Today we are saying goodbye to the JennyP after ten years and thousands of miles. We looked into shipping the boat back, but it while difficult it really is time to say goodbye. With three growing kids, the boat that seemed so large ten years ago has grown small. Christine and I can't really sleep comfortably in our not quite double berth. Sophie had asked if we could remodel the boat before we left to create some more space. Unless she could make the boat transdimensional, no remodel would help.

Still it was a good boat for our trip. If we had tried to trade in for a bigger boat, it would have delayed us 1-2 years, and the kids might have been too old to want to go. It is hard to line up all the stars, the time was right for the family, and the boat was very capable and solid. At times the waves averaged 5 meters with the wind at 38 knots (47.5 mph) but I never worried about the boat or the rig. Sailing to Hawaii the waves were tall enough that in the troughs the wind generator, 15 feet off the water, stopped spinning.

The boat is well rigged and ready to keep sailing. If we held on to the boat the gear would age, eventually the sails would start to rot and in a few years it would need another refit to go cruising again. We see a lot of boats like that in marinas. I would much rather say goodbye to her now and hope that someone buys her who wants to sail back into the South Pacific, or onward to the Indian Ocean. Jenny P has a lot of life left in her.

I get asked a lot if we will buy another boat. We might, but not right away. We stopped camping shortly after Sophie was born because sleeping in tents with kids in diapers was just not fun; it was much easier to take them out into the islands on the boat. Now that they are older, we want to take them up into the Cascades and Olympics and get them hiking. We can always charter boats, and in a few years we may decide we miss it enough to buy another one. Selling in Australia gives us a good chance to re-evaluate. Some people say the two happiest days of owning a boat are the day you buy it, and the day you sell it. For me there have been many fantastic days between.

I still enjoy the look of surprise on people's faces here when they learn that we sailed here. The train driver at the Australia Zoo asked Freya what Seattle was known for, trying to tease out airplanes, and his hint was how she got to Australia. He was confused when she asked him if they made sailboats in Seattle, then amazed when he understood.