Tune Up Time!

Said a sad farewell to my fair Hold Fast this morning! Every time I step off her, it’s like leaving my loyal warhorse behind — the one who carried me through storms, squalls, heartbreak, and the occasional existential faceplant. We’ve screamed at each other in 40 knots, patched each other up with duct tape and hope, and shared more sunsets than most couples manage in a lifetime. She leaks a little, groans in her sleep, and occasionally smells like low tide and diesel — but dammit, so do I. She’s my floating partner in crime, my dysfunctional soulmate in fiberglass form. A single day apart and I start getting full-blown separation anxiety.

Trading Panama’s sauna for fall in Southern California — sweatshirt-weather! About a month in the States — though, let’s be honest, a month on land feels like seven years in sailor time. Time for The Doctoring, Part Two: The Check-Up Strikes Back. Wrapping up all the medical, dental, and mental maintenance I started three months ago — or at least the dental and medical; the mental aspect is directly correlated to my proximity to the ocean.

After four years of sailing around the planet, I’ve broken a few things — inside and out, some worse than others. Let’s be honest, “Brian” and “healthy” don’t often share a sentence.

Once my tune-up’s done, it’s back to Panama for Hold Fast’s turn — bottom paint, dripless, and a well-deserved spa day on the hard. Then we’ll both be freshly calibrated and ready to cause trouble again. Just in time for "Circumnavigation Two: Electric Boogaloo!"

Big releases coming soon — a brand-new app for sailors, plus an interactive map covering every leg of my first trip: logs, stories, the whole deal. Call it an interactive blog. Book Number One is halfway done! Super stoked for all that… not so much for the doctor part.

Farewell, Panama — sweatshirt weather, here I come!

Days Sober: 2,135