Escanaba Michigan

So, we may be in Boston right now, but Jenny and I are truly not Bostonians at heart, and likely never will be. We both hate the Red Sox, and don't really even like baseball in general. We hate the bad traffic, and the lousy almost snowy but generally just soggy winters. It isn't us.

That isn't to say it isn't a cool city. We've had a lot of fun here and we're both very glad we came here for a few years. It's been a ton of fun, and I have trouble picturing myself in most big cities, not just Boston. So, when springtime began to roll around we started debating on what to do about registration, which was about to expire. Madrigal was registered as a Boston boat, but if we are ever going to cruise her away she needs to be documented with the US Coast Guard. It wasn't a hard decision to realize that we'd fit with our boat much better if it was a Michigan boat. I came from mid-Michigan, lots of little lakes, but nowhere a sailboat like this would ever be found. Jenny, on the other hand, grew up just outside of Escanaba Michigan.

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We may or may not ever get to sail all the way up there. We'd love to. It'd be a great trip up the St. Lawrence, and the waters of the great lakes are so clear and fantastic, well, at least up north in that area they are. But the facts that it's on the waterfront, it's Jenny's hometown, and we both really like the whole area up there were enough reasons for us. And so it was that an old race boat from Marblehead MA was overhauled in Boston for a couple of years and is now a registered cruiser as S/V Madrigal hailing from Escanaba MI. Neat.

I repainted the transom and put our new sticker on yesterday. I think it looks nice. I'm happy with it, and I think Madrigal is happy with it too.

-Justin


Jenny here...
I just wanted to add a bit to this post...just a couple of links, really.

Here's a link to the Escanaba Municipal Marina which we someday hope to visit by boat...

The lovely Escanaba, MI

And for the few of you out there that may be saying to yourselves "Escanaba...where have I heard that before?" It may be from this goofy Jeff Daniels movie, Escanaba in Da' Moonlight, which they were filming while I was in high school. Funny stuff.

That's all!

Windswept II

So this is fun. Madrigal's previous owner, Bill, lives at this marina again on another boat and we talked to him about a bit of Madrigal's history. Apparently her name used to be Windswept II until he changed it to Madrigal. He sent this picture along to us as well.

We are the fourth owners of her. Originally a woman from Marblehead had her as a race boat up there for a number of years. Then some guy outside of Boston bought her and let her sit in a yard uncovered for about 5 years while he failed to use her or take care of her. Bill stole her away for a very short money and put a lot of work into her... Reglassing things, reinforcing the mast step, rudder repair, mostly rebuilt the Atomic 4, new electrical and plumbing etc. Then he was forced to sell her due to illness with his wife. That's where we came in and bought her, then finished out the interior woodwork etc. This spring she'll be due for a haulout again for some new bottom paint etc. I've been working on the topdecks as well with the seahood and whatnot. All in all it is a fun story. Neat to see new life breathed into the old girl. :)