With great sadness and countless great memories, circumstances here in Va Beach have led us to decide that the sale of ALWAYS FRIDAY is the most appropriate decision at present.  Our plans had been to bring her home to Va. Beach and keep her behind our house with occasional weekend trips plus more prolonged cruises to Maine, Bermuda and even Europe.  However, I discovered even before arrival here that the three bridges between the Atlantic and our home were too low to pass under without hinging the mast, and that once under the bridge, the water was too shallow to get home on anything but the highest of tides (even then it was touch and go- literally!).  So we initially docked AF at East Beach Marina in Little Creek, about fifteen miles from home. The morning after our arrival, I got a panicked call from someone at the marina saying that AF was “sinking”!  Of course it was not, but it was heeled over about 15 degrees at low tide as the keel sat on the sandy bottom.  There was no slip available anywhere there with enough depth to handle her 6 ½ ft draft at low tide, so we moved it across the Bay, which meant that we would have to drive over two hours round trip in traffic just to visit the boat.  That didn't give us any pleasure at all.  So we took down the antennas and mast to bring it to our home.  We cleared the bridges by 3 inches, and showed zero water under the hull about half the time - but we got it home!  Now we can only use it on high tide when the wind hasn't blown the water out of the sound!  That means that no trip of less than 12 hours through two tide cycles is feasible.  Last Saturday we had hoped to take it out, but it was sitting on the bottom at max high tide after strong winds had lowered the level of the "high" tide.  So we have a "land locked" boat that was beautifully made for the open ocean.

We found that as soon as we hit S. Florida, the draft was a never-ending challenge.  Although we almost never traveled the ICW, even coming into the Florida ports was associated with frequent bumping of the bottom at high tide.  Our house in Stuart, FL is inaccessible at anything other than max tide, and even then we bump bottom often.  Kathy’s wish is for a boat with a shallower draft for more local travel, both here and in south Florida.  My choice would be the open oceans onboard AF, but having gone every foot of our last 14,000 mile trek with me, Kathy’s wishes are equally important.  I have never enjoyed anything as much as our recent adventure to Alaska then back home to Virginia, and I have never loved an inanimate object as much as I have ALWAYS FRIDAY, but we can’t justify using her as infrequently as present circumstances dictate. 

So with great sorrow, we came to the conclusion that AF just doesn't work in our present environment.  Emotionally I haven't been able to read the brokerage write up, and my sadness over having AF leave our lives after the adventure of a lifetime can't be overstated.  But reality leaves us with no reasonable option.  Our boat is the best boat ever built for what we did, and the memories are priceless, but AF should not be shackled to the shallow waters around our home.  We tried every option possible to make it work as well for us here as it did on the big trip, but it is now obvious that a NH 55 in Virginia and south Florida is like having a Ferrari for a school bus. I sincerely wish we had another option, but we just can't find an acceptable one.  I remain the greatest fan of NH that is possible, and maybe one day after we are fully retired, another one may come into our lives....but none could ever replace ALWAYS FRIDAY!! 

So our plans are to look for someone who will appreciate and care for her as lovingly as we have in the hopes that she can bring them almost as much pleasure as she has us! 

So that is why you will find what we consider the best boat ever built on the brokerage list of NH……… and why we feel like we are putting our favorite child up for adoption. 

We hope you understand our painful decision.

Thanks, Buddy, Kathy, Raleigh & Binky