Actually, in Finland the saying goes “Well planned is half done”. As our boat is currently covered in ice and snow, there isn’t much work we can begin – but we sure can plan. As it happens, I’m very good at planning. So good in fact, that I have turned it into a way of making a living – I prefer not to talk about a career, because careers are something that successful and ambitious people have, and I’m just an ordinary person who likes to make plans. I like it so much I hardly ever stop planning. Sometimes I even make plans while sleeping, which is the best way of putting that time into some use, if you ask me.

But to be honest, well planned is rarely half done. Well begun is not half done, either. Incidentally, my husband and I are unparalleled when it comes to beginning projects. We have begun so many projects over the years you wouldn’t believe it! But do we see all of them completed or even half done? No, we don’t.

Buying a sailboat was no doubt an attempt to escape from the reality of unfinished projects. I can’t think of a better way to do that than cast the lines and sail to far horizons. It’s also practically the only thing that will stop me from planning, even for just a little while. Sure, I will still make plans about which direction to sail tomorrow or whether to open a can of pea soup or tomato sauce, but the brilliant plans that bug me day and night whenever I’m on solid ground – they will not follow me to the sea.

But there is something I clearly didn’t take into account when we bought the boat – the fact that the sailing season above 60° north is very short. And while the boat is up on the hard, it’s not acting as a means of escape from projects – it becomes one huge big project in itself. I mean, who could look at a sailboat in their own backyard every single day, month after month, and not start seeing all sorts of things missing from it? 

So far we’ve noticed that our boat is missing a furling headsail, a second reef in the mainsail, reefing lines, a topping lift, lazy jacks, a decent way of getting on and off the boat – both fore and aft – sufficient tankage for fresh water, a proper toilet and a waste management system… the list is endless. Then there is the overall shabbiness, but I have decided I won’t let it bug me, as we’re not going to move aboard. No, this is merely a practice boat for polishing our skills to perfection. The next boat won’t be shabby. The next boat will have standing headroom.

I will document our progress as we start tackling these projects, one by one, and we’ll see how many will be done before it’s time to launch the boat. The headsail is already being made, so it has begun! And as there are certain things you absolutely can’t leave half done – such as drilling holes below the waterline – I’m sure we will get those done. I don’t know how many weeks of bareboat charter in Croatia all these projects will be worth, but I do know the water is turquoise over there. However, as good old Sam put it:

It’s the job that’s never started as takes longest to finish.

           J. R. R. Tolkien, The Fellowship of the Ring

• Just add water

January 19, 2017

• Boat Projects Start Again – with Another Big Bang!

April 2, 2018

• Not What We Had Planned

June 22, 2020