We moved Allora over to Emery Cove Yacht Harbor from commissioning her in Oakland. Slip G5 became our home for the summer. We spent less than four months at Emery Cove. When we first walked it’s docks (before Allora arrived) the boats seemed empty, but they gradually filled with people, full of stories and wisdom. Our first conversations were about our new home, and of course, our plans. Diane, the Emery Cove Harbor Master, confided that she took for granted that we would end up postponing at least a year. She knew better than we could, the brazen naivite of our ambitions. We eventually began to feel a little embarassed about one sided dream sharing. Most were there doing this long way, years of saving up money and fixing up boats, waiting for children to be old enough for the journey, for a spouse or partner to retire. Our very shiny, brand new boat boat and constant trips to West Marine confirmed that we were burning cash to speed the process up. “You must be the rich man,” said an older live aboard while I shaved one morning. We tried to emphasize that we sold everything, sold the farm, to make this dream a reality. The thing is, though it wasn’t taking years, but weeks or months to make Allora seaworthy, we were working harder than we ever had.
We were astonished and overwhelmed by the enormity of the project of making a brand new boat seaworthy (something we might have been guilty of taking for a little for granted). Our days were non-stop right to the very last moment as our gooseneck had to be replaced after Diana found cracks in it and the bubble tangs which attach the shrouds to the mast reseated and riveted (new word to us… one of many), to the last minute project of seizing the deck shackles so that one twist of a screw, turned lose by the relentless motion of the sea, would not spell disaster. To our relief as we worked day in and out, the real sailors on our dock saw that we were doing most of outfitting ourselves, that we weren’t simply buying a dream, but also constructing it, through the long, ever lasting project of learning Allora in her most intimate details, the bruising, tedious, inspring work of crawling through her bilges, making her seaworthy. Crucial tips arrived in casual asides from more experienced sailors. Our neighbors began to feel that we doing some things well, and that was gratifying.
