“I dreamed of boats as a kid. My first sailboat was an abandoned sunfish that was hiding behind my neighbor’s shed. I was nine and built a mast out of a pine tree in the backyard. My brother grew up sailing and went around the world several times. He passed away, and I wanted to go back to sailing.
My wife and I were living in Colorado and found a boat in Mobile on Marketplace. We came here by Greyhound, fixed up the boat, and sold it because I wanted a bigger boat
Seven months ago I found a 62-foot boat in the abandoned corner of a marina. It was a hull about to be dumped. The original name was Reverie, but I renamed it Neptune’s Nightmare. The name started as a joke because it was written in the dust on the back of the boat. I painted it on the back as it was written in the dust.
I saw Neptune’s Nightmare as a pirate ship. I always dreamed of owning a big boat like this, even if most people said it would never float again. I learned how to do most of the fixes and repairs on YouTube and made many mistakes along the way. I painted the boat red because it’s my grandmother’s favorite color. I ordered Douglas fir from California for the mast and built it with some help at Home Depot. We hand-sewed the mainsail. I even looked at pictures and blueprints of 18th-century boats for ideas.
My wife and I have made this boat our home and have jobs on land to pay for the repairs and supplies. I worked at a nursing home, a marina, and built piers. My wife is working at a dollar store. I would get up at five a.m. and go to work, then come back and work on the boat until 1 in the morning. We took our dinghy from the boat to land. We also learned about termites and where you can and can’t anchor in Alabama.
I had finally finished, and we were about to leave for our first stop in Florida. But the heat exchanger popped, and we were grounded by a storm. We have been stuck for 14 days in Weeks Bay. An old man told me there are two kinds of sailors: those who have been aground and those who are going to go around. At least I did it early.
I would rather be grounded to my room than grounded to land. Last night was the peak tide. I have waited a week for that. It helped and we moved six feet, but some of the big bolts snapped. We still have a long way to go. Some folks come out and check on us. Someone left us a cooler with food in it. I still don’t know who did that, but it was amazing.
My dream is to work our way up the east coast and then home to Michigan. I envision pulling up to a dock like this and telling my dad that I built this boat and give him a ride. My dad stopped talking to me two years ago. I wanted to build my own legacy, not the one he wanted for me. Maybe this is a way to rebuild our relationship.
After Michigan, we want to sail around the world.
I have learned you can do anything you put your mind to, but it’s easy to give up. Everyone told me this couldn’t be done or that it was going to take the rest of my life to get this boat running. That awakened my drive that I could do this. I bought a bottle of Johnny Walker Blue Label for the day that it went in the water. I took a shot with everyone who told me I couldn’t do this.
I only have so much time left. A good friend of mine is a Buddhist. He said everyone’s mistake in life is that they think they have more time.”
Captain Sparrow
(Update from Captain Sparrow. “About three this morning she stood up into submission. She is back to her original happy place. Everything hurts from all of the work I did to prep her, but it’s amazing to see her floating again. The best part of my job is I can work and watch my boat all day. )
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