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"Skip Gundlach"
wrote:
snip This boat had received major upgrades to make
suitable for singlehanding, all of which were appropriate expenditures,
though I would not have made them. There's too many to list here; suffice
it to say one's not likely to fall overboard, and everything can be done
from the cockpit other than handing the lines to the dock - but the boat can
be put, stationary, at any position, for long enough to go do the lines,
singlehanded.

We want to be able to do everything from the cockpit even though there
are 2 of us. I can't tell you how many times I've blessed the fact
that no one has to go out on the deck in rough weather.

And the once that Bob had to go out there before we had jacklines was
scary for me even though we were only in the Chesapeake and he had an
autoinflat PFD on. I didn't think I could possibly get back to pick
him up if he fell off.

snip
It's been a long trip, and I'm blessed to have been able to do the research
and travel I've done. Short of having a boat already in mind that you know
will work for you, and is everything you want it to be (accepting that my
height added inconceivably to the challenge), I can't imagine how anyone
who's employed could do this in less than half a lifetime.

We were lucky in that we chartered a boat that Bob promptly fell in
love with. We looked at other boats, but it only confirmed that we
wanted this particular make, although Bob and I had a disagreement
about the model we should get.

grandma Rosalie

S/V RosalieAnn, Leonardtown, MD
CSY 44 WO #156
http://home.mindspring.com/~gmbeasley/id2.html