Glissando Moves On: September 2011 |
Nothing is forever. But this is not goodbye.
However vague the concept
may have seemed over the years, I always knew that the day
would eventually come when we'd sell Glissando for
one reason or another. From the moment we made a
decision in 2004 to purchase another project boat for our
own use (the 1964
Allied Seabreeze #16--now sold as well, for reasons I
described
here), it seemed relatively clear that one day--some
indeterminate day, but one day nonetheless--we'd end up
selling Glissando.
In 2010, when we changed
course rather dramatically and elected to purchase a
1976 Fisher 30 motorsailer to restore instead of the
Seabreeze, reflecting our personal changes and changes in
how we used our boat, I thought long and hard about the
future of Glissando and how she might fit in with
things going forward. I hated the idea of selling her,
as we were very attached to the boat and had had many
wonderful times aboard. She was, and always will be,
special to me and my wife, Heidi. But I also knew that
I didn't need, nor want, two boats of similar size and
complication, with the miasma of maintenance and upkeep
costs and time constraints.
So with our new
project streaming along with alacrity, at some point I
determined that I'd probably choose to sell Glissando
after the 2011 season, so I could focus time and resources
on completing the motorsailer project, even though I doubted
I'd have the project complete by 2012 (currently, completion
is anticipated in time for the 2013 season). We
entered the season knowing that it might be our last with
Glissando, but it still seemed a rather vague
concept somehow.
I found myself badly torn all summer
long. With limited free time, it was difficult to
decide on a weekend whether to go sailing, or work on the
project. Time and again I found myself choosing the
project, which seemed to reinforce where my current
enthusiasm lay. Somewhere in there we enjoyed several
weekends aboard Glissando, had a last week-long
cruise, and a number of daysails and other visits. So,
with the end of the season fast approaching anyway, in late
August I prepared a detailed listing and posted an
advertisement for the boat on this site, thinking I'd get
the process underway and start spreading the word. I
hoped there'd be some interest.
Within two days, she was sold (or at least we
had a verbal agreement in place). I was amazed.
And pleased. And terribly sad. I cried.
I
won't divulge details of the sale or new owner, except to
say that it sounds like Glissando is going to an
excellent new home, with caring owners. She is going
to the west coast, to Washington and the San Juan Islands--a
beautiful spot, and I found myself envying the boat for her
new adventures.
Of course, the weekend that I reached
the agreement to sell, Hurricane/Tropical Storm Irene
blasted up the eastern seaboard, threatening all marine and
inland interests. I was more nervous about the boat
than I would have been just for my own purposes;
fortunately, no issues arose from the storm.
Afterwards, with a fairly aggressive schedule for completing
the sale and preparing the boat for her long journey over
land, I made plans to bring the boat down to Rockland to the
boatyard for haulout. I completed the delivery on
September 7, my last sail aboard. It was melancholy,
to say the least, but despite ragged weather I managed to
enjoy one last sail, with (for once) a favorable wind and
tide making the trip relatively enjoyable under the
circumstances. I completed the 22-mile trip in just under
four hours, which was record time.
Once at the dock,
I went through the usual motions of stripping off sails and
canvas, and removing the various control lines, mast wiring,
and boom. Everything was wet thanks to the persistent
rain, so I'd have to bring everything home to dry it out
over the weekend when fair weather was forecast. |
 |
I returned the next day and
found Glissando had been hauled, which was good to
know. It made me sad to think she'd not soon be
showing up in my dooryard as usual. With the
weekend coming up, I had a big job ahead to remove our
personal gear and get the boat ready for her long trip
cross-country later in the month. |
 |
I returned on a glorious Saturday, one of those
perfect September Maine days with almost artificially blue
skies and water. I spent a good part of the day going
through the boat and removing personal gear, and cleaning up
the interior. I filled the backseat of my truck to the
roof, plus the pickup bed, plus the passenger seat.
Afterwards, I prepared the boat as much as possible for her
transport, stowing things securely inside, wrapping the boom
and stowing it inside the boat securely, and various other
tasks. I'd planned to disassemble and wrap the mast,
but the yard had already removed the standing rigging,
spreaders, etc (I didn't ask them to), and I couldn't locate
the mast at the yard. Being a Saturday, there was no
one around, but since the rigging was off and safely in the
boat, I felt OK with the situation, though I'd have
preferred if I could have done what I'd told the owner I
would do. Instead, I notified the new owner to
ensure that the mast would end up with the boat when his
hauling company arrived in a few weeks. |
 |
I said my good byes to the boat, locked her up,
drove away. To say the feeling of leaving for the last
time was odd would be a ridiculous understatement, but there
you are. I'll miss her terribly, but, not being one to
dwell on the past, I looked forward instead to the new
adventures ahead. Glissando will always hold
a very special place in our hearts.
This website will
remain online indefinitely, but this page represents my
final update about Glissando. The sale is
complete, and now belongs to someone else.
While our
new boat may be from a different genre and taking us in a
different direction, please feel free to follow along with
the project, as I think you'll enjoy it. Much has
already been accomplished, and there is still much to come.
Fisher 30 Project Website
More
Websites to Choose From
Thanks for reading all
these years. While I've moved on to a different boat,
my focus and dedication to quality old boats of all types
remains as firm as ever. Glissando is the
boat that started it all. |
| |
| |
|
