SailThreeSheets.com

Installed new flooring on the entire starboard side in the salon and galley. We fastened the strut and have nearly completed that job, also.   Brian will probably varnish the floor on Monday.

We installed new teak handrails today, aka “holy shit handles”, and are in process of engine alignment for driveshaft/propellor.

Yesterday was my last day working for Groove/Microsoft.  Having known for a long time this day would come, I would have thought myself to be more emotionally prepared.

The final moments of leaving the building hit me really hard, and I had to fight back the tears.   Staring at my empty office, walking the halls for the last time, leaving the building…  I’ve ended an amazing era in my life.

Friends at Groove/Microsoft, especially those who go back to the Groove startup days, feel more like “extended family” than just friends.   We’ve worked together, played together, dined together for years.  We’ve grown and our lives have evolved together, as 10 years time will do to people.

There’s many people for who I will greatly miss the day-to-day interactions.  I hope our paths cross again soon.

Right now, this site is mainly photos of our boat projects that we’ve been working on this summer.  When we begin our trip (in early November), we’ll use this site to blog about our experiences.

We’re hoping to be ready to depart within 2-3 weeks time, but we have a number of not-so-small projects still in progress:

• Interior work:  Lynne has been hard at work upgrading the livability of the boat and has done some great improvements.  New flooring is going in, and we’re finishing up some cabinetry to improve our options for storage/organization of our stuff.
• Driveshaft/propellor.   We think in about 1 day’s time, we’ll finish installation and alignment/tuning of our propulsion system.   We’ve replaced many parts.
• Electrical work:  Solar panels and wind generator installation is nearly complete.   Brian has several days work remaining installing new house battery banks, installing a new alternator, and generally improving the electrical wiring of the boat.
• Freezer: Brian is currently awaiting parts for the icebox.   A few days of construction and 1 day of installation, and we’ll have our freezer box complete!    Finishing this project will allow us to install our new propane stove and will eventually get us to the point where we can do the final cleaning pass of the interior (notably, this task will remove fiberglass dust, the truly nasty stuff that has infiltrated every nook and cranny of the interior).
• Exterior work:  We’re finishing up our anchor improvements.  We have a couple pieces of deck hardware left to install, things like cleats/chocks/etc.   We have new teak handrails that should go on pretty quickly.
• Miscellaneous:   Install boat PC, install new depth sounder + GPS mapping unit, install SSB radio, …

Brian’s last day of work is this Friday, Oct. 17.   We hope that progress on these projects will be accelerated over the next couple weeks.