Puget Sound: Trust and Partnership

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 Trust and Partnership

Boats are like people.  It takes time to build a relationship. Ideally you want to know you can depend upon each other through thick and thin.  Reaching this point requires an investment of time and energy.  Bonds are forged and tested by adverse conditions.  You learn each others limits, strengths and weaknesses.  Often the weaknesses can be overcome.  For example, if you want to be safe in the fog, you can add radar and a VHF radio with a fog horn function. With these additions you and your boat are now more capable.  You can remain safe in a wider range of conditions.  

We are building the bonds of trust and partnership with Amy Marie by cruising Puget Sound, noting weaknesses, devising a plan to resolve, implementing, and then testing the man/machine system to insure performance expectations are met.  In this process you build the resilience and capability to meet cruising challenges and the build the confidence to cast off our lines  and undertake an adventure.

How do you manage boat projects?  You need to have a set of criteria which can be used to rank the projects.  Their are two primary buckets into which you should sort your projects, "Must" and "Want"

Into the Must bucket you put safety and basic functionality items.  A VHF radio is a Must item.  A stereo with BlueTooth capability is a Want.  The VHF allows you to listen to weather broadcasts, contact the Coast Guard or call a bridge tender for an opening.  All critical boat tasks.  The marine stereo with BlueTooth so you can listen to Pandora is a "nice to have" item.  

Other important project criteria a are:

  1. Scope of work - The amount of work that needs to be competed or can be completed within your budget and time available
  2. Budget - Very few of us have unlimited funds.  Be realistic, what can you afford to complete.
  3. Schedule - How much can you complete within the time you have available.
The three criteria listed above all interact.  If you spend more money you can hire people to help you complete the work and you can complete your project list sooner.  If the scope of work to be completed is too large, you may not have sufficient money or resources to complete it within your time horizon.  So balance each of these items carefully.  If you purchase a "fixer upper" boat, it is going to take time and money to prepare it for a trip and the preparation time will be proportionally longer.  If you start with a well maintained vessel outfitted to meet the requirements of you expected trip, you can leave very quickly.

So congratulations, you will be acquiring project management skills as well as nautical skills as you prepare for cruising.  Life skills that will look good on your resume!



A map of the Puget Sound


Location: Puget Sound, Washington, USA

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