Dearest Agra2,

More Than Just a Sailboat.

You are more than a sailboat made of fibreglass, wood, and steel. You are our trusted, wise old friend, our haven, the keeper of our dreams.

Lessons on the Water

You teach us patience in the doldrums and strength in the storms . You carry us across endless blue waters, helping us find peace and purpose in gentle rocking seas and the quiet satisfaction of a perfectly trimmed sail. You are a beloved partner in our adventure story, a familiar and welcome embrace on the water — the kind that always seems to know exactly what we need, even when we don’t.

An Instant Connection

Have you ever met someone and just known they would be part of your story? I felt that the first time I stepped aboard you. It was like meeting an old friend long forgotten; an instant connection that didn’t need forcing. We simply understood each other, you weren’t perfect.  Your rigging needed some fine tuning, but we saw the potential in your lines.  You were a vessel built for adventures, a sturdy, comfortable, unwavering friend waiting to take us beyond the horizon.

A Journey of Balance

You provide us with an intimate journey, one where we rely on each other.  Through highs and lows, you teach us that love is about balance, requiring constant attention, just like setting sails to catch the wind.  You have been the backdrop to our most serene mornings, with golden light spreading over your bow, making the exhaustion of a long journey fade away.  You listen without interrupting. You don’t ask us to be better, braver, or healed. You only ask that we show up, cast off, trust the water beneath us, and love you as faithfully as you love us.

Laughter and Silence

Some days you carry laughter across your cockpit, the kind that feels lighter because it’s earned. Other days, you hold our silence, letting it stretch safely between us while the wind does the talking.

Enduring Friendship

You are enduring and non-judgemental. You have seen us at our worst; tired, afraid, impatient, undone. You have also seen us steady one another, repair what broke, and choose again. Not perfectly, but honestly.

Acceptance and Safety

You know our flaws, our mistakes, our embarrassing moments on the water. With you, there is safety — a rare space where we can be our truest selves without fear of judgement.

Teaching Love’s True Course

You teach us that love doesn’t always look like forward motion. Sometimes it looks like heaving-to. Sometimes it looks like drifting. Sometimes it looks like staying when turning back would be easier. And often, for us, it looks like jibing and tacking — a gentle reminder that life rarely follows a straight path.

A Place to Be Ourselves

You are not just our sailboat, nor even our second home. You give us a place to practice being human together. A place where we learn patience. A place where we learn grace.

Quiet Wisdom

You teach quietly, through the way you move and speak. Through the creak of your bulkhead, you tell stories of waters you know far better than I ever will.

Stories in Every Scratch

Your hull shows your age, marked with scratches — mostly courtesy of Tom, no doubt — each one a badge earned through our adventures. When the wind fills your sails, you take a deep breath and surge forward. When the breeze fades, your sails sag in soft disappointment.

The Music of Your Rigging

Your rigging hums a nervous, high-pitched tune when the wind rises, warning Tom that you’re feeling the pressure. You grumble and shiver when you’re cold, but once warmed, you purr steadily beneath our feet.

Strength in Adversity

Your keel digs deep, finding footing even when waves shove you around. You speak through the vibration in the wheel, or push back with a heavy helm when you’ve had enough.

Anchored and Secure

At anchor, you rock gently, sleeping soundly. When Mother Nature howls and throws caution to the wind, your anchor bites deep and holds us secure. You love your slip at the yacht club, gliding through calm water, sails dancing a quiet greeting to neighbouring boats.

Bravery and Quiet Mornings

You have a brave soul. You bow into squalls, shake off the spray, and remind us to steady our nerves and hold course.

You know slow mornings, too. Mornings where your gelcoat sparkles in the sun as you rest patiently, waiting for the moment we raise your sails and bring you back to life.

Home on the Water

As you move beneath wide skies, you remind us that home is often found in moments of shared vulnerability, when we trust the rhythm of tide and wind, let gentle rocking settle our worries, and open our hearts to quiet joy.

With each sunrise breaking over your bow, we discover new ways of belonging. Not just to each other, but to the horizon that calls us forward — even as we learn to rest, to listen, and simply to be.

A Faithful Companion

You are the kind of friend who waits faithfully, even when we must return to land. And we know, without question, that you’ll be there when it’s time to begin again.  You forced us to unplug, to trade the noise of the world for the rhythmic waves against your hull, the quiet anchorages, a sanctuary for us to talk, to dream, to discover a shared vision of life. You taught us freedom isn’t about running away, it’s about finding a place where we can simply be.

Strength in the Storm

When the squall winds were at their strongest, when Mother Nature tried to sink us, your sturdy capable design righted us, and gave us confidence to face the elements.  We learned to trust your strength, knowing you were built to endure. In those moments, when fear mingled with adrenaline, our bond with you became unbreakable.

Confidant and Refuge

You’re more than just a sailboat; you are escape, our confidant.  You have held our secrets, witnessed our joy, and shared our tears.  As we look forward to the next horizon, we know there is nowhere else we would rather be than with you, travelling the waters of time.

Gratitude

After two years of storms and calm, challenges and joy, you have never let us down. You remain our loyal, wise old friend. Our safe harbour.  Thank you for the adventures, the peace, and the love.