A New Boat and a New Toy!

No, we didn't get a new boat, but our friends did. James and Sandra traded in their trusty 320 Sundancer for this gorgeous 44 Ocean. There have been a lot of new boats this year -- who's next?

I know there are two boats in this picture. "Grand Passion" happens to be docked next to a Carver 466 so it's a cool way to see our models side-by-side.

The boat is docked in Baltimore for the winter and a few of us convened to see it on Saturday. The day was sunny and 60 degrees so Doug and I decided on an unconventional method of transportation across the city (at least for non-boating folk).

For anyone concerned with our safety -- don't worry, we took a bag with life jackets with us, I just took the picture before grabbing the bag.

We recently purchased this Lehr propane motor for our dinghy and just had to try it out. (Okay, fine, Doug just had to try it out and I gave in -- it's not exactly summer anymore in Baltimore.)

The propane motor burns a cleaner energy than gasoline, it's only 38 pounds, and it saves us from carrying a gas tank with us. The propane motor is a relatively new technology but we are happy with it so far and we had a smooth, lovely ride over.

Not long after we arrived the wind picked up; so much that we saw one sail on a sailboat get torn to shreds -- which is why I wanted to drive over -- but in the end I'll admit that it was a fun adventure (there, I said it) when we left for home around 3pm. We didn't have a long ride but any distance in waves can end up being a wet ride. Their boat is docked at BMC Lighthouse Point and we had to return to BMC Harborview. I snagged BMC's fireworks map and there is an image over the Harborview label so look for numbers 8 and 10 on the map to find our home. If the numbers are too small on your screen, look for the boat icon to the left of the words "Barge 2."

We put all electronics on our handy waterproof bag for the rodeo ride and got home mostly dry. Congrats again James and Sandra -- we love the new boat!