MORE ON MILESTONES

Pass them by or get run over

Last week STEADFAST hit a milestone with the now-bigger-than-us repair/rebuild/refit project, the end of a difficult, integral component that wasn’t really the end but the beginning of an end. The whole MILESTONE concept morphed into a myriad of memories and more than a few hours of contemplation for me as 2025 draws to a close. Sometimes we can celebrate them but other times those stones block our paths and become insurmountable or worse yet, sneak up from behind, modifying plans and dreams. Or they can tumble along in front of us a little too fast, too elusive, and we never quite get to pass them by. They can change, too, or disappear altogether as time flies by or circumstances alter. Who decides on them, anyway, these milestones? And then who moves the goal line or changes the rules? We all do, I think, for ourselves and for others. Or do we?

We gave up estimating relaunch because it’s hard to be so wrong.

You may know our estimated repair time was four months; that was July, 2024. Still workin’ it, baby, still saying four months, but now it’s much more tongue-in-cheek, with an eye on the milestone in case it should shake loose, take another unexpected turn, and crush us like a bug.

I don’t think I set goals when I first started writing on this platform; but now that SPARRING WITH MOTHER NATURE has attracted 800 subscribers from 44 countries and almost 1,500 followers I’m definitely calling it a MILESTONE! With your shares, re-stacks, feedback and interactions, we average 1,300 views each week, with a personal best of 2,450 and climbing! It’s a darn busy world and in-boxes can get too full. I think I’ve signed up for too many publications because there are so many talented, knowledgable artists it can be hard to choose where to spend precious, fleeting free time.

So know this; I’m absolutely, indescribably honored that you’re here;)

Today marks the hundredth time I’ve prepared a piece for publication; the photographs are mine as well; I love that art form. Each week I take around twelve hours to draft, edit, rewrite, illustrate and finalize; as I hit the ‘send’ button, little nervous butterflies flutter, wondering if it’s good enough. I get wound up that I will lose your attention and loyalty...that’s the perfectionist in me; my greatest fear is to hurt another, the second is to bore another! After all, this publication wasn’t designed or introduced to be stories about boat repair and the endless trials thereof—it was and is truly a lifestyle publication—travel via classic wooden sailboat—stories of the seas along with the people, places and things STEADFAST and her crew encounter.

I began writing SPARRING WITH MOTHER NATURE to show you aspects of the liveaboard world you may not see. I want to share with you the reality of living on the water AND the fact that it’s far more logistically challenging than it may appear. I will still do that, when we relaunch; it has been a tremendously intimidating task to innovate these weekly posts when I rarely go anywhere and for the last nineteen months have tended to feel gritty, overwhelmed and tight-muscled rather than creative and interesting. I pulled these photos up for my own inspiration; they were taken the last week of 2022 in the Abacos, Bahamas.

They are great examples of why I choose to live the way I do. More dear to me than the stunning sunsets, honestly, are moments like these, when my heart races as I hang over the bow and meet the eyes of a dolphin, one at a time, as that amazing mammal observes me. Or when a honeybee makes the inexplicable long-distance overwater flight to investigate the helm. Maybe it was his milestone, to get that far.

But that’s not most of life anywhere, is it? Peace, nature and beauty. Now I know that most Cruising (like many lifestyles) is maintenance, weather and happenstance. In the spring of 2024 STEADFAST was headed deep into the Caribbean, fully intending to explore the now-ominous, lawless and violent region where seemingly unwarranted warships and who knows who else gather as I type this. I visited pristine Margarita Island, Venezuela, as a twelve-year-old and sought to return; now greedy, power-hungry leaders make it a foolhardy dream to explore those stunning waters. Current status makes previously feared pirates look rather tame, frankly.

Shouldn’t downplay the sunsets too much….

I’ve begun at least a hundred more stories stashed in my magical and diverse Substack Ideas file folder which has titles whose meaning I cannot always recall as I skim them; most will get out to you in our second century¹ of communications about my little piece of paradise. So stay onboard! We’re already planning one hell of a launch party; we just don’t know when… and you already know you’re invited. ~J

Want to share my work with the editor of your favorite magazine? Easy cheesy, hit the re-stack arrows or forward to someone who knows what it feels like to be run over by a tumbling milestone, never to be seen again…

Shouldn’t downplay the sunrises, either…I never tire of them. Thanks again, for staying aboard. ~J

In case you thought that century could only be used for time: (I looked it up, too)

1. 1. https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/century (b)

RESTACK THIS STORY!! SERIOUSLY. DO IT. And Happy, Happy New Year!