The biggest thing to keep front of mind when living on a boat and cruising is that you need to stay adaptable. This is mostly weather related but there is some spillover into the other aspects of life.

I’d say that the cruising lifestyle leads itself into helping those who do well in the lifestyle to become more adaptable.

Our plans for the winter in St. Augustine was a bit aggressive. Rebed all the hatches, rebed some stantions, scrub, clean, do some gel coat repair, do some aggressive plumbing work, replace our Bimini, add some serious solar mounts, do some electrical work, move our autopilot’s computer and compass, and finally to upgrade from a wheel motor for the autopilot to an actuator arm.

We arrived in St. Augustine before Christmas so the first order of business was Christmas. We met up with friends and started to collect the things we’d need to do some of this work.

Then a few days after Christmas I decided to take a mid-day break from my job to make a run to Staples where I could exchange the CO2 canister for our soda stream, swing by Home Depot to pick up a watering can and pot, then since they didn’t have any rosemary plants at Home Depot I made my way to the grocery store. Nope, none there either.

Then on the way home, I was riding on the sidewalk and there was a car stopped at a stop sign. They were waiting for what seemed like an endless stream of traffic to pass. So I crossed the street in front of them. Just as I was almost passed their car they made a break for an opening in the traffic and BAM. Safe to say that both our days were pretty much gone at that point.

I woke up in the ambulance and had some flashes from the ER before I was transferred to another hospital. Blood in my lungs, a lacerated spleen, and seven fractured ribs. I was not in a good way.

While I’m healing well the only real relief I get from the pain is when in the pool. And now that the ribs are healing I’m discovering other pains that were masked by the overwhelming nature of the ribs.

Last night was the first night I was able to sleep in my own bunk which was absolutely a dream.

But this winter’s plans are pretty much shot. We won’t be doing the Bimini, that will have to wait, same for the plumbing, electrical, and just about every other job we were planning on doing.

Luckily I can still type, so I can do my University work.

But even breathing still hurts.

Still, cruising has taught me to be adaptable. And I’m forced to consider the Stoic concept of “Amor Fati” which means “Love Fate” not just accept what’s happened but to find a way to love it. To look for the good in everything that happens.

I’ve been quite grateful that if this needed to happen that it happened here. We were in a place with good access to medical care. We are tied to a dock and I don’t need to climb the boarding ladder. There have been several storms since the accident that I didn’t need to worry about the anchor dragging. The marina has a pool which offers some pain relief. And we can get mail here so I can order what we need from Amazon and other delivery services so that I don’t need to walk to the store. And the boys are still here with me so that they can help with the day-to-day things I still can’t do.

Even so, we try to stay active so this forced rest and full stop for me is difficult.

Right now our current plan is to essentially do nothing in the marina for the month of January, do nothing for the month of February. Well, I’ll do nothing in February. I’m hoping that we can still purchase the actuator arm and that Liam can install it. We may need to ask for help but I think that’s a safety thing.

Our current autopilot slips from time to time and if I”m going to be solo sailing and especially if I’m still weak from the accident I can’t be grabbing the wheel because the autopilot can’t handle something.

But then March comes.

The hope is that most of the pain has faded by March and that I can climb that boarding ladder. Even if it hurts like heck If I can do it we’ll pick a flat calm day and motor up to Cumberland Island GA where we can anchor and I can start to get more walking in alongside the crazy trees and wildlife of the island.

All of this is going to cost a fortune I know but we’ll adapt.

I probably won’t be able to do the aggressive sailing we’re used to this spring so we’ll be watching for better weather windows and may end up motoring a lot more. Then once we’re in Provincetown for the summer we can see about how to get some of the larger items delivered to us.

And with luck. I’ll be healed enough to do both all the winter work and all the summer work in just the summer on the mooring ball.