Last day with AC

 We're (finally) almost ready to head out! Bags are packed, dry ice is bought, and food is ready. Just buying some cases of drinking water and then we'll be heading out. 

What we've learned already is that nothing goes according to plan. We've noticed how easy going sailors tend to be - timelines are fluid, we're at the mercy of the winds. 

When telling people we were heading out for two weeks of sailing, we kept getting the questions - When do you leave? Where will you go? We shrugged and said, we'll see what the weather brings. We have hopes and plans, but no real idea what's about to happen.

A couple weeks ago, we decided that we were foolish to leave without upgrading some of our gear. The wind instruments were frozen, the water system wasn't working, the GPS was from 2008, and there was no auto-pilot. Standing at the helm for 6-8 hours each day was not going to be fun. So, while I headed back to MN to celebrate my goddaughter's 4th birthday, Chad stayed home to install the new gear.

   

...It didn't go as planned...he had a very frustrating weekend of not getting much done. He couldn't get fully up the mast and everything was just a bit harder than it should be. No worries, we had some time - we'd just delay the voyage a day or two. After another 5 days of hard work, including some help from his dad and brother-in-law, Chas was able to get pretty much everything installed (there's a water leak and the bilge pump isn't working well, so we may not have much running water - but we'll figure it out).

  

  

While Chad was working on the technical installation, I was planning our meals and preparing the food. We did confirm that our oven/stove work well, but since we plan to be on anchor a lot, we won't have our microwave. And glamping is always just that much more challenging with food allergies. 

Lots of searching didn't come up with many paleo options on sailing meals...hopefully I can provide some resources for others out there like me! 

Here's what I have come up with...

• Breakfasts: protein fruit smoothies, blueberry muffins, zucchini bread, granola/yogurt (for Chad), uncured Canadian bacon, fruit (clementine's, melon, apples)
• Lunches: Sandwiches with baked two loaves of paleo bread, organic turkey slices, canned tuna, uncured black forest ham, leftovers, or charcuterie board (almond crackers, cheese, antipasto, and beef jerky)
• Snacks: carrots, applesauce, plantain and terra chips, avocado mash cups, hummus, protein bars, sausage & cheese packs
• Dinners:
• Mains: pulled pork, grilled chicken, beef tenderloin (sous vide), Korean chicken, flank steak, taco meat
• Sides: baked beans, mashed potatoes, coleslaw, brussels sprouts, baked sweet potatoes, pickles
• Beverages: still/sparkling water, coffee, tea, some soda, 6 bottles of wine, bourbon, rye, some beers for Chad

Somehow, I don't think we'll starve (or go thirsty)! If we were gone a few more days, I would have added some hamburgers, hotdogs, and soups to the mix...but I'm not sure I'll be able to fit all this onboard! :) 

We picked up 80 pounds of dry ice - between that and running the motor periodically, we're hoping that everything stays cold for the next 7-10 days. 

While we had been hoping to get underway by Tuesday (Aug. 17), in the grand scheme of things, it's good we had some delays. Among other things, our small dinghy went unexpectedly flat. My running theory is that the umbrella that fell into the slip last week poked a hole in the boat. Chad thinks that a seam he'd previously repaired failed. Either way, it would have been a bummer to have a dinghy go bad just when we got to some cool islands. 

Big dinghy has been fixed so we can switch them out tonight and sail off into the sunrise tomorrow morning! I'll do my best to make short posts while we're underway (what would we do without cell phones?!) and longer catch-ups when we have Wi-Fi.