Waking Up a Pirate

Bicycles, boats, books, burgers, coaching, coffee, parties, teaching, training, weddings… I was finally a pirate with purpose and I had to do everything I could to make those dreams a reality!
Whatever I could lend my hand at, I was! (Please note that I was a friendly pirate, so I was not willing to rape, pillage, murder, or loot!)
And in true pirate fashion, every day threw some unexpected surprises that kept life a little too entertaining!

4 months ago, I wrote my last Blog (it’s probably also the last time I sat down to simply breathe).
I was excited about life, but had absolutely no idea what would happen next.
I was [f]unemployed, living van life because I’d given up my apartment in January when I’d quit Lagos.
But I was back, and despite having multiple teary farewells, I had decided I might actually stick around a little while.

The next thing I knew, I woke up on a boat. And it wasn’t just a delivery, or transport, or a project, she was mine!
And I didn’t quite have time to enjoy her because a billion jobs had materialised to help me start to pay back the friendly souls who helped me leap aboard my dream.

If you know me, you probably know that my attention span is about 14 seconds and my quests tend to change just as quickly – never the bigger goals, just the side quests we (because quests are always more fun with friends) must conquer to get there. But the dream of having my own boat has been spoken about since I first tasted sailing 14 years ago. And while I swore this was the Year of the Boat, the actual B-Day had a very sneaky arrival. (It was so sneaky that even my bank account was totally unprepared for it.)

Chouette was beautiful with very sexy lines, wooden, unique, and in far better condition than I imagined for a 69-year-old.
She sailed magnificently, but it was clear that the propeller needed a bit of a clean.
I was in love!
So, I did what I always do when I fall in love, I panicked and tried to run away from her.

This time there was no escaping – the previous owner had decided that I NEEDED to take her.
And my priceless assortment of supportive friends wouldn’t let me escape my dream.
Even my decision-making coin yelled “BOAT!”
Suddenly she was mine.

It took about two months to re-register her and navigate insurance.
She needed to have a survey to be insured.
But she needed to be out of the water to be surveyed.
And she couldn’t be lifted out of the water until she was insured…
(Annoyingly, she couldn’t be sailed either, so she remained my floating castle.)

Suddenly there was a green-light and the jobs slowed enough to allow her to be hauled out so I could clean and paint and fix her.
I estimated it would take 6 days.
Despite having a community of helping supporters rock up daily to lend a hand, it took 3 weeks.
And now, FINALLY, she is back in the water (where boats belong).
There’s a never-ending list of tasks and things to fix but she’s almost as ready for more adventures as I am!

So yes, if you’ve been wondering where I’ve been hiding, I’ve been transforming into a pirate.
I thought I might warn you too: Be careful – your dreams might actually come true!