Ships passing in the night

During the course of travels I met quite a few wonderful people sailing around the same destinations. I regret that I didn't keep good notes or pictures but will make sure to keep this page up-to-date in the future!

Solitaire	The Canadian family of Alison, Barry, Kayla and Quinn who purchased Solitaire from me. We traveled on identical paths for a while, then sailed off to different destinations only to to meet up again. Their travels can be followed on their blog.
Windancer IV	The Canadian family of Ziggy, John, Jennifer and Connor aboard Windancer IV were also cruising around the northern Caribbean islands and we met in St. Martin as well as in St. Barts during our trips. They, too, have a blog which can be found here.
Samadhi	The South African family of Sanne, Paul, Jona and Michael also started out in Nanny Cay in the BVI and our paths crossed several times including one long stay in Falmouth harbor on Antigua.
Sold The Farm	This was one of the Jeanneau 43DS that I was interested in, it was purchased by Bruce, a Canadian single-hander who quite literally did sell the farm and go sailing around the Caribbean. Our paths kept on crossing in different anchorages and bars; we both ended up getting wind generators at the same time in St. Martin and without his help I probably would have lost mine overboard. We also spent much of the Antigua Race week together at different events around the island. We were both headed to Antigua when we parted ways in Guadeloupe when I had to return to Antigua and get on a flight in order to return to Europe for some work.
OCEANFAST	Dirk, a fellow German, had picked up his brand new Beneteau in South Carolina and was sailing around the Caribbean islands by himself. He certainly did well on the boat name - on one sail from St. Martin to St. Barts he stayed ahead of me despite my over 10 foot hull-length advantage and it wasn't until the wind really picked up that I managed to sneak ahead. Dirk sailed around quite a bit more than I did, while I was restfully anchored somewhere he would decide to sail to Venezuela and back! Update Jan 2010 - Dirk was singlehanding at night off Puerto Rico, hit an unknown object at speed and sunk in deep water. Fortunately, he had sufficient time to get into the dinghy and made it to shore unscathed. I've since spoken with him and he is dealing with his insurance company and plans on once again again returning to sea in another boat.
Paraiso	I met Andy, the captain, and Jill, his companion and chef, at the SunSail base in the BVI. They were taking a break and were working as a delivery crew (they'd just arrived from an Atlantic crossing in a new 50+ footer for Moorings) and for crewed charters in the BVI. Then, in January 2009 I was in St. Martin shopping at Budget Marine when we met again. In his typical British understatement he said he was now Captain on a yacht called Paraiso built by Alloy Yachts and I was welcome to come by that afternoon to take a look. I was more than impressed by the yacht when I did get the full tour - I've never seen anything up close that even came close to the quality and size of Paraiso.
Latifa	Latifa is a Fife designed and built yawl, currently owned and sailed by an Italian gentleman called Mario. We were neighbors for quite a while in Antigua and his beautifully maintained classic boat is a beauty to behold. He sails singlehanded but the old boats are a lot more work and it takes him up to 3 hours to get underway (compared to 10 minutes on a new boat). All of the deck hardware is original (or reproduction) on Latifa, giving her a unique look and feel.
Oboe d'Amore	Oboe d'amore is a Dufour 49 foot Grand'Large owned and skippered by Nigel. Oboe was my dock neighbor at Jolly Harbor in Antigua for several days while both us were getting our boats ready for extended stays away from the dock. In his case he had the boat meticulously cleaned and prepped for some charter work in the south. Nigel threw a grand "going away" party on December first for some of his friends and dock neighbors.