A new chapter

We've turned a proverbial page in this chapter of life and have sold Virginia Dare.  It took us awhile to come to the mutual decision to part ways with her, but in our heart of hearts, it was the right decision.  Saying goodbye was bittersweet, but we will cherish the memories and new friendships we made along the way.

Our final sunrise at Herrington Harbour North

She's ready for inspection!

The eagle that I'd been trying to capture for a couple weeks did a fly-by the morning of the survey and sea trial.

It was a brisk, beautiful morning for the sea trial.

Virginia Dare leaving Tracy's Creek

To say the wind was howling for the sea trial would be an understatement: sustained wind in the low 20s, gusts in the 30s(!), provided a rollicking ride that Mark and Heidi declared "couldn't have been better!"

Returning to the haul-out basin for final inspection

It was sad to say goodbye to Roger and Liz from Free State Yachts.  They are more than friends, they're our "family" away from home.

"Spring" has not quite arrived in Michigan.  We'll make our way back north, settle down for a little while, and formulate Plan B.  We will "dust off" the sailboat waiting for us in a barn and sail her this summer.

Picked up this guy today :)  THANKS inadequately expresses our gratitude to Jim and Jack for taking such good care of him.

Kisses for the missus

Virginia Dare will be renamed Estelle (Swedish princess) and will sail in Lake Michigan for a couple years before heading across the pond and points beyond.  I sure hope there's a blog about her new travels and will provide a link when we hear anything of the sort.

In the meantime, there will be sailing posts this summer.  No doubt they'll be fewer and farther between, but stay tuned (if you'd like).  I've found blogging to be a fun way to document our adventures and stay in touch with lots of friends, old and new.

It's time to turn the page.  Thanks for following along!

Wintry mix

We woke up to the sound of shoveling(!) on our dock.  Yes, it's the mid-Atlantic "wintry mix" that screws with all plans.........snow, sleet, and freezing rain.  One of my best friends in the whole wide world was planning on visiting from Philadelphia, but the weather trumped our hopes of catching up today.......watch out weather, there's always next week!  We WILL make this happen :)

It was so crappy outside that David didn't go to West Marine for a few parts today.  So any plans for us to be productive flew right out the frozen portholes.  We spent the day reading, napping, knitting, and generally being L-A-Z-Y.  A perfect winter day if you ask me!

David made lamb stew with sweet potatoes for Valentine's dinner

Don't have Valentine's napkins, so snowflakes will have to do.

I made warm chocolate raspberry cake for dessert (negated all calories burned at the fitness center!)

We need help finishing the cake!

Today we woke up to snow-covered portholes.

A true "wintry mix" fell all day.

Snowy cockpit

Snow on the teak grate

Strange phenomenon in the marina

Virginia Dare thinks she's in Sweden, her motherland!

D dock

Warm and comfy down below

By this evening, a glaze of ice covered everything.

We hope all our friends stayed safe and warm during this latest winter storm!

Out with the old, in with the new!

H O L Y    M A C K E R E L !

It finally happened, our old engine was removed and the new one was lowered in this morning!

The sole (floor) of the cockpit comes out, so this is looking straight down into the engine room.

Thankfully, David waited until the last minute to remove our diesel furnace.

Looking into the cockpit (cardboard for extra protection).

Here comes the crane!  Aric used hand signals with the crane operator to get it right where we needed it.

Pulling the old engine out.  The "ball" of the crane is padded with carpet and duck tape.

Out with the old!

New engine is sitting "at the ready" on the tailgate.

New engine being lowered into the engine room.

David was guiding it from the companionway.  Jim was in the engine room.

Busy morning!

After the crane left, David and Jim rigged the engine on a steel bar to fine tune the installation.

I got to raise and lower the engine with this ratchet-y device while they made adjustments.

Tight quarters!

In order for the engines to move around today, the diesel furnace had to be removed from the engine room (second photo, above).  That black and gray "shoebox" keeps us toasty warm on these winter days.  Hallberg Rassy sailboats are also very well insulated.  We keep warm in the winter and cool in the summer!

With the companionway and engine room wide open this morning, it got down to 49* in the cabin.  However, the furnace has been reinstalled as of 2pm and we are already up to 63* right now.

Two boats were hauled out this morning.

Ice in the haul-out basin early this afternoon.

Getting pushed back to our slip.  The ice ends near the yellow cat up there.

Gray on the bay today.

Back "home" at the other end of the marina.

So there you have it.  This is what we've been waiting for for a long, long time!  David will make all the connections in the coming days and we'll schedule a sea trial with a certified Volvo mechanic.

Making progress!

Well, for those of you who follow us on Facebook, you might have seen this unexpected post this morning:

Imagine our surprise at 8:15 this morning when we get a knock on the hull......the guys were here to move us! Really? Yesterday, we were told they'd move us tomorrow [Friday]. Oh well, we were eager to get the ball rolling, so we slugged down the last of our coffee, ditched our pajamas, and sprung into action. (Mind you, we have 15-25 knots of wind -- more than yesterday when it was deemed "too windy" to move us........go figure.) Remember, ADAPTATION is the name of this game.

More on the blog later today...

So, this whole exercise took less than 45 minutes this morning:

This little boat came to our slip, attached lines starboard midship and port stern. Pulled us out of the slip and pushed us to the haul-out basin at the other end of the marina.

It was a gorgeous, but CHILLY, morning (looking through the breakwall toward the Chesapeake).

These guys were great.  They've got this drill down pat.  No muss, no fuss.  Bing, bang, boom, we were secured in no time flat.

Crust of ice forming in Tracy's Creek.

This action is harder than you think!

THANKS for the ride!

All secure in our temporary location.

After we were tied up in the haul-out basin, I checked our anemometer: 17 knots of wind and 22 degrees F makes for a wind chill of about 7.  And that's just *balmy* compared to what's headed our way on Saturday.

There we sit (below dock level).  The crane is ready to pluck out the old engine and insert the new tomorrow.

Herrington Harbour North even posted pictures of Virginia Dare today.  I think you can view them here.

So, I'm sure there will be an update tomorrow.  We can't believe -- after sitting here for weeks -- that the new engine will be on board TOMORROW!