“one of the inescapable encumbrances of leading an interesting life is that there have to be moments when you almost lose it.” Jimmy Buffet

 

I love using quotes to begin my blog posts. As I’m perusing through interesting quotes about the topic I’m about to write on, I always find that one quote that nails exactly how I feel. I’m no wordsmith. I’m not eloquent, so I love finding that perfect description of my thoughts. How apropos to find a quote from Jimmy Buffet, a man we listen to almost daily?

Yes. The main theme of this blog post is – almost losing it. I keep telling myself that if one more boat part breaks, that’s it, I’m giving up. Then, one more part or important piece of equipment fails; I’m cast into a state of hopelessness.

Then, I look at my partner and see his resolve and determination. Quit is not in his vocabulary. I take a look at the view from my boat. I think, I could be working in an office right now. But alas, I’m on a sailboat in Portugal in one of the most gorgeous harbors I’ve ever seen. That’s usually when something magical happens. I get a slap in the face from reality and a reminder that there will always be bad moments but there is an inexplicable force driving this voyage and the good outweighs the bad.

Diane, my friend, and mentor, just sent me an email with words of wisdom after I divulged to her our latest crisis: taking my negative thoughts and putting them perfectly into perspective.

 

Dear Alison,

I don’t believe you two made a mistake in realizing your dream. But you should allow a small amount of nightmare (it is a dream)! Nothing goes as planned…ever. However, you two made a courageous decision, something I can only wistfully think about as I live vicariously. Take a deep cleansing breath, grab a hug from the captain and enjoy your freedom in whatever form it takes. You can meet any rough conditions.

 

A Series of Unfortunate Breaks

 

Our water maker gave up on life before we left Ireland in June. It was 20 years old. The motor that runs the unit simply disintegrated. There was no hope of repair. The motor is as costly as buying a more modern unit, so Dan began researching a replacement. Since our refrigeration system also went, we focused on one expensive, major project, replacing that, placing the water maker on the back burner.

Anything we have to replace on our boat is a challenge. We have American systems on board and many of the parts we need are only made in the USA. Ordering parts means paying VAT taxes, exorbitant shipping rates, and it may take months to get that part. If we get a part in Europe, we have to configure it to work with our American electrical system which is always a challenge for Dan. Thank God for his mechanical adeptness, he had certainly been challenged.

Next, we lost our alternator and our generator. Dan managed to find parts and fix both of those on the way to Portugal. Just when I keep thinking, “nothing else can break”, I’m wrong and something does. That something was another major component on the boat, our inverter. The inverter allows us to charge all our electronics through the boat’s outlets. New ones are very expensive and the type we needed very rare in the EU.

As Dan began his research, I thought, it’s ok. At least we can run the generator and I can sew.

Running the generator provides power to the outlets but uses fuel instead of our wind and solar power. It’s noisy, takes hours off the life of the generator, but gets the job done.

I was happily sewing when I heard a “clunk”. Shortly after, there was a pungent burning smell seeping up from the cabin below. Long story short, the alternator on the generator simply fell off. The bracket broke, and the old part just gave up on life.

We now have no way to run electronics other than the cigarette lighter plug that works for our cell phones and small devices. We have to go to shore to find a café and plug in our computers to continue our work.

This left us with 2 major items to repair, the inverter and the alternator on the generator. Dan found a company in nearby Lisbon that sells an inverter that would work with our boat, so we boarded the train for Lisbon and paid them a visit.

The good news? They could order it for us. The bad news? The company had none in stock and had to build one. It wouldn’t be shipped until October 25^th. That was a tentative date as there could be delays.
It all sounded like bad news to me as we have already been delayed a month in Cascais, Portugal.

 

The Black Box

 

I was feeling sorry for myself. It seemed as if we were always climbing out of a hole caused by a world pandemic, freak pods of Orcas disabling boats, and breaking parts. I couldn’t sew or use my computer unless I went to shore.

Then, two days ago, we had a knock on our hull from a neighboring boat. They had dinghied over because they saw the scuba tanks on our deck. They had been in the harbor for a week or so, and during a very strong wind event, their boat’s anchor chain wrapped around debris on the harbor floor. They couldn’t get it dislodged. They asked if we were willing to help.

Dan and I have an ongoing theory about the Black Box. We love opportunities to help others as this puts an item in the box. You fill your box, and when you need help, that’s when you retrieve a token for your good deeds and the universe helps you.

Even though he didn’t have a full wetsuit, and the water was cold and opaque, Dan agreed to help. We put the scuba gear in the dinghy and headed over the next day at low tide. First, Dan dove down with just his fins and mask, hoping it was an easy fix.

No deal. There was a huge pile of scrap metal and at least two abandoned anchors, hopelessly tangled with their anchor chain. Others had met the same fate and simply scuttled their anchors, unable to get them free.

To make another long story short, Dan spent the next hour diving, coming up with reports, and devising new game plans. One problem he was having was that when he grabbed the chain, and the boat moved, he risked getting his hands trapped between the chain and the metal debris. His hands could be crushed. Unfortunately, he didn’t think about wearing gloves. His hands were getting gouged by the rusty metal as he worked to free the chain.

Finally, he had the boat owners pull the chain in until they were directly over the tangle. Dan braced his feet against the metal holding the chain, and using his strength and the pulling action of the boat, managed to dislodge and unwrap the chain. The path of the anchor back to the boat was not clear. Dan had to move several other potential threats from causing new entanglements as they pulled in their anchor.

When Dan climbed back into the dinghy, he was shivering and blue. Since our electrical system was down, he couldn’t even take a hot shower back at the boat. He had to settle for a cold-water rinse.

 

The Black Box Pays Off

 

Our neighbors wanted to repay our kindness and invited us to their boat for dinner the following night. We happily accepted. We had a wonderful evening, sharing stories with the German couple Sebastian and Gudrun. Gudrun is a wonderful cook. We enjoyed a delicious meal and the rare opportunity to socialize.

As we traded stories, we talked about the difficulties we were having with our broken parts. Dan explained he had exhaustively researched our options for a new inverter, and it seemed we only had one – waiting for the company in Lisbon to build and ship a new inverter in late October.

That’s when Sebastian asked if we had heard of the company Vitron. He explained that they might have an inverter that would work with our boat, and they were located right here in this harbor.

Despite all our research, Vitron never came up on our radar. We would never have known getting an inverter from them was an option. Our trip could have been delayed again, for God knows how long. We immediately went to shore the next morning and ordered their inverter which will work with our system. We saved $300 in shipping and can get the part in a week. Thank you black box!

The watermaker will have to wait. There are no water maker parts in any countries close to us. The shipping and taxes are exorbitant. We have 60 gallons of water storage and we can fill our tanks at marinas when we get fuel. We won’t be able to make our own water, which comes in handy when crossing oceans until we can figure out how to get a new system.

Meanwhile, we can order the alternator for the generator. It’s thankfully a part easily obtained in the EU. Lastly, the satellite phone that we haven’t used in over 2 years, won’t charge. We rely on our sat phone when we make an ocean passage, to get weather updates and to be able to communicate. It was working perfectly when we crossed the Atlantic 2 years ago so we don’t understand why it’s not working now and we have no idea how to get it fixed.

“Just one more anomaly swallowed by the black hole of breakage in our world of constantly failing parts.”
Alison Gieschen

 

Our Next Adventure

 

Two years ago, when we planned on being in the Baltic Sea with our sailboat, we planned a trip in May to meet our boat buddies in Venice and rent a motor boat for a week. Venice is too far out of the way to sail to when we go to the Mediterranean. Venice is on my bucket list so I thought we could take a trip there in early spring before we sailed to the Baltics. Italy was the first country to shut down due to Covid, the month our tripped was planned. What are the odds? Pretty good if you are us.

The company would not refund our money. We had to reschedule or lose our payment. The next spring was no better. Finally, we booked October 2^nd – 9^th of 2021. October is here and we now have to get to Venice amidst our travel angst and breaking parts crisis.

One of the reasons we stayed in Cascais is there are two marinas located up river toward Lisbon that we can leave our boat for a week. We will be close to the Lisbon airport. We have two days until we need to get on the plane in Lisbon, and we are waiting anxiously for a spot to open up for our boat in one of the marinas. Talk about living life on the edge. We are peering over the cliff.

Our plane tickets are booked, we have to figure out a contingency plan if a spot in one of the marinas doesn’t open up. We can leave our boat at anchor in Cascais and worry every day of our trip if our boat is ok. There is a very expensive marina that has room here. Since we are scraping by as it is, we really can’t afford a huge marina bill. Our options are limited, so we are praying we get a call today or tomorrow with some good news that there is a slip opening.

Providing we get there; we are hoping for a fun and interesting visit to Venice. We have a motor boat with three cabins and 7 people aboard. Someone has to sleep on the couch. We always have a wonderful time with our boat buddies Maryanne and Gary (aka Pedro). Some of our best adventures thus far on our sailing voyage have been with these two people. I’m not expecting any less entertainment and shenanigans on a boat in Venice.

No matter what we encounter, there will be lots of laughter, great food, and adventure.  We have a boat to travel and sleep aboard so we don’t have to deal with traffic and hotels. My dream is to see the canals of Venice. I hope to take lots of pictures and have stories to tell when we get back.

For one week, we will not have to think about broken boat parts, and how to get replacements. We will be on vacation from our life of vacation (not!).  Although the timing of this trip is not ideal for our travel, our mental health could sure use a break.

So, here’s to adventure… to travel… to seeing the world… and to all the insanity that life brings. I will raise a glass of wine to all my friend who are living vicariously when we reach Venice. Enjoy our stories, pictures, and epic adventures, then appreciate going to bed in a bed that doesn’t move. Be thankful for stability, security, and safety. Those are the things we now envy.

As always, thank you for following us, for your prayers and well-wishes. May you be blessed with fair winds in your life, in all you do and with your loved ones.

Alison and Dan
s/v Equus