I know I’ve been posting very infrequently on here lately. These last few months have been filled with reflection, planning, and asking questions. Where are we headed and what are we doing? I’ve been quiet on all social media as we try to find our footing and take our next steps, but I knew I needed to put together one last recap video to commemorate our final year on the boat. If you want to watch them all in order, here is 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2020. 2021 marked 5 years with our beloved Story Time, and it astounds me to see how much we accomplished and the life we built together.
There will be some new developments and projects in store for 2022. I’m excited for them, even though they are not boat related. I’m hoping for career pivots and fresh challenges, so stay tuned. I’ll post more in the new year, and much more often from now on! Thanks, guys.
Then look no further than our 2002 Catalina 380 SV STORY TIME!
Our listing is live on Bay Harbor Brokers! Please check it out and spread the word! She has been loved and lived in for the past four years. She has been an integral part of our family, housed my babies, and kept us safe on so many adventures.
A quick peek at some of the details:
Sails and Rigging
Z-Spars deck stepped double spreader mast
In Mast mainsail furling
Garhauer mainsheet traveler system
Schaefer marine roller furler for genoa
Adjustable Garhauer genoa cars
Secondary movable Garhauer genoa cars
Secondary genoa halyard
All control lines run into cockpit
Lewmar Ocean Series 54st 2 speed winches for genoa
Lewmar Ocean Series 40st 2 speed winches for main/halyards
Electronics
Raymarine ST-60 Speed
Raymarine ST-60 Depth
Raymarine ST-60 Wind
Raymarine ST-5000 Autopilot Controller
Raymarine RL-70C Chartplotter/Radar
Raymarine Radar mounted on mast
Standard Horizon Intrepid VHF t Nav Station
Standard Horizon remote ram mic at helm
Raymarine ST-60 Multi at Nav station
Blue Seas Tank monitor system
West Marine FM/AM/CD player
Galley
Princess 3 burner oven
West Bend built in microwave
Large double Stainless Steel sink
Built in garbage can w/ access in counter top
Large ice box w/ drain
Large front load/top load refrigerator/freezer
New Dometic refrigeration system (2020)
Electrical
2 X 30 amp shore power inlets on transom
2 X 30 amp power cables
Separate 120v breaker panel in cockpit locker
2 X Solar panels
Solar controller
Wind generator
Xantrex 2000 inverter/charger
3 AGM house batteries (2018)
16500 BTU Mermaid AC/Heat (2019)
Koolair raw water AC pump (2020)
West Marine 60psi fresh water system pump (2021)
Additional Information
Stainless steel transom mounted dinghy davits
Solar panels mounted above dinghy davits
Large sugar scoop transom w/ hot/cold shower
Large fold up swim ladder on transom
Dodger/Bimini/Connector w/ full zip on screen enclosure
Full lifeline netting
Mercury 4hp Dinghy motor (2011)
Lifesling
Wind Generator
Zarcor companion way doors (2017)
Ditch kit (2020)
Anchoring & Mooring
Maxwell windless
Bruce 66lbs anchor
Delta Fast-Set Anchor
150ft 5/16 anchor chain
Assorted dock lines & fenders
Engine
Yanmar model 3JH3E 39hp
Engine exhaust mainfold replaced (2017)
Stuffing Box replaced (2021)
Approx 1500hrs
Please feel free to contact us with any questions! I know that emailing a broker can be a bit intimidating. We are happy to chat with anyone who is interested in the boat or “knows somebody who knows somebody” who is looking for a boat like ours 🙂
Sorry to drop this on everyone out of the blue, but we have decided to take a break from living aboard and have made the agonizing decision to put SV Story Time up for sale.
I know that you’re sitting there thinking, “WTF??” Trust me, we are too. It was a sudden decision that came to a head this past weekend while we were sailing. Let me see if I can lay it all out in a way that makes sense and start from the beginning.
When we decided to embark on this journey, it was a new and exciting adventure. It was also a way for us to move forward and focus on something other than our three miscarriages. We had no idea if we would be able to have children and we needed a new dream in case it never happened. Sailing and traveling was a way for us to keep our marriage strong during difficult times.
Lo and behold, as we were in the process of buying Story Time, we found out that my fourth pregnancy was viable! Baby on board it was, and I don’t regret a second of it. We have loved raising our family onboard this incredible boat. Our life at Gottschalk marina was filled with so much joy and connection to our special community. We learned that we LOVE minimalist living and can face challenges and discomfort head-on.
We just celebrated 4 years living aboard. In those 4 years, we have lived in two states and brought home 2 babies to this boat. Originally, we were only supposed to be dockside for 2.5 years while Conor finished his Camp Lejeune billet. Then he had to extend a bit. Then COVID hit. And here we are, four years later and STILL a year out from heading down to the USVI. However, we were able to pay off the boat and add to our family during this time.
Which brings me to this past weekend.
4th of July anchor out
We sailed the boat across the mouth of the Chesapeake this weekend to an anchorage that looked pretty neat. It was the first time sailing with just the four of us. When we moved from NC to VA, we motored up with ICW and R was still a tiny baby who liked to sleep in a wrap the entire time. Well, that tiny baby has turned into a full-fledged handful and there are just not enough adults onboard to make this a safe situation anymore.
A peek at the hot mess
Sailing was supposed to be a team effort between me and Conor. It was do-able with one kid, but with two kids, it leaves one parent totally occupied dealing with the kids and the other parent solo-sailing. The conditions over the 4th of July were a bit rolly, but nothing extreme like a pop-up storm or an emergency, and we struggled. It really fucking sucks to admit this.
The kids are just too little to be safe down below when we are on the lean. They need to be older to make this work and be active participants instead of safety hazards in the cockpit. If we had an extra set of hands or crew, we could still realize this dream. But the boat is not big enough for crew. It left us with the realization that at this moment, with this boat, it cannot work.
We are not willing to remain dockside for another four years and wait for the kids to get big enough. This boat deserves to be sailed. So, we are taking an intermission and plan on moving abroad to Europe for a few years.
Europe was always the plan after we were done being full-time liveaboards, but we decided to use it as a pause before we return to the boating lifestyle. The good news is that the second time around, we will be starting the journey with YEARS of experience under our belts. We will know exactly what to look for in a boat, how we want to split our time, and set ourselves up for a successful adventure as a family instead of pushing through with the wrong fit. I am looking heavily into catamaran sailing. We are also able to charter and captain a boat anywhere in the world and live out some vacation dreams in the interim. To be honest, it will also be nice not to have to hold our breath for 6 months out of the year waiting for a hurricane to hit. 3x in 3 years on the east coast has been exhausting, and it is only getting worse in the Caribbean.
Not giving up, just moving the timeline
I am feeling so many mixed emotions. The certainty that it would be selfish of me to insist we continue down this path at this stage in life. The feeling of failure that we didn’t make our “end goal” with Story Time. Contentment that we know we will get where we want to go, just on a different boat at a different time. Frustration that we can’t do it right now. Excitement to try something new. Guilt at selling the only home my babies have ever known. Exhaustion at the process of selling the boat. Gratitude for a loving husband who is by my side through it all. Tears, tears, tears. So many tears.
I’m still going to call this blog Cannons to Cruising and will still be documenting our lifestyle on here. Like I said, we WILL be returning to the ‘cruising’ aspect of this, but you might have to read about traveling through Europe for a while before we loop back around! Thanks for sticking by us and all your support through the years. I hope all of this makes sense.
So much love,
Taylor, Conor, W, and R
Can’t imagine not living on the water anymore, but I have her hand in mine.
Nothing looks so awkward as a fish out of water, except for maybe a sailboat. Poor Story Time is up in the boat yard right now, looking sad and forlorn. Instead of slicing through the waves with full, beautiful sails, all I see is a bulging belly teetering on a skinny keel.
However, it desperately needed to get done! Check this last post about the state of our hull. We were thrilled that Bluewater Yachts was able to accommodate Story Time before the summer sailing season really kicked off. They are sanding, epoxying, priming, and repainting as we speak. This haul out process must be completed every three to five years, and next time we would like to do the bottom work ourselves. But right now, with two small children and Conor still working a full-time job (plus his Marine Corps reserves!), it just isn’t possible. Instead, we hired the professionals and braced ourselves for the bill…
And our quote came back at HALF what we expected to owe! We are still awaiting the final cost, but it looks like she will cost us around $4,000. TOTALLY WORTH IT.
Now to divert from boring boat maintenance posts, I have an exciting update about our friends on SV Minoh. After finally completing their bottom redo, Zach and Corri set sail south to Florida! They had a bumpy upwind sail with huge swells and too many pop-up thunderstorms to count. Through it all, they rocked their first solo offshore sail and made it safely to their destination. I am just so proud of them I could burst.
Corri said it best once they recovered from the trip and were all smiles again—“There’s gotta be a drug in the ocean air that causes amnesia and makes you forget just how stressful it can be out there…” As I remember our trip up to Virginia, I can definitely agree! We have to be a little bit crazy to keep doing this. Keep up with them on Instagram @microretirement.
Today I’m sharing a GREAT article from livefree2sailfast.com about how COVID is affecting cruising plans this year. It definitely gave us a lot to consider! We are planning to leave Gottschalk in November but still need to figure out what comes next. It is so hard to plan for the future when we are dealing with an unprecedented pandemic. We hoped it would be over by this fall, but it isn’t looking promising. Might need to adjust our sail…
Things we should have thought through before taking off to go cruising.
We have achieved a milestone on STORY TIME. After two and a half years of planning departures and returns around nap time or bedtime, we returned to our slip while W was awake and in the cockpit.
I was a nervous wreck as we approached the dock. We spent the night on another incredible anchor out, and our return time didn’t match up with nap time. While Conor and I have docked the boat with our daughter awake before, it has always been with an extra crew member or two to wrangle her and keep her occupied while we worked. This time, it was just the two of us.
With all that can go wrong during docking, it was always the easiest choice to have her asleep and out of the way in the past. I didn’t want to think about her grabbing the wheel while Conor was backing up, or tripping on deck while I tried to catch a line, or especially going overboard so close to the dock. All of this flashed through my mind and Conor had to remind me that she wasn’t a baby anymore.
This was the natural next step. W knows how to behave on a boat. She knows what she is and is not allowed to do, ingrained from her earliest memories. She knows where her safe spot is to sit and, most importantly, STAY when Mommy and Daddy are busy.
We talked it up the whole trip back to the marina—expectations, what was going to happen, and what we needed her to do. I am also not above bribery and set her up with a lollipop to entertain her while she watched the action.
As parents we cannot let our personal fears interfere with our children’s opportunities to rise to occasions. They often prove to us that they are ready before we think they are, and when given the chance, can blow us away. We chose to live aboard to provide growth and development opportunities that are unmatched in a traditional home. When faced with such a choice this time, I had to take a deep breath and trust her.
Explaining the docking process. She knows it is serious!
And guess what? W did AMAZING. She didn’t move, or demand attention, or grab anything. She sat quietly and watched, a feat I assumed to be nearly impossible for a child under three. I think that within the next two years, she will graduate to throwing and catching lines! She is well on her way to becoming a productive crew member in her own right. This comes just in time to start all over again with baby brother in a few months! At least he will have W to show him the ropes.
We spent the weekend away from the docks and anchored out overnight with Minoh. 12 mph winds, clear skies, and 75 degrees—it felt like a dream! We anchored across from a private beach and made good use of our dinghy.
In the past, Conor has usually been so busy with work in the spring that we don’t start getting into our sailing groove until Memorial Day weekend. Thanks to the quarantine and his recent work-from-home schedule, we were able to get Story Time into shape much faster this year and get out onto the water by April. It has been an absolute joy to take advantage of the warmer weather before the humidity hits. Good thing too because our sailing window is also going to end much earlier this summer. We are adding another crew member! Baby #2 is arriving in August.
Baby’s current interests include dock yoga and kicking the crap out of me.
We reached the end of our quarantine period on Saturday! No COVID-19 for us. We celebrated by finally taking the boat out for the first time this spring. Our last sail was in November, so Story Time had four loooonnngggg months stuck at the dock.
A great aspect about boating is that it is social distancing at its finest! I think boat owners naturally seek isolation, solitude, and quiet out on the water. It is the perfect activity especially when everything around us is closed. Our engine fired right up, all systems still worked, and we dropped anchor for a few hours across the river.
Looking for crab pots
As this pandemic drags on, we feel lucky that we can still do what we love as a family. We are thankful to all be together, happy and healthy. Wishing everyone we know the same fortune.
We want to be cruisers so we can unplug from everyday life. The ultimate goal is to take our boat and go off the grid for weeks at a time, exploring uninhabited islands and leaving the “real world” behind. With all the COVID-19 insanity these past few weeks, it has made me wonder—will we ever be able to truly go offline? Is it dangerous to remain completely in the dark? How much of a break is good for mental health, versus safety and preparedness in the long run?
The virus situation escalated within weeks. I’ve seen news stories about couples on backpacking or hiking retreats returning home after a month to this shitstorm. It has to be like a bad dream. Living it IS a bad dream, but less of a shock after watching the pandemic develop. I’ve been wondering about all the cruisers out there who have just completed a long passage and are returning to find every port is closed!
When prepping for a passage, food is carefully prepared and rationed. There is garbage to be considered, water storage, and fuel. While sailors try to plan for delays or alternative stops, I can bet none of them saw this coming. How frightening to be low on food, fuel, and water but denied entry to restock. I don’t blame countries for trying to protect themselves, but these boaters are stuck in a terrible situation and I can’t help but worry. What would we do in their place? We have a hurricane plan, we know what to do if something breaks on our boat, but we have no pandemic plan. Honestly, I never thought we would need one!
Entering a port with a yellow flag flying has just been a courtesy for the last 100 years or so. It tells people ashore that all passengers and crew aboard are healthy and not bringing any diseases into the area. In the past, if a ship was quarantined, they flew a checked yellow and black flag called the Yellow Jack. Once the quarantine was up and the ship deemed safe, they were allowed to fly a solid yellow flag again. It is crazy to think that these flags now serve a real purpose again in this day and age, rather than as tradition.
This will be one more scenario to consider when we prepare to leave North Carolina. If any experienced cruisers have advice or resources to share, please do so. We are one hundred percent certain that we are on the right path, but it is also our responsibility as parents to adventure SAFELY.
This is our third recap video! Check out 2017 and 2018 if you need a blast from the past before watching 2019!
So much has happened this year—Conor took a trip to Norway and also graduated from WTI. I published my second book and wrote a third. W is speaking in complete sentences and scooter-ing down the docks like a madwoman. I can’t believe we have a 2-year-old!
This year was also filled with visits from family and friends, epic sails and sunsets, and (probably) too many cocktails.
Here’s the wrap up! The accompanying song is “Wars” by the Strumbellas (thanks for a great time, Nashville!)
Cannons to Cruising 