Finding Our Dream

Welcome to the Travels of Ocean Wings, a 56' Whitby ketch.We discovered our boat while browsing online after much agonizing over do we or don't we commit to such a large purchase while going into our retirement years.But we saw her sitting at anchor in the BVI's with a lot of the features that we had wanted and best of all a motivated Seller.So we travelled to Tortola and took the leap of faith.

First Impressions

Our first view of her as we walked the dock , was " O my she's way to big. At 56 ft long she took all the slip and more. She looked a little neglected, as she had not been loved in months and months and had recently just come out of the storage yard.However her lines were awesome and there was a great fully enclosed dodger that looked almost new. Sails with a flaking system and a not bad paint job on the hull.

We were starting to get excited!! She was pretty close to what we had hoped for.Tapping us on the shoulder as we stood there in the dusk dreaming, was a young couple that turned out to be the captain Bill and his girlfriend Stacie that were here to show us thru the boat the next morning. They had assumed by the puppy dog look on our faces and the drool dripping down our chin that we must be the prospective buyers. 

They were fabulous. They invited us to join the on the boat- much to the rokers chagrin- we moved aboard and went island hopping with them for almost 2 weeks.  It convinced us that although there were a bunch of necessay repairs and upgrades, it really was a great boat, sailed well and would be just the one to start our adventure on.

We were hooked and started the buying process.
Bill and Stacie headed home, were hoping that they will come back one of these days and sail with us on the new improved  " Furthur"  now rechristened as " Ocean Wings"

" What Have We Done"

We're now Boat owners and we're happy, excited, scared and slightly crazy. Why Crazy?? Well, because we've spent our retirement money on a large floating, fiberglass home and we've just learned what Boat stands for: "Bring Out Another Thousand". Of course there are a multitude of things that need fixing, cleaning, polishing and outright replacing.
But, this new floating home will take us travelling to see some of this great big, beautiful world that is best experienced from a clear, turquoise bay ringed with white sand beaches and palm trees, that can only accessible by boat, no roads, runways, of other footprints in the sand. Avoiding the expense of hotels and airfares and taking our amenities with us, like "personal" pillows!
We've owned her for 8 weeks now and have already placed our personal stamp on her with curtains, hatch covers and winch covers as well as addressing many of her mechanical challenges.
We've tucked her on the hard (ground) for the coming hurricane saeason and will truly start our adventure aboard her in November, when we return to get her ship shape and ready to explore and welcome our friends and family onboard. After all, Fun and Adventure are so much better when shared.