OMG Months have become weeks

OMG - never mind the length of time I haven't posted, I'm back at the keyboard and still working hard to make this adventure to Labrador a reality. I'm not leaving Toronto this summer to sail down the St. Lawrence to the Atlantic Ocean - I'm delaying that stage 1 until next year. Sometimes it's better to take a little longer but do something right; after all, we're probably only going to do this particular thing once. In my case, I need this summer to do some essential outfitting on Kuan Yin to be truly ready to set sail. I've broken down all the jobs task by task and horrified myself at the hours I estimate the jobs will take.

Before this - a confession. Though I'm comfortable on a boat, enjoy boat handling, anchoring, navigation and the other varied tasks that are part of seamanship (though I know there's a tremendous amount to learn), I've never been really comfortable about the SAILING aspect.

You know - those white flappy things that propel the boat once you have wind. I've passed courses and lived on my first boat in the Andaman Sea, off Malaysia and Thailand, for two years. But I've always felt apprehensive when the sails are hoisted.

In my experience, it's always best to face up to own's discomforts, apprehensions and inadequacies - so it's back to school for me this summer. I need to get over this apprehension and create a solid feeling of confidence on which I can then learn more and build my expertise.