Introduction

From Possum Grape to the Sea

A dream coming true

During Sister's life she was a Daughter, a Sister, Wife, Mother, Aunt, Grandmother and Great Grandmother. To her Mother, Father, brothers, sister and others who loved her in and around Possum Grape Arkansas, however, she was always Sister. That's how they knew her and that's who she was.

Sister left the rest of us November 11, 1998. She didn't make a fuss, she fell, she slept for a few days then left early in the morning. Her ashes were spread off of Asilomar beach, her favorite beach in Monterey, California. People who loved her spread the ashes over the water handful by handful. Music played, then, after the final handful off ashes were on the sea, a school of dolphins came as if to escort her away. It's the truth.

Since April 1999, We (Andy and Chuck) have taken delivery of not one but two sailboats, from the Hallberg-Rassy yard in Ellos, Sweden.  The first boat was an HR 46 which we took delivery of in April 1999 and sailed in Scandinavia, Northern Europe, Portugal, Spain, The Canary Islands, across the Atlantic to St. Lucia (Simply Beautiful), up through the Caribbean then on to Charleston, SC where we delivered the boat to her new owner in May 2000.

The second boat is an HR 53 which we took delivery of in June 2000 and sailed up the west coast of Norway, across the North Sea to Shetland, Orkney, mainland Scotland, through the Caledonia canal (and beautiful Loch Ness), down through the Irish Sea, around the corner to Southampton, England where we put her on a ship and shipped her to Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.  Subsequently (2001) we took her to Key West, Cuba and the Bahamas.

Currently we are cruising approximately half time.  We plan to continue this lifestyle for the foreseeable future with trips back to Cuba, down the western Caribbean, through the Panama Canal and beyond.

The Table of Contents to the left contains links to pages that document our experiences.  You can find out about the boat, including probably more details than you wanted to know, the company that built the boats, the crew, and our plans.