La Sirena – go small, go simple, go now

La Sirena is a 1980 Rafiki 35, and this is the story of what happens next.

I didn’t set out to buy a project boat. But somewhere along the way, the idea of owning a very capable cruising sailboat and seeing how far I could take her became impossible to ignore. La Sirena had already spent years sitting unused, and when I bought her she was very much a boat waiting for someone to sail her where she was deigned to be – the open ocean.

Over the past few months, that has meant bringing her back to life one job at a time. There have been repairs, maintenance, painting, plumbing, electrical work, rigging, bottom work, teak, old systems to understand and plenty of jobs that turned out to be considerably bigger than they first appeared. It’s been a lot of work, but slowly La Sirena is becoming a cruising boat again rather than a boat sitting in a boatyard.

Now I’m getting close to the part I’ve been working toward.

The plan is to leave the boatyard by October 2026.

From there, if La Sirena is ready and the weather gives us the opportunity, I’ll begin working my way south. The longer-term goal is to make my way down the Pacific coast toward Mexico, then continue toward Panama and, eventually, wherever the cruising life takes me.

But I’m not going to pretend there is a perfectly defined itinerary. The Pacific doesn’t work that way.

If a suitable weather window doesn’t appear when I’m ready to leave, I’ll stay in the Pacific Northwest and spend the winter exploring as much of it as I can. Anchoring out, moving with the weather, visiting places you’d never see without a boat, find out what it’s really like to live aboard La Sirena through a Pacific Northwest winter.

That brings its own challenges. Storms, strong winds, cold temperatures, endless rain and the relentless damp that seems to find its way into everything. It may turn out to be a terrible idea, but proving that it can be done is worth it for the adventure. In my experience of life so far, I can definitely say that every day is a good day, even the shit ones. Just remember that.

Either way, safety comes first. There will be contingency plans, and the route will ultimately be dictated by the boat, the weather and what makes sense at the time.

This page is changing too.

It’s no longer just about getting an old boat ready to sail. It’s about what happens when I finally leave the boatyard, cast off the lines and start finding out what La Sirena — and I — can actually do.

The next chapter is about to begin.