First Nite - July 15, 2006

First night on the sailboat :)
It's taken more time and effort than I could have imagined to get to this point. There have been frustrations and I'm still not at the point I'd like to be with the boat. In my eyes my top priorties are getting the mast back up (waiting for new rigging, roller furling, and patch for mast dent and fixed spreaders), re-plumbing the freshwater system, installing all the new lenses into the portlights, and finish finding and sealing to the best possible all leaks for the rainy season.
It's been a long day though, and before we can start back on the todo list, I'm reflecting on how far I've come and how much I've done in the past year, as in the last 12 months. Of that 12 months I've had Athena for about 9 of those. There is a lot of emotion attached to this night. Tears of happiness, frustrations worked through, a goal obtained at the cost of being MIA from friends, work, and other fun activities in life.
But, we're here. the cats and I. relishing in the evening. getting use to the boat, and the heat... No AC yet, and no bug screens yet either... A fan is keeping me cool and doing a fairly good job at keeping the bugs at bay, Rookery Bay that is, the reserve next door, breeding ground for mosquitoes and no-see-ums ;) but also a very very beautiful piece of this earth.
Well, the cats seem to know what to do. It's time for some rest.