When I started the voyage across the Pacific in April 2023, the objective was to reach Whangarei, New Zealand by November 1st. It's outside of the southern cyclone zone and has an extensive set of marine trades. The path forward after reaching New Zealand was uncertain, and I envisioned three potential paths. All three involved waiting out the southern hemisphere cyclone season (November to April) in New Zealand. One possibility was to continue West. Another possibility was to bring Rover back to the US. A third possibility was to sell in New Zealand.

Over the course of the voyage it became clear that Rover is a great boat for crossing oceans, and could complete a circumnavigation. It was also clear that I'd successfully accomplished a great voyage, and didn't personally need to go farther.

Our growing family (all four kids married or soon to be married, four grandchildren under the age of four) meant that Rover was probably not the best boat for family vacations in the Puget Sound and up the inside passage. A better boat would have more room for people, and would not need to be capable of crossing oceans. It might not even be a sailboat. Returning Rover to the northwest to sell it here would be another epic voyage that I didn't need to do.

The third option, selling Rover in New Zealand, was the one I selected. After arriving in New Zealand in November 2023 I "put the boat to bed" and started working on the tasks necessary to sell her. I got several balls rolling and then went back to the US for the holidays. Lots of time with the family made it clear I didn't want to be voyaging far away, and reinforced the decision to sell.

When I returned to New Zealand in mid January, I cranked through the list of items necessary to sell: Rover was hauled out at Docklands 5 (highly recommended) for a bottom job, topsides paint, repair to stanchions and rub rail damaged in Avatiu (harbor not recommended because of surge and a fixed concrete customs dock), upgrading the propane system to NZ standards, installing 220V 50 Hz battery charging system and a long list of cleaning and small fixes. The boat was moved to Marsden Cove Marina for ease of sea trials and we had a photo shoot under sail. With fresh paint, polished stainless and cleaned upholstery and interior woodwork, she never looked better than the day she was listed, April 15, 2024. I returned to the US.

We got an offer the first day Rover was listed, but that fell through. The next offer also fell through, but the third offer was completed, and settled 7/1/24.

We bought Rover in August 2013, and had her trucked from Annapolis, Maryland to Boat Haven in Port Townsend. We sold our house, put all our "land" belongings in storage and moved aboard during a major refit. We lived aboard on the hard for a northwest fall and winter and eventually launched in January 2014. We lived aboard at Shilshole Marina, in Seattle, and did work to upgrade all the systems for the next 5 years. We sailed in the summers, around the Puget Sound, up the inside to Desolation Sound, as far as the Broughtons. Meanwhile I improved my skills and built seatime by doing gigs on tall ships Hawaiian Chieftain and Robert Seamans as deckhand, assistant engineer and chief engineer. Our objective was a circumnavigation but our departure was delayed by family issues.

We finally left Seattle in August, 2019. We headed down the west coast with friends and family aboard for various legs and spent the winter of 2019-2020 in the Sea of Cortez. We were in La Paz, provisioned for an imminent departure for the Marquesses, with crew arriving within a week when the global pandemic got serious. Destinations across the Pacific closed down, and we decided to head for the US. We had some friends leave their boat in Mexico and join us for the slow bash to the US. We arrived in April 2020, moored the boat in San Diego and bought a house and settled near our kids in Seattle.

Three years passed before enough of the Pacific nations opened their borders for us to resume the voyage. Meanwhile, one of our kids got married, the last two got engaged and four grandchildren arrived. Linda wasn't interested in crossing the Pacific, so I arranged crew (friends, family and Puget Sound Cruising Club members) for all the legs. She met the boat for a couple of weeks of cruising in Fiji, and happily said goodbye to Rover.

It was a grand adventure, not just the last voyage, but the whole experience. I learned a lot about sailing, boats, people and myself. Maybe there will be another boat in our future, but for at least a year I'll be staying ashore.