Closing date set

13th Dec 2005
Closing date set

We have set closing date on the boat purchase. Rich and Carol will finish their winter cruise on January 22; we will haul out one more time on January 23; then plan to go over to St. John, USVI, on January 24 or 25th and close on the sale. We will register the boat in USVI while awaiting documentation paperwork and then return her to the BVI until we move aboard May 1st. We want to keep her in the same marina because there is a good caretaker there.

Bill had an emergency stay in the hospital last week. Diagnosis of Crohn's Disease. But we are not letting this stop our plans to cruise. We will just keep a supply of the appropriate meds on board and hope for the best. Leaving his stressful job and going to live on the beautiful Caribbean waters should be the best medicine. We are having an extensive medical kit prepared. And I will also be attending the Emergency Offshore Medical Training class to be held in Stamford, CT, in April.

Judy

Almost done

13th Dec 2005
Closing date set

We have set closing date on the boat purchase. Rich and Carol will finish their winter cruise on January 22; we will haul out one more time on January 23; then plan to go over to St. John, USVI, on January 24 or 25th and close on the sale. We will register the boat in USVI and then return her to the BVI until we move aboard May 1st. We want to keep her in the same marina because there is a good caretaker there.

Bill had an emergency stay in the hospital last week. Diagnosis of Crohn's Disease. But we are not letting this stop our plans to cruise. We will just keep a supply of the appropriate meds on board and hope for the best. Leaving his stressfull job and going to live on the beautiful Caribbean waters should be the best medicine. We are having an extensive medical kit prepared. And I will also be attending the Emergency Offshore Medical Training class to be held in Stamford, CT, in April.

Judy

New UV panel on genoa

10th Dec 2005
New solar shield panel on genoa

We experienced a tropical wave with gusting 50 mph winds while we were on the boat in October, and the luff tape edge separated on UV shield panel on the genoa. We had planned to replace that UV panel next spring anyway; so rather than have the sailmaker repair the luff tape edge, we opted to replace the panel now. The original panel was white (as shown in the photo on our main page). But white and lighter colors do not hold up to UV damage as well as darker colors. The boat is a slightly creamy color has black bottom and also has a dark brown stripe around the tow rail. So we opted to replace the UV shield panel in a dark brown color. Hopefully the dark brown will last longer than the less-than-three years that the original white panel held up. I have also purchased dark brown Sunbrella fabric to make hatch covers to use when the boat is sitting in the tropic sun for the next several months. The tropical UV causes the hatch lenses to craze, so we want to protect them from the sun as much as possible.

Judy

Later note:  The sail loft in the BVI did not use UV resistant thread when replacing the UV shield panel on the genoa.  It lasted less than a year and had to be re-stitched.  Before finally replacing the sails in Turkey in 2013 with tri-radial hydranet sails, we had to re-stitch that UV panel on the Dacron genoa a total of 4 times.  We found that the genoa required more repairs and re-stitching than any of the other sails.

New UV panel on genoa

10th Dec 2005
New solar shield panel on genoa

We experienced a tropical wave with gusting 50 mph winds while we were on the boat in October, and the luff tape edge separated on solar shield panel on the genoa. We had planned to replace that solar panel next spring anyway; so rather than have the sailmaker repair the luff tape edge, we opted to replace the panel now. The original panel was white (as shown in the photo on our main page). But white and lighter colors do not hold up to UV damage as well as darker colors. The boat is a slightly creamy color has black bottom and also has a dark brown stripe around hull just below top edge. So we opted to replace the solar shield panel in a dark brown color. Hopefully the dark brown will last longer than the less-than-three years that the original white panel held up. I have also purchased dark brown Sunbrella fabric to make hatch covers to use when the boat is sitting in the tropic sun for the next several months. The tropical UV causes the hatch lenses to craze, so we want to protect them from the sun as much as possible.

Still on schedule

29th Oct 2005
Still on schedule to move aboard May 1, 2006

We sold our home July 30th; had a sales contract only 48 hrs after listing with the realtor. Lucky for us, the buyer agreed to rent it back to us until we are ready to move aboard the boat next spring. It was an agonizing decision because we loved our little house and knew it would only appreciate in value given its location; but we decided that we just did not want the stress of home ownership while we are cruising halfway round the world. Bad financial decision; good 'peace of mind' decision. Had our first garage sale in June to liquidate 36 years accumulation of stuff. It is damn hot in Houston in June for having a garage sale! Miserable!!! Had our second garage sale in October. Making progress getting rid of all this stuff. We are selling everything except our bedroom suite, which will go to our son's home--just in case we decide to move back ashore. Kitchen items will be stored in a relative's attic; photos will be stored in a relative's closet. Everything else we own will either be sold or given away.

Funny; we don't miss any of the things we have sold. Even feel philosophical about our Leroy Neiman art collection that we sold. We loved those bright artwork pieces, but we got to enjoy them for many years and we still have the memories. By selling the entire collection, that paid for another couple years of cruising. So we don't miss them.

We made another trip to the boat in the BVI this month. Brought four more huge suitcases of things down there and left on the boat. Making progress.

Still on schedule

29th Oct 2005
Still on schedule to move aboard May 1, 2006

We sold our home July 30th; had a sales contract only 48 hrs after listing with the realtor. Lucky for us, the buyer agreed to rent it back to us until we are ready to move aboard the boat next spring. It was an agonizing decision because we loved our little house and knew it would only appreciate in value given its location; but we decided that we just did not want the stress of home ownership while we are cruising halfway round the world. Bad financial decision; good 'peace of mind' decision. Had our first garage sale in June to liquidate 36 years accumulation of stuff. It is damn hot in Houston in June for having a garage sale! Miserable!!! Had our second garage sale in October. Making progress getting rid of all this stuff. We are selling everything except our bedroom suite, which will go to our son's home--just in case we decide to move back ashore. Kitchen items will be stored in a relative's attic; photos will be stored in a relative's closet. Everything else we own will either be sold or given away.

Funny; we don't miss any of the things we have sold. Even feel philosophical about our Leroy Neiman art collection that we sold. We loved those bright artwork pieces, but we got to enjoy them for many years and we still have the memories. By selling the entire collection, that paid for another couple years of cruising. So we don't miss them.

We made another trip to the boat in the BVI this month. Brought four more huge suitcases of things down there and left on the boat. Making progress.

Finding S/V BeBe

5th Jul 2005 - 12th Jul 2005
Finding Kismet & Realizing Security (later renamed to be S/V BeBe)

In March 2005 we were in St. Martin and anchored next to an Amel SM2. We had admired this model boat for several years, so Bill got in the dinghy and went over to visit the Amel--just to tell the owner how much we admired his boat. That short dinghy ride changed our lives.

Bill returned to our boat and brought me over to also visit the owners on the Amel. We visited with the owners, Rich and Carol Roberts, for a few hours. When we left their boat, Rich gave us a handshake agreement to allow us the right of first refusal should they ever decide to sell S/V Carol Ann. Imagine our surprise when we received an email from Rich just a month later saying that they were ready to sell. Of course, we immediately agreed to purchase this lovely yacht.

We had been planning to refit our Beneteau 461 and sail the Caribbean for a few years. Instead, we would be able to sail anywhere in the world on the Amel with no refit requirements whatsoever. The boat was perfect as she sat, except for a few new electronics that we would add. We quickly sold our Beneteau, which was leaving The Moorings BVI charter fleet effective July 1, 2005. We flew down to BVI on July 1st and turned S/V dot com over to her new owners from Scotland. We enjoyed ten days on the Amel during this BVI visit. Rich and Carol have written a sales contract with us and we have placed funds in escrow, but they want one more family winter cruise in January before we close on this sale. This works out very good for us because Bill cannot take early retirement from his employer until April 28, 2006.

Everything is on schedule for us to move aboard full-time on May 1, 2006.

Judy

Finding Kismet & Realizing Security (and then later BeBe)

5th Jul 2005 - 12th Jul 2005
Finding Kismet & Realizing Security


In March 2005 we were in St. Martin and anchored next to an Amel SM2. We had admired this model boat for several years, so Bill got in the dinghy and went over to visit the Amel--just to tell the owner how much we admired his boat. That short dinghy ride changed our lives.

Bill returned to our boat and brought me over to also visit the owners on the Amel. We visited with the owners, Rich and Carol Roberts, for a few hours. When we left their boat, Rich gave us a handshake agreement to allow us the right of first refusal should they ever decide to sell S/V Carol Ann. Imagine our surprise when we received an email from Rich just a month later saying that they were ready to sell. Of course, we immediately agreed to purchase this lovely yacht.

We had been planning to refit our Beneteau 461 and sail the Caribbean for a few years. Instead, we would be able to sail anywhere in the world on the Amel with no refit requirements whatsoever. The boat was perfect as she sat, except for a few new electronics that we would add. We quickly sold our Beneteau, which was leaving The Moorings BVI charter fleet effective July 1, 2005. We flew down to BVI on July 1st and turned S/V dot com over to her new owners from Scotland. We enjoyed ten days on the Amel during this BVI visit. Rich and Carol have written a sales contract with us and we have placed funds in escrow, but they want one more family winter cruise in January before we close on this sale. This works out very good for us because Bill cannot take early retirement from his employer until April 28, 2006.

Everything is on schedule for us to move aboard full-time on May 1, 2006.

Judy