[Daves911L]

So next, a survey was arranged. I flew back to Portland in August for this, and got another full day crawling in, around, over, under, through, etc every nook and cranny of Aurora. The surveyor was great. He taught me so many things. And he pointed out a few problems, as well as many exceptional features. Overall, He could not find much to fault with her, outside of some older electronics, and the rudder. I had wondered about the rudder also on the first visit. It appeared to me to have been damaged and repaired, and he confirmed this.

Also on this trip (Mrs Dave did not go with me this time) I drove to Castine to meet the owner. It was just a coincidence, but she happened to live just down the road from the first boat I had gone to look at. There were reported to be a large collection of spares, parts, sails, etc that she had there. She was a delightful woman. She and her husband had loved Aurora, sailing her extensively the past 20 years. He had passed away a year earlier, and she knew it was time for the boat to find a new home. She was quite emotional about it. They had spent their entire life together with boats, and old cars (so there was common ground for us). It was important to her that Aurora would be well cared for. I felt pretty awkward telling her how little experience I had. But in the end I think she was satisfied. As she was showing me around the basement where her the boat and car parts were, and all her husbands tools, I was able to start picking up stuff and telling her what it was, whether for Aurora, a jaguar, or a Packard. She was a wealth of knowledge about the boat, and its history.

After returning home, following receipt of the survey, and a few more discussions with the broker, things progressed. Money changed hands. Things were signed. And i began figuring out how to get Aurora out of the barn. With our old Catalina, I pushed it off the trailer, raised the mast, clipped a few stays in place, and in minutes we were on the water hoisting a sail.I had seen Auroras masts. They were huge! I had no idea how all this worked, but obviously I was not stepping them by hand. So more phone calls. The Boatyard. A "rigger". More questions, back and forth. When to do it? When did we plan to leave Rockland? What happened if they rigged her and we couldnt leave? It was going to be after Labor day and they were putting boats in storage, not pulling them out. A lot of logistical challenges.