Equinox

On Tuesday, Nov 27 we were up early (4:15) and on our way to Annapolis. We were both a little nervous and a lot sleep deprived. The drive down was great with just a little wet weather for the first couple of hours. We managed to hit Albany at rush hour which slowed us down a little but New York, Philadelphia and Baltimore were clear sailing. We arrived in time for a little shopping and supper. I had a really good mushroom pizza in a restaurant in the local mall.



Wednesday was the big day. The weather was sunny and cool. We were at the yacht club by 9 and the owner was already there. Shortly after, our broker and the surveyor arrived and the action began. Peter Hartoft, our surveyor, quietly began going over the boat and all of the systems. He was very good at explaining and answering questions as he worked. Soon it was time to go for a sea trial. There were some questions about the motor but once started we chugged along at a good speed. Unfortunately when we raised the sails, the wind died to nothing so it was difficult to evaluate sailing performance. I got to sail while everyone else poked and measured. Our broker, Roger Johanssen provided a great lunch. Being the end of November, we combined our hull survey with Equinox's end of season haul-out. Having been in the water for two years we were all pleasantly surprised by the immaculate condition of the bottom paint.

how many men does it take to fix a heater?

On land we measured for new sails as we considered our options. It was a great boat with a few small issues. Alan made arrangements to meet the current skipper the following morning for a tour of all the systems and instructions for operation.





lots of storage

This was a big step so it took a lot of discussion for us both to be comfortable with the decision.





We drove down to Free State Yachts to meet with Roger and Liz to sign on all of the dotted lines. We handed over two bank drafts. Unfortunately, even though these were drafts drawn on a US bank we have to wait up to 10 working days for them to clear. When we have confirmation we will be able to make arrangements to take the mast down, pack the boat and have it trucked to Florida. In the meantime we are home making last minute arrangements and building new sails for the boat.





We hope to be in the warm weather before Christmas...