Four years ago while living in RI Rich and I were contemplating what the next chapter in our lives might be. We were enjoying our water front condo on the Sakonnet River and our beautiful Saga 48 sailing vessel. We had invested in this sailing vessel that we called Priorities, ( the name came from a restaurant that Rich and I frequented in VT at Okemo MT) in hopes to sail her to boat shows and use her as model to sell other boats. The boat consequently was always for sale. We were not to lucky though as the Saga company fell upon bad times and went out of business. We were left with a beautiful but expensive boat. Rich was still in the paper business and I was doing part time work catering and working for some local restaurants. Somehow we just knew there must be something else. Rich would have loved to jump aboard Priorities and sail her south for however long we wanted. I wasn’t quite sure living on a boat and sailing from port to port would be enough to fulfill my daily needs. Rich could still run his paper company off the boat but what would I do. I know it sounds like a life of luxury, sailing, sunning, relaxing, and reading or gosh the list goes on. But would I be bored? After many long conversations and lots of wine my honey (that would be Rich) came up with a plan. Let’s buy a bed and breakfast!! OH MY is he crazy? He had a great plan. Let’s buy a B&B in Newport RI and we’ll run charters on Priorities in the harbor. Newport did not work out for us but we did fall in love with a beautiful inn in Brewster, The Old Manse. We bought The Old Manse in June that year and hoped to bring Priorities to the Cape. There was not one marina that had an opening so we left her in RI. Last summer we got lucky and found a dock for her in Chatham. We happily took out a few OMI quests and did get away a few times on our own. We discovered running an inn and owning a sail boat did have its conflicts. There wasn’t a lot of time to sail especially on a blue water vessel, however in the back of our minds we knew someday we would sail off into the sunset and spend a year traveling south. We moved her to Dennis for the winter. Then something unbelievable happened. We got a call from our broker and someone was interested in buying our boat. It was a very bittersweet moment when the final decision was made and this wonderful couple from MD decided that they would bring Priorities to MD and make that her new home. Today was the day that Priorities sailed out of the marina and we were not on her.
I realize that blog posts are supposed to be about Cape Cod and all the wonderful things to do here. Writing is not a passion for me, in fact I might rather go to the dentist. Probably the reason for so few posts. It’s not always easy to find something your passionate to write about. I guess I must admit I was passionate about Priorities.
Rich and I will continue to be committed to Old Manse Inn. We love Brewster and the inn all our wonderful quests. Thank you for letting me share this moment with all of you
