Cradled to Current: The Day Our Dream Finally Touched the Water

The Day our Dream Finally Began ...

After what felt like forever, May 18th, 2024 finally arrived; the day we began the trip of a lifetime. The plan? Drive from home to Racine, Wisconsin… and sail home from there.

I had spent countless hours preparing, ensuring I had everything I could think of that we would need, from personal items, to food for the first week, spare parts, tools, gidgets and gadgets to fix things that we didn’t even know were broken, because on an older sailboat something is always broken… you just don’t know it yet!

A Sneaky Goodby and a Long Drive Ahead

For the first leg of the journey, our oldest daughter joined us. We drove together to Syracuse, where we swapped into a rental car while she turned around and took our car home. We may have had to be a little sneaky about the fact that our doggo was tagging along in the rental. Naughty us… shhh… that’s our secret! This trip would take us at least 2 months; the longest I had ever been away from our daughters, and that was terrifying. Knowing that if something happened, we wouldn’t be minutes away, weighed heavy on my heart. Emotional Whiplash in the Storage Yard

With the rental packed and our excitement building, we hit the road toward Racine. And honestly, I don’t have the perfect words to truly describe what it felt like to finally arrive. My heart absolutely dropped when we pulled up to the storage yard and… our boat wasn’t there. In her place was a completely different boat. Thankfully, after a quick walk around, Tom spotted her at the other end of the yard. Emotional whiplash at its best!

Four Days and Thousand Tasks

From there, life hit fast-forward mode. We had just four days until splash day. Four days to paint the bottom. A team scheduled to clean and wax the hull. I needed to unpack and get us ready to move aboard. We had paperwork to organize so we’d be ready to import her at the border. And of course provisioning, because we only had the rental car for 4 days. No pressure at all, right?

We planned to stay in Racine for a month to learn our new boat. Going from our little Chrysler 26 to a Hunter 380 was a massive upgrade in size, comfort, and capability. Exciting… absolutely. Intimidating… oh yes. And we had never sailed on the Great Lakes before, a whole new league on its own.

Surprise Splash Day is .... Today!

Then came May 22nd a little too quickly. We checked in with the marina staff to confirm our splash date the following day and instead were told they’d be launching us in a few hours. Cue instant adrenaline. I am 100% a Nervous Nelly, and my brain immediately fired off every worst-case scenario. What if she sinks? What if something leaks? What if… everything?? We raced to get the boat ready for transport, and I barely had time to think, never mind panic properly.

Lifted on to a trailer to move boat annd cradle from storage

Crane picks boat up from cradle to transport her to the water

Splash Day is really happening!

Watching our Floating Home Touch Water

I'd never seen a boat launced like this. With our previous boat, Agra, we rented a pickup truck and driver because our baby SUV couldn’t tow her. This time there was a massive crane lifted our new floating home like she weighed nothing. Watching her leave the cradle and slowly lower toward the water was surreal, equal parts terrifying and thrilling. When she finally settled in, Tom went below to check the seacocks and make sure everything was dry. The engine fired to life beautifully, and just like that… she was alive.

We moved her into our slip; our new home for the next month.

And just like that, we were officially stepping into this incredible new chapter.

Tomorrow… we move aboard. ⚓️💙

A Quiet Moment of Realization

Looking back on those whirlwind days in Racine, it still amazes me how quickly fear, excitement, doubt, joy, and pure disbelief managed to live together in my chest all at once. We were exhausted, overwhelmed, and buzzing with adrenaline… but we were also exactly where we were meant to be. Standing on that dock, watching our new home gently float for the first time under our care, it truly hit me; this wasn’t just a boat launch. This was the moment a dream we’d whispered about for years officially became real. And as scary as that was… it was also incredibly, beautifully thrilling.