...Times. Dickens must have been a sailor! Six months ago we had one othe best and one of the worst things happen to us- -Our new-to-us Vision 32 "Running on Empty" was delivered here to the Bay area. -I was laid off from my high-tech but not dot.com job. We had a great time sailing this summer, I looked for a job and then reality set in. I did not find a job. We were running out of severance money. We had to sell the boat. After placing ads here on HOW, in Latitude 38 and on Boat trader, we got 3 calls & 2 emails in November (pretty good, huh!) Then we sold the boat! So, today, I signed over the paperwork to Dee, RoE's new owner, a great gal from Alameda CA. She & her husband used to own a '90 V32 and sailed her for 6 years. The husband became ill, they sold the boat and then he died. Dee wanted to get back into sailing and could not imagine buying any other kind of boat than a V32. She opened Latitude 38, saw my ad (sorry Phil), called us (twice), came out to the marina the Monday before Thanksgiving, looked around for 20 minutes and over a beer at a nearby watering hole, gave me a check for my asking price! That night, I cried, my wife cried, my kids cried and then we thought about the money: we needed some, and now we had what we needed. It was very, very sad to let the boat go, but food and the mortgage needed to come first. Dee & I have gotten to know each other in the last couple of weeks, and I'm trading maintenance for sailing time. We're going to get a new GPS, a VHF with a RAM mike and a Lifesling this week. We're going to put in the STRONG track system and see if she can gring the main up from the cockpit. I'm putting on a couple of mast steps so she can reach the main halyard and tie the sail cover. She has vision (bad pun), is a knowldgeable sailor and has the money to spend. I don't have a job, don't have the money, love to sail and can do most anything on a boat. My wife thinks Dee is terrific, she likes my kids, It's a perfect match! So, I'll still be on the board, still asking questions and still sharing what I know about sailing, the V32 and SF Bay Our family will still be a sailing family with "Running on Empty", only it will be Dee's boat and not ours. Oh Well. My thanks to everyone & I look forward to the coming year. P.S.-(Anyone know of a job for a really good QA/Reliability Director?)