Jump Ahead to now - 2006

OK, First I have to explain that Craig thought it was too weird for me to be writing in 3rd person. Why was I doing that? I think it was just because it didn't feel so self-centered, talking about somebody else. It was a little confusing though and I've been advised to be myself and think of this as a journal that reaches out to others.

SO I've jumped ahead to now, this Easter weekend, where we had pelting rain, snow, sleet and a great day on Fern Ridge Reservoir, just west of Eugene.
THIS weekend was too important not to document now, since we spent our first night in our MacGregor 26 motorsailor on waters that could rival the waves of an ocean any day. (ok, maybe I'm embellishing a little but this boat was tossing me around just a little more than I wanted to be tossed!)

Yes, we sold our West Wight Potter this last December, the second day it was listed on craigslist.org. We were so shocked that it went so fast and the guy didn't even dicker on the price. It was a great deal and a great boat so we all felt good about it. We had been looking for a boat that could serve all our purposes. Of course there isn't such a thing since we have so many purposes. Anyway, we wanted a boat we could sail, sleep in comfortably and have room for at least 2 more people to sleep too and be able to pull our kids on inner tubes or skis or whatever.

The MacGregor 26 Motorsailor fit the bill and after much shopping around we ended up buying from Blue Water Yachts in Seattle. The people we dealt with were very nice and made us feel very comfortable. Captain Ray took us out for our demo the weekend we picked it up and believe it or not the evening was beautiful. There we were on a February evening getting a demo on Ray's boat while looking at the awesome Seattle skyline all lit up. We brought the boat home that weekend and it sat in our front driveway for a month! At one point it even had snow on it. (a very sad sight for Captain Craig).
Finally we got it in the water on Easter weekend and actually slept in it that Friday night. Now I'm not saying we sailed or even motored that weekend since the weather was so nasty it felt like Christmas, not Easter. But we had a great time getting our stuff from the 19' boat put away in our new 26' boat and the main bed was excellent for sleeping. And being the geeks that we are we even watched a movie while being rocked from side to side by the winds. It may have been nasty weather but it rocked us to sleep and made our first night very memorable.....