We started
our end-of-the-year sail around southern Brittany in shorts and ended it in full
foul weather gear as we bobbed in and out of three successive gales and torrential
rain. It was clearly time to head home
and declare the sailing season over.
We did have
some beautiful days of sailing but mostly we sailed to various appointments to
visit boats and to show Spray to perspective buyers. We visited an Ovni 36 that was in a pathetic
state, followed by a pristine Feeling 39 that had an enormous saloon but teeny
weeny cabins. At the same time, it was
so wide (4.02 meters or 13.2 feet) that there was no visibility from the helm
except through the dodger panels and no way of steering while sitting on the
cockpit benches or gunwales. In the meantime, we learned that the Sun Odyssey
379 that we visited earlier is, indeed, Category A (stability rated for “all
oceans”) and not Category B as we previously thought. The boat is only rated Category B if it has
in-mast furling, since that puts a lot of weight high up and raises the center
of gravity. That’s not something we
wanted anyway, so we’re going to go back and look at that great little boat
again next week.
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| Two statues facing each other on either side of the entrance to the old port of Haliguen. |
Much to our
dismay and increasing bewilderment, Spray continues attracting tall men. The last 4 out of 5 visitors have not been
able to stand up fully in the saloon. We
have decided to start the guided visit from inside the boat from now on. We will probably take Spray to the largest
used boat show in France in 3 weeks (Le
Mille Sabords in southern Brittany) in hopes of selling her before winter
sets in. It sounds so odd to talk of
selling her – she’s such a great boat and we’ve invested so much time (and money)
in her. But our sailing plans have
altered and she’s not the right boat for us in the long term. They say that the two happiest days in a boat
owner’s life are 1) the day he buys the boat and 2) the day he sells it. I’m not sure this will be the case for
us. We’ve grown quite attached to her
and she’s taught us a lot. It sounds schmaltzy but I really hope we can find
her a good home.
Scenes from river cruising along the Vilaine (where we hid out from the gales).
Scenes from river cruising along the Vilaine (where we hid out from the gales).
2 comments:
Oh, Maria! So wish I could have sailed that river with you guys. The scenes looked spectacular! I happened to turn up the picture of the two statues just as the two children living with us (ages 6 and 11) passed by. Ooops! :)
Spray looks like a lovely boat, and I do hope you find a good new owner for her! I know what you mean by getting attached. I LOVE my current boat, but there is no way she is going to be able to take me around the world, so at some stage I am going to have to come to terms with selling her. Makes me get a bit panicky just thinking about it! She has been such a joy to me for the last 11 years. :)
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