The move went smoothly, without any significant problems. There still is a lot of unpacking to do, but we managed to get the garage cleared out yesterday so that we could put the trailer in - just in time before the rain. We have been so busy that we have not yet found time to use the jacuzzi - maybe tomorrow. We even missed one day of almost perfect wind - SW 28 last Thursday afternoon. Well, we got some more of the same the day after, when we were fully powered on 3.7 (Nina) and 4.5. A very nice day, with lots of windsurfers on the water. There even were a few kiters out, but they were very well behaved, trying to stay out of the way and sailing predictably - no problem sharing the water with them. Lovely Nina did some duck jibes and was surprised to find them easy in 30 mph winds and chop. Graham showed up and proved that he had learned a lot during the summer in Hatteras - I saw several nice Flaka attempts, and a spin loop right next to me that was very impressive. He did not complete any of these moves I saw, but it did not matter - they all were very impressive, and definitely very close, in the "should have" category.
Today, we missed another windy day, with 20-25 mph winds in West Dennis, because we went shopping for a windsurf van. The timing of our move was very fortunate: the real estate market in the Boston area is strong again, and we were able to sell our house within less than a week for above asking price. But on Cape Cod, house prices had dipped further, and not yet recovered, so that we were able to find a beautiful house with 6-person outdoor jacuzzi for a lot less money than what we got for our old (albeit slightly bigger) house. There are still lots of unpacked boxes in every room, shelves to put up, etc. etc. - but we absolutely love our new house.
We decided to finally get a windsurf van for several reasons:
- So we can put fully rigged sails inside when we have several windy days in a row
- So we don't have to change outside in the winter
- To have more of our boards "at hand", without having to swap boards on the trailer or tie them to the roof of my car
- To be able to get onto the water faster, and sail longer
We decided to go with a Nissan NV high roof. Like a Sprinter, it is more than 6 feet (1.85 m) tall on the inside, but it's about $10-20K cheaper. With the amount of money we had to spend, that meant getting a one-year old van that's still under factory warranty, instead of a 6-year old van. Also, I vividly remember the time I owned both a German and a Japanese car - the German car (Audi A4) was newer, but needed twice as many repairs, which typically cost twice as much as the repairs on my older Civic.
So we did a bit of online research, called a couple of places to see if the vans we saw where still available, and went to the nearest dealer (about a 30 minute drive). Nina had volunteered to negotiate, since she had gotten a lot of practice when living in Africa, and boy she did! Let's just say I would have said "yes" a lot earlier, and still thought that I had gotten a good deal. Maybe we would have saved even more if I had not been around - but as it is, I am rather happy with the price. The van is less than a year old and has only 10K miles, and we got it for about 2/3 of the cost of a new one. It's pristine on the outside, with a few minor scratches on the inside - nothing it would not get within a few weeks use as a windsurfing van. Now I'll be busy for a few days planning the racks and building them!
