Beginning Of Season Near

[bud37]

So happy Fathers day to all you folk.....the longest daylight hours of the year today as well.....now , wait for it, tomorrow the daylight hours begin to get shorter.......

Rick you had better get out there, times a wastin.......

[RGrew176]

Planning to take my shakedown cruise this coming weekend. Will cruise up the Detroit River and spend the weekend at William G. Millikin State Park marina. It will be a decent enough distance to call it a shakedown.

My problem is I have been spending my time on the jetski and not the boat.

[bud37]

Bit of a beginning and season end all in one....

So this morning the boat was put in, ....I believe at this point it is sold , just waiting for sea trial. It looks great in the water again. But ya never know.

Funny but I enjoyed getting the air working and firing up the mains and genny. This ritual ( spring commission ) is something I have always done by myself. I will miss this greatly , there will be no more big boats for us if this sells......

Quite emotional thinking this is the last time for this, another life chapter closing fast, even though it is hotter than @#$#@#$ at 8 AM..... Boating for my wife and I has been a lifetime thing to do, we have always had some kind of boat, sometimes two ,even when I was racing we had a small boat. Weekend trips ( Toronto harbour views at night from Queen City yacht club ), lots of salmon fishing, nightly cruises.

Odd , we always wanted to be on Georgian Bay, I have over the years memorized all the Ports books from the 80's on.....but because of family and health issues we have barely done what we dreamed to do up here.

I sincerely hope the new owners appreciate what they are getting here......

I will say that if we were to win any sort of lottery, there may be a chance of another boat but it would have a crew ....... .....sound of me slapping myself here.....NO...

Well good luck guys with your seasons to come and go, enjoy them however they are....... ....

[rjr]

Bud37: Poignant.

Fair winds and following seas.

[RGrew176]

Life is a series of chapters. You may be ending one chapter but another is just beginning.

[bud37]

Well this chapter is now closed...there will be NO MORE big boats for us.......we watched the boat go out for sea trial yesterday, very odd, it did look good though, but seen that before, sitting having coffee and " look at that, isn't that our boat going by" . The only thing that went wrong was that stupid sync gage ( I had forgotten about that ), it works it doesn't work.....who knows...

The boat is sold to a very nice couple, much younger than us, they do seem genuinely thrilled with the boat and did thank us for taking such good care of it. This will be their first big boat I believe, so it will be quite the adventure for them.

They will be moving it to a different Marina so at least we can still go to our spot and have coffee without seeing the boat everyday. They will have to learn to operate stuff I haven't even had the chance to use....

Now there are two boats we have sold for more than we paid and both were Carvers... ....to qualify, we did spend quite a few boat bucks on them while we were up grading though... , so, maybe even after paying all the hands out in the process we were even......10% for broker ( ridiculous, the buyer pushed them, lazy and arrogant is about as close as I can come to an accurate description..... I pushed them ,my pics etc ), but they did the sea trial yahoo....

Yup it was quite the week, we had to return our Lab puppy to the breeder, both the wife and myself, way more me, could not handle the commitment ( health is just too bad ).....just not fair for the little dog, and she was great while we had her, cute and smart, nothing like our previous dogs though, I guess more things change as you age with perception being one of them. Now that was very hard, tears every day but getting better.

Now we are down to the Starcraft in the garage, we can still get out on the bay when we can I guess.

So even though we don't have a Carver anymore maybe I can still visit and get my daily dose, this is the only forum I belong to, That is why I wrote this, makes me feel a little better and if our adventures can help anyone, well more the better.........

[Viper]

It's bittersweet for sure. Stick around Bud, there's a lot of people that can still use your help.

Did you tell the new owners about us?

[Cooler]

Hey Bud. Enjoyed your input for the last 3 seasons. Stick around. There is no replacement for experience. Thanks for the years! You have been thanked by 643 boaters! er

[bud37]

Thanks to you two.......... ......

[bud37]

Well here we are another winter about to start in a few days.....BUT....also in a few days the daylight hours begin to increase and with that a new year on the way that I believe we can all look forward to with positive anticipation.....have a good winter all and stay safe...