Long time since last update, which does not mean that we are doing nothing! We crossed over the bay from San Francisco to Encinal Yacht Club on Alameda, across the estuary from Oakland. We were invited over here by Rodney and the crew on Azure, the winners of our division in the Transpac. Very short time after we got here Ian who by coincidence also was at the yacht club this evening came on board and after a quick sightseeing on board, Cubaneren was more or less sold! We did a sea trial a couple of days later, going through the sails and other stuff and Ian has managed to find the money so in a bit more than a week from now Cubaneren is his.
Cubaneren has given us some fantastic moments and experiences the last seven years. When we bought her, she was a boat in need for a good portion of TLC. We have kept the hull, deck and keel, more or less the rest has been changed. We have though made sure that we have spent the winters on fixing so that we have been able to sail in the summertime. We have won 4 out of the 5 shorthanded races in Norway overall; Seilmakeren doublehanded, Bergen Singlehanded, Two Star and the Norwegian championship doublehanded. In the last one of the 5 big races, Skjæløy singlehanded it ended with a third on the one attempt we did. Top speed of 22,8 knots and + 10 knots in average for 50 miles of sailing, Crossing the Atlantic and the Pacific, finishing second in our division on Transpac are of course highlights! We cannot forget to mention all the fantastic cruising and cruising destinations this boat has taken us to either; Azores, Canaries, Caribbean with St. Lucia, Bonaire and Panama, The Panama Canal and then the Pacific coast of Central America and Mexico. The cruising on Hawaii was spectacular, and now we are back on the mainland and have yet more new places to explore.
After it turned out that we had sold Cubaneren, which emotionally in itself was a bit of a rollercoaster, it has kept on rolling in bigger and bigger circles! Which boat shall we buy? Where does the path go in the future? As we wrote a couple of months ago, we would like to test the catamaran life and see how it will be to live aboard one of those also when we are returning back home. We still have high demands for the sailing abilities of the boat we would like to have, even though we mostly are going to live there. To be able to actually register the boat to Norwegian flag which of course is important for us, there are a lot of things to think about. To say it quick (and make it easy for us) the boat should be built at a European boat yard, and that really narrows the possible brands much. As we want to have lifting dagger boards, it has really been only two to choose from; Outremer and Catana. Within the economic frames we have, it would be possible to get an Outremer 38/43, or Catanas from the 90s between 38 and 44 feet. The Outremer would probably be the best sailing boat, but they are light and it is limited what you can stuff on board before in best case the sailing abilities gets poor, but in worst case the boat actually gets overloaded and no longer safe. In other words, we have mostly been looking at the Catanas and were we are now it is a Catana 44 for sale. We have been doing a sea trial with her and have basically agreed on the price and everything. Quite some work needs to be done before we can sail from here, on the other hand, we are not afraid of some projects. However, it has taken a lot of effort and time to get all the necessary paperwork in place to flag it over to Norway, and just before the weekend, another Catana 44 came out for sale. That boat is in England so if we should end up with that, our trip is not only making a curve, but more a giant jump!
As you can see, we don`t really know where we are in a couple of weeks from now, but tomorrow we will have Berit visiting us, and we will have the last week on board in Cubaneren, being tourists in the bay. The plan is to go to San Francisco, spend a day in the wine valleys, and in general enjoy the nice weather, people and attractions here!
