The Deeds Are Done ...

Aftrer several frenetic weeks of orchestrating a small army of wonderful partners, we have title to our boat, it's insured, the Coast Guard is processing our registration, we have our LLC, we picked out our moorage arrangement, and we have a delivery company lined up to take our boat from France to Annapolis.

Fittingly, in a kind of galactic karma, we closed out the final arrangements on the very day we met up with our friends James, Ingrid, Benjamin, and Gabriella, who had joined us for the pivotal and wonderful one-week test sail of the catamaran sailing/life style in the summer of 2006. We were able to celebrate with them the end of our beginning: we're now ready to begin the breaking-in/learning process of a new boat, in anticipation of our January 1, 2010 departure date.

Our boat's name -- now final -- is Ile de Grace -- a name coined by Jennifer and Kate, and speaking directly to our collective view of the boat: our own island of grace.

Jennifer leaves next week to take possession in La Rochelle, France, and will be joining the delivery skipper and crew for the trans-atlantic passage. Fair winds and smooth seas!