Sundown Sailing Adventures

Where in the world is the galley?

When people ask, “How’s the boat renovation progressing?,” I cower and feebly mumble something I think will appease their curiosity like, “Oh, you know, it’s a big project” or “It’s coming along.” If they say they want to see it, I cringe and politely change the subject or pray my phone rings so I can feign annoyance that we’ve been interrupted and will have to set a viewing date another time.

I react this way because s/v Sundown is a mess (view more photos in the gallery). There’s crap everywhere. It’s dusty, dirty and greatly disturbs the sense of order I need to feel balanced. But I’m reading a book that’s giving me a new appreciation for the boat’s disheveled, nasty state—Bird by Bird, by Anne Lamott. It’s about how to be a good writer, which is one of my favorite topics, but not at all related to sailing. When I got to the fourth chapter titled “Perfectionism,” Lamott’s message really began to resonate in a self-denial sort of way, like “she can’t know me that well” and “surely she isn’t talking about me.” She writes, “Perfectionism means that you try desperately not to leave so much mess to clean up. But clutter and mess show us that life is being lived. Clutter is wonderfully fertile ground…” And so it is with Sundown.

Feeling a bit offended ( I’m sure) when I mentioned I was writing a blog post about how disgusting Sundown is, my husband spent a rainy afternoon “swamping” the boat. He vacuumed, condensed, organized and then videotaped the outcome. It gives me hope that beneath all the mess, Sundown is coming together bit by messy bit.