Wednesday, June 25, 2008

Sailings Done for Now

As you may have seen from our last post, we shipped Wy'East back to Oregon. She arrived a couple of weeks ahead of us about the first of May. We arrived from our cross country trip on May 12. We immediatly began the process of putting the boat back together, starting with the mast and rigging. We then gave the bottom a new coat of red paint and polished all of the salt and rum stains off the topsides from the Bahamas.

We launched her a few days later and brought her to her new home at the Hayden Bay Marina. We had to continue working on her, removing the finish or what was left of it from the teak on the exterior of the boat and re-coating it with new. We tuned up the rigging, cleaned and cleaned. We then went sailing about the end of June on a warm Friday night. The Columbia River was running with a strong 3 to 4 knot current, and the wind was blowing from the NW at about 15. We sailed up the river against the current for about an hour, then flew back to our little bay in about 15 minutes! Chennie and I knew that the Columbia River is too small a place for us to sail now after being out in the Bahamas and the Atlantic Ocean. The water is muddy, while the water in the Bahamas is crystal clear. We just decided it was time to take a new tack for a while and sell the boat.


We called Jason Kettlestrings. We met Jason and his family in Vero Beach, FL and then met up with Jason again in Georgetown Bahamas. Jason lives in La Connor Washington about 4 hours from here. He owns a yacht brokerage. He came down, and we listed the boat for sale. To our surprise, she sold in two days, of all things to a fellow Hood Riverite. It seemed it was meant to be. Now the boat is in the capable hands of Kelvin, and he plans to sail her to Seattle, then Alaska soon. Looks like new horizons and much colder water for Wy' East. He plans to keep the name the same, and of course the home port of Hood River. We wish her and all who sail on her following seas and fair winds and at least 6" under their keel.

I know Wy' East will take care of him like she did us.


So till we drop anchor in our next port....

Chennie and Preston and now NEWMAN!!
Remember these words to live by:
"If it's going to happen, it's going to happen out there"
"Captain Ron"