2023-08-02

Thursday, August 3

Today was the day I picked up the boat. SV Otra. Fucking. Parte.

The journey:

Went to Juan’s house in the morning to get this party started, with a little drive down to Isla Flamenco

Still can’t really believe that its happening 😅

We headed out to Juan’s boat at first to do a supply run and to corral the troops. I always love the first time in the morning I get out on the water, and this was no different.

We needed a few things for the boat, so once we were back on land we headed to the marine store and picked up some fenders, a battery and a bilge pump.

The joke with a boat is that it stands for Bring On Another Thousand, and this was ended up being my first $1k 😉.

We went back down to the Brisas de Amador ramp, jumped on the yellow dinghy and ended up on the skill, the boat that would tow the boat if my engine failed (foreshadowing….)

We went around the marina peninsula from Brisas to Isla Flamenco, heading into the marina entry way from the water.

And there she is - my big blue bitch.

Juan started using his little hippy hands to try to get this bad boy moving, but unfortunately no matter what we did we couldn’t get the engine to start. I’m going to need Nelson to check it out when he is back

Fuck it.

AND WE’RE OFF! We headed back out from the marina using the skiff to essentially tow the boat, and synchronising the rudders. There was a moment where the girl hit the open ocean and I cannot tell you how magical it was. That was the moment I knew I’d made the correct choice. Even writing it now I’m getting tingles.

Juan had organised it to moor against Phil’s catamaran SisuTL. We ended up needing an entire crew composed of Erik, Juan, Daniel and Emilio to manouver this bitch into the correct location.

And just like that - boom. There she is, in my control, moored up in Brisas, and a new project to work on. Holy moly.

As a final note - Daniel sent me a message that night of him doing a night time check of the boat to ensure that its still floating and still working.

Out. Fucking. Standing.

The Aftermath

I nearly collapsed out of exhaustion. The heat, the sun, the excitement, the months of drinking and drugs have just ruined my body. It was an amazing nights sleep.

Nami rang me and congratulated me. What a babe, I really hope she’s well.She’s better off without me, but I really do miss her and think about her a lot.