Well, a lot of changes, I totally forgot that I had this blog! So that is why I have not posted in many months...found it by accident today!.
A number of changes....we decided, for superstition reasons and the fact that nobody could pronounce the Gaelic properly, not to change the name of the boat to "Saoirse" it will remain sailing under it's original name "Simple Pleasures". The refit took a bit of a vacation during 2010 for health reasons, we got back full bore during the early spring this year and is nearly complete....all teak refinished, new bulkheads built and installed. All running rigging has been replaced and the standing rigging tuned up. A few little issues remain.....the outboard has decided to be problematic...working on that....and the Ffrachor roller-furler has decided it doesn't want to play anymore...since the Jenny needed to go for repairs taking down the roller-furler was going to be necessary anyway...Hopefull we will be sailing in the next couple of weeks to catch the best sailing weather on the lake.
We have spent several weekends on board and have hated to go ashore on Sunday evening....only serves to confirm that we are making the right decision by wanting to retire and cruise!

Ahoy, This blog will chronicle the "new" life of the sailing Yacht Saoirse, (pronounced Sheer-sha and means "Freedom" in Gaelic). Saoirse is a 25' Catalina tall rig sloop built in 1988, her hull number is 5731.
We bought, or maybe rescued, Saoirse about five weeks ago. Saoirse's former name was "Simple Pleasures" and she has resided at Satterwhite Point Marina in Henderson, NC for the last several years. For one reason or another, she was virtually abandoned about two years ago; left at the slip with her hatches open. Needless to say, time and weather did a good bit of damage. When we first saw her she could have been a prop for a pirate movie and looked as if she had been scuttled. We saw the beauty beneath the crud, dirt and bird droppings and made the Marina an offer for her.
Twenty-four hours later Saoirse was already staring to look better, at least on the outside. We hauled 13 bags of trash from the cabin and cockpit, used about two gallons of boat cleaner on her decks and cockpit and things were looking up.