In August of 1997 I fulfilled a long-time desire and purchased a boat. No, not one of those noxious, fume spewing powered boats, but a REAL boat, a sailboat. Grace, the dear's name, is a nineteen foot, fiberglass hulled sailing sloop. She has a cabin large enough to sleep four and is a lovely handling escape from the everyday cares of the world. Here is a small gallery of photos dating from the day I took possesion of her. This is her in her original configuration, before I spent a year and a half rebuilding her with the help of some very dedicated friends.

That's her prior owner that you don't recognize and me in the sling

The old owner, prior to the purchase

The first time I saw her in the water

After the decision

Grace had been severely neglegted prior to my purchasing her and there were some serious problems we had to repair. This included some rot in a bulkhead; but some marine plywood, fiberglass and a lot of hard work had her better than new.

Some of the work in progress

The Great Day . . .the launch

Victualling, dockside

Setting out

The Captain

The view from the cockpit

All right, that's about enough of this sailing stuff now.