tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-42118157002199540942011-11-27T17:06:29.615-08:00Ataraxia (Αταραξία) is a Greek term used by Pyrrho and Epicurus for freedom from worry or any other preoccupation, and for Epicurus to achieve Hêdonê, the great pleasure. For the Stoics, ataraxia was synonymous with the only true happiness possible for man. It signifies the detached and balanced state of mind that shows that man has transcended the material world and is now harvesting all the comforts of philosophy.Nickynoreply@blogger.comBlogger191100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211815700219954094.post-81737598586515356712011-06-06T06:52:00.000-07:002011-06-06T07:04:37.063-07:00

Hi all,oops, it was in 2009 since I last wrote about our boat and building it. I must admit, in the mean time our new crew member Sofie arrived and she's quite a handful. But, it is nice to be able to report some progress.What have we added since we moved in; there is quite a list of lots of small and some bigger jobs that are done. Some you can't see, but seem to take forever, others there is

Nickynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211815700219954094.post-89818383953088424352009-11-19T05:03:00.000-08:002009-11-19T05:15:35.016-08:00

It finally happened; we're live aboards again ;) Last weekend we started moving and managed to get most of our stuff packed and stored onto Ataraxia. Had to throw away some clothes and shoes and think that this weekend some of my bags will have to go too when we move the rest of our junk, euh really necessary items.We found storage in Hout Bay, so Peter wants to go there tomorrow and store some

Nickynoreply@blogger.com42tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211815700219954094.post-41609943313596859922009-10-19T04:04:00.000-07:002009-10-19T04:15:06.095-07:00

Yeah, when people ask us when we will move onto our boat, our answer now has changed from two months to, we think in a week or two. What a milestone!Peter put a lot of time and effort in the boat and like now, it is really satisfying that things are coming to an end. Sunday he showed me that he finished with the electrics, both AC and DC and the first thing that he connected and showed me was the

Nickynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211815700219954094.post-35343240684229770622009-08-21T03:32:00.000-07:002009-08-21T03:48:18.204-07:00

With all the weekends where Peter had to work, or we had some other obligations it's not going as quickly or as smoothly as we want to. However, we got some pretty good motivation going; Peter wants to go on a trip to Malawi by train and bus in November, which is fine with me, as long as we will live on the boat by then. As well we sort of told the landlord that they could rent our place out to

Nickynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211815700219954094.post-46729707899799854412009-05-19T03:40:00.000-07:002009-05-19T03:56:34.262-07:00

The other day I commented on a friends blog, that he should update it more frequently, but got the ball back. See that it's been a month since we last updated this blog. Even got an email from my mother-in-law, but then, she's having an infection on her leg and needs to sit a lot at the moment. She uses that time to surf on the internet, a truly remarkable lady.We have hired Colin, a boat builder

Nickynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211815700219954094.post-23765388001144466752009-04-24T05:33:00.000-07:002009-04-24T05:53:11.126-07:00

pfft, so, the painter found a new job and left us, after only painting the fore cabin, shower and heads, so we still need to do the rest. Peter spent weekends with sanding etc, but this is going slowly.We just need a small ship with money, then we have the boat ready in approx two months, but now this can take a while, or not if we sell another big boat. Time will tell.

Nickynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211815700219954094.post-54727297497182520002009-03-16T01:59:00.000-07:002009-03-16T02:11:07.103-07:00

Having her in the water and close to us is making quite a difference. Peter is checking in the morning if our painter Quinten arrived and gives him the orders for the day and checks in the afternoon what progress he made.In the weekends you see us both on the boat and Louis found already his favorite spots on deck. Been cleaning her inside thoroughly, despite the fact that this week Quinten will

Nickynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211815700219954094.post-10524830949491436822009-03-02T05:33:00.000-08:002009-03-02T06:02:53.644-08:00

the launching of Ataraxia went in our usually chaotic way. We did invite our dragon lady from NSRI to give a speech and name her and some friends passed by. If you've missed this one, we intend to give a large party by the time we will move onto the boat. You will probably have to bring your own food and wine with, but that's concern for later.Margi gave a brilliant speech, see below for the

Nickynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211815700219954094.post-1257705051362356252009-02-24T06:08:00.000-08:002009-02-24T06:36:18.032-08:00

Another episode is almost concluded and a new episode in the life of our boat is about to begin: tomorrow it will hit the water!The last few weeks have been quite hectic. At my work we sold quite a large yacht, allowing us to finally pay some debtors and push the progress. Leading to the fact that she will go out of the boatyard tomorrow.Peter towed her with the car to the exit of the boatyard,

Nickynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211815700219954094.post-32740435956601786172009-01-08T05:08:00.000-08:002009-01-08T05:35:10.618-08:00

A bit late, but we wish everybody a healthy and prosperous new year, may there always a hand of water beneath your keel!This holiday period we used to work more on the boat and we expect to hit the water in March this year. We haven't given up the lease of our apartment yet, but Peter and Ivan are making a lot of progress.We felt really weird, going through the kitchen shops the other day and

Nickynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211815700219954094.post-16698509620167185392008-11-21T00:04:00.000-08:002008-11-21T00:36:29.413-08:00

Ok, I've been scarce with blogging, but my mind was completely elsewhere. In July my sister came down for two weeks with my niece and nephew, so I went a week off with them to show them a bit around South Africa. They loved it, despite the rain and cold.Since July I've been working hard, trying to sell some boats, so we can finish our boat quicker.Ataraxia moved from Strand to Paardeneiland,

Nickynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211815700219954094.post-78626617723942119072008-03-26T05:45:00.000-07:002008-03-26T06:27:53.810-07:00

Peter and I are truly blessed with very good friends who care about us. They are always willing to listen and come with good advice too. In the case of building the boat, we haven't listened to you guys, sorry. Even now, with the boat over budget and late delivery, we still don't follow your advice... Is it stupid? Perhaps.At the moment, or even a few months ago, people asked why can't you place

Nickynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211815700219954094.post-33819918204524762622008-02-26T04:18:00.000-08:002008-02-26T04:32:58.556-08:00

ok, I admit it, I'm Dutch and like to sit on my money. Boatbuilding is the opposite, so I still wonder how I got myself involved in this. Despite all our good intentions, yes, the way to hell is paved with these, we have gone over budget and just got a mail describing how much more we will be over budget...Yikes, panic, major panic. Normal people could ask a boat builder that they could put the

Nickynoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211815700219954094.post-55752151178474141892008-02-19T05:19:00.000-08:002008-02-19T05:41:40.502-08:00

Wow, visited the yard today and you see it progressing with every visit. They have laminated extra stringers in on the floor and all the standing parts of the interior are being busy laminated in.they had to make adjustments to the height of the kitchen worktops, I know, no comments please and we discussed the layout of the kitchen. The builders have a number of problems issues they desperately

Nickynoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211815700219954094.post-36484989445025167212008-02-08T00:10:00.000-08:002008-02-08T00:23:26.886-08:00

Ok, did I mention that this boat building thing is really like another dimension? It seemed like it took forever to do the hull (hmm wait, it did take forever!) but now the builders are going for a medal in the sprint races.Peter was at the yard yesterday and they've been busy with epoxy etc on the inside and reinforcing the bulkheads. As well they want to start next week on the stringers for the

Nickynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211815700219954094.post-30690975290636162662008-01-31T06:07:00.001-08:002008-01-31T06:26:36.568-08:00

Ok, today we visited the yard again and our boat is becoming boatlike... if you understand what I mean. Suddenly there is this huge boat and now the dimensions are starting to feel right.For the latest images, click on this website: AtaraxiaWe have a lot of decisions to make, will email Tad as well, since the builders are going to start with the interior, yeah, the tanks and the floor. Our funds

Nickynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211815700219954094.post-50147353401896763002008-01-21T03:46:00.000-08:002008-01-21T03:55:07.212-08:00

OK, I managed to solve today a long outstanding issue at work: so our budget is now from nil to existing. It will still not allow us to finish the yacht completely, but at least it should allow us to live in it and work on it in the next few years. Now only to sell a few more boats, then it can go quickly.Hope to drop in at the yard on Wednesday, together with David, after another meeting in that

Nickynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211815700219954094.post-81348141063925403122008-01-16T00:29:00.000-08:002008-01-16T01:05:12.265-08:00

yip, suddenly this blog is very empty: I decided to delete all the negative muck and blahblah from the old blog and start afresh.Since the beginning I had to face the fact that building a boat is a complete different story than selling or buying a used, or new ready built yacht. In our case the thing is as well that nobody else has built a yacht like this before. I must admit, most of the time I

Nickynoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4211815700219954094.post-64296379271052332872007-03-16T01:53:00.000-07:002008-12-09T01:42:26.383-08:00

Peter and I have always been fair weather sailors. We're not racers, we just like being on the water. We always wanted to be able to go cruising one day and already lived on a sailing yacht. With moving from the Netherlands to South Africa, we came a step closer to this dream. We got really impressed by the sea conditions here in Cape Town; we're both volunteers with the National Sea Rescue and

Nickynoreply@blogger.com1