In the frenzy of outfitting a cruising boat, we’ve added anchors (very important), solar panels (really nice to have), HAM radio email (Moms love this item), a new engine (thought it was necessary, but not nearly so in hindsight), a big dinghy outboard (very fun), and all sorts of other gear we were sure we needed for successful cruising.

Then we look up at the sails.

“Those will have to do for a season,” we say to ourselves “No way we can afford to replace those now.” A thousand miles up or down the coast and we’ve revisited this decision every time. Each cruise we’ve been on we always think — man, new sails would sure beat these old ratty ones.

On Pelican, our previous Alberg 35, we took out the old 13 HP Volvo MD7A and repowered with a shiny new 27 HP Universal. We thought that the old Volvo would be a pain, too weak to power us through waves and too cranky and need tending to constantly. Well, both of those things were probably true but we didn’t have any more fun pounding into waves with the Universal (although we did make headway, most of the time) and the Universal still needed constant pampering (she ate up transmissions every 250 hours). Most of the time we were motoring was in flat calm waters that our dinghy outboard could have pushed the boat in.

When we were in the Sea of Cortez, trying to decide how we were going to get ourselves and Pelican back home again, we had decided — several times — to sail to Hawaii and up to the NW as the previous owners had done. But, we looked at our patched, stretched, and sunburnt sails and knew they’d probably never make the 5,000+ mile trip. We would have gladly traded the new Universal for such an adventure as a sailing trip to Hawaii.

So, as so often happens in life, we’re facing the same choices again and have yet another opportunity to make the right decision. Rivendell is equipped with a rusty, greasy Perkins 4-108. She’s a blue beast of an engine that’s got so many hours on her the hour meter stopped turning probably over a thousand hours ago. She spews engine oil into the bilge with regularity as is so typical of these engines. But, she continues to purr like a kitten and we wouldn’t dream of parting with her. Plus, who’s got $12K for a new 75 horse Yanmar? We’ll save that gift for Rivendell’s 30th birthday, maybe.

This time, we’re doing what we know we’ll appreciate far down the road: buying her a new suit of sails to replace the patched, baggy, worn sails she wears now. As we should have done before, we’re starting from the top down (well, not including the many feet of rotten hose we’ve already replaced to keep her from sinking). Although you do spend most of your time at anchor while cruising, it is about the sailing after all. We’ve spent enough time trying to get old, stretched sails to cooperate. Nothing can be more frustrating than a sailboat with worn out old sails that don’t want to sail anymore. Not this time. We’re doing everything we can to the rig, rigging and sails on Rivendell to make sailing the joy it should be.

In about a month, our new full-battened main, genoa and storm jib/staysail will arrive from Doyle San Francisco. Sara’s employer, SailboatOwners.com, is a dealer for Doyle sails so we got an excellent deal on the sails. But more importantly, these are beautiful sails designed and built right in Alameda, USA.

We spent last weekend taking and retaking the measurements needed for the new sails. It was actually a lot easier than we’d expected. We had considered going with a local loft so they could do the measuring and we could sit back and relax, but it really wasn’t all that complicated. When we were done we knew it was time well spent going over the rig in general. (Thanks to Bill Colombo, owner of Doyle S.F. for all his help in the ordering process!)

So, I think we’ve finally got our outfitting priorities down right. It is a sailboat, after all, and we’re going sailing.