One of the most common questions I’m asked is “what is the most difficult thing about sailing around the world alone missing an arm and leg? It took me a while and a lot of sarcastic responses to actually figure out the answer to this question myself. The true answer is that everything is a bit more difficult and takes more time. Things like zip ties and hose clamps are really frustrating with 1 hand and really easy with 2 and the list of these examples is endless. Even knowing this in my head I still don’t think things will take me as long as they do. I didn’t fully know what to expect when I sailed up to Bristol. Andy Tyska offered to help fix up my boat but I wasn’t really sure what that meant.
Arriving in Bristol I was immediately welcomed at the dock by Andy and Greg. I was given a short tour of the marina and introduced to the crew. I spent a few days tied to a dock before hauling out Tiama and flying to St Thomas to assist in a yacht delivery to Florida on a Sunreef 74. From Florida a friend called and asked if I could assist with bringing his Atlantic 57 from Florida to Rhode island. I would have happily done both of these just for the adventure and company on board but since I was paid I was able to add a radar, ais transponder, and a liferaft to the list of work being done. The boost I received in crowd funding paid for new rigging. I’ve really come to love doing yacht deliveries with friends. There is always great food, conversation, and a shared adventure. I’m sure I’ll continue doing these for the foreseeable future.
Arriving back in Bristol Tiama was safe and sound with a freshly painted bottom. I came up with a bit of wish list of work I wanted done and we got to work. The Enrights let me borrow a place to stay and a car. This took a ton of pressure off getting the boat back in the water. I’ve lived on the boat a few times while it was out of the water and being worked on and it is truly miserable. Having a clean place to go to after working on the boat and a car to run errands with made the difference in a lot of work being done. I asked Andy about some assistance in refinishing the floor. This was one of the moments I underestimated how long this would have taken me to do with one hand and luckily when I got back to the boat the next morning Tristan and Joe were already working on it.
I’m back on the move again. My plan is to spend a few weeks in New York before sailing down the Chesapeake bay. I’m not sure what the covid restrictions will be like but that will determine my path to Panama and where I stop in the Pacific on my way home.
Overall during my time in Bristol the work on Tiama is as follows, bottom paint, refinished floor, new centerboard cable, new rigging, radar, ais transponder, new liferaft, fixed oil and fuel leak, dinghy repair, and a through hull leak repair. Special thanks to Bristol Marine, Bristol Yacht Rigging, Newport Marine electronics, the Enrights, the Ocean Cruising Club, College park prosthetics, Preferred prosthetics, and my Gofundme/Patreon supporters. It is crazy coming back to my home country during this time of civil unrest, a global pandemic, and insane political divide. Somehow I still managed to find another community of people that made my personal safety and ambitions theirs. Without people like this I would still be sailing on a boat in disrepair limping on my peg leg.
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