Category Archives: Sailing

S/V Elsa, 1974 Ingrid 38

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Let’s all get real clear about one thing: It is Mike who is building the refrigerator system on Galapagos.  In his post on Reefer Madness Mike consistently used the prounoun ‘we’ to refer to all the work being done on our boat. In Mike’s case, he doesn’t generally refer to himself in the plural form as though he were royalty. Mike is not known to say things like ‘Take us to the royal bed as we are tired.’, or ‘We disagree with the lowering of taxes on the masses as we love our money.’.  No, he may speak the ‘Queen’s English’ as a rule, but he doesn’t generally speak as though he WERE the Queen.  Or King. Or whatever.

Mike aboard S/V Elsa took this shot of us as we passed each other out on the bay.

Mike aboard S/V Elsa took this shot of us as we passed each other out on the bay.

So I can only assume that his use of the collective term is meant to somehow imbue me with a sense of having participated more than I actually have. Or perhaps he is using the term the same way people do when the woman has given birth. You know, as in ‘WE had a baby’. Well, NO, ‘WE’ did not. The woman had the baby and you, pathetic man, stood by and watched with helpless awe and wonder. You got to be there for the fun part before, and the fun part after, but the actual growing and birthing of the child? Not so much. And don’t you forget it!

So let’s get real clear about the fact that it is Mike’s job to build this baby. My job is to stand by and watch with pathetic awe and wonder, my jaw usually on the floor. My how our roles have reversed in the last 30 years.

I got this photo of S/V Elsa on a beautiful winter sailing day in February. Could there BE a more perfect name for this boat?

Mike is burning the candle at both ends lately and I am waiting for the crash and burn. He hasn’t set a pace for himself like this since 1992 when we tore the roof off our second house to add another floor on the same day I went into labor with Andrew. If it were not for me, he would be working himself into a lather, and not the good kind. When he started becoming sleepless due to constant perseverating over the fridge project,  I knew I had to intervene and I would need some new blood in order to get his attention. I decided ‘we’ would take a break and have dinner with some new friends of ours and then go and view their beautiful boat, an Ingrid 38 named Elsa. There is nothing like new friends and their boat to get a guy’s attention, especially when the two guys have so much in common, not the least of which is their mutual first name. (Hint: MacGyver.)

If blogs are good for anything it is meeting other like-minded people. We have met a number of great folks through our blog, most of whom live nowhere near us. S/V Elsa’s people, Michael and Kristin, live in Kirkland and keep their boat in Tacoma at Hylebos Marina, where we used to haul out Moonrise, our old Cal 34. Kristin contacted us through our blog late last year and we arranged dinner together. It was great to see them again this year, hear about their new precious grand baby, and finally swap boat viewings.

Bronze samson posts. 100% saucy.

Elsa is a 1974 Ingrid 38 and Michael and Kristin are the third owners. They bought her from someone who had loved her well, started a lot of projects, then had to sell before seeing them completed. Fortunately for them, he left the boat full of brand new parts and pieces of beautiful wood to finish the old girl.  Michael and Kristin, like all old-boat owners who love their vessels, have found a project to fill their hearts and their days as they finish what the previous owner started. Michael’s goal with Elsa is to have a vessel with simple systems that sails beautifully, staying as true to the classic ways of this lovely boat as possible. Apparently owning a boat like Elsa has been a lifelong dream of Michael’s. He’s living the dream!

The previous owner made this block himself. He left a box of them on the boat.

Stepping aboard Elsa you can feel her solid structure under your feet. She rides in the slip gracefully, no jerky movements to put you off balance and plenty of room to move around. In fact, the Ingrid 38 is designed to be sea-kindly and to sail well in rough seas. Originally designed to be a wooden boat, she has the salty look of a much older sailing vessel.  It’s really so lovely to just be able to ‘step’ aboard a boat rather than climb aboard as you have to do with Galapagos. Different boats, different compromises. At 38 feet, Elsa is just right for a couple who wants to do coastal cruising in this area and she is built for off-shore sailing in mind so they have the perfect ‘go anywhere’ boat for two.

All new opening ports, added by the previous owner. Wow!

Like all ‘new’ boat owners, Michael and Kristin have a number of little projects and plans for their girl, but they are also dedicated to sailing her as much as possible. Between sailings there are plans to paint the deck a different color of tan, change the boot stripe color to a pale grey, and they receive their mainsail with new strong track attached this week. We are envious of that little addition to their sailing system and will be keeping a gimlet eye or two on how that performs for them. I get the impression that it is sailing first, boat work second.

MacGyver at his best.

In the photo above, note how Michael solved the problem of adding winches to his mast without drilling extra holes in the hollow wooden spar. Since the spar is painted, he cannot tell for sure what’s underneath the paint except to know that it is a hollow wooden box, many feet tall. He wanted winches, but not holes. So he had these steel brackets fabricated and mounted the winches onto wood boards. These can be easily removed to make sure moisture is not causing trouble underneath the wood. He also had that bar for the staysail fabricated to allow it to move freely as needed. Sweet.

Elsa’s heart.

Elsa’s Volvo engine is accessed through this hobbit door behind the entry steps. For a 38 foot boat, the engine space is generous and I enjoyed Michael’s description of how he would lay down a tarp and ‘swan dive’ into this space, being careful of the crunchy bits against soft flesh. I believe he may have shed a tear or two when beholding Mike’s engine room aboard Galapagos, but hey, you buy a 47 foot boat and you, too, can have an engine room. We all have our trade offs.

Here’s what made me shed a tear or two myself:

Two guesses what this is.

You’ll never guess what Elsa has on board due to the previous owner’s creatively devious mind. This, my boaty friends, is what amounts to a Japanese sitting tub. Yes, that is not me making this up just to make Mike feel guilty. This is an actual fact. Aboard this Ingrid 38 there is a sitting tub in the head. It’s also a great storage space for life jackets but the point is that if they WANTed to sit in a tub of warm water after a rough sail, they could. And I am dead jealous of that. My tub will be sorely missed when we move aboard Galapagos. I see those little tubs in boats like Spencers and Maple Leafs and it makes me swoon just a little. As I fall to the ground on my knees with desire, I have visions of how I could get me one of those aboard Galapagos. I see this one is built in place rather than fabricated and then installed. Hmmmm. The little grey cells begin computing…

V berth on the Ingrid 38.

While Mike and Michael compared notes on things like electrical systems and such, Kristin and I viewed the V berth with a critical eye. Kristin and I share in common a love of a good comfortable sleeping space on a boat. By ‘comfortable’ I mean one that has headroom, light, and that doesn’t require a herculean effort crawling over a sleeping spouse in the middle of the night when nature calls, as it so inevitably does. (And with more frequency, I might add, as one gets closer to that certain age, whatever that is.)

Kristin and Michael are planning to remodel this area. We will be watching closely. Photo credit to their blog.

So she is looking at a remodel of the salon to make cuddling up easier, and create a space for them to sleep more comfortably. I understand her pain. It seems we both have a certain type of space in mind, and while we agree that we understand sailing and safety systems come first, our desires will not be thwarted forever. Stay tuned for updates to all of that on our mutual blogs.

New sinks, countertops, and faucet.

Their galley is adorable and functional. The previous owner put in a new sink and faucet, lined the icebox with nice formica, and resurfaced the countertops. These are all projects that will be happening aboard our boat, too, so I was extra curious about this area. It’s really a lovely space. He maintained the feel of the interior and kept the surfaces easy to clean. Notice the sink is not yet plumbed, but all the stuff is there waiting to be put in place. Here are a couple more shots.

Really nicely done ice box.

Love that easy-clean area on the bulkhead behind the stove.

Notice in the photo above you can see that the previous owner added insulation to the boat, at least above the waterline. Ok, I am dead jealous of that.

For extra coziness on those wet winter days.

Kristin and Michael have a blog you can follow to watch Elsa’s progress as they complete the myriad projects they have in the works. She is already a beautiful vessel and has obviously been well-loved. By the time they are ‘finished’ (HA HA HA) with her, she will be the Queen of Commencement Bay. ‘We’ will be pleased for them.

 

Liebster Award… We’d Like to Thank YOU

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Little Cunning Plan was recently nominated for the Liebster Award for bloggers by bloggers. Will this make us rich and famous? Probably not. Does this mean that ‘we’ve arrived’? Well, I don’t know but it kind of feels that way. It is a very nice way to be recognized for our efforts and to connect with other bloggers and we’d like to give a shout out to Mark and Cindy aboard S/V Creampuff for nominating us. Thanks, you guys on the beautiful Amel sailboat!

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Cindy has described this as a kind of chain letter, like we used to send back in the day. I refuse to say how long ago that ‘day’ was but the idea is sound. Bloggers nominate other bloggers whose work they enjoy, then give them a list of questions to answer. Then nominated bloggers get to tag other bloggers and so it goes. In the end we will have woven a huge network of bloggers who know each other, at least in virtual space. It makes for a long post, but still, pretty cool!

So here are the questions they asked of us and our answers.

1.  Meet the crew. Who are you? Each share something about the other (not on the blog).

Melissa: Ooohhh. We have to talk about each other on the blog! Mike is the smartest man I know and that makes him dead sexy. He has an unlimited amount of space in his brain for information that lies dormant until the day it is needed when it pops seemingly out of nowhere. I have been in awe of that for 33 years. Sometimes I am amazed that Mike is a sailor. He is from land bound Tennessee and had never been on a sailboat in his life until 11 years ago.

Michael: Geez. No pressure, Boyte. This is probably obvious to Little Cunning Plan regulars but Melissa has an emotional awareness that can be a little intimidating to most people (including me) and it is what makes our blog so readable. I guess being a therapist for 25 years will do that.

Mike in the cockpit of Moonrise.

2.  What advice would you give to a wannabe traveler just starting out?

Melissa: Don’t look at the big picture too much. Just look at ‘today’ and the future will take care of itself in terms of your learning. Sure, there needs to be some kind of cunning plan, but if you think about all the things you have to learn and do to make it happen, it will be overwhelming.  It always helps me to remember that we are not the first people or the last people to travel by sailboat. If other people can do it, so can we. And so can you.

Michael: Momento Mori. Most of us struggle with beginning anything approaching epic because it feels like life is constantly getting in the way.  But remember, you don’t have a lot of time on  this earth. None of us do. Worrying about how to meet the expectations of a culture that values stuff over experience is for chumps. Disentangling yourself from those expectations is hard but the rewards are immeasurable.

And also, Goethe: Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it.  Boldness has genius, power and magic in it.

3.  Can you roll your tongue or wiggle the end?

Melissa: I can do both.

Michael: I can hold my tongue; usually.

4.  What is your favorite restaurant in the whole world?

Melissa:   Oh my God, such an unfair question! My first thought is the little taco stand at the beach in La Paz. I love fish tacos. That was the best one I’ve ever had. But maybe it was the view or the sunshine. No, I’m pretty sure that was literally the best fish taco ever.

Michael: My current favorite is the Spice King in Renton, Washington. Right between the Asian Market and the eyebrow threading salon.  Great Indian food.

In the Strait of Juan de Fuca aboard Moonrise.

5. If you sail as a couple, who is really, and I mean really, the captain?

Melissa: Hmm, well I guess that depends on whether the shit is hitting the fan. If that happens it’s going to be Mike, although it will probably take me a minute to realize it. On Moonrise we used to get in each other’s way when something needed to happen fast. That’s because we have years of keeping thoughts inside our heads rather than saying them out loud. We can both be introverted much of the time. (Which is wierd, believe me.) We are also both pretty independent minded. On Moonrise, we used to kind of take turns being the captain.  Whoever was at the wheel was ‘in charge’. The auto pilot changed that. Our whole marriage has been almost Quaker in terms of consensus, which sometimes doesn’t work that well on a boat. Sailing on Galapagos is raising this whole subject to a new level of intensity. We’ve had a couple of lively little ‘discussions’ about communication on board and about expectations. I imagine that will settle down after awhile. So far we haven’t killed each other.

Michael: I am the captain. Heed Me, Wench!

Melissa: As if.

6.  What are your favorite meals to cook while sailing?

Melissa: I make a mean chicken salad that is satisfying and yummy. I serve it with fruit, rice crackers, and perhaps a good cheese. It’s going to be a challenge to stay away from rice/bean/wheat based meals when we do the long trip.

Michael: I really enjoy making a nice breakfast of sausage, eggs and lots of coffee in the morning. Eating a nice hot meal in the cockpit and watching the world come to life is a little slice of heaven.

From the Christening day. Just a sip. The rest was given to the gods of the sea and wind.

7.  Who’s idea was it to buy a boat and how did they convince the other person?

Originally it was Mike’s idea to buy a sailboat. We started sailing because our son got seriously injured when he was 12, and we needed something to help our family focus on healing. Mike’s co-worker was a sailor and he raced his Catalina 27 on Wednesday nights in Commencement Bay. He talked it up quite a bit and Mike got interested. When his friend wanted to sell his boat, he approached Mike. It was almost a done deal before I even knew it was happening. We were completely uneducated about sailboats at that point and never even looked around before buying the Saucy Sue. Mike knew the boat had been cared for, and he would be continuing to work with the guy so if anything came up he’d have someone to consult. I went to see the boat and, all other things being equal, said ‘sure’. We’ve each always encouraged the other in personal endeavors, and this was no different. Mike wanted the boat. That is all. At that point in my life, I was heavily into gardening and it was hard for me to tear myself away from my yard to go to the boat. My how things change!

Andrew in his youth aboard the Saucy Sue. We learn by doing.

Andrew in his youth aboard the Saucy Sue. We learn by doing.

8.  Where is your dream destination?

Melissa: Well, our boat name is Galapagos. Does that give a clue? Also the fjords of Chile. We’d like that, too. One step at a time is our mantra.

Michael: Wherever Melissa is.

9.  Why did you pick sailing as a form of transportation or hobby (over an RV/camper for instance)?

At first, sailing was not chosen as a form of transportation. In fact, even now, I would recommend that people not see it that way. If you can’t enjoy just being on the boat, then don’t buy one because you will simply be frustrated. We chose sailing because we wanted to be on the water to heal the hurt in our souls from our son’s accident. With a small boat like the Catalina, there isn’t much place to go around here if you want to do things like anchor out and you have only a weekend to get away. It takes too long to get anywhere in a small boat like that. So it was all about the sailing, and less about the ‘getting somewhere’ back then. Now, of course, it is both. But there is this thing about being on the water. It gives you some privacy, away from other people. Even though there are thousands of other boats up here, we can usually find a place that is not crowded. We like having a little ‘home’ on the water that we take around with us. I know an RV is like that, too, but we never even considered it. It literally never even crossed our minds. There’s no water under an RV. And other cars want you to go fast. No thanks. Not right now. But maybe later.

10.  Would you please describe your best sailing day ever? (or a link to it)

Melissa: Also a hard question because there have been plenty of amazing sailing days depending on how you define it. Two days come to mind. First, there is a day we had on Moonrise probably 5 or so years ago. We were off the west coast of San Juan Island. We had only the genoa out and were surrounded by Orcas. We sailed up and down that part of the coast, just watching the Orcas feeding.  Other people were watching from commercial whale watching boats, but we were on our own private sailboat. I remember thinking I was probably the luckiest woman alive just then and feeling overwhelmed with gratitude.The second day was one we had recently when bringing Galapagos home. We were in the Strait of Juan de Fuca as the sun was going down. Lucinda Williams was playing in the cockpit, a gentle breeze blew, it was warm, and we had just seen Humpback Whales. The sunset was beautiful. I wanted time to stand still just in that moment.

Michael: I will second Melissa’s nomination of our day bringing Galapagos home. I remember telling her that I was the luckiest man alive to be on that boat at that moment with this woman.

Melissa: And we will close the curtain on that little interlude.

Sunset over Vancouver Island

So now we get to nominate some other blogs for the Liebster Award and this is the hard part.  There are a lot of interesting blogs out there so there had to be a way of narrowing down the field because we get to nominate only 10. At least one of our favorites has already been nominated. Others we like don’t post with regularity or they are very new. Still others we read are already wildly popular, so they are already recognized in the larger blog sphere.  In the end, I chose blogs that we’ve been following regularly, who post frequently, who have been around awhile, and who we think deserve a larger audience. It was harder than I thought because we seriously read a lot of blogs. I hope none of these have already been nominated. Here is our list:

1. Bettie Del Mar
2. Latitude 43
3. Our Life with Ceol Mor
4. The Yoders Afloat
5. The Third Quarter
6. San Juan Sufficiency
7. Nor’Sea 27 Rhapsody
8. The Cynical Sailor & His Salty Sidekick
9. Mid Life Cruising
10. S/V The Red Thread

So if you are on this list your assignment, should you choose to accept it, is to create a blog post where you answer the following questions. Then nominate 10 blogs that you enjoy, make up your own questions,  and pass it on. Here are your secret questions meant to make you bare your soul to the world:

1. What is the worst mistake you’ve ever made with your boat?
2. What is your secret fear about living/cruising on a sailboat?
3. What do you like and dislike most about being a blogger?
4. If you could tell a sailboat shopper the most important thing to look for in a boat,  what would it be? Yes, you get to pick only one thing.
5. What thing do other boaters do that irritates you?
6. Journey or Destination?
7. Which sailboat reference book would you recommend someone absolutely have on board? Which sailing adventure book?
8.  What is the most important piece of gear you carry on your person or keep handy in your cockpit?
9. How slow will you go before you turn on your engine?
10.  If money were no object, what boat would you choose?

May the Force be with you as you write up your posts! We look forward to interesting reading in the days ahead. And now…..we prepare for our two weeks on the water! Woo hoo!

Swan Song

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Mike and I spent 2 1/2 days aboard Moonrise this weekend, sailing up to Blaine to do a delivery for some new boat owners. The boat we delivered? Moonrise. That’s right, she finally found the perfect new owners and as part of the deal, we agreed to sail her up to Blaine, WA from her home slip in Tacoma.

Long term readers will know we’ve had Moonrise on the market for about 2 years and until recently, no serious buyers came forward.  No one, not our brokers, not potential buyers, could tell us why she was still sitting on the market. But we knew there must be a reason that had nothing to do with the boat or the price. She is a well kept boat, cleaner than most boats on the market, and she was reasonably priced.

Just north of Seattle, Mike checks the wind vane. Or maybe he is praying to the weather gods.

The reason became clear on the day we bought Andromeda. Apparently the Universe was waiting until we had found the perfect boat for out next adventure before it would allow us to release Moonrise into someone else’s care. The Universe knows we would hate being boatless. On the very day we closed on the loan for Andromeda and she became legally ours, we showed Moonrise to Stephan and Anita, a sailing couple from Vancouver, B.C. They had owned sailboats before and had been trying to get down to Tacoma to see Moonrise for a couple of months but the timing had never been right. They fell in love with her. I knew after they left that these were the new owners. I just felt it, and I was right. They soon made the offer and arranged to have her surveyed.  And lucky thing for them, too, because since that day we’ve had all kinds of interest in her. We actually had a waiting list of people interested in case the sale fell through for any reason. Wierd times!

Who’s that tapping with his little hammer? Yes, it’s our favorite marine surveyor and all round good guy, Tony Allport. He gave Moonrise the ‘thumbs up’ after she passed her tests.

The buying of Andromeda before the selling of Moonrise created a bit of a stir among those who read the blog, those who know us, and those voices of “common sense” in our own minds. But consider this: There is a kind of ‘knowing’ that is purely beyond the realm of logic. This kind of knowing doesn’t look good on paper. Numbers do not necessarily add up, things do not appear to make good sense in the realm of the physical world. People think you are crazy, when what you are really doing is following the heart that is speaking to you. Somewhere inside is a small, quiet voice, a lantern in the dark, that whispers, ‘This is the way to go. Go this way.’  And so you do. And it comes to pass, just as though someone planned it that way. You step into a stream of life energy and when it’s the right thing, it simply carries you along like a leaf on the current. This was the feeling we had in this entire process. No real questions, just some solid faith that we were making the right choice for us and it was our job to allow the story line to unfold.

I’d like to say we made the offer to sail Moonrise to Blaine because we are generous and kind and wanted to sweeten the pot for the deal. But that would be only partly true. We made the offer because it gave us one more chance to have a long weekend aboard a much-loved boat, to feel the water under her keel one last time, to allow her to shine on the sea and surf down a wave once more with us at the helm. Sure, we were glad to help Anita and Stephan out, but what we really wanted was one more chance to say goodbye.

The Port Townsend cut. Will Andromeda be able to go underneath this bridge? We are not sure yet. This was the calm before the storm.

And what a terrific trip it was! Mother nature threw all of what she had at us this weekend, from wind, to a little rain, to sunny skies and tall seas. We anchored for the first night at Port Hadlock and settled down for a calm and secure evening, only to hear the wind begin to scream through the rigging, and feel the boat bouncing and tugging at anchor. The weather report had changed and we were in for a rough night of 30 knot winds, but the anchor held fast. No one got much sleep, and I remember thinking if this didn’t make us seasick, surely nothing would. Mike slept in the salon so that he could get up regularly and check the anchor, but I believe he got the better end of that deal as I was in the forward berth being slammed to heck and back. We were so glad we had decided on Port Hadlock rather than our usual Port Townsend anchorage, which would have been so much worse.

This is my ‘Ralphie’ look. Wool long johns, polypropylene over that, then a one piece fleece sailing suit, then my foulies and jacket. Two hats. Oh, and hand and boot warmers. It takes me 20 minutes to use the head. Stadium pal, anyone?

Saturday dawned bright and beautiful with blue skies and warm temperatures and we started across the Strait of Juan de Fuca off the coast of Whidbey Island.  The seas were confused and rough after the previous night’s storm. With no wind at all, we motored through 8 foot swells, coming close together and growling with foam. Mike was trying to get a little sleep in the cabin. Ha! That was not going to happen. In the middle of the strait another storm system was blowing in from the coast and the winds increased, temperatures dropping about 10 degrees. With winds clocking around 30 knots according to the radio, we had a small headsail flying and skittered down waves at 9.5 knots, grinning like demons. In spite of the big waves and spray, it was some of the best sailing we’ve had in a long time. Moonrise was in her element and the weather gods were smiling on us, leaving us with the wind and swells, but dumping the rain somewhere else.

Those are the San Juan Islands ahead. What a glorious day! Why do photos never accurately show the sea state?

With wind and tide pushing us from behind, we soared up Rosario Strait, feeling particularly fortunate the wind and currents were in our favor.  But it was getting late in the day and more high wind from the West Southwest was expected that night so we needed a place to anchor for the evening. Doe Bay offers the only protection from that wind direction on that side of Orcas Island. We set a course and found a reasonable anchorage just north of the park, surrounded by private mooring balls with nobody on them. After dinner and a game of Scrabble, we were both pooped and went to bed early. We had a quiet night and slept deeply, one last night in our comfortable big v-berth.

Sunrise. Yes, it’s really that monochromatic, for those who don’t live here.

And now a little more light.

Wanting to catch the tide going up the strait, we were underway in the dark by 5:30 am with 20 knots of wind behind us and big following seas. There’s nothing like hanging ten down the front of a wave, foam flying, only to be lifted by the next one. We flew out into the Strait of Georgia just as the sun was coming up, thanking the gods that we were going in the right direction and not trying to beat to weather. We made record time into Blaine and Moonrise performed perfectly under sail.

Beautiful day on the Strait of Georgia. Orcas Island behind us.

The only bad part of the trip was trying to get docked in the Blaine marina in about 40 knots of wind. No kidding, the wind was just screaming. I had to gun the engine going through the entrance to the marina for fear the wind would blow Moonrise into the concrete barriers if she went too slowly. We bulleted through the entrance at a brisk 4 knots. To get docked I had to keep the throttle at full reverse to keep the boat from being blown into the boat in front of us. And that was INSIDE the protected marina. We were both pretty stressed out by that time and just glad to have her safely tied off. We love being on the water in those conditions, but being in a marina with high winds kind of sucks. I couldn’t help being a little stressed out about learning to handle a much larger vessel in tight quarters.

Love this photo, except for that little green water spot on the lens. Still, maybe it’s a luminescent sea creature?

Claire drove up from Tacoma to collect us and our personal items from the boat, and Anita and Stephan drove down from Vancouver to finished the deal. They will be berthing Moonrise in Vancouver where they can learn to sail her at their leisure. They are very excited to have her and we are very happy to have found new owners who will take her to the Gulf Islands and explore the coast of British Columbia. Moonrise will show them all of her old haunts!

Happy boat buyers!

It was important to us to sell our boat to someone who would use her the way she was intended to be used and not let her languish at the dock.  We are excited for Anita and Stephan and know they are just the people we were looking for. We look forward to seeing photos of Moonrise at a beautiful anchorage next summer and hope they will stay in touch. Maybe we will meet them in a beautiful anchorage sometime in the future and we can give the old girl a pat and a little kiss from us.  Bon voyage, Moonrise. We shed tears as we say goodbye to you. You will be in our hearts forever, with thanks for all the adventures and learning.

Anita, looking excited as she puts their foul weather gear in the hanging locker. That’s a good expression on a new boat owner’s face!

Mike ‘splains the finer points of the GPS to Stephan and Anita.

Have wonderful times on this good boat, Anita and Stephan! Fair winds and following seas to you all!