b'Logan possessesall of the traits ofa good cruiser. Herejoices in thehere and now anddoesnt getbogged down inthe obstaclesand failures eachday presents.Katie Young MonahanSailingtaughtmetoberesilient.Ittaughtmetobecomfortablewithbeing uncomfortable. It has shown mehow to think outside the box and uti-lize the tools I have in front of me. IthasstrengthenedtherelationshipbetweenMattandIandshownmehow to be a better partner. In our daily lives, it is easy to get androwthembacktotheboat.Othertimes,weputourcaught up in the to-do lists. Sailing life has taught us to be propane cans in a backpack and trek around town trying tograteful for the small moments and to not worry about the find a place to fill it. extra noise. The moments when we are approaching land for My biceps have never been so toned, as I use my arms andthe first time in 35 days and Logan stands on the bow of the a bucket to do laundry. We have a water maker, but that usesboat, nose in the air, breathing in all of the wonderful smells electricity to desalinate ocean water, so we need to be stingyofanewlandgratefultobealiveandwithhisfavorite about how much water we use. Sometimes we will go monthshumans. Logan continues to show us how to be content with without access to a stocked grocery store, so I have becomethe here and now. He isnt worrying about the next port, or very creative in the kitchen, and a master of provisioning andweather window. He is simply happy to be near us; whether utilizing our food saver, while Matt has become a professionalwearebashinginto20-footwaveswith45knotsofwind fisherman and Logan the official taste tester. Sourcing gro-howling around us, or playing frisbee on an expansive beach. ceries can turn into quite an adventure and I have to be veryThere are many aspects of full-time sailing life that I was careful about how much I carry on my back. We are constant-not aware of despite living on a boat tied up safely in a St. ly maintaining and fixing things on board. There is no boatPetersburg (Florida) marina. Im not sure there is any way to mechanic to call at sea, so if we have engine issues, electricalfully prepare for a journey of this magnitude. Things I used to problems or our boom breaks in half, we are the ones fixing it.take for granted now loom in the forefront of my mind: elec- Without constant access to internet, we create Google Liststricity, fuel, water, laundry, internet, friends and family. For underway so we can look up things when we get to areas withelectricity,wehaveawindgeneratorandsolarpanels,but access. Social media has been a great way to keep up withwhen its not windy and there isnt much sun, we may need to friends and family, but theres something about being halfwayturn off the fridge, or hold off on charging our phones until around the world from your loved ones that can start to wearthe sun comes out. We cant just pull up to a gas station when on you. we need more fuel for the boat, dinghy or stove, so we have to Althoughhavingadogonthisjourneycreatesmorebe very conservative and creative! Sometimes we have to carry hurdles, costs us more money and causes some anxiety (okay,jerry cans from a local gas station, load them into our dinghy okay, a LOT)we wouldnt have it any other way. Continued g26 THE NEW BARKER www.TheNewBarker.com'