In a very short amount of time, we decided to move on from Dirigo. It was hard to be the one to retire a sixty-year-old classic boat.
We had reveled in being part of the nostalgia of a working, wooden sailing boat that was also not a museum.
We built a website showing off her history and were excited to share her next chapter.
We were so disappointed, and yes, financially she was a total loss. OUCH.
As hard as it was, we knew what we would have been in for over the next several years had we decided to fix her, and oh, by the way, NO SAILING. We could not bring ourselves to go through the expense, the hard work, and the settling down in an area we weren't sure we were ready for the long term, and our dreams would be suspended once more.
So we sold as much as we could (again) and took off in our car for Annapolis, Maryland with what little we kept to find a newer, fiberglass boat, which we knew almost nothing about.
Perhaps another time, we'll chronicle the journey.
Suffice it to say, we drove about 7,000 miles and stayed in short-term home rentals and hotels from June until September looking for our new boat. On or about September 15th, 2022 we met Vinaka (then Ladyhawke) for the first time. Everything "fell into place" and we closed the deal in about a week.
We miss Dirigo still, but Vinaka is such a capable girl already full of all the things we wanted Dirigo to be. We can't help but be satisfied we made the right decision for this time in life and are ecstatic to be moving forward.
