Maiden Voyage

On Thursday the 17th, the sails were hung for the first time. Up went the fully battened main and the 135 Genoa. The Genoa is very large, if fact the simple observation, everything on this boat is big, much bigger than our HR34 and well just a little intimidating.

We, John, Brian and myself, moved the boat from Essex to Mystic, CT as she is to be used in a weekend boat show. The first real spring day in the tri-state area with temps in the 70's, gorgeous sunny day. As one would expect the wind was on the nose, however, as we rounded Bartlets reef we were about 35 degrees off the wind of 11 knots. We rolled out the sails..... and flew along at 7 knots with 15 degrees of heel (ok a little current to help as well). Absolutely glorious.

Everything seemed to work, with the normal teething pains like needing a shorter winch handle to operate the in mast furling. The AIS worked a little too well, as apparently it was mis-programed to indicate we were a 700 foot freighter. The USCG was not pleased and supposedly diverted a plane and sent out a boat to check us out (part of home land security policy), though we never saw either and were in contact with them on the radio to clear up the misunderstanding.

We are down to 1 week left to leave Switzerland, Rae Ann has everything well organized so should be smooth, though no doubt a fair bit of work.

The Spice of Life

We thought we had our car sold, an important step along the way of getting rid of all of our land based possessions. We got a good price a little too good. The buyer wanted to take it to Russia for his in-laws.

We missed the warning signs. So in a version of the well tread Nigerian lottery/money scams, we received an "international check", all very colorful with two well know international banks listed, dully made out to us for the price of the car plus just a little more. We promptly deposited. We waited. We checked with our bank. We waited.

Meanwhile, not minutes after we confirmed that we had received the check, an associate of the buyer was after us for the difference as this money needed to be sent via Western Union as soon as possible to cover the costs of him coming to pick up the car. A while later we received yet another urgent message that importation was a long legal process and that the lawyers fees needed to be paid. Again asking us to please send the excess funds.

To many times this is where the story goes from bad to worse, the first excess cash is sent back, then just a bit more, which we would get back as soon as the buyer can free up his funds.

Wisely we never wavered from saying - "no car, no money, no nothing" until the check clears. Needless to say at this point the check never cleared, it was counterfeit.

Again we have a car for sale, with only a few weeks left. We have also learned a very good lesson - namely watch the warning signs. So to all those that will follow in our wake - if ever approached by someone who is buying something of significance for their in-laws - you know it is a scam.

She Floats

Well little worry that she would not. So with early April Nikita will be commissioned including rigging and last delivery items checked off, such as engine operation. We expect to be in CT by late April to begin provisioning and moving aboard. While time flies it also seems so far away yet to our departure.

On another note, and while I am the first one to admit having been bored reading of the preparation phase on the various blogs and websites that I have lived vicariously through over the years, there is a certain tension and stress that we are now experiencing that gives me new perspective and appreciation. The last two weeks have been dominated by the resignation from my current job. Very difficult to explain to co-workers and bosses as frankly I have no reason to leave - a good company, good people and very interesting work. I have been fortunate professionally but as well worked at my career will full support of my family for 15 years. It is very unsettling to say the least to "give" it up. It also rings with an odd sense of permanence that in fact is not real as no doubt after our cruise I will be back to work in some capacity.

So we continue to move through the unwinding of shore side life and getting ever closer to a floating one.

Moving a Little Early?

Well something I will not live down for a few months anyway. Rae Ann had been preparing a listing of our household effects that we wished to sell. I suggested that she begin posting these last week, to which she responded "but we are not moving until April", to which I wisely responded "ah but it will take a while to move all of this junk". This was Wednesday the 20th of February - today is Saturday the 23rd........

We are without living room furniture and most of our bedroom furniture. Anything else left has been reserved for pickup at any time. It will be sparce living until April.

Remote Posting

This is a quick test to post to our blog from our Airmail email account.

A First Viewing

On February 11th, I got to visit our boat in Essex. Commissioning is just getting under way with launching expected mid March, weather permitting. First impression was just overwhelming. Everything came together as we had hoped and she looked absolutely beautiful inside and out.

This picture is from the salon looking aft over the nav table into the aft cabin. For additional pictures please use this weblinkhttp://www2.snapfish.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=210581713/a=31055222_31055222/t_=31055222

Essex, CT - Arrived

Short and sweet. Our boat has arrived in the U.S. via New York/New Jersey harbor and has been trucked to Essex, CT, where we will have her commissioned. We also look back on the month of January having moved reasonably through our list of to-do's. In mid February we will go to NY to see our finished boat for the first time, dragging along a load of extremely important boat supplies, aka junk.

We appreciate the comments being made, please keep them coming. As to the question of drag, for us it was the trade off of being able to generate all the energy we need while on passage (which the Duo-Gen will do, unlike its wind mode where output is much less) and a slightly slower passage time. We have, over the years, enjoyed being able to generate energy from alternative sources (solar on our last boat) and have always tried to minimize our engine running time. We think for on passage energy generation the Duo-Gen seems top of heap. So I think there is no right answer only a matter of personal choice and compromise.