but all this would need repair.

She's been sitting so long that the wood on her deck has lichens.

Some boats (even large ones) are free to anyone who will take them away. Sometimes a marina owner simply wants some moorage fees taken care of. But the obstacle is truly the work needed on such a boat. Adam says the sails, if they've been inside the boat all this time, would almost certainly be worthless. It would cost thousands of dollars to replace them on such a big boat. The motor and batteries needed on such a boat -- it's a huge cost! The bottom paint alone is prohibitive. Someone wealthy would have to fall in love with her, to salvage such a vessel.

Adam dreams of living on a boat -- even if he didn't sail the oceans, he likes the idea of living aboard in a slip or anchorage and simply cruising around when time allowed. I can see the appeal of such a life, although I can't imagine living without my piano nearby. Even though such a dream cannot become fact for us, we allow ourselves to dream. Dreaming is pleasant. Dreaming keeps the heart alive. I didn't used to understand this. I allowed myself to be only practical, nothing else. I felt dreaming was dangerous, even sad, if I knew the dream could never come true.

Here's the marina where she lies, the water she would pass through if she could go out to sea again. Because we cannot step foot on the boat without a broker, and the angles of the docks don't allow us to see the entire hull, we don't know her name or what kind of boat she is. Perhaps I'll give her a name just from me, a name for a dream. Many of our dreams, Adam and I save for the next life, when there will not be so many limitations on what we can realize and attain.

On the New Earth, I think Adam will build a wooden boat that large, and we will sail away together for a hundred years. When we return, we'll take some friends along for the next century of sailing the world. Anyone want to come? We'll drop you at Tahiti if you like.