Little Grace is going to a good home :)
Little Grace's new owners have had previous sail boats, one of which was her size, but presently
have an open motor boat. She fits their requirements because they want to get back into weekend cruising and day sailing. However, their seaside summer cottage is in an area where their dock and the harbours they would like to visit are not
very deep. Therefore they appreciated the fact that Little Grace's shallow draft will open up these places to them. As a bonus, for me, they also appreciated the work that has gone into her refurbishment.
Little Grace will go back in the water this week and her adventures will continue, starting with being sailed to her new home, a trip that will take at least three days. The trailer will follow on the back of a truck at a later date.
The sadness of seeing Little Grace sail away will be sweetened by the knowledge that she is going to a good home. Sentimental and anthropomorphic though it is I can't help it, I'm sure anyone who has read this blog, or any sailor for that matter, will understand.
Looking to the future
In the meantime we have found our "new" boat. She is a Sunwind 26 with a sugar scoop extension. We were attracted to the Sunwind 26 because she was built to be a family boat, in fact that is what it says on the maker's plate. She is old (= we can afford her) commodious, solidly built and has a good reputation. Her previous owners, who had cared for her for 14 years, were selling because the three generations, who sometimes sail together, had outgrown her and they needed something bigger.
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| As I understand it the sugar scoop/swimming platform extension was manufactured by another company and retrofitted. |
This blog
Always intended to be about Little Grace's refurbishment and sailing qualities for the interest of other Hurley Alacrity and Vivacity owners, this blog comes to a close. It will remain on-line for as long as it is allowed to be; an archive that may be of help to someone, someday.The new name for the new boat?
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What else could it be but Grace; she is calling and wants to go to sea.
Click here to see videos of her
Click here to see videos of her
Always sad to see an old friend go but memories stay. It takes a while for a new boat to surpass your feelings for the previous one. I'm nearly there with Ciao Bella but Jelly Bean keeps tugging at the nostalgia strings :)
ReplyDeleteEnjoy the new boat, she looks fantastic.
Thanks Phil. In my more reflective moments at home I miss Little Grace. However, on the water reality takes over. For example, we took the new boat out yesterday and sailed using the headsail but the wind was a bit too strong and our 18m boy's needs too great to risk to trying the main for the first time and learning the reefing lines, not least because the tiller pilot is still in its box . So we hooked onto a buoy for a couple of hours, lazed in the sun at full stretch, dangled our feet in the water and marveled at how much space we now have. So the new boat is already well on the way to surpassing.
ReplyDeleteThanks for your Blog. Wishing you all the best with your new boat. Take it easy and enjoy.
ReplyDeleteCheers,
Bill.
Thanks Bill; all the best. David
ReplyDeleteWill you be doing a new blog for Grace?
ReplyDeleteCheers'
Bill.
Hello William.
ReplyDeleteI won't be doing a blog for Grace. Doing Little Grace's blog was fun, time consuming but fun. However, the main reason for doing it was because, at the time, there was a small group of owners sharing in the same way. Apart from one, I am not aware of there being the same for Sunwinds. If there were English would not be the first language as most of them are here in the Baltic.
More importantly, I think that if Little Grace's blog was interesting it was because it told the story of her refurbishment and showed how she sailed after completion. You can see that I added the previous history as pages after I started my first attempt at refurbishment.
However, I am keeping at least an annual video diary of sailing Grace and, coincidently, I have just completed the first one. You will find it here: https://youtu.be/GmIxMKMcivg
Well, thank you very much. I enjoyed the video diary of sailing 'Grace'. Maybe you can remember me in a year's time for the premier of the 1916 diary? Most of my sailing these days is from my armchair.
ReplyDeleteWishing you all the best, Bill.