What a bitter sweet feeling. To see Caos stored on land where she will be until we'll sail her back down to Antigua where she will be given a new teak deck later this spring and thereafter we will be sailing her up to Boston, New England with and to her new owner. We had a glorious last day of sailing with her on the sea trial the other day and she performed better than ever with her beautiful new sails, an interior empty of all of our tools, shoes, surf boards and other heavy belongings and it was a pleasure to see her surfing through the waters of St Maarten. To see her performing so well and knowing what a safe and well equipped boat she is, made my heart ache a bit. Considering how much time, work and money that we've put into her, I definitely trust this boat more than what I do with our new one. I'm sure Duende one day too will be as prepared and ready for extensive offshore cruising but it will take a lot of time until we have the same confidence in her. Caos has brought us from home in Spain to the Caribbean, we have crossed an ocean with her, she has carried us through severe storms and she has performed like a pro in even the hardest of times. There have been moments where we have trusted this boat more than ourselves and brief moments where I almost felt we were going to die yet she was always there for us, her strength and stability carried us through it all. It almost feels as if we are abandoning her, just like we are not appreciating everything she have done for us. If you have ever sailed, loved and put your life in the hands of a boat you will probably understand how emotional this separation is. It is almost like saying goodbye to your best friend. But while it is a sad moment which makes us very nostalgic and literally brings me to tears, we are also glad to finally be able to relax. A new chapter has begun for us and we are sure Caos will be happy once she gets back to the colder waters where she actually belongs and was built for.
We would like to thank our friend Reg Bates at Weather Eye Yachts in St Maarten for being there for us through these past nine months from the time we found our new boat until this day. If you're ever looking for to buy or sell your boat in the Caribbean, you should get in touch with this man. Whatever you need, he will make it happen. We would also like to thank Roger Johansson at Free State Yachts in Chesapeake who brought us the buyer. If you are ever looking for a Hallberg Rassy in USA, this is the man who to get in touch with. Roger has been the HR broker in the states for the past 30 years and we were met with extreme professionalism and couldn't have wished for a more rapid and smooth sales process. Big thanks also to Magnus Rassy at Hallberg Rassy for helping us out with some of the paperwork that was needed. We are very thankful for the relatively quick procedure in these hard times. The boat market is suffering as many other, at least if you see it from the vendors perspective, but we were lucky to deal with the best of people to make this all happen in professional and comfortable manners.
Will soon go through all the videos made on Caos and show you a bit of our Atlantic crossing as I've promised you for a while now. So many good and educative times spent on that boat.
