Hello. My name is Karen Brady. My husband, Michael Brady, sailor, musician, artist, chef, and father, passed away in March 2025.

Due to unconventional circumstances which I will explain in a moment, I have held back from holding a traditional memorial for Mike.

In 2001, the year after we were married, we bought a 1959 32 foot sailboat to fix up and go sailing in. With our graft and whatever money we could get, we rebuilt her in the woods of Western Massachusetts, 100 miles away from the ocean. After 12 years of dedication, she was ready to be hauled and we moved her to Florida where we put her in the water. We continued to work on her until we could finally live aboard.

Five years ago, Mike suffered an injury to an old childhood operation site and was unable to ever fully recover his strength. He passed away in March 2025 of an illness. I remain to finish her and set sail in his memory, his dream to go sailing, of all the blood, sweat, and tears he put into this vessel to try make our dream happen.

I am determined, knowledgeable, quick to learn what I need to, however, this transition has been difficult and affairs have been costly to settle, leaving me with not enough saved to move forward. I have just about all the parts and supplies needed but I need help to pay for the professional work that I don’t have the knowledge or strength to do by myself.

$3000 is needed to complete the install of the engine. All major parts are on hand. Engine is in the boat. I need to pay the smartest engine guy in our area and get a haul out to connect the engine and prop together.

$3000 is needed to haul out and repaint the bottom. She hasn’t been out of the water since 2016.

There is more to do than this but these two projects are urgently needed within the next 4 months.

Returning to the topic of a memorial, I know the places that Mike wanted to go in Heila and I still have ashes to lay to rest.

Please help me finish Heila so I can go sailing for Mike. Any amount helps if enough kind people chip in. Please share with your friends and family. Thank you.

Breakdown of costs phase 1:

$1000 for JT's engine work now through September, $1000 for the haul out and $1000 boat yard daily charges in October. JT's time in October would be extra and dependent on what issues there are in installing the engine to the prop shaft.